Taken from The Age, Sunday, May 8th, 2011
"Inside the space of a mere 6 months, Dubliner, Odhran O'Brien has delighted Melburnians with his range of quality beers. What started out as a simple hobby has quickly turned the heads of Melbourne's beer lovers with an eclectic range of premium, award winning beverages.
We meet Odhran at his Microbrewery in North Carlton where he currently produces upwards of 2,500 bottles each and every week.
"My wife got me a beer making kit for Christmas and that's really where my love of all things beer started" says Odhran. "I noticed pretty quickly that friends were calling round that bit more often, making all sorts of excuses to pop by. All through this period I noticed my stash of beer slowly depleting".
It was after a trip to his local pub that Odhran came to realise the true potential of his produce.
"I got served a piss poor pint and let the barman know that I'd never tasted such an atrocious drink in all my life. He tasted it himself, looked me square in the eye and with a certain hint of agression, let me know that as far he was concerned it was a perfect pint. With that I said I'd show him just how a PERFECT beer should taste. I got on my bike, cycled home and within a few minutes was opening up one of the Pilsner's that I'd just bottled. I poured it and as he tasted it he exclaimed that if heaven had a taste, it was resting on his tongue. He ordered 20 crates, there and then and from that moment it just went bloody mental"
Within a matter of weeks Odhran was supplying some of Melbourne finest pubs, with word spreading like wildfire that the city had a beer making genius right on it's doorstep. There simply weren't enough superlatives to throw at the man who singlehandedly was revolutionising the way Melburnians were drinking their beer.
Having invested heavily in state of the art equipment it was now up to Odhran to separate his brand from numerous competitors. Having won the Victorian Silver Star for new beer makers, Odhran reward was a pairing with award winning advertising agency, Mitchell Advertising.
Creative Consultant Alice Mitchell takes up the story - "At first we were wary - with such fierce competition we initially struggled to see how we could differentiate Odhran's admitedly fine product from what else was on the market. Working with Odhran though was a pure pleasure. His passion and enthusiasm shone through so we quickly increased the size of the creative team that was to drive this project. The day we finally decided on the branding was one of those "this is the reason why I come into work" moments. Odhran was with us in the room and we'd spent several hours working in various brain storming sessions and the like. It felt like we'd reached an impasse, we were emotionally and physically drained. Finally one of our junior consultants asked him who his inspiration was. Suddenly, silence.....after what felt like an eternity Odhran took a sheet of paper, scribbled something down and passed it across to me. I turned it over, it simply read "Odhran O'Brien". He didn't say anything and didn't need to, it was our Eureka moment. I looked up to acknowledge him, to tell him we had it. He'd already left the room..."
We got our designers on to it and within 2 days had produced the iconic "Beer" label. What made it even more interesting was when our legal team made the discovery that through some twist of fate, the word "Beer" had yet to have been trademarked. We were quick to take full advantage of this opportunity. It's been a life changing experience for all involved." added Alice.
Odhran remains, as always, humble but also insightful, "I can say with the utmost certainty that the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. I'm not taking anything away from the wheel, it's certainly up there with the best of them, but in the cold light of day I think it's fair to say that the wheel tastes like shit when you have it with a pizza".
This reporter is certainly looking out for where this story is to lead in the coming years.
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Beer
