Brisbane’s latest craft brewery will open unofficially tonight for an evening with media and family and friends.

Co-owned by veteran homebrewers Scott Robertson and Luke Nixon, Soapbox Beer is the newest brewpub to hit the sunshine state and will open officially to the public on Thursday.

Nixon described Soapbox as a startup brewery set up by a couple of “thirsty guys” in Brisbane.

For Nixon, opening the brewery has been a lot of fun, but told Brews News that it has taken longer than expected.

“It’s taken a while though, we’ve been in our building nearly 14 months.

“It’s a fairly old building, every service needed upgrading, which of course required extended approvals and yeah, it wasn’t as easy as we thought.

“We thought we’d be open by June.”

Having had to wait extensively for a sewer connection, a water upgrade and then a gas and electrical connection, Nixon said that the the venue is now starting to smell like a brewery.

“We’ve got a supportive landlord and we’ve got a good little block, so we’re now underway.”

Soapbox Beer will launch with seven brews, with five to make up its core range and two seasonals. Nixon said there might even be a third seasonal by Thursday.

The core range will encompass a Kolsch, a pale ale, a mid-strength dark ale, an amber ale and an IPA. The first two specialty beers, brewed on a 200-litre pilot system, are a Sarsaparilla Porter and Biscuit Ale.

The 20hL brewhouse comes from Chinese manufacturer Tiantai and has been designed to spec by Soapbox brewer Greg James. Nixon said that the chemical engineer has spent hours designing the brewhouse.

The brewpub will cater to 100 seats, offering “crafty” small plates and beers to match.

“The menu tastes of all over and much like the beers you can taste a whole bunch of things,” Nixon explained.

“The brewhouse and all our equipment is jammed down one side of the venue whereby patrons can look over at the brewhouse as they drink.”

Atop concrete floors, the patron area is full of old reclaimed timber that was reappropriated from the previous site.

Soapbox Beer joins Archer Brewing in the neighbouring suburb of Spring Hill and Felons Brewing Co down on the Brisbane River in the CBD.

Nixon said that having so many independent craft breweries in the area is great for business, with the region becoming a little bit of a brewery hub.

Soapbox Beer is located at 89-101 Gipps Street, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006.

Brewery openings are presented bySpark Breweries and Distilleries.

Read more:How to start a brewing company: Part One.