Meet Sam Martin – Great Hops Brewing Co, Armidale NSW

Meet Sam Martin, the man behind Great Hops Brewery in Armidale. Dentist by day, brewer by night, Sam tells us how he turned his passion for science and process-driven practices into brewing beer, and the eventual inception of Great Hops Brewery on 33 Old Inverell Road, Armidale.

How did you end up owning your own brewery?

“I used to pass this home brew shop on my way to work in Sydney – I was drawn to it and knew I really wanted to brew beer. Then one day, I saw these tiny kegs in the window. They looked like the recycled Pepsi kegs back then and I thought that was pretty good because I didn’t want to wash bottles – that looked shit to me.

“When I finished dental school, I got my first real credit card out and the first thing I did was go into that home brew shop and go crazy. I bought all the gear and started home brewing. I’d take Wednesdays off and instead of playing golf, I’d brew beer and play the PlayStation – I was doing all the things I missed out on when studying for dental school.”

How old were you at the time? And what exactly were you studying?

I was 27 then. I had completed two degrees – Biochemistry/Genetics at UNE and then four years of dental school in Sydney. I practised as a dentist and went on to study implants for a further year and a half.”

How and when did you decide to step it up?

“My now wife, Kate, moved in. She was my girlfriend at the time and she was studying medicine, so she was always super busy studying and didn’t really have time for me, so, I’d just brew beer.

“It was a pretty big apartment in Bondi and we had three fridges on the go filled with 20 litres in those mini Pepsi kegs. Still, I didn’t have enough room. I had momentarily considered buying this old brewery in the United States, but that’s a story for another day. Instead, I ended up buying the block Great Hops lives on here in Armidale.

“We put the shed up in 2012/2013, then continued to homebrew in there while waiting for the council to give me approval.”

Why did you choose Armidale?

“I was born here, grew up here, and I love it. I thought it was a great place to raise kids but I also wanted a brewery next to UNE because I had such a great time there.

“There’s a science behind brewing and I wanted the students to see the kind of things they could be doing with their knowledge – outside of rural science, there’s lots of other fun stuff to do, like my own science lab that I created.

“The science students are really enthusiastic about what I’m doing – they often come in and ask my questions about it all.”

Is it just you solo?

“Not anymore, I now work with someone who’s a bit older and really owns the brewing process – I couldn’t keep doing it on my own.”

What has been your biggest challenge?

“There’s not really one challenge, just a whole heap of little ones along the way. Every time you hit those one percenters your brew just gets that much better. We laugh at how many stupid things we were doing along the way, even our first beer sold. I’m not embarrassed about it, I don’t get embarrassed about anything – but you can always do better.”

How have you evolved as a brewer?

“In many ways – especially with how we manage equipment, clean, and think about our processes differently.

“We originally got two boilers out of Port Macquarie Hospital and had to pull them through a skylight to get them out of the building, but we didn’t even know how to work them. We were shown and shown and shown again, but we still had alarms going off at 5am every morning. Now, we know them so well – the alarms don’t go off anymore, which is a good thing.”

What’s going on now at Great Hops?

“Throughout the winter, we try to make more dark beer. We’re so grateful to everyone who comes in to try them and shows their support, especially during the colder months. The more support we have the more we can get the beers flowing and create new brews.

“Food has never been our focus. I want people to come in and have a beer and grab a burger and fries on the side – perfect. I try not to make it too trendy or too uncomfortable for people – I want it to be honest. I want people to have a good time and relax.”

What are your plans for the future?

“I’m just letting the place evolve. I’ll get out into the hop yards and make them more pretty one day, and we’ll add a bit more fencing around the place. There has also been a development in hops over the last decade by the US Government and there are some really good hop rhizomes that I’ll be able to purchase soon, so I’m looking forward to that. They’re a lot more flavoursome – I can’t wait.”

Can anyone brew?

“Anyone who’s diligent and who can follow standard operating procedures can brew – it really just comes down to cleaning and doing things the right way.”