Trouble brewing: Australian brewers struggle in ‘craft beer recession’

Dereck and Diti Hales left their corporate jobs to open Bad Shepherd Brewing in south-east Melbourne in 2015. After Covid hit, the couple were forced to call in an administrator to help with rising costs. Photograph: Nadir Kinani/The Guardian

In 2015, Dereck and Diti Hales left their corporate jobs to open Bad Shepherd Brewing in Cheltenham, in south-east Melbourne – a spacious venue with craft beers on tap, a menu of American-style barbecue and trivia on Thursdays.

“We’re a small business,” Dereck says. “This is our life savings. This is our dream.”