Brews a' Bubbling as Outback Brewing Co Takes Isuzu on the Run

The odds are good that at some point you’ve sat up far too late with friends, having far too much fun, only for someone to suggest ‘we should open a brewery!’ 

Brothers Adam and Peter Watts of Outback Brewing Co had this very conversation back in 2018. With the astonishing power of follow-through, they’ve built a range of beers and ciders to ‘quench the thirst of every Australian’— as their mission statement appears. 

With the aid of a Ready-to-Work Isuzu NLR 45-150 AMT Traypack, they’ve been delivering kegs of handcrafted and painstakingly perfected product in the picturesque town of Chittering, which is burrowed into the northern hills of the Darling Range in Western Australia. 

Adam Watts, Director and Head Brewer, is a refrigerator mechanic by trade who has used his industry experience to good effect installing the cold rooms and equipment needed for Outback Brewing Co. ​ 

“I was working on cool rooms for breweries and doing home brewing myself back in 2005, when I started wondering if we could scale things up,” Adam recalled. ​ 

“We got talking with a people in the industry and decided to just give it a go.” 

Outback Brewing Co offer a core selection of a lager, apple cider and a ‘token’ ginger beer, and the duo say that adding interesting beverages has proved the key to hits at events like Beerfest Australia—where they proudly took home the 2019 People’s Choice Award. 

They have some unusual products such as an outrageously popular bubble-gum cider (by Adam’s own account a ‘2am idea’) and their locally sourced alcoholic lemon squash, made with Chittering lemons. ​ 

There are also plans for a line of whiskey, which they expect to be ready for bottling after two years of barrel ageing, as well as their take on a Vodka and Rum mix. ​ 

The burden of delivering these fine brews falls squarely on Adam and Peter’s shoulders—a familiar tale for any small business owner—which led them to go in search of a delivery solution to help tackle the enviable problem of customer demand outpacing production. 

“When we opened the brewery, we quickly needed something that we could throw the kegs in and use as a run-around vehicle,” Adam said. ​ 

“We were originally using a 2006 Isuzu ute with a 3-litre turbo diesel engine from our old air conditioning company but were at 750,000 kilometres with it. 

“I thought, ‘We’re obviously going to want to go with Isuzu again with that amount of mileage!"

Adam and Peter visited Major Motors Isuzu in Forrestfield and were instantly attracted to how a truck could add value to the business compared to a new ute. They walked away as owners of a NLR 45-150 AMT Traypack featuring 6-speed Automated Manual Transmission, which has both fully automatic and clutchless manual operation modes. 

The new truck has helped to increase productivity and they say it’s perfect for manoeuvring into any tight spot that they need it to. ​ 

“Everything the ute could do, it does better,” noted Adam. 

“I used to tow a trailer with the ute, but now I don't need a trailer. I can rock up to a beer fest with everything on the back and unload. 

“This means one trip, not two or three, which we love.” 

In a short wheelbase, Isuzu’s NLR 45-150 AMT Traypack comes stacked with a nominal payload of just over 2,000 kg, a 4,500 kg GVM and 8,000 kg GCM. This provides sufficient weight for Adam and Peter, who don’t have to worry about overloading the tray with kegs for deliveries throughout Western Australia. ​ 

Ticking along under the reliable power of an Isuzu 4JJ1-TCS engine which offers power of 110 kW (150PS) @ 2,800 rpm and torque of 375 Nm @ 1,600 – 2,800 rpm, the truck can also be driven on a standard car licence, meaning there’s no need for a truck licence for either of the boys or friends if they’re helping out with a run. 

Adam has applied his previous knowledge of refrigerated systems to designing a mobile cool room unit which sits on the truck tray to keep the brews icy cold during transit. ​ 

“We’ve got a refrigerated body that goes on the back, it’s like a little mobile cold room unit, and we've made a skid up that attaches on to it. ​ 

“We plug it in for refrigeration when we're going on long trips—the unit runs off solar, so it’s energy efficient as well.” 

The truck doubles as mobile advertisement for the local favourite, with a full cab wrap proudly emblazoned with the Outback Brewing Co logo. This keeps the deliveries bubbling as potential customers spot the truck on the road. 

The brother brewers are certainly proving that packing in the day trade to open a micro-brewery might just be the perfect career move, but they’re not shy about the hours involved in getting a business like this off the ground. ​ 

“It definitely is a dream job, but it’s also a lot of hard work.” Adam said. 

“We don’t have investors behind us, so we had to learn to prioritise what needed to be bought and what could wait. 

“But then we don’t have anyone telling us what to do, what we can and can’t brew… we just listen to our customers and brew what they want to drink!”