Sydney’s famously collaborative Inner West beer community has come together to support one of its own, with all 15 breweries on the Inner West Ale Trail backing a fundraising beer for Future Brewing.

The St Peters brewery has been caught in a long-running dispute involving a neighbour since opening its brewery and taproom in 2023. The matter is now heading to the NSW Land and Environment Court, bringing with it the sort of legal costs that can be devastating for a small hospitality business.

In response, breweries across the Inner West Ale Trail have created Love Thy Neighbour, a West Coast Pils that will launch at Future Brewing on August 27. Industry suppliers Gladfield Malt, Freestyle Hops and Bintani have donated ingredients, while kegs will also appear at breweries across the Ale Trail.

Proceeds will help Future meet the cost of its legal battle.

But there is a much bigger beer industry story here.

Brewery taprooms increasingly occupy spaces where industrial, hospitality and residential uses overlap. According to Inner West Brewers’ Association president Richard Adamson, many breweries have experienced some form of neighbourhood dispute.

While NSW’s Vibrancy Reforms have provided greater protection around liquor licensing, Adamson argues planning disputes remain capable of pushing small businesses into expensive legal proceedings before a final decision is even reached.

That makes Love Thy Neighbour more than another brewery collaboration.

Fifteen businesses that normally compete for the same customers have effectively decided that what happens to one brewery could ultimately affect all of them.

And that might be the most important part of this story.

In an industry facing rising costs and increasingly difficult trading conditions, Australia’s independent beer community is once again demonstrating one of its greatest strengths: when things get tough, breweries tend to look after their neighbours.