Owners of Karma & Crow, the Sonic Yoni Group have opened their first micro-brewery, offering the simple pleasures of beer, pizza and beautiful design.
Inside Karma & Crow sister brewery Yellow Matter
Jun 15, 2023, updated Nov 05, 2024
On Saturday, 24 June, the Sonic Yoni group will launch its first brewery, Yellow Matter.
Founder of the group, Janie, says the concept behind the Brooklyn Park beer hall is to capture the instant joy of a first sip of a beer on a hot summer’s day, when fizz of that yeasty treat hits your expectant tongue.
Janie has built her hospitality credentials on her popular café Karma & Crow, but she’s long been interested in brewing non-coffee beverages.
“The production side of the [beer] industry has always been a fascination,” Janie says.
“Integrating what we already have learned about hospitality with a fresh perspective about the producer’s place in all that we do is really exciting.”
Due to this fascination, Janie and the crew will open Yellow Matter as a place to sit back, relax and enjoy some Oprah Tinfreys.
“Yellow Matter will be all the good things in one place,” Janie says.
“A small, but carefully considered wine list, a simple but seriously tasty pizza offering [and] a broad selection of non-alcoholic drinks.
“Most importantly, we wanted to create a space where everyone feels at home.”
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To add to the homelike feel, Janie brought on studio -gram to create a bright, not-so-serious interior aesthetic.
The space is full of soft pastels, with predominant warm, apricot tones. The design is also soft in its edges, with circular shapes repeated throughout the space.
Round edges everywhere“Bring ya mates, bring ya pups, swing some pool and sink some suds,” Janie says.
The on-tap beers will be brewed in house, with a strong focus on bright flavours, modern hops and expressive yeasts.
“The beers will all be approachable but interesting,” Janie says.
Head brewer, Tristan Barlow will be playing with quirky flavours to put the Yellow Matter sipping style on the Adelaide beer map.
“I like making everything from modern, hoppy beers to my own interpretation of classic styles,” Tristan says.
“I mostly tend to drink lower alcohol beers, so I’m very interested in making weird and wonderful beers that you can enjoy more than one of.”
The perfect pair to a beer in one hand is a slice of pizza in the other, and Yellow Matter will have an ever-changing seasonal menu of pizzas available to order.
Currently on the menu (and Janie’s favourite) is the smoked beetroot pizza, topped with shio koji, pomegranate molasses, mozzarella, rocket and a touch of lemon.
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Yellow Matter is only three minutes up the road from Karma & Crow, built into an old council building on Marion Road.
The renovations have brought an influx of natural light into what was an otherwise quite dark space.
Janie says the building was the perfect place to continue her investment in the westside’s hospitality scene.
“It’s really exciting to continue the legacy of a building with so much history and to be able to offer another space in the west is a bonus,” Janie says.
Last time CityMag spoke to Janie, we heard plans of an additional sister venue next to Yellow Matter, a restaurant called So Long, Marianne.
The brewery-building process has kept the Sonic Yoni founder busier than she expected, but she says she’ll return to the restaurant project once the Yellow Matter dust has settled.
She assures us So Long, Marianne is “really not that far from completion”.
Anyone for pool?Chopping one word off ‘Yellow Matter Custard’, the name of a famous Beatles-tribute supergroup, seemed both a fun and visually pleasing name for a brewery.
“Yellow Matter worked and by happy accident, the words lend themselves well to branding, being two six letter words with double letters in the middle,” Janie says.
“It’s just so pleasing to look at.”
Yellow Matter is slated to open on Saturday, 24 June, and is located at 18/108-118 Marion Road, Brooklyn Park.
The brewery will be open from 10am until 6pm, everyday.
Connect with Yellow Matter on Instagram to follow the production process.
