Courier Mail – Chris Herde – January 30, 2020

AN award-winning independent brewer has tapped into a riverside heritage precinct for their second brewery which will be part of a major southside entertainment precinct. Business partners Jay Neven and Matthew Flexman plan to open a brewery, tap room and 300-seat farm-to-table restaurant in the heritage-listed former Commonwealth Acetate of Lime factory which is part of the BMI Group’s Rivermakers @ Morningside business park.

Mr Neven said they opened Revel Brewing Co. on Oxford St in Bulimba two years ago and its success convinced them to expand and take advantage of the area’s rich craft beer history.
“Revel Brewery has been really successful and we wanted to tap into the craft beer history in Bulimba,” he said.
“So we were looking at a few sites in Bulimba but we got a call from the BMI boys and they said we have this really great opportunity and we can do something really special.”They have started development work and plan to open the first stage — a brewhouse and production area — in May and aim to be fully open by the end of the year.

Revel Brewing Co owners Jay Neven and Matthew Flexman at the heritage-listed Acetate of Lime factory at the BMI Group’s Rivermakers business park.BMI’s other plans for its 2.5ha Rivermakers Heritage Quarter will focus on creating an “industrial wholesale precinct” by attracting business such as smoked meat producers, coffee roasters, nurseries and distillers. Mr Flexman said BMI’s plans complement Revel Brewery’s aim of not creating “just another brewery”.

“We’re trying to create an experience for our customers that ties back into the rich history of the site and really engage with them,” he said. On Colmslie Rd, Morningside, the red brick factory was built in 1918 and as part of producing ingredients for ammunition manufacture.
During and just after WWII, the building was used as a Royal Australian Navy and in 1949 it was repurposed and used as a migrant hostel until it closed in the 1960s. It was taken over by Hans Continental Smallgoods which ceased operations about a decade ago.

Acetate of Lime factory which is part of the BMI Group’s Rivermakers business park.
The site is part of a BMI’s 30ha Rivermakers estate of which 27.5ha of it was a former a Mobile refinery site and spans from Lytton Rd to the Brisbane River.
Work is well underway on The Depot — a large format development with a Caltex Service station Lytton Rd — and Stage 1 of the business park behind the Depot is completed with Stage 2 before the Brisbane City Council for approval.
BMI managing director Balfour Irvine said the Rivermakers Heritage Quarter will deliver a vibrant, creative environment with a vision for a mix of well-matched and relevant food and beverage outlets.
“Rivermakers will see a celebration of Brisbane’s ‘Makers’, where craftsmen will ply their trade making some of Brisbane’s finest products” he said.

He said BMI was in early discussions with Brisbane City Council on how to best activate and open up the river frontages to the site. “We’re confident that we will achieve something special at Rivermakers, with an active and vibrant mixed business community, strong connectivity to the river and connections to the Colmslie Beach reserve and Boat Ramp parks high on the agenda,” Mr Irvine said.