Annelies and Jimmy have a very cool claim to fame – they are the duo behind Australia’s smallest commercial brewery; even the street view on Apple Maps still shows patrons enjoying a pint in their driveway.
Backed by tradition and true to style, Madocke Beer Brewing Co doesn’t follow the latest trends and after tapping into the thriving beer culture, the business has come a long way since its humble beginnings from a two-car garage in Pacific Pines.
In 1997, as a young exchange student studying in Melbourne, a year was all it took for Annelies to fall in love with Australia.
When she returned to Belgium, she soon met Jimmy, who, sharing her love of beer, would later become her husband and business partner.
While still in Europe, the pair ran a commercial air-conditioning company before settling on the idea of migrating to Australia with their two children.
“As two home brewers who are very passionate about beer, we set our sights on going to Australia and starting a brewery, so we went back to school in Belgium and became professional brewers,” she says.
In 2016, the family were granted a temporary visa which allowed them to live, work and study in Queensland for up to four years – but only regionally, which at that given moment, according to law, included Nerang, Pacific Pines, Highland Park and Carrara as the only regional suburbs on the Gold Coast.
This meant the family could not do anything on a regular basis outside of this zone, which included visits to the glitter strip, shopping, dance classes or simply visiting the beach, for two years.
“We had this invisible border that we couldn’t cross, it was scary, and it was a challenging time,” she says.
Undeterred, the couple stuck to their plans and went ahead with the brewery.
“Once we got the development application, Council approval and were fully liquor licensed, we started a tiny brewery in our garage,” says Annelies.
“At first, it was a research and development project to see if Australia was ready for our beers.
“We saw that Belgian imported beer was falling off the shelves because the Australian craft beer scene was booming, and we had to determine if there was a market for us.”
The space, offering roughly 36 square metres, was ideal and the couple started producing a broad range of quality Belgian style beers.
“Every step of the production process was done in the garage, including the bottling,” she says.
“We hosted open brewery dates, where people from the street could walk into our tiny little home garage to taste our beers.
“A neighbour told someone, and suddenly, we went from having two people in our driveway each Friday and Saturday afternoon, to a whole lot more.”
Despite the family being limited in their movements, the word soon got out.
Hanging out at Madocke’s funky driveway brewery became ‘a thing’, the beer geek community across Byron, Ballina and Brisbane got wind and the brand got picked up by some pubs who began ordering kegs.
While still in their first year of commercial trading, the business was nominated for best new brewery in Queensland.
“We were doing something different – it resonated, and it worked,” Annelies says.
“I can say we are the only Belgian owned and operated brewery in Australia, there are similar style breweries, but they are not operated by Belgians.”
In 2021, Madocke outgrew the space and could no longer keep up with demand.
“We needed to relocate, but we had to wait until we were able to obtain permanent residency, which finally happened in November 2020,” she says.
After a year of building a much bigger brewery on a corner location in Ashmore, Annelies finally got her garage back and Madocke Beer Brewing Co. opened their doors to the public in November 2021, attracting families, European expats, beer connoisseurs and, of course, people wanting a taste of Belgian culture.
“Our clientele is mature, not in age, but taste,” Annelies says.
“The people who visit generally appreciate beer or have travelled to Europe and want to experience that again.
“We’re not immediately targeting the younger crowd, we do get a lot of expats, and I get to speak Flemish at least once a week with a new customer.”
While the current trends in the beer scene are hoppy flavours, bitterness, and tropical twists, Madocke go back to the basics.
“We bring back the true beer flavour to the surface,” Annelies says.
“We serve beers based on tradition and heritage, our recipes go back to the 1200s, when the Belgian beer scene started to flourish.”
Similar to a German Weissbier, Madocke’s Witbier is one of the rockstars of their range.
“It contains wheat malt, and being from Belgium, we never had to comply with the Purity Law as the Germans did.
Written in 1516, the Bavarian Purity Law, or Das Reinheitsgebot, governed beer brewing in Germany, limiting the ingredients to water, barely malt and hops.
“We are from Belgium, on the other side of the Rhine River and we didn’t have to comply, so we were able to be much more creative with our beers and use more herbs and spices,” she says.
“We do bring out new and limited releases but at Madocke, you will get a true-to-style traditional beer.”
Their Blonde, a Belgian style pale ale, recently took out an extremely prestige accolade at the Australian Independent Beer Awards – as Champion European Style Ale.
“We also do a fantastic gin cider and a lovely Framboos, a fruited witbier that is fermented upon real raspberries to create flavour, aroma and colour; it’s got beautiful body and is slightly tart,” Annelies says.
“The traditional lager also goes down very well in the taproom.”
Located at 286 Southport Nerang Road, Ashmore, Madocke has a range of craft beers on tap and also serves a range of Queensland wines, gins, vodkas, soft drinks and a few cocktails.
For more details, visit https://www.madocke.com.au/