Episode
Five Barrels. Ten Years. One Family.
- Podcast
- The Crafty Pint Podcast
- Published
- Feb 25, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3740
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://zencastr.com/z/xG3AMRd5
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Summary
"We built a business that was really there to be connected directly to the community, and I think we succeeded in that." There are plenty of family-owned and run businesses in the local beer world, but few in which so many family members are as directly involved as Five Barrel Brewing in Wollongong. As if to prove the point, on the day we visited to record this podcast, Jane (mum) and Mike (dad) were setting up the bar and beer garden. Meanwhile, two of their three kids working in the business, Phil and Lucy, took a break from work to join us upstairs above the brewpub where, at various times, both Phil and his parents have lived. And it wasn't long before brother Tim got a mention too, in relation to a new side business he and Phil have just launched (which we learned about from Mike). The O'Sheas first opened Five Barrel in December 2015, just the second brewery in the Illawarra. Now, as they celebrate their first decade [https://craftypint.com/news/3959/five-barrel-ten-lessons-from-ten-years], they're part of a far larger local beer scene, which itself forms the start of an ever-longer South Coast Ale Trail stretching most of the way to the Victorian border. It's a scene in which they helped pave the way for the others, the evolution of which is just one of the topics covered in this episode. As well as reflecting on the ten years-and-counting – from the early days pouring samples in a restricted tasting room, releasing Hoppy Amber, and winning best brewery at the 2016 Sydney Craft Beer Week – right through to the launch of brewery software platform Abbl [https://craftypint.com/business/1320/abbl-brewery-management-software] and plans to find a new home in the coming years, Lucy and Phil share insights on all manner of subjects relevant to anyone working in the craf…