Well, now that it's done and we have had a few days to let the dust settle. It must be time to reflect on what it was and how it played out in our eyes! Welcome to The Shifty annual review :)
It seems like an age ago that we sat here in our freshly gutted brewery space with no equipment, patiently waiting on our shipment, temporarily avoiding the inevitable, dreaded COVID-19. Yep that was early 2021. And after countless delays and a few anxious months, it arrived, then followed a few hectic weeks, and boom we were up and running with our new system. It came with all the buttons and screens that do a heap of stuff, well that's what Lee says they do anyway.
With the new system, came the increased capacity and transition from bottle stock to our current canned stock (pictured at the top of this blog in our most recent family photo, lizard texture and all :) The canned stock and the appointment of the amazing Rikki has seen our wholesale reach expand across our lovely city which we are more than chuffed about. After all, we do this to share our passion with you all. We hope that you get as much fun and joy out of every can that we do creating them!
Before we knew it, winter was upon us and we turned our focus onto creating a few big limited releases and pushing the boundaries of what we had done previously. This brought us the much loved Russian Imperial Stout and the Black Triple EyePA. Then we teamed up with some legends including the team at The SA Viking Festival to bring a summer smasher Golden Ale that we plan to bring back for the festival this year in 2022! And of course our most recent release the team at NOLA Adelaide which had them help on brew day and in the development of the name and style of the Wee heavy Scotch ale Lifty Shizard! (pictured below).
While all of this was playing out, as you all know, we had a few lockdown scares while our friends in Melbourne and Sydney dealt with many Covid woes. WA briefly gave us the code to get through their newly built wall.. and vaccination rates rose. A bittersweet thing for us South Aussies. With vaccination rates going up, the inevitable border closures that had successfully kept Covid from our shores, venues and homes were sure to be lifted and bring the pandemic right into our lives. Something that we have seen the states hospitality industry struggle with in the lead up to Christmas and New Years. Many of the CBDs most beloved venues and local Fleurieu towns either shutting for the busiest period of the year, or be forced to shut for large chunks of time to deep clean or isolate staff.
We all have our fingers crossed that the newest 'rules' mean that we can continue trading and sharing our local produce whilst keeping the general public, our staff, family and most importantly the health care workers and first responders safe. A challenging task in the current climate.
With all that said, we have big hopes and dreams for 2022 and look forward to sharing it with all of you!
January 2022 will see the months of hard work come to fruition with the opening of our newest venture Hard Days Night ADL where we have teamed up with the legends at Caravino Events and Whoopi Goldburger! This inner city warehouse venue is all set to bring some casual good times basking in the sunny beer garden! Burgers, Beers and Cocktails. You have no doubt seen us banging on about it for a little while now :)
(photo credit to @lrd_photography)
We have a few limited releases in the tanks for Early 2022, one of them set to release next week in the lead up to Hard Days Nights opening and the other a collaboration with Hops to Home!
In 2021 we turned 5, some would say a major milestone in small business. We saw a few amazing staff members take on new roles and grow within our expanding company we also saw some move on to new adventures, we wish them all the very best. We have accumulated an amazing group of people that surround us, a bunch of passionate hard workers that we couldn't thank enough, we enjoy getting up everyday and heading in to work alongside you all :)
The venues and retailers that support us, take a punt and help us along the journey, 2021 has been a big one and that is all thanks to your support and guidance.
And of course, the amazing support from YOU, the amazing people who enjoy a frothy or two, that like to put local first, flavour first and have a Good. Fun. Beer. Thank you.
We are most definitely looking forward to seeing what 2022 throws our way
Cheers
