Tough As Nail: 25 Years & Still Standing - The Crafty Pint

Mar 24, 2025

The current climate has posed challenges for many in the beer industry, with many breweries closing, changing hands or restructuring. Even without such pressures, building a lasting business is a rare thing, not least in the world of craft beer.

Rarer still is the story of Nail Brewing and founder John Stallwood – one we’ve documented in the past. Here, Guy Southern joins brewery founder John Stallwood to reflect on the past, present and future of Nail over a bottle of the iconic Clout Stout.

As he looks ahead to marking a quarter-century of Nail Brewing in March 2025, John Stallwood is as cheeky as ever. When asked what surprised him most about the journey, he replies in a flash: “Not being rich” – laughing before offering a more sanguine response.

“It’s been a great voyage, but what’s been the best has been the good people around us; you need good people around you," he says.

“My family has been the key to surviving the ups and downs – my mum and dad, and sisters Catherine and Jennifer.”

Beyond the Stallwood clan, he notes “the team over 25 years have been great”, which says a fair bit about those orbiting John, given Nail was essentially a one-person operation for the first third of its existence.

“The start took over ten years," John says with a laugh.

Among his mentors have been the likes of publican Maurice Brockwell, Brendan Varis (Feral's co-founder), Hugh Dunn (who brewed at XXXX, Swan and Old Brewery among others) and more. There’s also an enduring legacy of development and opportunity that’s seen others go on to flourish as a result of time spent around Nail: Brendan O’Sullivan (3 Ravens), Steve Wearing (King Road), Pia Poynton (formerly at Nowhereman and Otherside), Jarrod Fuller (Zendoke) and many more.

Looking forward, he’s quick to acknowledge the impact of changes in the past 12 months, specifically the symbiotic arrangement surrounding Beerfarm, Nail and Feral Brewing.

“Ian [Atkins] from Beerfarm is my new mentor, even though we have totally separate businesses,” John says.

“The industry is like that; it’s a real community, particularly during the start of Nail Brewing. Those people are now long-term best mates, and a lot are still in the industry.”

However, the past quarter-century hasn’t been easy, with John looking back over the brewery's history in a way few can: talking in half decades.

“Every five years there’s something hard,” he says. “Things change; technology changes, the economy changes, the government changes, industry changes, the consumer changes. Something dramatic happens every five years just when you think things are going good.”

John also talks about how 2021's increase in the excise refund available to breweries has made life harder for medium-sized craft breweries.

“The excise volume threshold suppressed growth for medium-sized breweries,” he says.

“We need more excise remission but on a sliding scale. Like a 60 percent sliding scale from zero litres to 10 million litres, if an Australian-owned company.

“Tax excise definitely needs changing, but what needs to happen is Australian-owned businesses need to have an advantage over the multinationals that own more than 85 percent of the beer market.

“We need to look out for all local businesses and this includes medium and big breweries. It used to be a sliding scale of tax; having a fixed volume number has damaged the industry because there were a lot of breweries paying excise to grow their volume, but suddenly there were a lot of smaller breweries not paying tax, with some selling beer cheaper than a medium-sized brewery can make it.”

His frustrations are also levelled at the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), mirroring comments recently made by Hawkers co-founder Mazen Hajjar on The Crafty Pint Podcast.

“The Container Deposit Scheme affected the price of craft beer, and the more the price goes up the less likely people are to buy it,” John says.

“CDS has made things worse, and it’s not helped recycling. If they wanted to help recycling, they should have a container deposit scheme for disposable coffee cups.”

Of the more recent challenges, he notes tap contracts and a steady rise of large, internationally-owned hospitality groups as making trading conditions increasingly worse for independent breweries.

“The big, foreign-owned breweries have taken the tap points, but now they’re taking the pubs as well,” he says. “Foreign-owned breweries and foreign-owned venues own most of the Australian beer market and are cutting out locally owned businesses.”

When faced with ongoing – and at times mounting pressures – one wonders where his stamina comes from.

“Running a business is stressful,” he says. "It would be good not to have financial stress, and there are problems that you would never expect. It’s almost like a horror movie where I’ve had nightmare parts of my business that you just don’t think could actually happen.”

Referring to the 2004 coward punch that saw John fall into a coma and go through a lengthy recovery period, John says: “The positive of my accident was that it woke me up. I was actually doing what I wanted to do and I became more passionate about what I do, even though it’s still hard.

“Before my accident, I thought, ‘This is so hard, I don’t think I can keep doing this.’ And then I had quite a few months to think about it and thought that there was nothing else that I wanted to do.

“Seeing people drink your beer is amazing. You can’t buy that feeling, and that’s kept me going.”

When asked to pick a favourite Nail beer, he dances around his portfolio, almost the proud parent not wanting to upset one of his children.

“Nail Ale was a big one because it created Nail, and it lasted over a decade,” he says. “Nail Red and Stout stood up in their styles, but VPA is a favourite. It won silver at the World Beer Cup, but it’s just hard to like it so much when it’s 6.5 percent ABV; I could say I like it the most but I don’t drink it every day.”

Stallwood also mentions Clout Stout, one of Australia’s early, and highly influential, imperial stout expressions. He notes that Nail have been quietly working on iterations of Clout Stout over the past two years, some of which will be released to celebrate the 25th birthday.

Looking ahead, there are more collaborations and new releases on their way imminently. Outside of beer, however, it’s all about family and friends.

“My two sons are my personal highlights, and the friendships I’ve got from the past 25 years in the industry as well as customers that have become good friends.”

As for the future of Nail, Stallwood is open and energetic.

“I’m getting older, and I’ve gotta work out Nail’s future, but we’ve got some exciting releases planned over the next 24 months. One thing I’m always asked about is a Nail brewpub, and if I get investors that may be on the cards.”

With no shortage of wisdom behind his words, he adds: “Although there’s tough times at the moment, in tough times opportunities arise.”

Attention turns to the next generation of brewers, for which he offers this advice.

“Never give up. The only way to make money is hard work, for a long time, and a long time might be 50 years. Brewing is a job with lots of passion and it is surprising how motivated this can make you.

“Again: never give up.”

Nail Brewing's 25th anniversary is March 23.

About the author: Guy drinks and writes about beer, goes for a run most mornings and makes his own chilli hot sauce. Find out more on Goodtimes Craft Beer via Facebook and Instagram.

For me, beer writing is about sharing experience with others, most of which is as much about what happens around the glass as what’s in it. It’s why I started a blog in 2014 after years of drinking beer and through quite literally bumping into founder James Smith at Good Beer Week began writing for The Crafty Pint. Many amazing friendships have developed from the love of water, malt, hops, yeast, adjuncts and hype!

The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer

Early 90s experience with Dogbolter and bottles of Delirium Tremens at the Sail and Anchor proved that there was more to beer than the cheap stuff I was drinking. A few years later, Chimay Blue once again teased before Little Creatures Pale Ale and Feral Hop Hog set the course for beer with flavour and nuance.

Favourite beer styles

Balance and drinking context are key but a short list includes Brett saisons, super fresh West Coast IPAs, well constructed BA sours, BA imperial stouts and fresh India pale lagers.

You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?

Depending on the beer and circumstance, bitterness and acidity are the hurdles to overcome.

Tell us about a standout beer moment

A favourite beer memory involves spending an afternoon sitting under the dripping eaves of a café in the 5th Arrondissement watching Parisians run in and out of a bakery with fresh baguettes while I drank large goblets of Duvel as the winter rain soaked the tiny cobblestoned square. So much about beer is context!