The details
When Jon Fuchs first moved to Brisbane roughly six years ago, he was leaving a city that was in the midst of a craft-beer boom. Colorado was sprouting new brewing operations on the regular and Jon had already picked up the taste for home brewing. While working as an engineer in the Teneriffe area, Jon witnessed Brisbane’s fledging scene grow from its humble beginnings firsthand, and dreamed about ditching the corporate gig to join the burgeoning ranks of independent brewers full time. It wasn’t until he linked up with Canadians Dave Machin and Harvey McKibbon that the idea become more than a pipe dream, and in February 2016 Sea Legs Brewing Co. was officially incorporated. The crew came together over a vision of a welcoming and approachable brewery that favoured creativity in its brews. This approach was predicated on Jon’s own home-brewing experimentation, where he routinely pushed the intersection between science and creativity while working solely with beer’s four key ingredients. With some recipes already in the works, the crew started searching for a forever home. At this point Aussies Tim Wyatt and Chris Davies came on board and Sea Legs secured its primary ownership group.
The space
The Sea Legs crew secured its dream location in 2017 – a cavernous warehouse space a stone’s throw from Kangaroo Point’s Captain Burke Park. After submitting development applications and securing the necessary neighbourhood support, the team began an eight-month build in May 2018. The resulting venue (which opened just before Christmas) is spacious, with ample seating sprawling across the polished concrete floors from the entrance to the bar, which comes equipped with 12 taps. A sizeable portion of the interior is given over to the brewery operation, where a gleaming array of equipment stands proudly. A 15-hectolitre system with a 9000-litre fermenting capacity is used to produce Sea Legs Brewing Co.’s core range of beers, while a 100-litre pilot brewery is on hand for experimental concoctions.
The food and drink
Sea Legs Brewing Co.’s core range of beers features five refreshing drops to try, including a tropical lager, golden ale, pale ale, a West Coast-style IPA and a milk stout. Jon’s passion for experimenting will result in numerous limited-edition beers on tap in the coming months, while guest taps will give punters a taste of other stellar local brews. Growler fills are available and you can expect a packaged product later in the year. Non-beer drinkers aren’t left on the outside looking in – there is a collection of hand-selected wines, spirits and cocktails jugs to quaff instead of the suds. For those feeling peckish, Sea Legs Brewing Co.’s on-site kitchen cooks up a tasty array of sharable plates, from hand-stretched pizzas and crispy wings to more substantial bites such as stacked burgers and katsu baos.
For address and contact information for Sea Legs Brewing Co., click on over to the Stumble Guide.
