Ballistic Springfield Brewery, Bar and Kitchen say their mission is to share the pleasure of awesome craft beer with the local community.
Four months in since opening, they are keeping that promise with the 800 litre brewery serving their various home brews across 20 taps in their 350 seat brewpub near the USQ campus at Springfield.
General manager Wade Curtis is an Ipswich boy whose first venture into setting up a brewpub was with Pumpyard Bar and Brewery which he opened in 2015.
He then moved onto Ballistic Beer which has venues in Salisbury and West End.
Mr Curtis said opening a third location in Springfield was prompted by a saturated inner city market in Brisbane.
“I wanted to come out to Ipswich because we know we can offer something exciting, interesting and unique,” Mr Curtis said.
“We also like the idea of being the first brewery in Springfield and the largest in Ipswich.”
Mr Curtis said that the craft scene has really grown in Ipswich.
“It was important to us to build a brewpub and a big difference between us and a traditional pub is that you will not find any pokies here,” he said.
“We don’t have large TVs or Keno.
“We want to build a community hub, a place where people can come together and enjoy each other’s company and listen to live music.”
Mr Curtis said people want to go somewhere where the person that brewed the beer might pour them the beer, that they are invested in it.
“We have been well accepted into the local community, insanely so,” he said.
“The local support has been amazing.
“Our customers say they are happy they don’t have to travel and this area really needed something like this.
“Our food is really good, we have live music and a jumping castle for the kids on Sundays.
“You get the craft beer experience but in a family friendly setting, you can even bring your dog.”
Ballistic Springfield Brewery, Bar and Kitchen general manager Wade Curtis, bar tender Jessie White, head chef Rhett Allen and venue manager Renee McCreadie
The core of Ballistic Beer Co is their beer.
The most popular being the Springfield Pilsner which is permanently on tap and brewed specifically for locals.
The beer is described as a very easy to drink beer, nice and crispy and not to hoppy.
It is brewed as a clean European pilsner with mostly Australian ingredients.
“We designed it as the beer everyone will enjoy after a hike to White Rock or an afternoon spent mowing the lawn,” Mr Curtis said.
Ballistic BBQ Fest is on Saturday, 29 February where 10 teams will compete for the title of best Barbequer.
It is a free event but you can also buy VIP tickets that include a full low and slow BBQ menu and beer experience.
Details here.
“You can even take it home in a can.”
They are currently brewing an Irish stout that will be ready for St Patricks Day described by the brewer as dry, chocolaty, roasty stout that will not be too full bodied at about 4.5 per cent.
Their range of beers promise to blow away traditional ideas of what beer should taste like.
Pale ales, lagers, IPA’s Sours and specialty release beers are often brewed in small batches at either Salisbury or Springfield.
“We have plenty of events coming up to complement our crafted quality beer,” Mr Curtis said.
“We are also looking into working with a company to develop a craft trail in Ipswich, a western brewery tour to visit all the breweries here in Ipswich.”
The Springfield watering hole employs 30 people, most only travelling five minutes to work.
Ballistic Springfield Brewery, Bar and Kitchen are located next to the USQ campus at 37 Sinnathamby Blvd, Springfield Central.
They are open from 11.30am Wednesday to Sunday.
Read also:
