Luke Nicholas, founder of Epic Brewing. Photo / Supplied
Luke Nicholas, founder of Epic Brewing. Photo / Supplied
Auckland-based craft beer brewer Epic Brewing is gearing up to open its first taproom this weekend, and offer a toast to overcoming a tumultuous year.
The brewer, which makes 25 per cent of its sales overseas, has converted its Onehunga warehouse into a taproom and pizza kitchen, which can bepacked down after the weekends and operate as a multi-use facility.
Epic Brewing founder Luke Nicholas said he was originally apprehensive about how well a hospitality venue in an industrial park would be received, but it had been running trials with special licences to test the viability of the concept in the location and had been impressed by the response.
Epic has spent $50,000 kitting out the taproom and getting consents and licences from Auckland Council for the venue.
Nicholas said the space gave its customers a place to try out its full range of beers.
"The craft beer space has become more and more competitive so it is harder and harder to get your beer on tap in other places, so to have one location where [people] can go and try it all made a lot of sense to us," Nicholas told the Herald.
Epic contract brews its beer at Steam Brewing Company in Otahuhu. Its beer is sold nationwide through supermarkets and in a handful of bars and restaurants.
Epic Brewing has turned its Onehunga warehouse into a taproom. Photo / Supplied
The business originally applied for a liquor licence for its Onehunga site almost a year ago, but faced lengthy delays due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At opening tomorrow, the 120sq m taproom will have five beers on taps, however, Nicholas said the plan is to grow that number and extend the bar's size at a later date.
"I'm sure it is going to be challenging because just doing the basic stuff with the council has been such a challenge, but expanding will be something we review as we open and look at the options we have available to us to see where we can expand and what we can do."
Navigating through Covid had been a "real challenge", Nicholas said, and the brewer quickly had to switch its sales channels to focus on e-commerce through lockdowns as its on-premise orders dried up.
The family-owned business had to rely on Nicholas' and his wife and co-owner Wendy's friends and family for help during the height of the pandemic.
"With the pressure on a lot of other places, it doesn't seem logical [to open a new taproom] but we're still using the premise as an active warehouse for packing so it made sense to think about how else we could use this space to generate some revenue," Nicholas said.
"On a Friday morning we can clear it all out and put up the tables and chairs and then on Sunday night pack them all down and get it ready as a warehouse again. It's a double-use space and means that we are able to use it a little bit smarter to sell a few more beers."
Epic contract-brews its beer at Steam Brewing Company in Otahuhu. Photo / Supplied
Epic was founded by Nicholas in December 2005 and was a spinoff from Steam Brewing Company - the brewing arm of pub chain Cock & Bull, where he was working as head brewer.
The brewer exports to China - its largest market - Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Germany.
