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See ya, 2020!

Goodbye, 2020!


Phew… how did your 69 months of 2020 go? The longest year in history is finally coming to an end and although it seems that we just want to forget about it, this should actually be a year to remember! [Grab a can (or two) we are going on a (funky) journey…]


SUMMARY



A year to remember how we all came together to support our local businesses and producers.




A year to remember how we learnt the hard way how important pubs are to us.


A year to remember that humans are as creative as can be (hello tik tok challenges!).


A year to remember all the home-delivered booze, take away meals, zoom calls & how much we enjoyed seeing each other in person as soon as we could!


2020 started with a BOOM! Tourism was booming in Western Australia, things were looking good for our local economy, and we were having an absolute blast here in the world of funk. Maria and Martin might have even had that conversation early on saying this was going to be THE year and it had the potential to be the best one in funk’s history.


Now we see…..THEY JINXED IT! Haha


Well, not really. Although it has been a bit of a pear-shaped year, we were pretty lucky here in Western Australia, not only for being able to re-open very quickly but also because of the outstanding support of our local West Australians who were out and about as soon as restrictions were lifted.


As most people and businesses, in 2020 we ventured into some new waters, tried some new things and took some big steps! It has been a year with quite a few days that required breakfast drinks, but over we had a good time on the rollercoaster and we took the butterflies in the stomach with the same adrenalin of the ride.




FUNK 2.0


Probably the best news we could have had in 2020 was the purchase of Swanbrook Winery (former Evans & Tate winery and vineyard).


We are funk’n stoked about this.


We have been dreaming of a venue to call our own, where we can make some crazy ferments, build a playground for our brewers & give one big and unique funk-y experience to our funk fans.




The new venue in Henley Brook will be called funk 2.0 - a fermentation playground and the new retail section is due to open late-January 2021 (really not that long to wait!). Note that funk 2.0 does not have the word cider, and that’s intentional! We will be venturing into some cool ferments, beers, mixed fermentation and natural wines (after all, it is a winery and a vineyard with 100+ yo vines!)




The 18 taps bar is being installed just as we complete this 2020 wrap up, the flooring has been laid down and the kitchen is almost ready for the chef to start practising the dishes he’s carefully curated for the menu - Head to our instagram and check the stories highlights to see what is happening at funk 2.0.


THE OLD BOLGART HOTEL

This one tickles our hearts.


Sitting on the edge of the wheat belt about 1.5h drive from Perth, Bolgart is where Dustin & Martin come from. It is also the location for the Redwell Farm (aka funk farm) - you must check our latest very limited edition tees for a Redwell shirt (that is almost sold out)!


Martin & Dustin have joined a local syndicate for the purchase of the Old Bolgart Hotel, one of the six first hotels of Western Australia! There is no denying the place has soul, and the (now) community-led pub and hotel has a bright future ahead.


Funk is on tap with some crafty beer options - so go on and wander out yonder on a country experience that includes NEIPA, XPA, Perth Cider and a feed that is next level! The publican Craig is also a qualified chef with decades of experience - this will probably be the best pub grub you’ve ever had.




MAKING CIDER GREAT AGAIN


Cider is great. REAL craft cider is way better than that.


On our pursuit of funk we released seven limited releases in 2020, including some of our most popular limited releases to date! We know you all want Feijoa back and while we can’t promise anything, it might very well be making a comeback (someone tell Kevin that, please!).


Rose Cider lovers (hello Miki Knight - we are talking to you), rejoice! This baby is going Seasonal!! This means that as soon as we can get grape juice (around February) we are making a yearly seasonal batch of Rose Cider.


The Lemon Cider (January) & the Coconut Cider (July) barely had a chance to see the shelves - gone in no time! Oh.... and we got some serious flavour on those ciders! You know how we roll, go flavoursome or go home :)


Also - let’s take some time to appreciate the collaboration with Old Young’s Distillery that resulted in the legendary Gin Cider (take a pause and remember the taste, folks - it’s all gone!). The guys from Old Young’s then went on and made a Cider Gin, featuring our favourite sumo fighters in Western Australia! Thanks to some funky (roughly blurred) memories from Froth Town.




ALSO IN 2020


Dustin married Bonnie!!! The love birds of the year.

Bonnie looked amazing, as usual, and Dustin looked well, like Dustin but groomed (jokes, Dusto you looked the part!) haha. The wedding was at the Redwell Farm, with friends and family present, including around 80 people on caravans, tents & glamping tents - worthy of a Michael is a wedding that looks like a festival as you drive in :)


We started home delivery and did frozen meals to take away.

COVID got us moving and pivoting. Once we had to close our doors, we started taking online orders and doing home deliveries, including frozen meals. We had an absolute blast and the response from the funk fans was beyond anything we could have ever imagined.


Perth Cider got a little too excited in the can

This year we had to do our first ever product recall. Unfortunately, some of our Perth Cider cans refermented and we quickly acted to issue the recall. Whilst that got us on our toes a little, the response we got from the industry was amazing. A special cheers to the brewer at Feral who reached out to offer their neighbourly help with their knowledge (what an absolute legend!).


WHAT IS BREWING FOR 2021


January is looking busy already! There’s a new give away promo coming soon - starting January 1st. It’s also our birthday and we have some party plans, plus! Funk 2.0 is opening to the public - phew! Oh wait… we also have a limited release that is brewing as we speak, just waiting for the right maturation so it can come out in Jan!


Funk is craft, but we are going real crafty in 2021 - venturing out with funk beer & funk wine plus funk project mixed fermentation.


We just got ourselves a Clayver (ceramic barrel) and we are planning to have some fun with it! It is only 250L, which means whatever funky cider and/or wine we make in there will be as limited as can be! Five kegs only.

Ps: you can actually spin and turn it around to mix the fermenting liquid - we are excited!!!


And did anyone say Eastern States & Export? Oh yeah.. We are being very careful about it, primarily because our ciders are unpasteurised and free from preservatives (and the thing is, we are not really willing to compromise on that), which means they must stay refrigerated.


We have so many plans in the pipeline for 2021 we couldn’t be more excited about the new year. Also, we are just simply pretty happy that 2020 is over.


So that is it, funk nation! Thank you very much for your support, this year especially we have felt so much love & commitment from our funk fans that it brings a tear to our eyes. You are absolute legends and we are oh! So funk’n lucky to share our ciders with you.





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