A small start with big ambitions
"It would never have happened without Wellington" — Jos Ruffell, Garage Project
"For us it started really small. But with huge ambition. 24 different beers in 24 weeks. Who even does that? Starting with the home brew thing would allow us to take risks. So we decided to just go for it. It was too exciting not to do once we had the idea.
That really set the tone for what we wanted to achieve with Garage Project - experimental, collaborative, playful and fun.
24 in 24 received great feedback. We found that people in Wellington were ready to try something new, without being told it’s cool.
Pete actually came up with the concept of 24 in 24. His dream was always to open a brewery, and he tried to do it in Australia, but could never make it work. So we took the idea to Wellington City Council and the local response was awesome.
In 2011, Pete quit his job and moved his family to Wellington. And then it all became real.
We started brewing test batches in the Lyall Bay garage of Pete's brother Ian (in exchange for cheap rent) before we found the Aro Street garage where we spent months cleaning things up. In August of 2011 we launched our first beer from here.
We started small and we grew quickly. Now, it's reached the point where a new beer a week is expected. These days, you can find Garage Project in fridges around the world — but it would never have happened without Wellington."
Experimental brews
When Garage Project started out they were tiny. It wasn't even micro brewing... it was truly nano brewing. But what they lacked in size they more than made up for in agility and ability to experiment.
Only in Wellington
Wellington is full of stories about little moments, in ordinary places that have led to extraordinary successes. Discover some of these stories, and the people behind them.
