Pumpyard Bar & Brewery to open in Ipswich

Wade Curtis is living many men's dream: he's thrown in a stable, corporate job to open a brewery. The former home-brewing hobbyist started making beer in 2001 after he was inspired by craft beers on an overseas trip.

"I tried these amazing beers, but when I came back I couldn't find anything similar, so I started brewing at home myself. Then four years ago I went commercial."

Curtis won bronze medals last year for his Four Hearts imperial stout, pale ale and summer wheat beer. In October last year he took the plunge and quit his marketing job to open his own brewery in Ipswich: the Pumpyard.

"We were looking at opening before Christmas but it's taken longer than I thought to set up - it's a complicated business."

The brewery is named after the building, originally a pump yard dating from the 1800s where locals would come to get water. Curtis says he has tried to keep the brewery sympathetic to the age of the building.

'We've exposed all the beautiful old brick and put in a bar made from wood from an old bridge from Toogoolawah. After it was a pump yard, it became a TAFE in 1901 and this was the plumbing and metal shop, so we've picked up that industrial theme and left copper pipes exposed, put in bare bulb lamps and light fittings, and made the tables ourselves out of thick irrigation pipe."

The venue seats 200 in total including an outdoor beer garden overlooking a couple of old fig trees.

Inside, the brewing tanks are set right in among the tables. Curtis says they will have have 10 taps with four regular beers and a couple of seasonal beers of their own plus two "guest beers" and a cider.

Consulting on the menu is chef Ali Orchard, former operations manager for Tippler's Tap and Tomahawk in Brisbane. The beer-themed menu will have dishes such as stout-braised beef cheek burger, platters of cheese, meats and smoked goods, as well as pizza and onion rings. Desserts include house-made doughnuts with a stout sauce, and a range of beer ice-creams. Most of the dishes will cost from $12-$16, Curtis says.

So, is he anxious about having swapped the corporate life for something a lot more dicey?

"I was nervous but I've moved beyond that, past terror to shameless, blatant optimism. Maybe it's my mid-life crisis, but it's something I've wanted to do for the last eight years and I think Ipswich is ready."

Pumpyard Bar & Brewery is at 88 Limestone Street, Ipswich, and is due to open within a fortnight.