BACKGROUND - OVERVIEW FAST FACT SHEET
- Bens hospitality background spans 18 years at various local hospitality icons.
- In 2003 Ben’s passion for craft product began. He was managing at the popular Davey’s bar and restaurant on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, when he first put Matilda Bay’s, Beez Knees and Little Creatures, Pale Ale on tap, and followed with creating the ‘Beer Passport’ concept.
Daveys was also the first Venue in Melbourne & on the Mornington Peninsula to support local Penninsula wine.
- He took the Beer Passport concept to Young and Jackson’s Hotel where he kicked off Melbourne’s craft beer festival frenzy almost a decade ago now, with Melbourne's first craft beer festival 'Meet Your Maker'. This inspired confidence in other local visionaries, to make craft beer accessible to the Melbourne public.
- Combining his two craft loves, Ben followed on with Australia’s first craft beer and cider festival, and then the concept creation and design of the Rooftop Cider Bar, Australia’s first public bar dedicated to cider.
- His design ingenuity has influenced the Melbourne, interstate and even international bar scene.
- Young and Jackson’s had 11 products on tap when he took over the venue, and 35 by the time Ben left in 2011 with 98 per cent being local craft product. This passion for craft product led him to open his own venue, The Brunswick St Cider House.
- Over the past decade Ben has been instrumental in building those first bridges between Australian and international craft beer and cider makers and their Australian consumer, reading the market and providing valuable feedback to brewers, wine makers, and first time business owners as they built their brand and product portfolios.
- Ben’s passion and vision for the industry keeps him at the fore-front, creating many ‘firsts’.
- Ben has been a guest speaker at Craft Beer events, a judge for the Royal Fine Food awards and an Associate Judge for the Australian Cider Awards.
- Cider is Gluten free and Vegan and is an alcoholic beverage for people with dietary intolerances.
- The Brunswick St Cider House clientele include many prominent corporate businesses, sporting teams, athletes, celebrities and media personalities.