Award-winning Queensland brewer Black Hops (BH) has vowed to keep its taprooms open despite going into voluntary administration.
The Gold Coast-founded small business has not revealed why it was forced to relinquish control to accountancy firm Deloitte on Monday, other than to say it had “no alternative”.
“Today, the BH board has made the tough decision to place the business into voluntary administration,” read a message to “our loyal customers and supporters” on Black Hops’ Instagram page.
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“Trust us when we say it hasn’t been an easy decision to make; however, our circumstances have meant there was no alternative.”
Black Hops beer will continue to be sold in stores and pubs, and “our taprooms will still be open and serving food”, the post read.
Customers have been urged to “get around us … and support our taprooms and retail sales”.
“We will be working towards successfully getting through to the other side of this restructure with a stronger business that ultimately keeps Black Hops serving our epic beers and keeps all our amazing staff on board,” the company said.
“To you, our supporters and loyal patrons, we thank you from the bottom of our beer glasses.”
If the business were to shut, it would be a blow to southeast Queensland’s food and beverage scene, given there are two Black Hops breweries on the Gold Coast (Burleigh and Biggera Waters) and one in Brisbane (East Brisbane). The Burleigh venue has been operating since 2016.
Black Hops has won a plethora of awards in national and local beer contests, including the crown for Australia’s best craft brewery in the 2022 Beer Cartel Craft Beer Survey.
David Ian Mansfield and Timothy Joseph Heenan have been appointed administrators.
It’s the latest craft brewery to go into administration in Australia, after Melbourne’s Deeds Brewing and Golden West Brewing from Perth earlier in March.