Brewer Richard Watkins, the former head brewer at the cult brewpub Wig and Pen in Civic, said about 3000 litres of beer were poured from his six tanks in just two days.

The Bentspoke brewpub opened its doors in Braddon on Friday, and has been packed since.

“I’ve definitely got some work to do and I’ll be in here brewing all day from Tuesday through Thursday just to make sure we’ve got enough beer to keep the place open,” he said.

“It’d be pretty funny if we owned a brewery with no beer, rather than a pub with no beer.”

Mr Watkins said there was a realistic chance the brewery could run out of beer should it be packed during the week.

“All my six tanks are pretty low at the moment but luckily we’ve got another 2,000 litres becoming available later in the week,” he said.

Mr Watkins and his wife Tracy were hoping to launch a takeaway beer bar this week but have had to delay these plans due to a beer shortage – a problem they never expected to encounter.

"At this point we just want to make sure we’ve got enough beer to serve in house so we’re holding off for now, perhaps for another two weeks,” he said.

“I’d only brewed eight times in the brewery before we opened without any trials and now we’ve almost all run out!” he said.

Mr Watkins said there were some advantages to the great beer shortage as Canberrans will now be able to watch the couple brew during opening hours.

‘We’ve never brewed while the shop is open so people will be able to come in and watch Tracy and I trying not to spray ourselves with beer while we work,” he said.

“We’ll also be able to answer questions about how we brew while we work to make sure we’ve got enough beer.”

Mr Watkins said the most popular beers over the weekend were the Dick Tracy – the first beer ever made at the brewery – and the Crankshaft, which is a stronger pale ale.

But it wasn’t just all beer. The brewpub sold more than 700 meals over the three days since opening.

“We were happy with our service but we also think we can be even better given our kitchen was absolutely smashed on the weekend,” he said.

“We’ll take a good look at our ordering systems and make sure we’re set for the weeks ahead.”

Mr Watkins said he was immensely satisfied with the reception Canberrans gave the brewery and said he feels at home in the heart of Braddon.

‘We’ve always been a little eclectic and we fit into this area quite well – I wouldn’t change much at all so far,” he said.

"It was just very pleasing to see so many people think we were worth coming to on our opening weekend and having a good time."