In December 2019, Adelaide’s Big Shed Brewing Concern opened a custom-built brewery and 250-seat venue. It was the culmination of almost two decades of dreaming and planning for founders Craig Basford and Jason Harris.
Four months later, the pandemic hit and almost every plan Big Shed’s founders had for the future of the brewery “was thrown out the window”.
The Australian craft beer industry had experienced a decade of frenzied growth up until that moment. And while many breweries prospered during the initial period of the pandemic, others struggled.
To assist the country’s almost 600 independent brewers, the Australian Tax Office allowed a pause on alcohol excise payments.
“But nothing was forgiven, nothing was cancelled,” Big Shed’s co-founder Craig Basford tells Broadsheet .
When the ATO started calling for the money to be paid, the landscape had changed. The once booming craft beer industry was facing skyrocketing costs, interest rate hikes and declining consumer spending.
Breweries across the country started permanently closing or entering administration. In the last 12 months, more than a dozen independent brewers have entered voluntary administration, starting in March 2023 with Brisbane’s Ballistic Beer Co…