Beer Travel
From walkable brewery crawls to journeys through beer cultures around the globe.
Aussie Exports: Zac From Zenith
Our Aussie Exports series makes a first visit to South America. There, in Peru, we find Zac Lanham at the helm of Cervecería Zenith, a microbrewery he founded with wife Milka in Cusco, the historic city in the heart of the Peruvian Andes.
Crafty Crawls: Preston
As craft beer nudges ever further outwards from its original Melbourne heartlands, so do our Crafty Crawls. Here, Will Ziebell finds much to satisfy in the evolving suburb that of Preston.
Beer Travel: Greece
Last time we heard from Storyteller Spinks, he was in Turkey. He's since moved on to Greece, where he's ensured plenty of time on his travels has been spent in the company of people working in and writing about the country's nascent craft beer scene.
Our Man In NZ: Beer Camp Heads South
Beervana has lined up a meaty exclusive, luring Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp outside the US for the first time. With more American breweries looking at the Australasian market, Jono Galuszka looks at what it means for the festival and the NZ beer scene.
Breaking China II
In Breaking China, we spoke to Australian brewers looking to secure export to China on the challenges they faced. In part two, we seek a different perspective from Chinese beer writers and an expat in Melbourne working to establish a distribution network for Aussie brewers.
Beer Travel: The Other High Country Beer Trail
The High Country Brewery Trail in North East Victoria is one of the most popular and rewarding trips an Aussie beer tourist can take. The region is also home to some fine craft beer supporting pubs. And here are the best of them.
Beer Travel: Istanbul
Storyteller Spinks is off on another meander through the Northern Hemisphere. In his latest update, he calls in on two of the craft brewers of Istanbul and discovers the issues facing Aussie brewers pale in comparison.
Aussie Exports: From Melbourne To Tallinn
During Good Beer Week in 2016, if you called in to the Canadian Pint of Origin venue, you may well have been served by Rob Dooley. A year later, he's working for a brewery in Estonia after following his girlfriend when she headed home.
Craft Beer Rides North
For all the talk about microbreweries bursting into life across Tasmania, the north has been lacking supportive retailers. That's steadily changing, with new venues opening and old ones enjoying a new lease on life.
Breaking China
A growing number of Australian brewers is looking to break into the Chinese market. The craft beer market may be tiny percentage wise, but is still large in numbers. So how can brewers hope to make it there? And what beers are in demand?
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Our Man In NZ: Brewpubs
The brewpub model is growing in popularity on both sides of the Tasman. In his latest article for The Crafty Pint, Our Man In NZ, Jono Galuszka, chats to three people heading down that path in Wellington and Palmerston North.
Aussie Exports: Gerad Giles
Aussie Exports is a series in which we check in on Australians doing cool things in beer overseas. Here, we head to British Columbia where former Esperance inhabitant Gerad Giles is working for BNA Brewing.
Foreign Import
It's not unusual for you startup breweries to seek advice from experts. They don't often fly them in from the other side of the world, however. Will Ziebell meets the former Pilsner Urquell brewer assisting the team at Brunswick's Foreigner.
Crafty Crawls: Manly & The Rocks
In the ten months since we published our first Crafty Crawl, we've somehow never managed to feature any water-based travel. But not more is that the case, as Judd Owen embarks on one taking in Manly, The Rocks and a ferry.
Our Man In NZ: Spontaneity
In his latest article on the New Zealand beer scene, Jono Galuszka talks to two of the men exploring beer's "final frontier". They are two of a growing number of brewers turning their attention to spontaneous fermentation.
Crafty Crawls: Ballarat City Guide
Each summer, Ballarat attracts thousands of beer fanciers to its City Oval for its annual festival. But, with four breweries and a growing number a craft venues, there's plenty of reason for beer lovers to visit at other times.
The Beers Really From Up Here
There's been plenty of talk about the rise of craft beer in Queensland in recent years. For the most part, it's been centred around the state's South East but, as Will Ziebell finds, it's gaining a toehold in the Far North too.
Beer Travel: 12 Hours In San Diego
When Aussie beer lovers head to the States, they usually give themselves several weeks to explore the beer scene. What if you've only got 12 hours? In San Diego for a conference, Marie Claire Jarratt discovered the answer is: plenty.
Beer Travel: High Country Part II
Earlier this week, we ran the first part of Kerry McBride's jaunt through the Victorian High Country, calling in on the members of the region's Brewery Trail. Today, she completes the trip at three more breweries.
Beer Travel: High Country Part I
The High Country Brewery Trail has expanded to stretch hundreds of kilometres and include seven breweries. Over the course of a three day weekend, Kerry McBride stopped in at each and every one.
Brooklyn Back Down Under
Brooklyn Brewery is well on its way to becoming a global brand. We caught up with CEO Eric Ottaway during his current visit to Australia to chat lager, caution, over-saturation and the move towards hyper-local brewing.
Our Man in NZ: Moa's Changing Fortunes
Our new Kiwi correspondent, Jono Galuszka, today kicks off his monthly feature series by sitting down with one of the most controversial figures in New Zealand beer, Moa's CEO, Geoff Ross.
Our Man In NZ: Introducing Jono Galuszka
Like many Kiwis, Jono Galuszka’s first forays into beer were of the cheap, cold and tasteless kind while at uni. Things have changed significantly since, with Jono named New Zealand Beer Writer of the Year in 2015. In 2017, he joins the Crafty Pint team as our regular New Zealand writer.
Crafty Crawls: Freo Beer-Ho!
The Fremantle BeerFest returns in a few days at the start of the 2016 WA Beer Week. So what better time to run a Crafty Crawl on the place where the modern Australian craft beer world was spawned. Graham Frizzell took a tour of his old stomping ground.
Crafty Crawls: Sydney's Inner West Breweries
Sydney may still be proving a tricky market for craft beer to truly penetrate but its Inner West is packed with delights. It's home to myriad breweries (with more coming); here's how to crawl your way around there.
Aussie Exports: Tracy Gan
Our Aussie Exports series has so far featured Australians who have gone overseas and are working in beer. This month, we change tack slightly to bring you Tracy Gan, a Hong Kong native by way of Queensland who now spends her days importing Aussie beers to her craft beer store. Literal Aussie Exports, if you will.
Crafty Crawls: Newtown
When it comes to good beer in Sydney, nowhere does it better than the Inner West. So, for his second Crafty Crawl, Judd Owen takes a stroll through the craftier pubs and bars of Newtown.
A Braumeister's Thoughts
Tobias Zollo is Braumeister at Weihenstephan, the world's oldest brewery. During his fleeting visit to Australia, he collaborated with The Wheaty and also caught up with Matt King to offer his thoughts on beer and brewing.
Aussie Exports: Brendan Without Borders
We head across The Ditch for our latest Aussie Exports feature. This time we chat to a familiar face from the Melbourne beer scene now working for Beer Without Borders in Auckland, Brendan Amos.
Beer Travel: Malaysia
Five years ago, two Melbourne brothers enticed their cousins to join them and open a craft beer bar in Kuala Lumpur. Taps has ended up spawning Malaysia's nascent craft beer scene, as Kerry McBride discovers.
Aussie Exports: Jimmy Krekelberg
From homebrewing in Victoria to hammering at the doors of breweries in Scotland then ending up at one of the world's best in The Netherlands, life on the road's turned out pretty darn well for Jimmy Krekelberg.
Beer Travel: NZ Tiki Tour IV Wine Country
In the final part of his Tiki Tour around the breweries of New Zealand's central North Island, Nick Oscilowski takes in the wine regions of the east coast before ending up in the middle...
Beer Travel: NZ Tiki Tour III Greater Wellington
Wellington may have the big name reputation when it comes to craft beer, but it’s being rivalled by what’s brewing in its outer regions, as Nick O discovers on the third of his four-part saunter through the North Island.
Aussie Exports: Newfoundland Nardia
From brewing braggot in Beechworth to starting her own brewery in Newfoundland, it's clear that Nardia McGrath's enjoying life to the full. With Pig & Pepper Brewing set to open, we caught up with her for our Aussie Exports series.
Beer Travel: NZ Tiki Tour II West Coast, North Island
In the second leg of a leisurely trip through some of New Zealand's lesser known North Island breweries, Nick Oscilowski heads towards the west coast and discovers something old and something new...
Beer Travel: Darwin
While there's much talk of craft beer booming across Australia, what of the Top End? As Bert Spinks discovers, the microbrewing industry there has just doubled in size. OK, so that still means there's just two, but they're beery and boisterous.
Beer Travel: NZ Tiki Tour I Coromandel
There are plenty of great Kiwi breweries that are well known in Australia. But there's much else to discover too. In the first of four features on some of the lesser known lights of the North Island, Nick Oscilowski heads to the Coromandel Peninsula.
Beer Travel: North Carolina
For most Aussies visiting the US the West Coast takes priority. But, as part of his mission to explore global beer cultures, Molly Rose founder Nic Sandery chose to spend time in North Carolina. In his second article for us, here's what he discovered there.
Crafty Crawls: Perth
WA may have kickstarted the contemporary craft beer industry more than three decades ago, yet the venues of Perth have been slow to get on board. That's been changing in recent years, as this Crafty Crawl – our first from WA – indicates.
Aussie Exports: The Lone Pine
For our latest missive from an Aussie overseas, we return to the UK. There, former 4 Pines man Adrian Lugg has landed a role at Sambrook's Brewery in London. He offered Kerry McBride his insights into brewery life on both sides of the planet.
Wild Things
With a reputation for walking on the wild side well established, Kiwi trailblazers Garage Project are set to get wilder still. Kerry McBride joined them for a tour of their new Wild Workshop where they'll be working with barrels, foeders and a coolship.
Crafty Crawls: Surry Hills
After launching with a trio of Melbourne jaunts, we're taking our Crafty Crawls on the road. First is a gentle saunter up and down the hills and pretty streets of Surry Hills and surrounds, as enjoyed by Judd Owen of Brewed, Crude & Bitter fame.
Crafty Crawls: The Wild West
Melbourne's Wild Wild West was, not too long ago, something of a craft beer wasteland. But today that couldn't be further from the truth, as Will Ziebell discovers on a crafty wander through Footscray and its surrounding 'burbs.
Aussie Exports: Oh Danada!
Aussie Exports is supposed to be a series of features on Australians doing fun things in craft beer overseas. Yet, this once, we're doing something a little different as we feature honorary Aussie Dan Johnston, now back in his native Canada at Collective Arts.
Crafty Crawls: Richmond & Abbotsford
Hot on the heels of our first Crafty Crawl – a guide to the craftiest spots on the 86 tram – here's another. Kerry McBride has been out in her local 'burbs to pick out some of the best beer venues to check out in Richmond and Abbotsford.
Aussie Exports: From Wollongong to Toronto
From home brewing in Wollongong to barrel aged sours in Toronto, David Everitt is living out quite the dream. In the second of our Aussie Export articles, he tells us how it came to pass and offers insights into the Canadian beer scene.
Beer Travel: Japan
Nic Sandery is on a worldwide beer tour on which he plans to take inspiration for his new brewing company, Molly Rose. While on the road, he is sending us a series of articles documenting his travels, starting with this report from Japan.
Aussie Exports: Lost and Grounded
Time to launch a new feature series! Aussie Exports tells the tales of Aussies doing great, fun and interesting things in beer overseas. First up, former Little Creatures head brewer turned Bristol based Lost & Grounded founder Alex Troncoso.
Educating Molly Rose
Young brewer Nic Sandery is off on a round the world research trip part-funded by a successful crowd-funding campaign. His learnings in the different beer cultures will be brought to bear upon Molly Rose, his new brewing company, on return.
Beer Travel: Orange
If you're looking for evidence of the growth of craft beer in Australia, you need only look at Orange in Central West NSW. There, as Tim Hanlon discovered, within a 25km radius of Orange's city centre you'll find three microbreweries, with more on the way.
