Along the way, he's had help from AC/DC and some of Australia's best surfers.

Renowned in brewing circles, Hargrave was still one of the lesser-known names associated with Balter Brewing Company when it launched with a high profile in 2016 because local surfers Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, Bede Durbridge and Josh Kerr put some of their career winnings into the business.

But it's Hargrave's beer - his extra pale ale (XPA), to be precise - which has ensured Balter has the reputation to match its profile, claiming craft beer gold medals and debuting at number four on the annual list of Australia's top 100 craft beers, the best placed Queensland brew.

It's a long way from his previous life laying concrete.

​Fifteen years ago in Canberra – after an adult education class at the city's famous Wig and Pen brew club – Hargrave won his first beer award, for a German lager inspired by the rosewood colour of Angus Young's 1964 Gibson SG guitar.

"It was a German dark lager. And it won a gold medal at the Canberra Brewers Club," he says.

"And the only reason that beer existed was because I wanted to make a beer that colour!"

After getting into brewing full-time, Hargrave went on to multi-award-winning stints at the Sunshine Coast Brewery, Stone & Wood Brewery and Byron Bay Brewery, before being poached to craft Balter's beers.

He had a lot of freedom, but also the pressure that comes with making a beer under a high-profile new label.

Hence his one rule for making beer at Currumbin: no surfers allowed.

The team of seven behind the brewery brought him to a dusty, cobweb-ridden shed at Currumbin in March 2015.

"They basically said we want you to build your dream brewery and make the beers you want to make," he said.

And what he has come up with is beginning to impress beer industry judges.

Balter now has three beers in regular production: its extra pale ale (XPA); its Pilsener and the Alt Brown in 22 fermenters each capable of filling 150 kegs of beer.

The brewery has driven its first 12 months' reputation on its XPA, all sold over the counter or in cans. No stubbies. Cans better protect the beer from light, Hargraves says.

A taste for 'thoughtful' beer

Australians are drinking less beer, but more of the beer we are drinking comes from one of more than 400 independent breweries in Australia, including around 50 in Queensland.

Australian Craft Beer Industry executive officer Chris McNamara says his industry is showing "double digit growth" each year in the volume of independent beer being produced.

The 400 independent brewing companies in Australia have 4.5 per cent of Australia's national beer drinking market, he says.

"When you include 'craft beers' from the major companies – like Little Creatures and Fat Yak – that 4.5 per cent jumps to around 9 per cent."

Sydney is playing catch-up, Melbourne has been dominant for quite a long time and Brisbane and south-east Queensland are now growing quickly, Mr McNamara says.

"You've got Four Hearts Brewery out at Ippy, you've got Balter, Burleigh and Black Hops on the Goldie and you've got three or four up on the Sunny Coast Hinterland."

Brewing beer is no longer a city thing, McNamara says.

"And that is part of the story. Craft beer, independent beer, good beer – whatever you want to call it - is not an inner-city story.

"A recent draft economic report we have done shows that 60 per cent to 65 per cent of all Australian independent breweries are in rural and regional areas."

Australia's "tree change" or "sea change" mood is part of the evolution, he suggests.

"They either want to go back to the town where they grew up, or go back to the coast or the mountains and create a business for themselves."

Many independent brewers, Scott Hargrave included, now shy away from the term "craft beer".

Hargrave says Balter just makes "good" beer.

"We consider it as doing our bit for the 'good' beer market," he smiles.

"It's thoughtful beer."

Scott Hargrave on Balter's award-winning XPA

"The XPA is driven mostly by a mix of American hops. It's a blend of four or five different American hop varieties at different stages. And that is what gives the beer that fruit and floral character."

"The beauty of this beer is that some people say I can just smash this beer and it's a great refresher. And then you get other people who say it's so floral and so fruity and it's dry and bitter and clean.

"So what that tells me is that people have different genetics which allow them to pick up different elements in the beer."

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