About

The Great Beyond was founded in 2019 by Coburg locals Ryan & Amanda. Ryan is writing this bit, so henceforth will refer to himself as I. For over fifteen years I have worked in the liquor industry in a variety of roles, and eventually decided I wanted to do something local and for ourselves. I noticed the kind of people around the neighbourhood when shopping, going to the pub, or getting off the train from work. Being a bit of a booze nerd living in Coburg at the time was pretty tough, if you were thirsty you had to trek over to Preston, Thornbury, East Brunswick, Brunswick or Essendon. After a while, I convinced Amanda that we should do something locally and after a little search, many, many, many thoughts, discussions ideas, heaps of procrastination we settled on this little shop at 152 Bell Street Coburg in 2018. This place was about what we could afford, and the idea was people could call in after hopping off the train on their way home. It's a walking and cycling neighbourhood! But yes, I'm aware the parking sucks. (that's why I've got a delivery service and go out of my way to make sure everyone feels welcome and gets something out of their visit.) Anxiety induced self-sabotage got hold of me and took us on a wild ride. It took over twelve months to complete the renos. Here's some still shots of the dark and dingy space that TGB once was, from a video I took after "celebrating" getting the keys. May have been a bit wobbly! 

Eventually with some nurturing, support and counselling I started to overcome the hurdles, family and few friends pitched in - (big ups to Geoff), I got the joint as filled up as we could afford, ready to open on Grand Final week in 2019. The night before the 'soft' opening, disaster struck... the door for the roller broke, and you had to use brute strength or a lever to open the bloody thing. I had a big cry about this on my social media. The next morning I got a phone call from a mate, Allan "get out of bed and get down to the shop...." I threw on a dodgy pair of board shorts, crappy t-shirt and met him down there. A few minutes of assessment, a quick trip to Bunnings and his handywork fixed the problem. He tested the door "yep it works" shook my hand, said "congratulations, you're open, put something up on Instagram and get going, then sell me some Whisky." Not looking my best given the late night, and not in the best state, not entirely sure how the point of sale system worked, without a proper pricing system, that's what I did. Had to do it at some stage, I guess. 

That weekend I was really well supported, all of the troubles and woes lifted off my shoulders, and on I trucked happily, refining the offering and evolving the process as we went, and meeting some fabulous people along the way. A week or so in, one such person popped his head in the door and politely asked "You okay with dogs in here mate?" The thought hadn't really crossed my mind, then I saw a smiling Olden Retreiver. #tgbdoggos was born. 


@goldendogsammy the original #tgbdoggos

Things grew steadily and happily until the events of early 2020. Yep. That thing. That's when things got crazy. The Scomo announcement. The panic and fret. Can we trade? Shit, better open that Sunday, got bills to pay. The shop looked like the toilet paper aisle at the supermarket. In a few hours that day I sold what I'd sell in a normal week. The next day it was declared "essential" but the crazy didn't cease, I couldn't do it all by myself and knowing the pubs were closed and suffering I reached out to a local pub and and said "hey if you've got anyone who needs a shift, send 'em up!" We still haven't managed to get rid of Rachel. Which is a good thing, just don't tell her I said that. She's worked so very hard to get to know so many of you, and expand her booze knowledge and become an become an unmissable part of the TGB experience. Can't speak more highly of the lady, she's incredible, though she'll hate me saying that.

As time went on, lockdowns came and went and we just kept on trucking. While locked down, we sold booze and did "telebooze" consults, delivering to so many people in the village and beyond who had to isolate. We did hundreds of deliveries to people on behalf of interstate and overseas relatives who were sending condolences, or trying to help people make the best of a bad situation. While not locked down, we used the down time to photograph everything, and start building this website you're on now. Initially, it was just a picture and a product title - a barebones experience that just saved us time on the phone, but as time has gone on, it has evolved - people who come and see us face to face hear every story that a product has, we've picked the stuff we carry because we love it, but we're now getting all of that knowledge out of email drafts, notebooks and scrap pieces of paper on to this website.

What you read when you read about a product is our thoughts based on what we've seen, smelled and tasted. They're words from the heart, designed to kinda paint a picture in your head of what we experienced when we tasted that particular product, while giving you an insight into the people and places that made it. 

I've been in this business for long enough to sort the wheat from the chaff, I talk shit, but don't sell it - our job is to help you find the right thing for you or the recipient of your generosity. All the booze here is good, as the sign says GOOD BOOZE HERE we're confident of that, but we're at our best - and having the most fun when we are helping you find the right thing for your moment.