If you live in Sydney‘s Inner West and ask someone what Young Henrys is, you’ll get a slap on the wrist pretty quick smart. The local brewery has celeb / cult status in its home turf of Newtown, and is quickly making its mark throughout the rest of Australia as well. You know what – screw it – they’ve also got recognition globally. Don’t believe me? Bloody 90s brothers Hanson dropped in during their world tour last year.
Look! Here they are! Being all grown up and hot! I can totally sleep at night knowing they were just a few doors down from me on this day!
Anyway, back to the point. On top of this blast from the past, the beer company has also become big on collabs as of late – including but not limited to tinnies with The Dunies, Foo Fighters and more. It’s a nod to the huge influence music has had on the company.
During our Founders University Podcast, Young Henrys Co-Founder Oscar McMahon explained to P.TV‘s Chris Wirasinha that music has played a massive part in his life path. You see, the reason Oscar started working in bars was because he was in a band, and the hours just made sense. From there, his interest in frothies grew.
“I really enjoy being there when people are either having that drink that wipes away their day, or they’re commiserating or they’re celebrating. You know, when you’re working at a bar you get to see people at their best or at their lowest – it’s a really interesting set of human interactions which I really, really love.”
“And funnily enough, through bartending I actually ended up falling in love with beer and booze, and met Richard Adamson who ended up becoming co-founder of Young Henrys. I met him over a bar [Glebe‘s Roxbury Hotel around 8 years ago], so, I guess in a weird way, music has defined me as a person.”
From there they used to gather in the back room as part of a beer club, with about 120 people having genuine interactions around the wonderful thing that is beer. Over a few too many one night, Oscar explained, “Rich said something to the effect of, ‘How good would it be to create a beer company that was in touch with the people as beer club is?’”
They followed up on it the next day; the concept of a local brewery that reflected peoples tastes, and two years later they were in business. How’d they get from that to this widespread recognition they have now? Make sure you listen to the full interview (you didn’t think we were going to give it all away, did you?) below. There’s a near-death experience in there that’ll leave you SHOOK.
“One morning Rich and I were both brewing, and at the bottom of the mash tun, which is basically like the first step vessel, is an adjustable door and I was super tired and I saw that it was leaking and was like, ‘Oh, we’re losing quite a bit there,’ and just went to fix it.”
“Rich was like, ‘Just leave it’ and I said, ‘Nah, I’m pretty sure I can get this,’ and just turned the latch the wrong way and undid this latch, and basically 1,200 litres of seriously hot, sticky liquid just evacuated out of this manhole in a matter of seconds. It was really – it was frightening. Steam up everywhere, neither of us could see each other..”
The story goes on, but you’ll have to listen to the podcast to hear the rest.
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