Stone & Wood’s innovation pipeline

Stone & Wood co-founder Brad Rogers says internal collaboration has been essential in keeping the brewery’s beers relevant in such a dynamic industry.

Rogers, who brewed one of the first commercially available Saisons in Australia and created the recipe for the pioneering Pacific Ale, said even he struggles to keep up with rapidly emerging beer styles.

“We have 150-odd people in the brewery and 20 plus brewers working across the breweries, I don’t profess to know everything about every new style of beer that’s being launched out there,” Rogers told the Beer is a Conversation podcast.

He discussed the innovation pipeline the brewery developed, to capitalise on the excitement of its young brewers at the Stone & Wood homebase, and how it keeps him up to date.

“We have a beer round table where a small group of us look into what’s happening around the world in beer and all of that information flows across the brewery.”

Rogers said they also have a club in the brewery called the ‘League of Extraordinary Brewers’, run by revered brewer Neil Whittorn also known as ‘Pops’ who has been a brewer for over 45 years.

Every month the club looks at a new style of beer and recreates them for large group tastings. From this tasting, one beer is selected to be brewed and tapped at Stone & Wood in Byron Bay.

“It gets me out of bed in the morning.

“I love going in and talking to some of the young guys in there as they are across so much more of what’s happening in the new world of beer.

“They have their own groups outside of the brewery where they are brewing, reading and learning together and to me, it’s fun.”

Rogers said they have always tried to do things a little differently within the brewery and across the business as a whole.

To hear more of the many insights Brad Rogers shared with Brews News you can listen in to the podcast live from My Beer Dealer.