Crafty double (Copy)

Australia’s first female-owned brewery is a frothing success. Its founders, Danielle Allen and Jayne Lewis reveal how they turned a passion for beer into a flourishing business.

Interview by Patrick Boyle

There are two major schools of thought in beer brewing: European tradition and the New World. The former makes beer styles that have slaked thirst for centuries, while the latter school is characterised by the fresh hop profiles pioneered by the West Coast breweries of the United States. Australia and New Zealand have similar climates for cultivating hops as the US West Coast, and were well positioned when craft beer boomed at the turn of the century. Today, a punter in Melbourne or Sydney can drink a whole spectrum of local brews in most bars and restaurants. Cloudy New England IPAs, a salty-sour gose, barrel-aged stouts – chances are, any flavour you can imagine exists in beer form.

There are more than 500 independent breweries, brewpubs and contract brewers in Australia. Only one is owned solely by women: Two Birds Brewing Co, the brain-child of business partners Jayne Lewis and Danielle (Dani) Allen. The Spotswood brewery’s Golden Ale and Sunset Ale can be found on taps at establishments around Australia, and, increasingly, worldwide. They chatted to TalkTalk about beer, business and brand.

What brought each of you to the industry, and to start creating your own brews?

Dani: I had always wanted to start my own business, I just hadn’t had the lightbulb moment. But it all became clear over a beer. Jayne had been working as a brewer for almost 10 years and had some ideas about new beers that she wanted to share with the world and I had been working in product development and marketing. The idea struck us when we were holidaying in the US, after visiting lots of really cool brewpubs and small breweries. Our skills were complementary and it made total sense for us to team up and use our experience to start a brewing company together.

Jayne: Before beer, I was making wine in Margaret River, in Western Australia. I was in need of a change and on the hunt for a role that was city-based. In 2004, a brewer role came up at Little Creatures in Fremantle. I jumped at it. I found that brewing allows a lot more creativity than winemaking and I never looked back.

When Dani and I took our trip to the US, I was the Head Brewer at Mountain Goat Brewery and, while I loved my job, I wanted to be more involved in the whole process. Dani and I got chatting and decided that we should start our own brewery.

What is the first beer you tasted?

Dani: I started with the basics. Being a West Australian my first beers were Swan Lager, Carlton Draught and Emu Bitter. I distinctly remember trying Little Creatures Pale Ale, though, at their Fremantle brewery, and that was a game-changer.

Jayne: I remember drinking a lot of macro-lagers growing up and not being a fan. The beer that changed my mind was Coopers Sparkling. That was the beer that turned me into a beer drinker and put me on the path to owning my own brewery.

What’s some basic advice for transforming an idea into a functioning business?

Dani: The key things for us were trusting our instincts and backing ourselves, even when there were days of doubt or worry. If you’re confident in your idea and can explain it well, that’s a massive part of winning over other people.

Make use of the different talents that you and your key people have. If someone is more creative, lean into that and let them look after their part of the equation. People’s minds work in different ways, so use that to your advantage.

The craft beer scene is notoriously male-dominated. How has that affected the Two Birds story?

Jayne: You really just need to look around the room at a beer event to know there’s some truth to it. In saying that, we’ve always found the industry to be incredibly welcoming and open to what we’re trying to achieve. We haven’t ever let it slow us down or stop us from doing anything, so I wouldn’t say it’s had a massive effect on us. The reverse really – it’s pushed us to go harder.

How important is creativity/play in your approach to brewing?

Jayne: Creativity and the opportunity to explore is one of the most important parts of brewing, as it’s where it all starts! All of our beers are influenced by food, the seasons, music, or sometimes even a beer name that we really want to use. Getting creative allows us to turn those influences into a beer recipe and then bring it to life.

What are some beers you’d like to make?

Jayne: The brewing team and I are always beavering away on new beer ideas, and have some really fun stuff coming up in the middle of this year. We did two collaborations with some UK breweries during Good Beer Week in May and will be following that up with a beer for our birthday in June, which will be themed around copper – the traditional seventh anniversary gift.

What are the major challenges in selling and distributing beer in Australia?

Dani: The biggest thing is that there are more and more breweries opening up every year, but we’re still all working for the same slice of market share against the multinationals. That means competition is tougher and you really need to establish yourself strongly with high quality products and marketing to rise above the noise.

We’re lucky in that we have a point of difference nobody else can have – in being Australia’s first female-owned brewery. That’s a unique story that only Jayne and I can tell, and something that really resonates with people. One of the biggest obstacles can be finding your point of difference, so we can tick that off.

What flavour profiles are distinctly Two Bird-ian?

Jayne: We always use an Australian hop in our ongoing beers as we want to ensure we’re supporting the local hop growers. We also focus strongly on producing balanced beer with a Two Birds twist – we want every beer to be flavoursome, but still approachable.

How does Two Birds make beer that will stand out, and still remain palatable to the average drinker?

Jayne: That’s always the challenge. It’s part of the reason we focus on approachability in our beers, but always infused with interesting ingredients or with a really strong story to be told. But funnily enough, a lot of independent brewers are bringing out really clean lagers at the moment. We released our Aussie lager, Trail Blazer, this year as a partnership with the Western Bulldogs AFLW side. Everyone loves a lager while watching the footy, so there’s no reason why it can’t be a delicious and locally made one.

What’s next for Two Birds?

Dani: At the moment we’re really focused on getting our beers into more people’s hands across Australia, especially in WA and Queensland. But we’re also starting to export to Asia, which is really exciting. It’s a whole new market and new style of doing business, so we’re really enjoying the opportunities it presents. T

Image: Jayne Lewis and Danielle Allen of Two Birds Brewing roost in their Spotswood brewery.