AKASHA founder Dave Padden is a believer in the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
It's certainly the attitude Padden is taking to popular Newcastle West venue, The Edwards, which his Sydney brewery acquired two weeks ago.
"The culture of the guys that are already there, and the feel they bring, is really important to us," Padden says.
"It's something you can't create quickly. It takes time to build over a number of years.
"What they bring to the customers is really quite unique.
"It's comfortable. It doesn't take itself too seriously and really appeals to a broader market, from younger people to older patrons as well. Everyone seems to love it, including us."
The Edwards is also not expected to undergo a re-branding. Padden says no decision has been made, but the venue is likely to be known as The Edwards by Akasha.
Since its launch in 2015, the Five Dock-based Akasha has become one of Sydney's most renown independent breweries with their hop-driven drops such as the Hopsmith IPA, Mosaic IPA and Super Chill Pacific Ale developing a loyal following.
Akasha is also within the top-30 biggest independent brewers by volume.
Last year the brewery raised $1.7 million from 543 investors as part of a crowd-funding campaign, which led to the opening in October of The Barrel Room by Akasha at Leichhardt, which serves special barrel-aged beers.
The crowd-funding campaign also allowed Akasha to fulfil their expansion plans of opening a hospitality venue in regional NSW.
"Initially we were looking for something that was a ground-up build, like a warehouse or something similar to create that brewpub environment," Padden says.
"Luckily early on in that search we came across The Edwards, which was what we envisioned down the path, so it got us moving from day one.
"We really fell in the love with the place fairly quickly."
Padden has had his eye on Newcastle for quite a while. His parents moved to Newcastle 20 years ago and he says the city's drinkers are already among Akasha's strongest customers.
"Having that fan base in Newcastle already is a big step forward," he says.
"Also, Newcastle is becoming quite famous for being big lovers of craft beer. There's lots going on in the craft beer world already."
The Newcastle craft beer scene has undergone a rapid expansion over the past 18 months. We've seen the arrival of Northern Beaches brewery Modus Operandi at Merewether, the launch of Method and Shout at Islington, Good Folks at Hamilton and Grainfed, The Thirsty Messiah and Newcastle Brewing Co are expected to open venues this year.
Newcastle also boasts established breweries FogHorn and Styx.
Padden says he plans to embrace Newcastle's fertile craft beer scene at The Edwards.
"We really want to support the breweries that are already working with The Edwards," he says. "Maybe there will be more of a lean towards the other Newcastle breweries as well.
"I think there's some great breweries which are already open and some that are opening now and we wanna help support those.
"It will definitely never be a 100 per cent Akasha venue, in terms of the beer we pour."
The biggest change long-time patrons of The Edwards will notice will be the site's conversion into a fully-functional brewery, capable of producing 100,000 litres annually.
Padden hopes the necessary council and licensing approvals will allow the brewery to be operational by the end of the year. It will also have a decidedly Novocastrian flavour.
"We don't just want to replicate what we're doing in Sydney," he says. "We want it to be known as a Newcastle brewery.
"We'll predominantly be brewing beers specifically for the venue there. Of course you'll see some of our old favourites from Sydney, but most of the beer we brew on site we want to be Newcastle-specific."
Padden says patrons can also expect to see former Edwards owner Chris Joannou around the venue moving forward.
"Chris has been a real key part of The Edwards since it started nine years ago," he says. "He'll still be there helping to run the place moving forward and also he's gonna help in a consulting basis on our other venues as well.
"We really love what he's done at The Edwards and we could do with some of that advice across the group."
Across The Edwards' nine-year history it's developed a reputation for being a beloved neighbourhood haunt. That's exactly where Padden sees the future of craft beer developing.
"A lot of those Newcastle guys that are popping up now are a smaller brewpub model, rather than a national brewer," he says.
"We're seeing less of that and more of these small neighbourhood breweries, which I think is great for the industry.
"People love to get down and visit their local brewery and I think that's where a lot of this growth is and where it'll continue to be in the next couple of years."
