Capital Brewing Company is set to launch at Canberra Airport, hot on the heels of the announcement that Stomping Ground has a Melbourne Airport taproom in the works.

Its latest site is set to land at the regional airport by April 2020.

Capital has been located at the Canberran suburb of Fyshwick for two years, just down the road from the airport.

For the latest venture, the brewing company has teamed up with Airport Retail Enterprises (ARE) to deliver the taproom as part of a 1,000 square metre food and retail development, which will feature 12 taps of Capital’s locally-brewed beers.

Richard Snow, head of property at Canberra Airport, said that the airport had made the decision to rehaul the terminal 12 months ago, and it proved a perfect opportunity to deviate from a generic airport offering.

“We did this for three main reasons: to react to an increase in passenger growth number one, and secondly to improve customer experience. We had the retail on one concourse and wanted to reweight that.

“The third point, which is really important to us, was to provide a connection to the locality.

“The airport is a gateway to our city and should be representing local brands, showcasing the best of the Canberra region.”

The airport worked with ARE to find Capital and local coffee roasters ONA, who won a tender process for the site.

“We put a lot of effort in talking to local partners, and putting a proposal together with local content, but that only works if you have good local partners to work with.

“Capital were a real standout and an obvious choice. They’ve been going really well in terms of growing the business, we really like their ethos of good quality beer with connection to nature and a strong sustainability message.

“We’re really blessed to be able to have such a great brewing company on site.”

Acknowledging the trend which has seen Australia’s airports invest in ‘localising’ their offerings for passengers, Snow said that it was important to bring in companies like Capital.

“It creates a really strong connection to the capital, showcasing local ingredients in a really great beer.”

Capital Brewing Co’s managing director Laurence Kain said in a press statement that the brewing company was excited about delivering even a small sample of what Canberra has to offer to the airport’s customers.

“Visitors to the Airport will be treated to a wide range of our core, seasonal, and specialty brews made with our pristine Canberra water just 1km away in Dairy Rd,” he said.

Snow added that Capital are now undertaking wholesale operations down the East Coast, so when visitors to Canberra head home, they’ll be able to see some Capital brews on the shelf there too.

“For a smaller airport on the national scale like Canberra, it’s even more important to showcase these great local businesses with a great backstory, and hopefully it’ll help grow the business and provide them with some exposure.”

It’s a mutually beneficial deal, he said, where Capital gets more exposure and the airport gets a strong local brand to give visitors a sense of place when they transit through the airport.

“You see it through all the airports, in Adelaide, for example, they’ve done a tie-up with Coopers. It’s part of the travel retail movement where customers want a connection to local products.

“If you do that right and get the experience right then that should result in sales and that’s critical.

“People are just expecting more from that airport experience than a glass of VB.”