Island Brewing Isn’t Just Pouring Beer Into Surf Culture

Celebrating success stories in surfing is something we’re all about. 

There is a tendency, particularly in Australia, to tear people who are doing well down. Often this is referred to as Tall Poppy Syndrome, and it’s a super lame manner of speaking that mostly reflects insecurity on the speaker’s behalf. 

Interestingly, these same kind of features exist in other cultures. In Japan, a common expression is “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down”. In the Netherlands, the expression goes “don’t put your head above ground level”. 

That’s a roundabout way of saying: Different dog, same fleas. 

Humility is great too. But let’s not forget it’s far easier to criticize something than to create it. TED talk over. 

We did a piece on Island Brewing recently, the surfer-owned beer label making moves in Indonesia, who ensured our surfers at Stab High Lakey Peak were never more than a click away from an esky of cold Pilseners, Hazy’s, Lagers, Ale’s and IPA’s.

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Founded by Mattia Di Bitonto, who absolutely rips, they’ve been knocking over milestone after milestone, and at the same time injecting time and energy back into the surf culture that raised them. 

Foamdance is a 33-minute film featuring some of Indonesia’s best surfers riding 10 boards from some of their best local shapers. Inspired by coral reef, the quiver was hand painted by friend and artist Lee Wilson, then finished off with glass-on fins, the old-school way.