Who and Why?
Let us introduce ourselves
The Garage Project is Pete Gillespie and Jos Ruffell with help from Pete’s brother Ian Gillespie.
We’ve been quietly plotting and planning the Garage Project for some time now, and we’re excited to begin sharing our progress with the Wellington, and New Zealand craft beer communities.
To start with we’ll be tiny. This won’t even be micro brewing… it’ll be a truly nano brewery.
For the last nine years I’ve been brewing in breweries with equipment 100 times bigger than the kit we’re planning to use. But bigger isn’t necessarily better.
What we lack in size we will more than make up for in agility and the ability to experiment.
When you’re brewing on such a small scale you can afford to take risks. You can try things on a 50 litre brew kit that you wouldn’t dream of attempting on a 50 or even 5 hectolitre brew kit. That suits us. We’re here to try something new.
We’re not big on the clichéd ’our story’ at Garage Project. Hell, it’s just beginning! But to shed some light on who we are, and what lead us down the path of starting a new brewery in Wellington, we wrote a little blurb about each other (if you’ve ever written your own bio, you’ll know how hard it can be!).
Pete Gillespie
Behind every great brewery is a brewer, and our man at the Garage Project is Pete Gillespie. It’s a classic story in New Zealand of the big OE taking many years longer than initially expected, and for Pete it was no different.
An aborted academic career lead to Pete chasing his passion and throwing himself into the world of brewing.
After a decades experience working in breweries across the UK and Australia, Pete decided it was time to move on from his then position at the Maltshovel, and fulfill the dream of every brewer, and establish his very own brewery.
When I caught wind of Pete’s plans, I knew there could be no better place to establish the brewery than in Wellington.Fortunately for me (and for us!), after repeat visits to his original hometown (bred, not born), Pete quickly agreed.
Pete’s passion and dedication to the Garage Project has been absolute. I am incredibly lucky to be going on this journey with him, and I know he can’t wait to get cracking and start the kettle. We’re in for a treat. [Jos]
Jos Ruffell
I’ve known Jos since he was born… he had less hair then.
He and my brother were born three months and four houses apart on the same street. They’ve been friends ever since.
Jos has always been determined. He was never really one to listen to people who told him how to do things. He was always willing to follow his own path and try things his own way. I like that. Nothing’s changed.
If you drink anywhere in Wellington that serves great beer, you’ve probably seen Jos around. Any new beer on tap that’s worth trying and he’ll be there, you can count on it.
When I was thinking about coming back to Wellington to set up a brewery it was Jos who clinched it. His enthusiasm is infectious. He even recently left his job to devote time to the Garage Project. His commitment is inspiring.
He’s not a brewer, but his unshakable passion for beer, for thinking outside the box and asking is there a better, more creative way of doing things make him every bit as important to the Project as the guy who mashes in in the morning (me). [Pete]