James Grugeon

Hi, my name is James,

You might know me as the founder of The Good Beer Co, and a lover of all things ocean conservation, action on climate change and - of course, our Great Barrier Reef. 

That's me in the "Great Barrier Beer" t-shirt with Marty from the Beer InCider festival and Ali from Fight for Our Reef.

I've been hard at it growing Australia's first social enterprise beer - it's been a tough gig, but we’ve achieved a lot here in Queensland. 

We’ve won awards, landed mainstream distribution in BWS and Dan Murphy’s, had some fantastic media coverage, worked with some amazing partners and people, and - most importantly, supported our partners at the Australian Marine Conservation Society to champion action on ocean conservation, plastic pollution and the climate crisis, while raising funds and awareness to help protect our national icon. 

Now I am excited to announce that we plan to launch our “Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager” for the Reef in my country of birth, the UK, in October 2019. 

Yes, our “Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager” - a Queensland born and bred beer and social enterprise start up, will soon be brewed and sold in the UK!  

We're partnering with another fantastic brewery - Adnams, who we loved working with back in 2017 to brew and sell a delicious “Great Get Together Pale Ale” for the Jo Cox Foundation in support of their Great Get Together events in local communities across the UK. 

I first met Andy Woods, the MD of Adnams, at a Climate Change Leadership course, so I've always known they share my values and commitment to protecting our environment. They've also earned a well deserved reputation as one of the most sustainable breweries in the UK.

I'm asking for your support to to lock in our retail partners and the good projects and causes in the UK that will join our founding partners, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, as beneficiaries of this revolutionary beer. 

You can read about our plans for the UK in Australian Brews News here. 

Because of the normal cash flow issues of a scaling a social enterprise start-up on the smell of an oily rag, I'm coming to you to ask for your help to get everything ready to launch “Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager” in the UK in October.

But, I’m not asking for money for nothing. I have some pretty amazing rewards that I want to offer you. 

Obviously, the easiest reward for us to give you is good beer!  But I want to give you something different.

I was recently trained as a Climate Reality Leaderships Corps member by Al Gore (yep, that Al Gore) here in Brisbane, Australia. That's a picture of me with 800 business and commuity leaders from across Austrlaia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. 

I’m passionate about the protection of our environment, as I hope my lifetime of work in that field - in big companies, in start ups, in social enterprises, as the leader of an environmental charity and now, as the Founder of The Good Beer Company, shows. 

I’ve got a story to tell and an important message of hope I would love to come and share it with you - over a cold one for the Reef of course!

For $30 you can come and hear me present publicly when I get back from the UK, while sipping on a fresh "Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager" at an exclusive Great Barrier Beer Party at iconic Brisbane music venue, The Triffid.

For $50 you can bag one of our limited edition "Have 1 For The Reef" t-shirts.

For $75 you can join James for a beer at a special event in London in July.

For $85 you can snag a carton of fresh Great Barrier Beer.

For $250 you can get me over to your local community or home to share my story with you and your friends, family and neighbours. 

And businesses, for $500 I'll come to your place of work to run a Climate Reality Leadership Corps session (did I mention I was just trained by Al Gore?) with you, your team, your office or your whole company - and you can feel free to invite customers, clients and partners too.

A bit more about our beer

First and foremost, "Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager" is a really good beer. 

It was voted one of the “Hottest 100 New Aussie Craft Beers” (GABS 2019), won a Bronze Medal at the 2019 Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show Beer Awards and has proved popular in BWS and Dan Murphys stores and everywhere it’s been on sale and on tap across Queensland.

And as well tasting good and doing good (10 percent from every sale goes to the Australian Marine Conservation Society) - "Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager" is brewed good too. 

The Good Beer Co is using marine life friendly biodegradable six pack holders as an alternative to plastic and we aim to go carbon neutral this year. And "Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager" was a finalist in the  “Minister’s Award for the Environment” category of the 2018 Banksia Sustainability Awards, recognising the work it does to raise the profile of the plight of our national icon, the Great Barrier Reef.

That's a picture of me with David from our Queensland brewery partners for our "Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager", Ballistic Beer, cheersing our partnership in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef.  Thanks to our mates at SunLover Reef Cruises and Calypso Reef Imagery for the great pictures.

With your help we’ll be ready launch our "Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager" in the UK - as a champion for ocean conservation and action on plastic pollution and the climate crisis AND as a really great Australian Lager that celebrates Queensland craft beer and our beautiful Great Barrier Reef. 

You’ll get some tasty beers and experiences at the same time. And you can say you helped us make it in the UK!

Budget Overview:

To make this opportunity to launch Great Barrier Beer Australian Lager and its important message in the UK happen  we need to fund:

Two flights to the UK 

Travel around the UK

Accommodation 

Other business development costs

UK website development

UK marketing materials

We’re aiming to raise a minimum of $10k to give us enough funds to do the work we need to launch Great Barrier Beer in the UK.

Stretch Target:

$20k will enable us to make more trips to the UK and secure the additional partners and support we need to ensure we launch big!