Christen McGarry is the Chief Operating Officer and Founding Brewer at the Sunshine Coast’s Your Mates Brewing. McGarry reflects on the life lessons learned through beer and his commitment to championing friendship.
Twelve years ago, McGarry and his mate Matt Hepburn met in a shared house in Moffat Beach, Queensland. McGarry was a primary school teacher, and Hepburn was a project manager in construction.
The pair became good friends and in McGarry’s own words, they were not “frothing” over their chosen careers.
“We hit it off and realised we both always loved beer. But we really caught the craft beer bug when we were looking at a career change. I had been doing DJ gigs on the side, and Matt had been event organising,” he told Beer & Brewer.
Rather than going into competition with the bars and pubs they had developed strong relationships with the friends thought: “How hard could it be to start our own brewery?”
“At the time there was a gap. We really didn’t see anyone representing what we loved about beer locally.
“The thing that we love most about it is sharing experiences with good friends, new friends, old friends. Drinking is a social experience, and we really wanted to highlight that.”
“Time is the most precious thing on Earth, and I think that having a beer with your mates is giving them your time, and that’s and the value that we really want to try and show: show our team, show our consumers, show everyone.”
Without a cent to their names, run down cars and personal debt, the friends started out on a long journey to build their brand.
“We realised we can’t hire anyone to help us build this business. So, we’re just going to have to learn to do it ourselves. But with nothing to put in, we had nothing to lose.”
The mates spent 18 months learning to brew while working in hospitality at Hepburn’s brother’s bar
Learning and planning as they went, McGarry found himself gravitating towards the brewing side and Hepburn leaning into the business and marketing side.
“We always knew that we had to have something that was drinkable. We selfishly designed our ultimate Pale Ale, which ended up becoming Larry. We just had notebooks full of potential names for the business. We’d grab a couple of knock offs at the end of our shift, go back to our garage, which we converted into a bar, and just brainstorm.”
Learning as you go
In 2013, McGarry began contract brewing where he learned from a range of different breweries while sharing their space.
“I was just trying to get as much exposure to brewing on bigger systems. Anytime anyone was contract brewing our beer, I’d be there, and I’d be watching, taking it all in.”
He added: “We worked from morning to midnight. I don’t know how we did it. We lived and breathed it and still are, but we’ve taken our weekends back and realised that you do need balance.”
Reflecting on the process McGarry noted that the best way for the business to learn has been on the go.
“We got an opportunity to gypsy brew in Maleny it was my first time on a big kit, and I probably wasn’t quite ready, but that’s how we’ve always learned. Just jump in and see if you see if you sink or swim.”
By 2016 the pair were confident their brews were resonating with people and felt ready to open up their own brewery. In search of investors, the pair took an opportunity to feature on Shark Tank.
“We looked for investors because we still didn’t have that kind of money and Shark Tank came up. That was one of the most insane experiences of our lives. But we thought ‘even if we don’t get any money from them, at least we get Larry on national TV’.”
Although the pair did not come away with a deal they gained valuable mentorship.
“We got mentoring through Glenn Richards and Steve Baxter, who filled us with confidence and told us to keep going and keep learning.”
At the same time, McGarry said it was advice from Ben Summons the former CEO of Stone & Wood, on creating realistic goals that changed their approach.
“We had some real aspirations back then. We wanted to get to 10 million litres and build a behemoth brewery. Then he [Summons] said, ‘that’s all good but why do you want to do that?’ Our answer was ‘because we think we should’.
“He took us on a journey of figuring out what we wanted our lifestyle to be like, our work life balance etc. It was realistic and helped us not to go too hard, too quickly.”
Above all, McGarry said the greatest lesson he and Hepburn have learned is to embrace challenges.
“We learned to enjoy the time in between the next massive challenge or hurdle you’ve got to overcome. That just never stops. In the early days, I think we thought once we get to point B then it’ll be much easier, but that is always out of reach. We became comfortable in the acceptance of challenges because there’s always going to be curveballs.”
Looking forward
Proud of how far both himself and the business have come, McGarry said the goals for the future remain both realistic and keep connection at the core.
“I’m proud of everything that we’ve achieved, our decisions and the team around us. We definitely worked hard on getting good people in here that fit in with what we’re what we’re trying to do, and that’s just to connect more people through mateship with every beer.”
By that he means celebrating good times but also being there through the tough times.
“Being a real mate is being there for your team, your family, your friends, when the going gets tough too.
Passionate about supporting the community, Your Mates began a not-for-profit called the Mateship Foundation which last financial year donated over $50,000 and McGarry said will continue to help where it can.
“We created the Foundation to broaden our reach and really make a difference. We also donate to different charities. Our mission is to connect more people in the communities that we are in over every ‘Cheers mate’.”
Working to keep those glasses and cans full, McGarry said there are a few new things brewing.
“We’re about to launch Larry Jr, a mid-strength version of Larry Sr. We are looking to kind of stretch our wings in the limited release space as well. It’s something that we’ve never actively gone into. We always focused on having a solid core range and now that it is we want to dip our toes into some more fun beers.”