Stavros ‘Stav’ Yiannoukas is National Sales Director at Hawke’s Brewing but his journey to the business was far from traditional.
Stav kickstarted his career in the early 2000’s as co-vocalist for Aussie indie rock band Bluejuice. But he went on to have what he calls many ‘false starts’ before finding his place in brewing.
Stav says like almost all his previous career prospects; he fell into music.
As someone who is not musically trained, he learned everything he knows about music by ear, referring to himself as ‘a singer or performer rather than a musician’.
“I just, I knew I wanted to get up on stage”, he said.
Before Bluejuice was formed, Stav had showed an interest in performance and comedy when in a moment he describes as ‘serendipity’, he met other lead vocalist Jake Stone at a mutual friend’s house.
“There was music being played. I think, what he thought was improvisation, was actually me just doing a Snoop Dogg impression, and he liked the sound of it. He thought I had written it, and was like, ‘hey, you should come to this, open mic thing that my school friends are doing’, and I thought ‘great this is the opportunity I was looking for’,” said Stav.
From there the band went to weekly open mic sessions together and began rehearsing regularly, but it would be a while before they landed much success.
“While we had songs on the radio nothing really stuck,” he said.
Stav described the band as polarising, both in their performance style and music but he says that is a part of what made them special.
“The first seven years we were properly in obscurity, and then we started getting things and certain songs started to stick. We made Triple J’s hottest 100 and received numerous ARIA nominations.”
But behind the scenes, Stav was always very business minded. Earning a degree in commerce with a major in marketing and accounting from UNSW, he put those skills to practice managing Bluejuice for seven years.
But once the band split in 2014, Stav’s career had to pivot.
Turning to work in animation and voiceover, he told Beer & Brewer about the challenges of maintaining the career.
“I think it’s really fun and brilliant work. But unless you’re absolutely one of the top, top, top voice over artists, it’s difficult to make a career out of it. So unfortunately, I ended up being part of the long tail of voice over artists that get a bit of work here and there.”
Stav also tried working as a high school teacher, but that did not work out the way he hoped either.
“I love basketball, and I coach basketball, and I’ve coached basketball for 25 years on and off. So, I thought, wow, the best place to do that is to become a teacher and then run a program out of school. I didn’t land in the best placement, and I didn’t want it badly enough to fight for it.”
He also tried working at a digital creative agency but says it never suited him.
“I also wrote this kid’s book, which was really driven out of the loss of my father. It was something to put creative energy into, to make something good come of that loss.”
But one day a friend working in hospitality offered a fresh idea, that led him to a job at Young Henrys.
“He said, ‘look, maybe you should look into this beer thing. And I know someone that works at a craft beer company’, and I eventually did get a job with them, and it was the first time that someone had seen that my prior experience in music and management could have value like that.
“When you’re making a career transition of any kind, you need advocates, you need people that believe that you are an intelligent person with capability that can transfer to a different industry.”
The company had its roots in music with founder Oscar McMahon a musician himself, which Stav says helped him in his transition.
But almost seven years ago he says Hawke’s Brewing came knocking and he hasn’t turned back.
Stav works in the independent sales side of the business, but says his creativity still drives him.
“I would say that when I first started at Hawke’s, I probably was trying to do that too much, not to like the detriment of outcomes, but to the distraction of me.
“Because, coming up with ideas is something that I feel comes naturally to me, but it’s about being strategically, right or on brief, you know, it’s not just about coming up with something that’s cool.”
By honing this skill Stav was able to be a part of the creation of Hawke’s Half XPA.
“I had observed the trend of moderation, which was pretty hard to miss…and it just struck me that no one had done the math for consumers and simply said ‘Hey, let’s just do half a standard drink in a can’.
“There are people that want to consume a certain amount and then drive home or consume a certain amount and still have their wits about them.”
The Hawke’s Half XPA has been designed so that for every one can of a traditional mid-strength, you can have two Hawkes, meeting the consumer demand for mindful drinking.
Stav says a key point of difference in the product is also that it is liquor retail exclusive compared to zero options which can be sold in supermarkets.
He also notes that he does not refer to the product as a light beer.
“Light has become a dirty word in beer, in my opinion because it’s a segment that’s full of these lagers just lacking flavour. Our XPA is full flavoured and that comes from Brody French, our head brewer, who has done a magical job of creating a beer that tastes incredible despite the lack of alcohol.”
Stav says Brody’s ability to turn his idea into a great liquid will keep people coming back for more.
From music to brewing, Stav’s journey has been anchored in creative instinct and will continue to echo through his work.
In terms of what’s next for Hawke’s and for Stav, we’ll just have to wait and see.
“We’re filling our innovation funnel,” is all he could say for now.
