Drinks Adventures, a podcast which speaks to a number of key brands and producers, is currently proving popular, sitting second on the Australian iTunes food podcast charts.
The Drinks Adventures podcast is created by award-winning drinks writer and former Editor of TheShout, James Atkinson, and the first episode of the second season hears from the Stone & Wood team about the brewery’s rise to being one of the most popular craft breweries in Australia, with an annual production in excess of 12 million litres.
Speaking about the popularity of the podcast, Atkinson told TheShout: “Podcast listenership is rising rapidly in Australia at present, and podcasters are demonstrating unprecedented levels of engagement with their audience.
“Drinks Adventures meets the demand for a highly produced and tightly edited podcast reporting on drinks industry trends and showcasing quality, passionate producers from all categories.
“It’s exciting to see the initial reception for the first episode of Season Two, as there is some brilliant content yet to come in the next couple of months.”
The latest episode reveals that Stone & Wood’s co-founders Jamie Cook, Brad Rogers and Ross Jurisich have absolutely no intention of selling the brewery, which they intend to be a generational business.
“At the moment there’s 75 employees, nearly 70 per cent of the business that owns shares in Stone & Wood and that number will continue to grow every year,” said Cook.
“In 20 years’ time, it could be the Coopers of the East Coast. That’s probably our ambition, to be a regional brewer, and if it takes us five years, 10 years, 20 years to achieve that, then so be it.”
Cook also told the podcast that very few other breweries have come close to achieving what Stone & Wood has managed, since it launched in 2008.
“If you look at, let’s say the last 70 years of the Australian brewing industry, there’s only been a handful of regional brewers that have actually grown from their own home base,” he said.
“Coopers would be one, James Boag’s, Cascade Brewery and Little Creatures, are a cluster of brewers that have probably jumped from being a small regional player to something on a national basis.
“So, I guess we’re probably in that club.”
Drinks Adventures launched in late 2018 with episodes featuring Penfolds Wines, Sullivans Cove, Starward Whisky, Sipsmith Gin, Willie Smith’s Cider and more.
Season Two launched this week and there is an array of beer, wine and spirits topics to follow in subsequent weekly episodes between now and July 2019.
Find the Drinks Adventures on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, your favourite podcast player, or in the player below.