Big Shed Brewing was placed into voluntary administration

A popular Australian brewery, founded more than twenty years ago by two inexperienced friends, has gone bankrupt.

Big Shed Brewing, an independent craft brewery based in Adelaide's Royal Park, went into administration on Tuesday.

The company, which produces craft beers, ciders, spirits and spirits, will continue trading while a solution is worked out with creditors.

The founders were in their twenties, without any experience in brewing or catering, when they founded the microbrewer in 2002.

Insolvency and restructuring firm Heard Phillips Lieberenz has been appointed as administrator, with directors Mark Lieberenz and Anthony Phillips vowing to do their best to keep the brewer trading ahead of a creditors meeting next week.

Big Shed Brewing, an independent craft brewery based in Adelaide's Royal Park, went into administration on Tuesday

“We are open for business and look forward to continuing to brew the full range of Big Shed beers,” Mr Lieberenz said.

“We are excited to work with a staff and management team who are as passionate about their business as they are about their products.”

Craig Basford and Jason Harris, now both 47, started brewing beer in Mr Harris' shed for their friends in Adelaide in 2002.

“We got quite good at brewing beer and a lot of our friends said we should start a brewery,” Mr Basford told Daily Mail Australia in 2019.

'Then we woke up the next day with a hangover and thought it was a stupid idea, but we couldn't get it out of our heads that we had to do it.

“I didn't want to be at age 70 wondering what would have happened if I hadn't struggled with it.”

They then branched out into pubs, opening their first location, Big Shed Brewing Concern, in 2012 and launching a second $2.5 million project in Royal Park in 2019.

Neither had experience in the catering industry, breweries or sales.

They found a small warehouse, built a brewery and opened a tap room.

Their second brewery in Royal Park has a capacity for 250 people in a beer garden and serves lunch and dinner seven days a week.

Insolvency and restructuring company Heard Phillips Lieberenz has been appointed as administrator, with director Mark Lieberenz promising to do his best to keep the brewer active

Craig Basford (right) and Jason Harris (left), now both 47, started brewing beer in Mr Harris's shed for their friends in Adelaide in 2002

'It became a local meeting place for many people. We didn't want to be the guys who made it big and then moved away,” Basford said.

But even before the Covid pandemic, Mr Basford said it was stressful.

“It was really stressful,” he said.

“We have moments when it's great, moments when it's terrible.

'At the end of the day we can have a beer and that's quite nice.'

Big Shed Brewing had deals with off-licences in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.

Big Shed Brewing had deals with off-licences in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales