Video

---

The Local Taproom is the ambition of Carly and Chris Lambert. Their dream of opening an authentic craft beer taproom in Bacchus Marsh is dedicated to their family and the community they now call home. 

Chris knows craft beer. A part-time job in a bottle shop while he was at Art School, ended up becoming a 20-year career in the liquor industry working for large retailers like Dan Murphy’s. His skill at merchandising being testament to his artistic eye. He fell in love with craft beer early on and was in the right place to give himself a thorough education on the beer, the brewers, the buyers, and how the industry operated. He used his enthusiasm and knowledge to teach others and, most importantly, sell beer. It’s Chris’s smiling face that will be welcoming you to The Local Taproom. 

Carly hasn’t poured beer before, but she has a nurturing instinct so hospitality comes naturally. With her background in bookkeeping, data analysis, and problem-solving, Carly is the ideal partner to manage the admin side of the business. Together they have the perfect skill pool. 

Their passion for beer and brewing has been a constant theme in Chris and Carly’s life together. Holidays inevitably involved visiting breweries, bars and festivals. There was always a new discovery to share with friends and family. For Chris, craft beer was the thing he most shared with his late father, David. They would spend hours together, tasting different brews, comparing, discussing. David Lambert had been a musician and fine craftsman of acoustic guitars. It was a home of good music and good beer. 

Chris didn’t need to read the financial pages to know that craft beer was the only alcohol category that was growing. Over the past decade, he’d seen the market explode with new businesses – microbreweries, taprooms, bars, specialist retailers and hundreds of new brands – all finding willing customers. 

Chris and Carly had also discussed the idea of starting a new business. An enterprise that would make the best use of their skills and resources and that would anchor them in the town that they had chosen to call home. They just weren’t sure what that business was going to be. 

A 2014 study found that 72% of people said they get creative ideas while under the shower. People said they took showers with the specific purpose of thinking about an idea. The psychologist who did the study explained that warm showers induce the production of the hormone dopamine. This causes the body to relax and allows thoughts to wander freely so the brain can make new connections and have those breakthrough insights. 

Chris knew nothing of this survey when he stepped into the shower on an early spring evening, but he had a lot on his mind. He was thinking about business ideas for him and Carly; thinking about how routine his life had become; thinking about his dad; thinking about his mum; and of course, thinking about beer. 

We’ll never know whether it was the shower, the dopamine, or something else, but Carly will always remember the time Chris appeared dripping wet from the shower announcing that they were going to open a taproom.