By Andy Young
Craft Revolution is now bringing kegs of Hawaiian craft beer from the Kona Brewing Co, to Australia.
Kegs of the Longboard Island Lager and the Big Wave Golden Ale are now available in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland and will soon be available in Perth.
As well as bringing the kegs, Craft Revolution are also bringing the beer’s tap handles (pictured), which are a key feature of Kona, and a lot of other craft beers, in the US.
David Paton, NSW sales manager for Craft Revolution, told TheShout: “The tap handles are something that people are loving. It will be interesting to see whether the tap handles take off over here, because the culture in the US, is something like 95 per cent tap handles and five per cent decals. Perhaps we might see brands here shift from decals to tap handles over the next five years.
“If you look at what’s happening in Australia, we are probably around five to 10 years behind the craft curve in America and we continually look to them for new styles and strategies and I think tap handles could be part of that. There are a few crafties doing it now in Sydney and I think a lot will follow when they see what exposure the tap handles can give them.”
In terms of the expectations of the performance of these beers, Paton said: “How long is a piece of string.”
He added: “This is one of the top 20 craft beers in America, so there is huge potential with it. Also over a million Australians have been to Hawaii on holidays, and converting them into drinking the beer over here in Australia and not only when they go away on holiday is the goal. The real potential I see with this beer is that it’s not just a beer for craft drinkers, they are all very approachable beers and have already proved really popular with mainstream beer drinkers who usually just stick to their old favourites.
Craft Revolution is also expanding its sales team, with new reps joining in QLD and WA as of next week and the company will have a national sales force by the end of August.