# Happy Goblin Brewery



## Insight (27/7/07)

http://www.happygoblin.com/

Anyone know this guy? Dude is using a large homebrew system! 

I found a bottle in the local beerstore in Crows Nest and purchased with a bit of trepidation. Note the hand-written ABV etc. The one I have is the Pale Ale. Nice gentle hops, and a slight honey aftertaste. Bit undercarbonated, but a nice quaffer all the same.

He must really love brewing if he's only doing 54L at a time! Good on ya fella, living the dream :chug:


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## Trent (27/7/07)

Jeez
Good on the bloke doing it in such small batches, that is classic! It probably wouldnt even pay for his time after he pays that greedy taxman, but full points to him none the less. If I ever see it anywhere, I will buy some.
All the best
Trent


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## Jagungal (27/7/07)

I met the guy the other week, he was holidaying at a place I manage in the snowies, he had the logo on the car. 

I ended up barraging the poor guy with questions. Pretty much all the info I got is on his website anyway.

You are right though, seems to be a young home brewer (chemistry graduate) trying to just break even with his own small brewery and some great ideas.

Hope he does well.


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## goatherder (27/7/07)

Good on the bloke, I hope he makes some money. He's taken the huge step of negotiating the layers of red tape it takes to go pro. Good luck to him. I just hope he makes enough to motorise his mill...


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## Doc (27/7/07)

Geez, and a hand operated grain mill. 

Will keep an eye out at the stockists listed on his website to give it a go.

Doc


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## glenos (27/7/07)

[Hijack]
Whats with all the chemists that become brewers? The head brewer at MooBrew is also a chemist and I know another chemist who was producing the mash and running the still for Larks.

As a chemist I am wondering where this will lead me. Guess it beats being a labrat like me
[/Hijack]


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## Pumpy (27/7/07)

Dont you just love that picture of the 57 litre fermenters on little wooden trolleys in his coolroom.

reminds me of that weird advert on TV for Tooheys Dry 

He has outlets for his product that is the main thing must be a part time job weekends and evenings 

crushes the grains at the weekends and bottles at night 


Pumpy


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## Ross (27/7/07)

Amazing, good on him :super: 

i can't see him getting rich, but just love seeing people living the dream  
I'll have to see if I can get some sent up here.

cheers Ross


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## Mr Bond (27/7/07)

WOW, how zen is that?

Visited this guys site, and am impressed with his ingenuity.

Hard work and a love of Craft beers has got him slaving for his dream.

he's doin it!...Hope his brews get the CULT following they deserve.

Real people...Real beer...... Love it :excl:


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## Jagungal (27/7/07)

Ross said:


> i can't see him getting rich, but just love seeing people living the dream



The way I see it, you never know. The businesses I see go the best start off small with little risk and then
slowly grow, learning and developing as they go.

This guy has moved out of his garage and now has a commercial premises, so he is slowly growing and learning.

Looking at his car (old and beaten up - but plastered with his advertising) and the way he camped without power on a ski trip, I reckon he knows how to keep his costs down.


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## Mr Bond (27/7/07)

Jagungal said:


> Looking at his car (old and beaten up - but plastered with his advertising) and the way he camped without power on a ski trip, I reckon he knows how to keep his costs down.



More _Power_ to him :excl:


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## KoNG (28/7/07)

I've got his business card at home, i think my fiance' rock climbs with him.? or something like that (i'm a bit too pissed to remember). but he must be sydney based. will ask for more info in the mornin.


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## simpletotoro (28/7/07)

mans got goolies...big big goolies...maybe thats why he's such a happy goblin ...good luck to him ...wonder if he'll do fresh worts packs (is that the correct term?)...maybe that way he'd get around the alcohol tax ?and it couldn't help but boost production...


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## eric8 (28/7/07)

Now that is living the dream  . He seems to stock beer up at Hornsby, and my wife just started a tafe course up there today, might have to try and stop in there after picking her up. I shot an email off to him as well, might have a mini brewery tour.
Doc I might try and get some of this for Tuesday night :chug: 
Eric


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## lucas (28/7/07)

Good luck to him! Dogfish head started with a similar batch size if I'm not mistaken and look at them now. what I wouldnt give for a mixed case of their beers


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## johnno (28/7/07)

glenos said:


> [Hijack]
> Whats with all the chemists that become brewers? The head brewer at MooBrew is also a chemist and I know another chemist who was producing the mash and running the still for Larks.
> 
> As a chemist I am wondering where this will lead me. Guess it beats being a labrat like me
> [/Hijack]




Good on this bloke for having a go.

glenos,
better the chemists become brewers than do shit like biological warfare.
Beer is good enough to stop an army  

cheers
johnno


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## Muggus (28/7/07)

Woah! That's just up the road from my place! I've been hearing about someone starting up a brewery locally for a few months now. The bloke who runs the brewshop at Asquith mentioned that he's come in for supplies there on a few occasions. And apparently a mate I work with knows the guy who runs it too. Small world! I've have to check this place out and see if any of his brews are in Jims Cellars.


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## Doc (29/7/07)

eric8 said:


> Doc I might try and get some of this for Tuesday night :chug:
> Eric



Sounds great. Hope you can find some fresh.

Beers,
Doc


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## DarkFaerytale (30/7/07)

what a champion, two thumbs up to this guy, great brewery name too 

-Phill


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## Jye (30/7/07)

Has anyone been in contact with him? Inevitable he is going to have to expand and it would be great if he posted a bit of a log as it happens.


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## Asher (30/7/07)

I love the hand crushed malt angle...
And he has a GuestLurker liftovator too!! Well without the water...

niiice
Asher


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## Ross (30/7/07)

Jye said:


> Has anyone been in contact with him? Inevitable he is going to have to expand and it would be great if he posted a bit of a log as it happens.



Jye,

I sent off an email, asking if he's be prepared to send some to Brizzy - Will let you know.

cheers Ross


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## eric8 (30/7/07)

Jye said:


> Has anyone been in contact with him? Inevitable he is going to have to expand and it would be great if he posted a bit of a log as it happens.




Jye, 
I sent an email on Saturday to him but have not had a reply yet. Hopefully he will, would love to go up and check it out, maybe ask if he needs any help as well.
eric


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## petesbrew (30/7/07)

What a legend. I'll have to head up that way for a bottle or two to show some support.


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## Batz (30/7/07)

Ross said:


> Jye,
> 
> I sent off an email, asking if he's be prepared to send some to Brizzy - Will let you know.
> 
> cheers Ross




And perhaps mention that 'craftbrewer' could supply all his needs  

I would be interested in a bottle if it comes off Ross

Batz


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## eric8 (30/7/07)

Doc said:


> Sounds great. Hope you can find some fresh.
> 
> Beers,
> Doc




Doc they where bottled on the 22/6,  . They only had a couple of sixpacks int the fridge.
Eric


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## nifty (30/7/07)

Noticed this at the end of his intro on the home page - 

"Also, a quick greeting to the visitors from the AussieHomeBrewer forum. I'll come and have a chat when I get a bit of time."


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## jimi (30/7/07)

Firstly, good on him for getting out there and living the craft brewing dream:beer: 

Secondly, however the six pack that I got about a month ago tastes all wrong to me. For mine there's a Band Aide, rubbery / plastic Phenoly taste thing going on there in a big way. h34r: :unsure: 

May be it's just me

I've been keeping the remaining beers in the fridge to see if someone wants a try and give a second opinion or tell me I've made a mistake ( I really don't want to be bringing this guy down before he gets a start) .


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## happygoblin (1/8/07)

Hi, Colin here from the Happy Goblin Brewery, just signed up on the forum and wanted to say thanks for the good wishes. Thanks as well to the guys who sent emails, I'll reply to you soon.



Jagungal said:


> I met the guy the other week, he was holidaying at a place I manage in the snowies, he had the logo on the car.
> 
> I ended up barraging the poor guy with questions.



Hey mate, no worries, always happy to stand around chatting about beer. Cheers for the camping. Hopefully coming skiing again in a couple of weeks, and will drop some beers in to you if I make it down.



Pumpy said:


> He has outlets for his product that is the main thing must be a part time job weekends and evenings
> 
> crushes the grains at the weekends and bottles at night



Yeah, I also work at a climbing gym, I do two brews one day a week (it takes 16 hours) and then transfer and bottling another two days a week.



Ross said:


> i can't see him getting rich, but just love seeing people living the dream
> I'll have to see if I can get some sent up here.



I can't see me getting rich either. Oh well. 

I know that Jim's Cellars ships beer all over the place so I'll talk to them and see what they can do about interstate shipping.



KoNG said:


> I've got his business card at home, i think my fiance' rock climbs with him.?



Yeah, I do lots of climbing with heaps of different people, so quite possible.



eric8 said:


> I shot an email off to him as well, might have a mini brewery tour.



Can do tours if anyone's interested, there's not a whole lot to see but happy to meet people and show them round. Anyone else who's interested can contact me via email.



johnno said:


> better the chemists become brewers than do shit like biological warfare.
> Beer is good enough to stop an army



I'm planning on making some chilli beer at some point which should be a bit like chemical warfare 



Asher said:


> And he has a GuestLurker liftovator too!!



Do I?



jimi said:


> Secondly, however the six pack that I got about a month ago tastes all wrong to me. For mine there's a Band Aide, rubbery / plastic Phenoly taste thing going on there in a big way.



I haven't noticed any problems with the beer while it's being going into the bottles. Do you know the date on the bottles? I'll see if anyone else I know has had any problems from that batch. Send me an email if you want, and I'll see about organising some bottles from a different batch for you to try.



Insight said:


> Anyone know this guy?



I know me. 


COLIN


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## happygoblin (1/8/07)

By the way, I just added a new stockist in Annandale.


COLIN


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## Guest Lurker (1/8/07)

Happy Goblin said:


> Do I?
> COLIN



Yes, except I use water for the counterweight when I lift my kettle!


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## Doc (1/8/07)

Hey Colin,

Welcome to AHB,
The Hill Brewers Guild had our monthly meeting last night, and Eric (one of the members) bought along a couple of bottles of Happy Goblin labeled with 3.9% so we guessed this was the Pale Ale  

A well made tasty beer. Very unfiltered, but very enjoyable. Keep up the good work.

Beers,
Doc


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## petesbrew (1/8/07)

Happy Goblin said:


> By the way, I just added a new stockist in Annandale.
> COLIN


Had a taste of the Pale Ale at the HBG pizza night last night. Pretty bloody nice, IMO was similar to Coopers Vintage strong ale. 
Top work, Colin. All the best with yr brewery.


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## bakkerman (1/8/07)

Happy Goblin said:


> By the way, I just added a new stockist in Annandale.
> COLIN



Cool, will have to pick some up then when i get the kids from school!

Good luck mate!


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## bonj (1/8/07)

Well done Colin... a truly noble use of a chemistry qualification.


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## happygoblin (1/8/07)

Doc said:


> Welcome to AHB,
> The Hill Brewers Guild had our monthly meeting last night, and Eric (one of the members) bought along a couple of bottles of Happy Goblin labeled with 3.9% so we guessed this was the Pale Ale



Happy to be here, looks like an interesting website. Yeah, that was the pale ale, that's the only one in bottles so far. The first batches of strong ale are only just starting to go into kegs. It will take a little while still to organise getting it into bottles.



Doc said:


> A well made tasty beer. Very unfiltered, but very enjoyable. Keep up the good work.



Good to hear you liked it. Yeah, I don't do any filtering, and am not planning to ever. Some batches are clearing up much better than others, but there's still a bit of variability. Once I get my air conditioning fixed in the fermenter room I'm hoping this will sort itself out a bit.


COLIN


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## Muggus (13/8/07)

Finally got around to purchasing a case (12 bottles anyway) of the pale ale the other day at Jims Cellars in Waitara. Got the batch bottled 22.6.07 3.9%abv. Quite a hazy one indeed, but a nice quaffable ale, nice malt flavours and light fruitiness. I was very pleased, and I hope more people catch onto your beers Colin, nice work!


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## mikem108 (14/8/07)

glenos said:


> [Hijack]
> Whats with all the chemists that become brewers? The head brewer at MooBrew is also a chemist and I know another chemist who was producing the mash and running the still for Larks.
> 
> As a chemist I am wondering where this will lead me. Guess it beats being a labrat like me
> [/Hijack]




Chuck Hahns also a chemist


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## Cortez The Killer (14/8/07)

Good on ya Colin for living the homebrewers dream

Best of luck 

Cheers


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## happygoblin (15/8/07)

mikem108 said:


> Chuck Hahns also a chemist





I have a friend who helps me with the bottling, he's a chemist too! We spend a lot of time discussing gas solubility, the causes of nucleation both in the line and in the bottle during filling and whatever else we think contributes to all the bloody foaming.... makes us look a bit like nerds...


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## happygoblin (24/9/07)

Hey guys

Here's a bit of an update on how the brewery is going for anyone whose interested.

Firstly, I've added another stockist in Rhodes. They're having a tasting there on 27th of October, I'll be there, more details to come, or check my website for updates.

Everything is going well with the brewing. We drank one of the first kegs of strong ale the other night, and it went down very well. It should be in bottles soon hopefully. I haven't brewed for a couple of weeks though because I got a bit excited a couple of months ago brewed a bit much for a while. Stocks are returning to a sensible level now, so I'll start brewing again in a week, after a climbing trip to Victoria.

I may be putting a blog type thing up on my site in the next few weeks or months, for those that are interested in updates on how it's going. We'll see how it goes.


COLIN


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## dabtar (14/10/07)

Hi Colin , dropped into the Galston road to sus out the H.G brew , only had the pale ale 
3.9, but was assured the strong ale would be in stock (bottled) within
the next 2 to 3 weeks ,look forward to sampling that one ,every success in your bold 
venture .
Brunt.


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## Airgead (15/10/07)

Colin

I saw your front page add in the local rag the other day. Next time I go past Jims or the bottle shop on Galston road I'll pick up a few.

Cheers
Dave


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## happygoblin (29/10/07)

Hey guys

So I turned up to Shorty's Liquor on Sunday, with a car full of beer to give away, and it turns out the beer tasting thing was on Saturday. I blame daylight saving for getting me mixed up. Sorry if anyone came along hoping to find me there... hopefully you got to try some other good beers while you were there, apparently it was a great day, pity I missed it. 

Anyway, there's a wine tasting there this coming Saturday (3rd November) and they've asked me to come back so I'll be there for sure this time, and I'll sort out a discount for anyone from the forum who comes along to make up for any trouble I may have caused by.  


COLIN


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## Muggus (29/10/07)

Managed to snag a 5 pack (someone had taken one bottle out of the 6 pack and that's all they had left) of the Strong Ale at Jims Cellars over the weekend. Quite nice, much bigger and maltier than the Pale Ale. Keep up the good work Colin!


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## Airgead (30/10/07)

I shared a 6 pack of the pale with a mate last weekend at a BBQ. Not bad at all. It was probably a mistake to try it after my English IPA as it did overwhelm it slightly but the 6 bottles went down with no problem at all.

Next time I'm passing a stockist I'll pick up some of the strong and give that a go.

Cheers
Dave

BTW - did you have any trouble getting a license given that your setup is pretty basic?


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## Muggus (19/8/08)

Was in Aldent Wines in Hornsby Heights on Sunday and, after a bit of a chat with the bloke working there, managed to get my filthy hands on the Happy Goblin Dark ale. Very nice indeed, smooth, mildly roasted, clean overall character. 
Also got a bottle of the newest batch of Pale Ale, which is nicer (and a bit stronger) than the previous ones i've tried. 
Keep up the good work Colin!


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## joshuahardie (20/8/08)

I had the Happy Goblin Pale a few weeks ago, from Worldbeers at Northmead Cellars.

Beer was fantastic, I wish it was more readily available. I will be buying again whenever I can find it again.


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## Offline (24/4/09)

Found warners at the bar bottle shop has 3 different verities of this guys beer at the moment. I was intrigued with the hand written style and ABV, it made me think homebrew.


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## BitterBulldog (10/9/09)

Just grabbed a couple of bottles of the pale from crowsnest!
I grew up in Asquith so looking forward to sampling these while watching the footy tomorrow night!


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## Phoney (26/10/10)

I saw a car near Sydney Uni today with 'Happy Goblin Brewery' plastered over the back window & thought "Ohhh what have we got here?" Looked up the website on my phone, and then swung by Annandale on my way home and picked up a couple of pale ales. 

AA++ Will buy again! Keen to give the others a go too..

Awesome to see someone with such a small setup going commercial! Doe he really bottle these by hand? I hate bottling enough just for my own supplies! :blink: 



EDIT: Actually, looking at the restaurants. This man has good taste not just in beer. Blancmange & Berowra waters are both sensational. Ive heard great things about Arras and it's on my list too.... and my mate runs the Clarendon hotel in Newy!


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## benny_bjc (3/11/10)

phoneyhuh said:


> I saw a car near Sydney Uni today with 'Happy Goblin Brewery' plastered over the back window & thought "Ohhh what have we got here?" Looked up the website on my phone, and then swung by Annandale on my way home and picked up a couple of pale ales.
> 
> AA++ Will buy again! Keen to give the others a go too..
> 
> ...



I bought a few of there beers a while back, hard to remember them now but the stout was pretty intense. I have a strong ale stored away at home.


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