THE term 'frothing' is set to take on a new meaning in the South West, with an Exmouth-born brewery preparing to set up shop on the main street of Bunbury.
When Froth Craft Brewery opened in the North West in February 2017, it was the only craft brewery between Perth and Broome.
While other players have since entered the game, Froth has stuck to its whacky recipe and with the business heading into its fifth year, the three co-owners are ready to launch their second location, Froth Craft Bunbrewery.
The original location in Exmouth was the brainchild of Perth raised lads Pete Firth and Phil Gray, alongside their Canadian pal Tyler Little, who is the head brewer.
The trio bonded over a desire to create venues that provided a unique experience, especially in areas where that was lacking.
"We see potential and enjoy providing and creating things in places where there wasn't any to date," Mr Firth said.
"We've got a lot of influences from our travels around the world which were quite extensive through our 20s.
"Coming back to Australia in our 30s, we wanted to gather some of those ideas and create something new in the places we love in WA."
The ability to expand after only a few years in business comes from a drive to always outdo themselves and a focus on listening to what people are looking for.
"There has been an absolute renaissance of craft beer in WA and the idea of brewpubs, where people really want to go to places that have atmosphere and culture," Mr Firth said.
"We're always thinking about what we could do next and we're at a point where Exmouth was comfortable, it's become somewhat of an institution up there, so it was time to take the next step."
Bunbury became an obvious choice from Froth's second location, partly because of the availability of a location smack bang in the middle of town, but mainly because it fits the businesses ethos of creating where there isn't.
Despite being the third largest city in WA with a population of more than 80,000, Bunbury doesn't have its own brewery, so the guys at Froth were told by locals it would be really well received if they could recreate the magic of the Exmouth venue in the southern coastal city.
"There is a tap house in the city, but Bunbury has a really healthy and strong home brewing scene and there are a lot of craft beer lovers," Mr Firth said.
"People are currently having to drive out of the city and down to the huge number of awesome micro-breweries within the South West, so we're looking to give Bunbury something right in the centre of town that they can be proud of."
The new purpose-built new venue will have a 300-person capacity and feature a restaurant, beer garden, kids play area which can be seen from inside and out and an epic live music component.
In Exmouth there is only one town centre and it's very small, with Froth directly in the heart of it.
The location in Bunbury is just as central and easy to access with one major difference - the main street they're positioned on is much longer and features a lot of other businesses that Froth is excited to work next to.
Mr Firth said what they have planned for their new venue would really complement what's already going on in the city.
"We're looking forward to being part of the resurgence of hospitality businesses in Bunbury which are doing some really exciting things," he said.
"There's great food options, really great places to go out for drinks and a heap of different entertainment options."
The new location opens up a whole new world of options for Froth in terms of brewing capacity, packaging opportunities, produce availability and entertainment possibilities.
The Bunbury location will be able to produce about 250,000 litres of golden goodness a year and at full capacity, it will be able to create in a day what the Exmouth location does in a month.
It also removes the factor of distance, something which has been an ongoing issue for the Exmouth location.
"There is no local, fresh agricultural produce up there, so we will be taking full advantage of that down in Bunbury," Mr Firth said.
"It also actually becomes feasible to produce enough beer to distribute and package - from Exmouth, if we wanted to pump more money into the brewery to expand so we could send our beers down south, it just wouldn't work as the distance is too large.
"We're going to use Bunbury as a much bigger brewing facility and that will be able to help send some of the core range up to Exmouth, then Exmouth can focus on more seasonal and creative release beers."
There's three things that Froth Craft is best known for - great beer, whacky designs and decorating, and a constant rotation of great talent gracing the stage.
Using the venue as a way to support music and a wide variety of the arts is something that has always been a focus for the brewery and the Bunbury location, being only two hours from Perth, will allow them to capture even better artists,
In recent years, Froth has branched out into organising events in larger public spaces, including The Waifs a couple of years ago and a concert for 1000 people with John Butler planned for the end of June.
Mr Firth said they want to host a whole bunch of entertainment, not just live music, but a wide variety of the arts.
"We think it's really important to provide platforms for aspiring local artists at a ground roots level, as well encouraging higher profile acts to come through," he said.
"It's great that we've been able to do some in a place as remote as Exmouth and it buoys me with enthusiasm and we're frothing to think the calibre of acts we'll be able to draw just two hours from Perth.
"The conversations have already started and we've had a lot of interest from management of high-profile acts approaching us which is great, especially considering the prospect of Bunbury hasn't started yet."
The other advantage to the space down in Bunbury is that it's a blank slate.
While the Exmouth venue was originally a residence, a video store and two restaurants before it was changed to a brewery, the Bunbury venue will be custom-built for its purpose.
However punters can still expect to see the craziness that Froth is known for, with a rustic feel accompanied by bright colours and a penny-farthing all on the cards.
"We've got an old boat that was built in 1900 in Bunbury, so we'll expand that out and it will be our main feature bar with 360 degree serving capabilities," Mr Firth said.
"We teamed up with Bunbury Fringe this year and we want to make a longstanding relationship there.
"We want to keep the whacky frothiness that we're known for, so from that relationship we're getting great connections to local Bunbury artists who we want to do murals and different installations around the space."
After years of Living in Exmouth, two of the owners will be making Bunbury their home, with Mr Firth and Mr Little getting ready to pack their jumpers, while Mr Gray will stick around in the sunny part of the State.
Earthworks and construction of the venue, which has been designed by EDGE4DESIGN, have begun, but various holdups have been caused due to COVID-19 and the construction industry boom being experienced in WA.
Without any of those COVID induced delays, Froth Craft Bunbrewery would have been a Christmas present for the people of Bunbury and while that is still the aim, it might push out to the first quarter of next year.
