There are three things which are certain to us in this life: death, taxes and a night drinking with friends where someone decides that you all need to open a bar together. Of course, most of the time, the enthusiasm for the bar departs with the regretful hangover the next morning. But for father and son Andrew and Steve Prosser – they woke up the next morning and actually did it.

“We were a part of a craft beer club at the time,” says Andrew. “And everyone at the end of the night was always like ‘we should start a brewery’. I pitched the idea to Dad, I was like, ‘let’s start a brewery’ and he was like ‘yeah, why not.’ And that was nine years ago.” And just like that, the origin story for Gerringong’s Stoic Brewing began.

Prior to starting the brewery in 2018, the pair were both in business together as electricians. They had zero brewing experience. Andrew began brewing at home and when the time came, he expanded his knowledge to the big arena.

“I started off being the head brewer here,” said Andrew. “It was quite challenging scaling up from a 20L set up to a 1000L set up,” he laughs. “There was a lot of trial and error, YouTube and articles.”

As luck had it, Steve had recently invested in a unit in the industrial area of Gerringong, and they felt that it could potentially be the perfect place to set up. “We felt Gerringong needed something. It’s our hometown and it’s been a quiet town for a long time. And Dad had the unit of course. In the end we kind of fluked it because holiday destinations are really good to start breweries in. Because it’s something you do on a holiday: go to a brewery,” said Andrew.

And then they had to find a name. Andrew was quite stubborn about what the name couldn’t be. And then he landed on a word that was born in ancient times and represented a philosophy centred on self-control and discipline.

“When we were thinking about naming this. I didn’t want to name it after a colour, a number, a place or an animal, because a lot of businesses are named like that. And then I heard the word ‘stoic’ and thought that it sounded like a great name. I then researched the background of the word ‘stoic’ and the philosophy of ‘stoicism’ and thought it was super interesting. I thought that would be perfect,” said Andrew.

“I then researched the background of the word ‘stoic’ and the philosophy of ‘stoicism’ and thought it was super interesting.”

But Andrew also believes that you don’t need to put too much pressure on the naming process because if the work is of high quality, it will become synonymous with your name.

“You’ve got to create the brand through who you are and what you stand for. You think of Apple, it’s just a fruit. But you now associate it with a quality product. The work you do after is what gives meaning to the name,” said Andrew.

Since their inception in 2018, Stoic Brewing have prided themselves on making beer of the highest quality. They’re purists, which means they brew beer how it is supposed to be brewed.