MICK Stroud’s plans to develop a microbrewery that has more than double the production of WA brewers Little Creatures and Gage Roads Brewing Co are moving ahead, three months after Big Island Brewing Ltd abandoned a $10 million capital raising to spearhead an Australian stock market listing. Mr Stroud said Big Island intended to brew its first beer in June or July next year. Its German-imported brew house is under construction and the brewery is expected to be complete in about eight to nine months, he said. Big Island is being funded by a group of un-named private investors, which have invested $15 million. Mr Stroud said that switching funding models meant the business could not fund executive salaries until the brewery was operational. Mr Stroud said Shane O’Hart, who was recruited as managing director, was consulting to the business along with some other executives. Meanwhile, Big Island’s head brewer, Hugh Dunn, has left to take up a role with Edith Cowan University as a microbrewery lecturer.
