In the early days of Australia’s craft beer explosion there was a brewery that out cooled all the others. I remember seeing their tight branding, the confidence that exuded from their marketing and their insane growth trajectory and just being immediately jealous of Black Hops Brewery.

When I sat down to write my book in 2019 I even found out these guys had already written one about their start-up process. And they did a podcast. They looked successful. People were raving about them. They were beating the odds.

Then a few years ago I heard that the brewery had fallen on hard times and that one of the owners, Dan Norris, had even left the brewery he had co-founded with his 2 friends.

So I reached out. Didn’t get a yes. But I’m not the give up type of guy. I really wanted to hear this story and needed to share it with you so I kept pinging Dan over the next few years.

Finally Dan reached a point that he wanted to share the story, set the record straight and vent out some of his experience. My guests and I, and many of you, know exactly what that feels like.

I truly had no idea what I was about to hear. The story of Dan’s brewery had many of the same struggles we’ve covered before. But his brewery was selling millions of dollars of beer every year, expanding exponentially and raising so much money that Black Hops was valued right into the stratosphere.

The brewery was killing it, right up until it wasn’t.

And what you’re about to hear will inspire you, concern you, make you question and give you pause. I doubt it will convince you to start a mid-sized brewery on the Gold Coast, but it will teach you a lot about How NOT To Start A Damn Brewery.

They have a website