Boulder residents can now find a taste of Australia in an industrial pocket in East Boulder near Valmont Road and Highway 157.
TooSteppin has opened in the former J&L Distilling space at 4843 Pearl St., Suite A1, serving Australian-style ginger beer and an homage to country music. Founder Stewart McGrath said the brews are made with real ginger root, cane sugar and a selection of added flavors to augment the ginger.
“Real, naturally brewed, hard ginger beer is a massive thing in Australia. It’s the fastest growing alcoholic drink category,” he said. “Every bar you walk into will have at least one hard ginger beer on tap. The largest liquor store in Australia is reporting that they’re carrying over 60 different types of ginger beer now.”
McGrath moved to Boulder from Australia about 10 years ago to grow a tech company focused on internet infrastructure software. After selling the company in 2023, a conversation during a family visit sparked a new idea.
“My wife’s sister said to my wife, ‘Hey, when you go to Hazel’s, can you grab me some ginger beer?’” he said. “We knew she meant hard ginger beer, and we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘no,’” he said.
It simply wasn’t available.
At the Christmas dinner table, the conversation turned to Australia’s growing ginger beer market, how there might be an opportunity to introduce it locally, and how making ginger beer would be “a lot more interesting to talk about than internet infrastructure software.”
He started brewing test batches at home in buckets, sharing cans at parties to gauge interest.
“I got some labels made up. I’d throw those cans in a cooler at a party with the Coors and the PBRs and the IPAs that were sitting in there,” he said. “I’d see people walk up to the cooler and rummage through the cans looking for the interesting thing.”
“They’d pick up the ginger beer and kind of look at it and say, ‘Oh, it looks pretty interesting,’” he said.
“At that point, I was like, ‘Okay, the branding’s working.’ Then they’d take it away and drink it, and then they’d be back and grab another one, and their mates would be back and grab one.”
Within a year, McGrath scaled up production and sold his first keg to Sanitas Brewing. Demand quickly grew to about 10 to 12 kegs of ginger beer a month. Today TooSteppin is available at 30 to 35 locations around Boulder County, including Rosetta Hall, Rayback Collective and Eldora Mountain, as well as a number of liquor stores.
The company’s own saloon, open Thursday through Sunday with live music on Sundays, leans into McGrath’s love of country music and his upbringing visiting his uncle’s farm and ranch in the outback of New South Wales.
“My wife will tell you, there’s no place I’d rather be than on a ranch,” he said.
The ginger beer is lightly carbonated compared to the average beer and designed to be refreshing and “sessionable,” with less sweetness than Australian versions.
“We don’t brew anything that tastes like a fruit juice,” he said.
The lineup includes eight varieties, from a classic original (The OG) to a dry-hopped version (The Sheriff), a blueberry pie flavor (The Gambler) and one made with locally grown Peruvian Lemon Drop chiles (The Outlaw).
“Chile and ginger go together really well. They’re best mates,” McGrath said.
The blood orange version is inspired by a local beer — the blood orange kölsch at Crystal Springs Brewing in Louisville.
“When I drink a blood orange beer, I don’t want to feel like I’m having a pint of blood orange that’s got a little bit of beer flavor,” he said. “I want you to have hints of citrus and blood orange in there.”
Most American consumers haven’t been exposed to Aussie-style hard ginger beer, so McGrath said it’s a gradual process to build awareness.
“We’re doing a lot of flights at the moment. There’s an educational process here to help people understand what hard ginger beer is,” he said.
He added that it’s been rewarding to collaborate with “a bunch of mates” on something new.
“I’ve been shocked at how helpful, welcoming and genuinely friendly the brewing community is,” he said. “I’m loving that people are enjoying the ginger beer here in Boulder.”
The saloon is open 3 to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
