Two Mates Brewing, the company behind Lismore's first boutique brewery has hired a new Head Brewer, Chris Smith.

Chris will be responsible for developing about nine different beers for locals to taste, four of which will hopefully put Lismore on the tourism map for an entirely new reason.

Former Head Brewer Jake Banachak resigned due to the uncertainty of the Two Mates Brewing business when it was called up by Councillor Nancy Casson in December last year amid concerns by some local residents in Engine Street. Councillors approved the Development Application (D.A.) pending 91 conditions, most need to be met before the business can open to the public.

Owner Grant Smith says they are targeting June to open the brewery doors but that depends on quite a few factors which relate to the D.A.

A June opening would make it close to twelve months since the Lismore App first told you about Two Mates Brewing as a new business in July 2020. What is the saying? All good things come to those who wait.

(Owners Andrew Newton and Grant Smith with new Head Brewer Chris Smith at the South Lismore site of the soon to be opened Two Mates Brewing. Photo: Simon Mumford)

Back to Chris Smith.

Chris was the Head Brewer at Lost Palms Brewing on the Gold Coast for two and a half years but is now moving his family (wife and 2 young children ) to the Northern Rivers to take up the position.

"We always wanted to move to this area," Chris said, "we have family in Lennox Head and on the Gold Coast so seeing them regularly won't be a problem."

Chris, along with everyone else who is moving to Lismore, is finding it hard to find a house to rent in a very hot real estate market.

"When I took the job 4 to 5 weeks ago there were plenty of rentals available and now it's gone nuts, we're struggling to find a place at the moment."

"I'm really keen to get started. I can't wait to start brewing beer."

Just like previous Head Brewer Jake Banachak, Chris is excited about starting a brewery from scratch.

"This is an opportunity to do it right from the beginning, Chris explained, "Lost Palms was older using a second-hand kit and the guys who designed the brewery hadn't had any brewing experience so from a brewers experience it was a very manual process, very difficult to work with."

"Here, I have brand new gear which is less labour-intensive allowing me more time to develop more beer recipes and try them out."

Two Mates Brewing was going to start with four core beers under Jake but Chris Smith has a different approach that will appeal to beer lovers.

"I was thinking we have nine taps to play with so let's create nine different styles," Chris said.

"Some will be a variation of similar styles like two different lagers which can be a rice lager and a more malty German-style lager, then we see what sells and what the market adapts to better."

"Once we get sales data from behind the bar we can start deciding on what our core range beers will be. This gives the public a chance to be more involved in the process from the start and to have a stronger connection to the local Lismore beers we make."

Contrary to popular belief craft beers are still a small part of the beer market in Australia. Lager is still the biggest seller with 90% of the market.

"Lagers are smashing it while in the craft market pale ales and IPA's while sour beers are increasing. Sours are a little tart, more a hybrid between a cider and a beer, real refreshing real crisp dry with a slight tart sourness to it. Perfect for a hot day or a lawnmower beer once you've finished mowing the lawn and sweated a lot."

"We will also have mid-strength lagers, mid-strength ales and a regular pale ale that most tradies seem to like."

Initially, Two Mates Brewing won't have an on-site cannery but if you like the taste of a particular beer you still get to take it home in a refillable bottle.

"We'll be doing growls and squealers which are refillable 1-litre and 2-litre bottles, Chris explained, "You can purchase the bottle come back and refill it."

"Then when we nail those core range of beers we will start canning our beers and delivering it to wholesalers so people can start buying cases of our beer from their favourite liquor shops."

What makes a good beer?

"90% of being a brewer is cleaning, a lot of people think that it is a lot more glamorous," Chirs said, "sanitisation is vital to making the optimum environment. I am here to monitor and control the entire process."

"As soon as a tank is empty it has to be cleaned straight away before the next batch can begin. Each tank has spray balls on top inside the vessels so it is a matter of hooking up a 'clean and place' unit with one side having hot water and the other caustic with a pump at the bottom."

Once a month Chris has to jump in and do a spot clean which is far better than the old gear at the GC where he had to hop into a vessel and clean it by hand after every vessel was emptied.

At the South Lismore brewery, there will be a four-vessel fully automated system that will make life much easier for Chris allowing more time to spend on the science side of being a Head Brewer.

"As a brewer, we are creating a sugary wort, we don't actually make beer we make this sugary wort and the yeast makes all the beer."

"Our job is to cultivate the yeast to give it its best environment to create the alcohol and the CO2. Wort is sugary water that we extract from the grains. We just want to make really good quality sugar to put into the fermentation vessels, add the yeast and control the temperatures then take gravity samples and PH samples to guide the beer to the point where you want it then carbonate it and keg it off."

There you have the simple process (tongue firmly in cheek). Once the operation is running smoothly Chirs wants to cultivate his own yeast strains bringing more of the chemistry and science that a Head Brewer loves.

For now, we wait for the Lismore City Council to work with Two Mates Brewing and get the D.A. approved before we can all taste that first Lismore lager.