LOCAL LEGENDS – Bitter the action

Andrew Mathieson
MATES stand back licking their lips while watching him at work.
But a measured Dan Cunningham takes a sober approach to brewing the perfect beer.
In fact, while others were pouring themselves a few frothies or heading down the pub, Dan was concerning himself with pouring thousands of dollars into a brewery to create his own label.
This was when a knockabout bloke mucking around with a home brew kit inside a Barwon Heads’ garage turned into a minor beer baron.
Named after a popular nearby surf break where Dan and his mates encounter a different kind of froth, his Beacon Bitter and Pale Ale are now on the end of many local drinkers’ tongues.
As a career brewer, Dan knows he’s living the dream of many red-blooded Aussie males.
“It’s either a dream or a nightmare at times – I don’t know which yet,” he slowly observes.
“But it’s still heaps of fun.”
Beer was on Dan’s consciousness for years before he began sifting through yeast, hops and malt extracts at home.
It was not quite the days of the six o’clock swill but spending quality time with dad took a different twist back then.
“My old man used to come to town every Friday, have a few beers and sit me on the counter – with a lemonade, of course,” the 36-year-old tells.
“When I was younger beer was all about quantity rather than quality – that’s certainly changed a lot these days.”
Dan certainly isn’t a beer-guzzling slob stuck on a bar stool.
He skipped typical ambitions of becoming a publican for visiting some of Europe’s finest breweries at age 21.
Germany, Holland, Czech Republic, Ireland were all on his itinerary but an appreciation for Britain’s traditional real ale taste in the Old Dart was the start of things to come.
“I got exposed to more than just VB,” Dan grins.
“When I got home I had a bit more of a look around these micro-breweries that were just popping up in the 1990s.
“People are starting to realise that beers aren’t something you have to slam down freezing cold.”
The real impetus for Dan’s brewery only came years later when a bad day working for the man forced his hand.
Instead of the usual home-brewery education from reading instructions on the back of a supermarket brew kit, Dan elected to take the high-brow course at university to understand the science behind the bubbles of beer.
When Geelong’s famous Scottish Chiefs pub changed hands, Dan was quick to take up a lease on its brewery and get serious.
“Over the past few years I’ve got to know most people in the brewing industry and they’re pretty happy to invite you in, show you around and answer your silly questions,” he says.
Less than a year into the dream business, Dan is now eyeing a prime parcel of real estate in his home town to start a first-ever “beer cafe” with a brewery on show.
And there appears no shortage of customers lining up beyond his niggly mates.
“People are starting to recognise me around town,” Dan notes.
“You always get the odd one who asks for free samples, too.”