Dangerous Ales Craft Beer Brewery relaunched at Milton Hotel

The hotel is officially relaunching its Dangerous Ales Craft Beer Brewery on February 11 - at an invitation-only event.

For Damien 'Damo' Martin the relaunch hopefully marks the end of the pub's two year run of trials and tribulations.

Damo wears many hats - he is chef, publication, owner and craft beer brewer - just to name a few of his roles

The Milton Hotel was reopened in December 2019 and according to Damo "a hellish couple of years" followed.

The hellish few years included bushfires and COVID-19 restrictions.

June last year was the longest trading run they managed to establish without interruptions since the pandemic started.

"There are restrictions, but this is the longest run we have had without having to shut," he said.

"We had bushfires where he lost the summer of 2019/20 and then in 2020/21 we got to trade but it was very restricted.

"Last year was also a three-month lockdown as well."

Damo now wants to help give local residents and visitors a bit of fun - "normality if you like".

"We are pretty focused on live music and supporting local artists," he said.

"We are trying to create a destination for sure - something unique that stands out."

He added entertainment was a big part of their business model which they had not been able to do during lockdown.

Damo and his team were not going to let any difficulties prevent them from moving forward.

"When everything gets chucked at you - you just keep on going," he said.

"What else can you do? It would be a bit sombre if you just gave up."

Their plan when they first reopened in 2019 was to put a brewery in.

At first, they put a 500-litre system in which helped them when COVID first hit.

"I guess the silver lining for us was when COVID hit the first time we started packing beer which we were not planning on doing," Damo said.

"We went from just doing kegs for the hotel to packing into cans. We found that element of the business to be pretty successful."

Dangerous Ales beverages are shipped to Sydney, Canberra and down south to Pambula.

Then in June last year, they knocked the old shed down, built a new one and installed a new brewery system.

"We went from a 500-litre system to a 2000 litre system," he said.

Damo said he could now make 6000 litres of beer a day - if he wanted.

At the moment they brew two to three days a week, giving them between 8000 to 12,000 litres of beer a week.

Damo said the feedback they get from their clients was good.

"We have a close relationship with all the people who sell our beer off-site and they tell us the numbers. We are outselling everyone in the craft beer market where we are," he said.

He hopes Dangerous Ales' brews will be available statewide.

There is definitely a skill to brewing beer.

"I think it [brewing beer] has always been a bit of an art form," he said.

"Making beer is definitely not easy. You could give two brewers the same recipes and you will end up with a different result."

He added you can't make the same beer each week as the natural ingredients change.

"There will always be small differences in craft beer," Damo said

"You have to be passionate about it."

Two local men help Damo in the brewery which opened late last year.

Go to here to find out more about brewery and their frosty beers.