About us

THE FARM THAT BECAME A BREWERY

Here at Rocky Ridge, we take a couple of things seriously; making F*&^ing good beer, and, importantly, not messing with the planet. Our story is long and proud, we’ve evolved from humble beginnings here on our farm, to build a thriving, community focussed brewery. Our aim is simple, to make F*&^ing good beer, using the best local produce, farmed in the best way, with the least environmental impact.

We are Australia’s first Certified Sustainable Brewery and committed to Net Zero emissions from brewing process by 2025

Our farm and brewery take their name from a natural outcrop of Ironstone that runs through the centre of our farm; “Rocky Ridge”, which perfectly sums up our slice of paradise, and ironically sums up the somewhat rocky road that we are on as well.

We acknowledge the Wadandi People, traditional custodians of the land on which we work, and acknowledge the elders past, present and emerging.

PEOPLE

FAMILY OWNED, PEOPLE POWERED, COMMUNITY MINDED

We’re proud to be a small, independent, family-owned business. Our founders Hamish Coates, Mel Holland and Colin Coates have stayed true to this for the entire life of the business.

With no outside investment or intervention, we make decisions based on what’s best for our staff, for our brewery and for the future of our planet.

This means that when it comes to doing the right thing, there are no shareholders or investors to answer to – we can just do it.

We are 100% independent, 100% family owned, and 100% of arguments are won by Ace – the dog!

PLANET

Did ‘Green Brewing’ just become a thing?

Our footprint is our responsibility. We are committed to producing planet friendly beers.

We are proudly 100% Carbon Neutral for all our scope 1, 2 & 3 greenhouse gas emissions, and are a Certified Sustainable Operation – The only brewery in Australia to achieve both.

Over the past 3 years, we’ve seen a 30% reduction in our carbon footprint per litre of beer produced, and we are committed to further reducing our impact as we transition from Carbon Neutral to Net Zero Direct Emissions – by 2025!

Our mission is to produce F*&^ing good beer in the best way possible- by investing in our people through education, and in equipment to help lighten our environmental impact.

BEER

F*&^ING GOOD BEER

There are a couple of things we take very seriously; making F&^%ing good beer, and not messing with the planet.

We like to have a whole lot of fun and love to let that creativity shine through in the beers we brew. We aren’t afraid to experiment with ingredients, techniques and processes to create the best beer we can.

While we love making F&^%ing good beers, we also want to tread lightly in everything we do, with respect for our planet and local environment core to our philosophy. We have invested heavily in people and equipment to not only make the best beer we can, but to have the least impact on our planet. Core to this are our CO2 reclaim plant (read Blog here), Our waste water Recycling (Blog here), Our Solar and Battery system (blog) and our Biodigester (Blog). Each of these are fucking cool, help us make better beer and best of all, make us one of the most sustainable brewers in Australia.

We showcase the best of our region to make world class, award winning beer. We use the best ingredients, grown with the highest regenerative agricultural standards, by the best farmers, with the best processes.

And we think our team is pretty awesome too!

WHERE THE F*&^ IS JINDONG?

It’s a question we get asked a lot, put simply, it’s the middle of bloody nowhere. A farming region nestled between Busselton and Cowaramup, in the Margaret River Wine Region.

Jindong was originally settled in 1924 as a part of the agricultural group settlement scheme. At that time, the region was known as Lennox then later separated into the farming regions of Jindong & North Jindong.

The traditional custodians of this land are the Wadandi people. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the country throughout Australia and recognise the continuing connection to lands,waters and community. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, to Elders past, present and emerging.

Our Journey

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2016

First brew shed built (200m2)

Mel, Hamish, Ace and Indy

Trips to China to check out equipment

RR Estate grown barley trials

Hop yard experiments begin

2017

Equipment arrives. Capacity of 240,000 liters PA

First brew (Keg tapped at SW Beerfest- cheers Beer Farm!) – Granite IPA

First release (April 22, 2017)

Canning line installed (Oct 2017) + first canned release- Citrus IPA

Key releases: Sour Buffalo, Ace Pale Ale, ROCK JUICE, Holy Sh*t It’s A Mid Mandarin

Barrel project kicks off

10,000 trees planted

2018

Ricky starts (first employee)

First exports to Singapore

Peach Invasion

A beast is born (Limited Release Program)

Ace Pale Ale wins our first gold medal – AIBA

Shed extensions (area to 300m2)

Capacity increased to 432,000 liters PA

Solar upgrade from 20kw to 50kw, storage increased to 40kwh

10,000 trees planted

Sock it to Sarcoma charity brew

Opening of a small bar named Darleens

2019

More shed extensions

Huge solar upgrade 50kw additional added. Total 100kw solar capacity. 60kwh battery

TapHouse opens at Easter

Capacity increased to 816,000 litres PA (more new tanks!)

Darrens Ride (MND) charity brew

Circa 20,000 trees planted on site

Brew Pups V2 arrive

2020

Carbon Neutral

New shed built (area total now 1000m2)

Carbon Neutral status gained

Huge expansion on solar plus batteries (100kw-120kw, plus extra 150kwh batteries)

New canning line ordered

Darleens closes permanently- our team all move to new roles at RRBC

Subiaco pop up at the Vic Hotel – one month before covid resulting in permanent closure

All Together hospo charity brew

Webstore launches

Brew Pups V3 arrive

2021

Carbon Neutral

Increased to 1,800,000 litres PA

Canning line arrives (Finally – Thanks covid)

Taphouse tavern license granted! Increased capacity and schooners.

Cracked 1M Litres of beer produced

Brewhouse refurbished and upgraded to facilitate 2022 growth, increasing efficiency by approx 30%

A line in the Sand Charity brew w SW Brewers alliance- $20k donated

Team tree planting day- 10,000 trees in 5 hours. Go team!

2022

Carbon Neutral

The year of efficiency- we have reached our ultimate site based capacity of 2,500,000 litres, attention turns to efficiency, decreasing water and energy use, increasing efficiency across the business

Committed to halving emissions before 2030 and achieving net-zero by 2050 – Science Based Targets initiative.

Further upgrades: CO2 reclaim, Centrifuge, Wastewater treatment and reuse, Battery storage doubled again, Novel processes investigated for energy reduction and reduced use of fossil fuels.

Champion Large Brewery, Perth Royal Food Awards

Champion Beer, Perth Royal Food Awards

2022 Telstra Best of Business Awards WA winner in the Promoting Sustainability Category.

Became Certified Sustainable

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