FEATURE: TWO BIRDS BREWING

Birds of a feather

Craft beer has taken off in clubs, with some venues even introducing their own brews. Two Birds BrewingCo-Founder Danielle Allen reveals all to Brydie Allen about being the country’s first female-founded brewery.

WHILE DANIELLE ALLEN didn’t start her working life in the beer sector she originally found her feet in liquor through marketing. In the early 2000s, she got a taste of the industry through Metcash, followed by a role at Woolworths around the same time private label activity was beginning to take off.

In marketing, Danielle became involved in product development from start to finish - and everything in between. She developed significant knowledge on global routes to market with brands and companies in their early stages and gained a solid understanding of how the liquor industry worked.

After touring US craft breweries with Jayne Lewis, Danielle had a lightbulb moment which would eventually be developed into Two Birds Brewing. Lewis had taken on roles at Little Creatures and Mountain Goat and shared the ambition of wanting to launch a business.

“We realised with the background and skill set I had, and her brewing skills, we could team up and start a brewery together,” says Danielle. “We launched Two Birds in 2011, built a brewery in 2014, and we’re still here 10 years later. Obviously, we have a slightly different structure now we’re part of Lion, but in terms of owning and driving the brand direction and deciding where it goes, that’s still very much on Jayne and my shoulders.”

Danielle Allen said it was never her objective to start a brewery.

Being Australia’s first female-founded brewery is something that drives the brand and is why International Women’s Day has been an important event for Two Birds for many years. It led to the creation of the limited annual Warrior Woman beer release along with events and a recent fundraising collaboration with Endeavour Group around the Summer Ale SKU.

“It means justice and dignity, which I think are two great values for us as a business to hold ourselves accountable to,” says Danielle. Leading the beer industry towards more gender equality has come about with time as Two Birds has become part of the landscape.

Every day, we’re still confronted with people assuming the beer industry is all about men and women don’t participate.

“As we’ve gotten older, wiser and more settled into the business with the brand being more established, it has really been about driving awareness around equality and diversity and helping lead the conversation down that path,” says Danielle.

“[But] it was never the objective or the priority of starting a brewery or a beer brand. Being Australia’s first female-founded brewery was just about making good beer because why shouldn’t we start a brewery? Now, we want to be not only just a female voice in beer, but to inspire women to have a second think about industries they might not automatically think they’re allowed to step into.”

It’s why the fundraising initiative with Endeavour Group is so special, because it’s intended to provide boots to women who can’t afford them but need them for workplace safety purposes in industries such as brewing. Another defining moment was signing a “ground-breaking” sports sponsorship deal with AFL team, the Western Bulldogs.

It was the first time an independent craft brewery forged a partnership with a major football club and led to Two Birds not only entering the mainstream but celebrating women’s AFL teams, too.

“It was a great alignment of two brands coming together for the greater good and was when women’s AFL had just started,” says Danielle.

Breaking down the barriers

From being involved with different sides of the industry and to cofounding her own beer brand, Allen has been able to witness and experience the challenges women face in the industry firsthand. One of the greatest revolves around unconscious bias.

“Every day, we’re still confronted with people assuming the beer industry is all about men and women don’t participate; women don’t drink beer and women don’t enjoy beer,” says Danielle. “I think we’re still a long way from breaking down that first real basic bias about beer although we’ve already come a long way.”

Danielle believes there is still a gap in visibility and opportunities for women in beer based on preconceived ideas and notions about what people think is possible. There is also the challenge of having to work harder to be “taken seriously”, she says. But Danielle does see positive change is already in the works.

“There’s some leading women who have done such great work to break some of those biases down,” she says. “There’s a small pocket of the industrythat does really well, but it’s about spreading the word into more mainstream areas around Australia. “I’m not sure if there is one big solution or remedy, I think it’s a lot of small efforts and starts with every community and everybody being responsible and accountable.”

Getting stuck into the fermentation tank.

One such effort Danielle references is Beer Agents For Change, a collective of women seeking to lead meaningful change in the Australian beer industry. The group is working on information and resources the industry can use so every business can create positive codes of conduct and guidelines around gender equality. Danielle says it will provide invaluable materials to the industry, which for the most part, is trying to do better. “There are a lot of people interested in it and getting it right already,” she says. “It’s definitely not for a lack of desire [that there are still issues].”

Positive voice for change

Danielle is an excellent role model for women in beer as the coowner of a successful business and a voice for positive change. Her advice to other women in the industry who have similar aspirations is to always stay true to yourself and your motivations.

“People often say you’ve got to get insights from as many people as possible, but it’s really important to first have your own vision, your own objective and your own goals,” she says. “People will offer you a variety of opinions and if you’re not 100 per cent confident and believe in yourself and what you’re doing, it can be easy to [veer off] that direct path.

“Being absolutely 100 per cent authentic to yourself is just so paramount in starting a business and getting it off the ground. It’s not going to be easy, nothing is easy in this world, and it’s not going to fall into your lap.”

This story was originally published by The Shout, which has launched a series of profiles on women working across the industry.