“Out there to win”: Mountain Culture brewery scores Pat Cummins as first investor

Mountain Culture Beer Co, now Australia’s fourth-largest independent brewery, has reached another key milestone by announcing its first investor — Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins.

The two-time consecutive winner of GABS Hottest 100 – as voted by beer drinkers – has been on a meteoric rise over the past five years, expanding fast from its original brew-pub at Katoomba in NSW’s Blue Mountains to a large production facility and beer hall at Emu Plains in western Sydney, and next week to a 200+ capacity inner-city venue in Sydney’s Redfern.

Entirely bootstrapped to date by co-founders (and life partners) DJ and Harriet McCready, having an investor marks a big moment for the business.

“We’ve had a great working relationship with the banks,” said DJ McCready this morning, speaking to SmartCompany en route to the airport to pick up American visitors checking out his brewery.

“We’ve focused on being a profitable company to grow, and have been successful with that. But we want to be the number one independent beer brand in the country.”

“Pat is the first person to have some shares, which is quite a moment. Five years into the business, we’ve finally got our shareholders agreement.”

A Kookaburra throw away

Cummins, born and bred in the Blue Mountains, grew up just a Kookaburra throw away from Mountain Culture’s factory in Emu Plains.

By the sound of it, getting Cummins on board almost happened by accident.

“Our packaging manager happened to live next door to the Cummins family and dropped some merch over the back fence and we were stoked when we saw him wearing it,” said Mountain Culture’s co-founder Harriet McCready.

“But then we saw him drinking the beer [on his Instagram], which he’d bought of his own volition, and that’s when we thought, ‘Hey, maybe Pat wants to join us on our mission to bring really good beer to Australia’.”

DJ McCready concurs: “It was really organic, we just saw him drinking our beer on social media, he was actually wearing one of our jumpers, and we thought ‘You know what, screw it, let’s just message him’. We hit him up and he replied saying ‘I’m in India, let’s do beers over Zoom.’”

“It was really great getting to connect with him. Pat loves the Blue Mountains, he loves that area, and [by becoming an investor in Mountain Culture] he’s trying to take something made there out across Australia – and expose it internationally.”

Why is Pat Cummins the ideal investor?

If independent, creative, intelligent and very values-led brewer Mountain Culture could pick an ideal investor, then Pat Cummins would be the number-one pick from central casting.

“We always knew that if we ever brought on investors, it would be because we found someone who strongly aligned with our values,” explains DJ McCready.

“With Pat, he shares the same ethos of wanting to be the best in your field,” echoes Harriet. “He leads the best cricket team in the world and we are trying to run the best brewery in the world.”

“We also found someone who believes in authenticity like we do. He really wants to put in the hard work; he wants to get his hands dirty and is really involved in the business, he doesn’t just want to be a pretty face — even though he is one!”

Beyond dollars, what does Cummins bring to the business?

“We have always been of the stance that anyone coming into the business needs to bring value,” says DJ. “Not just monetary value – we want people on board who can help steer the company.

“The Aussie cricket captain is the second most important job in Australia! So the chats with Pat have been very much about how can we steer the business, drive it forward in the future. He’s such an incredible guy, he has such strong values.”

And as well as values, Cummins – already Australia’s 10th most successful test wicket taker, with 269 wickets at a strike rate of 46.89, a 61% win record as test captain, and an 80% record as captain of Australia’s 2023 World Cup one day international team – as a proven winner.

“We’ve always tried to run Mountain Culture like a sports team,” says DJ.

“We’re a competitive company; we’re out there to win, to do big things. How do we show up, how do we put our best foot forward? We need to deliver a product in the best possible way, how can we do that in the best way?

“Keeping that sports team mentality, everything we do counts. Having Pat onboard with that, helping our management and leadership team gain skills, helping people put their best foot forward. That’s what we’re striving for as a company.”

Opening in the inner city

Where is Mountain Culture going next? This announcement comes off the back of Mountain Culture’s impressive business performance – defying the category’s well-documented pressures with 33% year-on-year growth – while also helping set the scene for an exciting summer for the brand.

The brewery’s third venue is due to open in Redfern next week — it’s Mountain Culture’s first foray into the inner city Sydney market, complementing its Katoomba and Emu Plains venues.

The venue will house Mountain Culture’s first-ever barrel program, where a variety of exclusive beers will be aged in and blended from barrels, including ex-bourbon and Australian rum.

“We’ve always wanted a city location,” says DJ McCready. “We love the Blue Mountains, it’s the heart and soul of the brand, but we realised it’s hard to form deeper relationships with customers and wholesalers while being out in Emu Plains or Katoomba. It’s a bit of an ask getting people to come out west.”

And having the Aussie test captain helping with the influencer marketing will help too.

“Our whole thing is we want people help to discover what really good beer is,” says DJ. “That has been really organic to date. We weren’t out there looking for a celebrity sportsperson. Pat happened organically. But it opens up to a really wide pool of people who haven’t discovered good beer yet.”