Brisbane has greeted the new Howard Smith Wharves precinct so warmly that the integrated Felons Brewing Co has nearly run out of beer.

The Brisbane brewery has been so popular with drinkers that it cannot keep up with demand for its Crisp Lager.

Felons General Manager of Brewing Ash Cranston told Brews News that the riverside brewpub sold in three days what it had projected it would sell in two weeks.

“It’s fair enough to say that we’re pretty overwhelmed by the response from Brisbane to Felons Brewing and the beers we’ve been making.

“We’ve been brewing madly since we first commissioned our brewery and that was a good six weeks prior to opening.”

Cranston said that it has been “no mean feat” opening with four beers and a cider in tap and pack.

“What we’ve found is the sheer love of our beer and demand has just outweighed our ability to make as much as we would have liked and basically keep up with demand of what’s been selling in the brewery.”

Felons Crisp Lager is one of the beers Cranston said has been a real focus for Felons.

The biggest challenge, Cranston explained, is the longer 21-day ferment time needed to produce the product.

“With a 21-day ferment time, we’re not going to compromise on quality to get the beer out,” he said.

“What that means is we’re just not able to keep up with demand for our Crisp Lager.

“What we projected from a beer sales volume to where we are now is something we would have expected to see six months down the track.”

In an attempt to catch up with demand, Cranston said that four of Felons 10 tanks are filled with lager, including two that had been set aside as service tanks.

“Luckily we had a plan for further down the track to use the serving tanks and we’ve started to ferment into those now as well.”

Cranston said that Felons Crisp Lager will be available once again next Thursday, December 20 and assured that the brewery’s other products are all still available at the brewery.

“Rest assured, lager will be back on and we’re brewing madly to bring those stores back up.”

“It’s a good problem to have if we’ve got beers that are doing really well in our brewery we can go to market with them confidently.”

Felons will look to supplying beer to the broader market from January next year.