With the appointment of a new Australian head of operations, BrewDog is set to announce the launch its long-awaited Brisbane tap room and brewery.

Long-term BrewDog UK employee Calvin Macdonald was this month named Operations Manager for Australia, joining Lindsay Crawford – formerly of 4 Pines Brewing – who was named Site General Manager in August.

The Scottish brewery has also appointed Tim Radjenovic, formerly assistant brewer at Sydney’s All Hands Brewing House, which was last month named Champion Brewpub at the Indies, to its brewing team.

The hospitality side of the Brisbane venture, recently rechristened DogTap Brisbane, is slated to open in November with brewing to commence in December.

Brews News made several requests for comment from BrewDog about its newest appointments and opening plans but received no response from the ‘radically transparent’ brewery. However, Macdonald’s LinkedIn profile shows he has worked for the brewer since 2012, working his way up through the business since starting as a bar attendant at BrewDog’s Aberdeen bar in 2012.

His most recent role before moving to Australia was Operation Manager UK – South East.

The brewery first announced its Australian plans two-and-a-half years ago. Brisbane was announced as the site of the Australian brewery in February last year, with plans to be brewing by January this year.

Despite the enthusiastic support of the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council, and receiving necessary approvals mid last year, the project has progressed slowly. Work did not commence until January 2019 and in April the brewery announced it had halved the size of its planned brewhouse to provide greater flexibility for its local operations.

Big year for BrewDog

The impending Brisbane opening marks a big year for the self-proclaimed craft punks, which earlier this year purchased Stone’s Berlin Brewery and reopened it under the BrewDog name. BrewDog has also opened eight new bars worldwide this year, and has previously announced a bounty for finding Australian bar locations.

Co-founder James Watt recently announced that the business, that has augmented its 2017 private equity injection of £213 million with regular crowd-funding campaigns totalling £73,842,550, will aim to raise additional funds through a second bond issue on Crowdcube will provide a 6% yield with the yield paid 50% in cash each year and 50% in ‘beer bucks’ redeemable in our bars or online shop. The cash and beer yield is in contrast to the guaranteed 18% annual compound interest rate private equity investor TSG has been accruing on its £213 million investment since 2017.

No announcement has been made about an Australian equity crowdfund, but in April this year the BrewDog website featured a page teasing an Australian Equity for Punks campaign. When Brews News sought details about their Australian plans, a spokesperson advised, “In terms of Equity for Punks Australia – we haven’t announced anything on this. Let me know where you heard it!” Shortly after the page was deleted.