Jamie Webb-Smith, Head Brewer of Sydney-based Yulli’s Brews and a regular panelist on the Brew Review, sat down with Beer & Brewer to talk about his homebrew roots and his passion for consistent and authentic beer.
Like many craft brewers, Webb-Smith first got into brewing as a home brewer, driven by a growing interest in drinks production and fermentation.
“The whole idea of brewing beer came to me while in Japan and visiting some sake breweries in Kyoto. I got really interested in the process, from raw materials to finished product, and thought maybe I should start making beer, as that was more on my level.
“While working as an electrician installing lights in the tasting cellar at the Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander winery in Healesville, Victoria, I was secretly checking out the production, which furthered my interest in the fermentation. While working there, I was asked by one of the carpenters I was working with if I could wire up a control panel for his mate’s homebrew system. I said ‘Sure, as long as he teaches me how to homebrew.’ This was the beginning of my obsession, which later became my career.”
Brewing commercially
Webb-Smith’s first commercial brewing role was at Australian Brewery, where he worked with Head Brewer Dan Shaw, Charlie Claridge and Max Hämmerle.
“They took me under their wings and taught me a lot in the time I was there. Still to this day, I reach out to those guys if needed,” Webb-Smith said.
When he started out at Yulli’s Brews, the head brewer at the time, Tom Davies, was another important influence on Webb-Smith’s career.
“He was very knowledgeable, which was an inspiration for bettering my own knowledge and skills,” he said.
For Webb-Smith, this community and camaraderie between brewers is a unique part of the industry, and one that he values highly.
“It’s like no other industry, in the way that we’re all competitors in some way, but we can catch up over a beer and talk shop or help each other out when our material delivery hasn’t arrived,” he said.
Over his career, Webb-Smith’s beers have won a number of awards, including an Indies gold medal for his first ever solo commercial brew, and another Indies gold for a beer in a style he had never brewed before. As a brewer at Yulli’s, Webb-Smith aims to create beers with consistent quality, that represent their ingredients faithfully.
“Our goal is to make consistently great tasting and easily approachable beer, which I think we do pretty well. We occasionally make something weird and wonderful, but we still try to achieve the ‘what you read is what you get’ mentality. Whatever the beer may be, you’ll be tasting every ingredient with it also being clean, balanced and enjoyable for the drinker.”
The road ahead
Currently, Webb-Smith is looking to expand his brewing education and continue his beer judging.
“For me, I’ve recently enrolled into the Certificate IV for brewing at TAFE to further my education and I continue to try and enter the world of beer judging. I believe both of these things will not only help my career but also the beer that will be released by Yulli’s Brews,” he said.
When reflecting on the outlook of the independent brewing industry overall, Webb-Smith is optimistic, expecting that tides will turn in the future.
“Hopefully we can continue to experience growth in the industry. It has been a pretty tough few months, so we’re hoping that the usual quiet period is just that, and not a reflection of where the industry is headed.”