Stone & Wood is about three blokes who share a love of beer, taking a fresh approach to brewing hand
crafted beer in Byron Bay, one of the greatest places on earth. After years of planning and months spent
building their brewery they have now launched their first beer.
Founders Brad Rogers, Ross Jurisich and Jamie Cook are brewing industry veterans with a combined
experience of more than 50 years in brewing, sales and marketing. Their approach is focussed on brewing
handcrafted beer in small batches with an emphasis on quality not quantity.
“When we first started chatting about what we were going to brew, there was lots of discussion and debate
(over many beers) around beer styles and ingredients” said Cook.
“There are a lot of different approaches to craft brewing including trying to replicate classic beer styles from around the world such as Czech Pilsners, American Pale Ales and German Wheat beers, or pushing the boundaries and brewing extreme beers.
“However, we have decided to do our own thing by brewing a beer that doesn’t belong in any pigeon hole.”
Starting with a clean sheet of paper they have set out to develop and brew beer that makes the most of the
ingredients available today to produce their own style. Beer that simply lets the flavours and aromas of the
ingredients shine through by keeping the processes to a minimum. Beer that is simply good to drink.
“In this part of the world people enjoy having a beer when relaxing after catching a wave, catching a band at
the pub or just catching up with friends. It’s that sort of place” said Jurisich. “We set out to brew beer for times
like these.”
Their first offering is inspired by the village breweries of Europe whose ales were brewed to be delivered fresh
and enjoyed in the pubs of the surrounding local area.
“Stone & Wood Draught Ale is brewed to be served fresh in the many great watering holes just down the
road,” said Brewer Rogers.
“Therefore we don’t need to filter or pastuerise it. We want it to be served over the bar just like it is in our storage tank at the brewery.”
“Brewed with local water from the Byron Bay hinterland, Australian grown barley, wheat, and hops, and carefully selected ale yeast, we have crafted a beer with complex flavours and a clean bitter finish” said Rogers.
Stone & Wood Draught Ale is available in the local pubs in the Byron Bay region such as The Rails, Great Northern Hotel and The Bangalow Hotel from Friday the 28th of November.
Stone & Wood Draught Ale
We were inspired to brew this style of beer by the European village breweries whose ales were brewed and delivered fresh to be enjoyed in the pubs of the surrounding local area.
Draught Ale is brewed to be served fresh in the many great watering holes just down the road; therefore we don’t need to filter or pastuerise it. We want it to be served over the bar just like it is in our storage tank at the brewery.
Brewed with local water from the Byron Bay hinterland, Australian grown barley, wheat, and hops, and carefully selected ale yeast we have crafted a beer with complex flavours and a clean bitter finish.
Why don’t we filter or pasteurise our Draught Ale?
Filtering beer removes the remaining yeast which causes the beer to look cloudy, unfortunately a lot of the flavour is also removed by the filter.
Pasteurising beer usually involves a heating process which gives it some stability for shipping long distances or storing for a long time. Unfortunately this process can also knock some of the crisp freshness out of the beer.
Beer geek stuff…
A grist bin filled with a blend of pale malted barley and both malted and unmalted wheat is let rip to mix with the crystal clear water from the hinterland. After being mashed and then sparged the wort is drained from the grain and then kettle hopped with Australian Galaxy hops.
After cooling the wort we pitch in a traditional ale yeast and ferment before dry hopping and locking the tank up for cold conditioning. The beer is then racked straight from the storage tank into kegs and delivered direct to the coldrooms of the local watering holes, to be served fresh from the tap.
So who are these Stone & Wood guys?
Jamie Cook
An industry veteran, Jamie has more than twenty five years experience in the liquor industry, both in the UK and Australia. Throughout that time, he has had many roles in Sales, Marketing and General Management, in businesses such as Bass (U.K), Castlemaine Perkins , Matilda Bay Brewing, CUB and Fosters.
A passionate craft beer enthusiast, Jamie has spent a large portion of his career in the craft / specialist and premium brands area of the liquor industry. He was Marketing Manager for Matilda Bay Brewing Company in the mid 90’s. Together with Brad Rogers, he successfully launched the Masthead Brewing Company at Sanctuary Cove, in 2000 which went on to win Champion Small Brewery at the AIBA twice in the three years up to 2003. In 2003 he drove the strategy and direction for the re-birth of Matilda Bay Brewing Co within the CUB business.
Jamie is now also a Director of Dig Marketing Group, a specialist marketing and communications agency that is focussed in the specialist drinks, food and retail categories.
Brad Rogers
After successfully completing the oenology (winemaker) course at the highly prestigious Roseworthy Agricultural College in Adelaide, Brad worked in the Barossa and the Eden Valley. He entered the brewing industry in 1994 and has held roles in various breweries in Sydney, Melbourne and Fiji as well the management of smaller operations at Sanctuary Cove with the Masthead Brewing Company and most recently the Matilda Bay Brewing Company’s breweries. Brad, whilst in Fiji, also managed the Fosters Distillery, South Pacific.
Throughout his career, Brad has developed an extensive knowledge bank in flavour based beverage production in the areas of brewing, winemaking and distilling. His ability to develop new beers has seen him win many honours both domestically and internationally from Champion Beers, Best in Class Trophies, an array of medals and Champion Small Brewery, Champion Brewery at the AIBA, The World Beer Cup and the NZIBA.
Brad’s credentials have seen him invited to judge various beer and brewing competitions both in Australia and internationally, including the AIBA, NZBA, GABF and The World Beer Cup.
Ross Jurisich
A graduate of Management Training at McDonalds, and MBA, Ross gained extensive experience within the Fosters Group over ten years. In Sales and Marketing roles, ranging from Key Account Management to State Marketing Manager in SA, he built up extensive liquor industry knowledge.
Ross was also a key driver in the re-birth of Matilda Bay Brewing Co and as National Business Development Manager successfully managed a national team which grew distribution and sales volumes to a point where it was once again the market leader in the craft beer market. Throughout his career at Foster’s Ross has built strong relationships.
