People & Culture
Celebrating the people who make the beer world such a colourful place.
Key Topics
brew & a behind bars beer slingers craft beer heroes beer nuts media who brews slays beer
Who Brews as Little Alchemist?
Ahead of their belated official launch – and a few months after we first bumped into brewer Riaz on a sofa during Sydney Craft Beer Week – we chat to new Sydney-based gypsy brewing company Little Alchemist.
Behind Bars: Joel Beresford
For our first Behind Bars interview with one of Australia's leading venue operators, we return to WA to chat with Joel Beresford. He's Perth's Mr Beer, is involved in many facets of the industry and just loves his sours.
Who Brews Once Bitter?
The founder of one of Melbourne's newest brewing companies first discovered a love for brewing in a place few could claim to have found theirs: the kitchen of an Israeli boarding school. We meet the man behind Collins St Brewing Co.
Aussie Beer Blogs: offthetap
He loves beer, he loves travel, and he loves to hunt down new beers when he travels. So Matt Johnson decided to start capturing his passions via another one: photography, creating offthetap and attracting Instagram followers in the thousands.
Brew & A: Cowaramup at 10
Margaret River has long been home to a good number of brewing companies; these days it must be the most populous of any region of Australia. One of the longest established is Cowaramup, which marks a decade since opening today.
Beer Nuts: Matt Kirkey
Beer Nuts is our semi-regular feature focusing on people taking their love of beer to extreme levels. People such as Matt Kirkey, who quit his job this year to travel the world doing research for upcoming beer book, Beer Around The World.
Who Brews Co-Conspirators Beers?
Melbourne's Merri Mashers is proving fertile ground for new brewing companies. A week after Old Wives Ales celebrated turning one, Co-Conspirators Brewing Co is set to launch its first beer, an IPA.
Craft Beer Heroes: Neil Whittorn
You could search every corner of the Australian craft beer community and you'd struggle to find someone held in greater affection by as many people as Neil Whittorn. So we asked the man well into his fifth decade of brewing to be our latest Craft Beer Hero.
Brew & A: Doctor's Orders Brewing
Doctor's Orders Brewing could lay claim to being the archetypal gypsy brewing company in Australia (or cuckoo as the Doc prefers to call it). As they turn seven, we invite them to be latest guests in our Brew & A series.
Aussie Beer Blogs: Food Grog Blog
It was only supposed to be a means of sharing recipes, but a beer filled trip to Wellington saw one Brisbane beer geek's blog become morph into something else. A year on from its launch, we ask Jamie to tell us all about Food Grog Blog.
Get more Crafty!
Sign up to our newsletters and get the latest craft beer news delivered free to your inbox. Choose from our Friday Roundup of the week, the quick-read, social feed-like Crafty Cuppa – or both!
Behind Bars: Mane Liquor at 10
On November 14, Mane Liquor celebrated ten years in business. In this extended Behind Bars article, owners Elliot Moore and Josh Daley talked to Guy Southern about witnessing a decade of craft beer evolution from behind the counter.
Who Brews Hairyman Beers?
Craft beer's forays into every corner of New South Wales continue apace. Hairyman Brewery is the latest to join the party in Sydney's south, brewing out of Caringbah. Here's founder Andy Orrell on what inspired him to launch his brewery.
Who Brews Sauce?
The concentration of breweries in Sydney's Inner West is set to increase again as Mike Clarke prepares to join the fray. In our latest Who Brews he shares the secrets of Sauce Brewing, launching as a gypsy brewer before opening its own warehouse venue.
Behind Bars: Nick Pogonoski
There was a time when Tooheys was pretty much all you could hope for in Newcastle, but today venues such as the Grain Store are bring craft beer to the people. For our Behind Bars series, the venue's manager Nick Pogonoski tells us where tastes are at in Newy.
Who Brews Brewtal Beers?
Who Brews is usually the home for new breweries and brewing companies. With Brewtal Brewers, we somehow let them slip through the net a while. But Tim from the sort of Scratch side project is here to tell all now.
Brew & A: Morrison Brewery
Morrison Brewery turns five this week. It's a family affair based in Launceston that launched with a focus on Old World styles but has since expanded its scope. Here's head brewer Paul in a birthday Brew & A.
Who Brews Bounty Hunter Beers?
With inspiration drawn heavily from pop culture, striking artwork and plenty of prowess in the brewhouse, we find out more about Western Sydney's new gypsies, Bounty Hunter Brewing...
Behind Bars: Dane Adkins
We've written plenty about the burgeoning SA beer scene. Now, in our second Behind Bars feature, the owner of Sweet Amber Brew Café tells us what's hot at his bar and where he sees Adelaide's beer scene heading.
Who Brews Wandering Beers?
Fancy a bit on the side? Sam Clayman, Matt O’Neill and Scott Reid did, so they started the Wanderer Brew Co on top of their day jobs to see where the road would take them.
Glee In Glebe
Almost three and a half years after first announcing plans to open a brewery in Glebe, Steve Drissell has come good on his word as Staves pours its first beers.
Brew & A: La Sirène Ben
Costa Nikias is the face of La Sirène, Melbourne's "urban farmhouse" brewery. But, through 2016, a brewer previously at Beavertown has become central to all things La Sirene. He's Ben Turley and is the focus of this Brew & A.
Aussie Beer Blogs: The Year of Beer
Our latest featured beer blog is The Year of Beer, one fairly recent convert to craft beer on a mission to document his adventures in beer – and convert his mates and missus to the good stuff too.
Who Brews as Mr Banks?
The Mornington Peninsula is becoming quite the craft beer destination and the ranks are swelling again as new kids on the block Mr Banks Brewing Co set up shop in Seaford. Meet them in our latest Who Brews...? feature.
Behind Bars: Josh Edmeades
Is anyone better placed to tell you what's hot in the beer world than the beer gurus at the country's best venues? Today, we kick off Behind Bars, a series that asks bar staff around Australia what their customers are digging.
Who Brews Valhalla Beers?
For our latest Who Brews...? feature, we head to the Surf Coast where crowd-funding helped Valhalla get off the ground. Their second release is coming soon, while are plans for a taproom on the coast too.
Aussie Beer Blogs: New South Ales
It's time to showcase another Aussie beer blog. New South Ales is one of the best-looking we've seen, run by a writer / photographer couple who focus on the people and stories making the NSW beer scene what it is.
Brew & A: Green Beacon
It's a big year for Green Beacon. The Brisbane brewery came close to winning an AIBA Champion Brewery trophy, won at the Craft Beer Awards and has started work on a production brewery. Here's the man behind their beers.
Beer Nuts: ‘Manda Lê
Beer Nuts is our occasional series that showcases the most colourful characters in Australia's craft beer community. And few are more colourful than ‘Manda Lê, a chameleon-haired longstanding fixture in the Melbourne scene.
Who Brews Footscray Ale?
Melbourne's west is enjoying a boom in both brewing and beer venues. West City Brewing is, for now, a gypsy operation that has been enjoying success with its hoppy Footscray Ale and hopes to open a place in the west soon.
Who Brews Blanche?
French inspired beer and Parisian bistronomy is coming to Alexandria thanks to Vince de Soyres, Thomas Cauquill and their Frenchies Bistro and Brewery. We caught up with the former Little Brewing and Flat Rock brewer to find out more.
Brew & A: Hobart Brewing Company
The return of our not-often-enough-for-our-liking brewer Q&A series heads south to Hobart. There, amid a flurry of new brewery openings, you find Hobart Brewing Company, whose head brewer Scott Overdorf has seen more beer than most.
Craft Beer Heroes: Kate Paterson
Craft Beer Heroes is a series that shines a spotlight on people doing great things for beer in Australia, including the unsung heroes. Kate Paterson is truly one of those: you may never have heard of her, but she's probably given you a good time.
Aussie Beer Blogs: Brewed, Crude & Bitter
Time to shine a spotlight on another Aussie beer blog: a transglobal double header, no less. Brewed, Crude & Bitter was started by two inhabitants of Brisbane's beer scene but has since spread its wings further afield.
These Boots Were Made For Brewing
With its latest collab set for launch next week and plans to brew a first ever GABS beer, Pink Boots Society Australia continues to grow. Graham Frizzell caught up with one of its key players, Tiffany Waldron, to find out more.
Aussie Beer Blogs: The Beer Healer
When he left his job with Lion, Chris Lukianenko was still keen to have an outlet for his passion for beer. So he launched The Beer Healer blog in the middle of 2015, a blog that has been developing very nicely ever since.
Who Brews Beaten Track Beers?
You can find breweries off the beaten track in Australia these days, but few, if any, in as remote a location as Beaten Track itself. For our latest Who Brews? we find out the story behind the Boulder brewery six hours drive inland from Perth.
Who Brews Norman, Brian & Randy Daniels?
From a Surry Hills vegetarian restaurant of the same name sprung Yulli's Brews. Stepping in tandem into the brewing world are Yulli's founder Karl Cooney and homebrewing staff member James Harvey. With their first of their beers now in cans, we find out more.
Beer Nuts: The Fletcher Brothers
There a few beer lovers anywhere in Australia who have tried as many beers as Jez and Sam Fletcher; certainly none who have documented their sampling in such fastidious detail. So we invited the brothers to be our first Beer Nuts double act.
Who Brews As Bad Shepherd?
It's not that long ago that Dereck Hales took up home brewing. Soon afterwards, he was winning competitions for his beers. And now he's quit the corporate world to open the Bad Shepherd brewpub with wife Diti Haniotis in Cheltenham.
Who Brews Watts River Beers?
When Lion announced its decision to move White Rabbit to Geelong, many bemoaned its loss from Healesville. But now two former White Rabbit brewers and their partners have set about bringing a new brewery to the town.
Who Brews Hair Of The Dog XPA?
They met as part of the Merri Mashers, one of the youngest yet most proactive home brew clubs in Victoria, then decided that if they were making good beer, while not test it out on the public. And thus was born Old Wives Ales.
Who Brews The Other Castlemaine Beers?
A new brewing company that takes its name from its home town of Castlemaine has started up in Victoria. It brings a decidedly old school approach to its beers, so we decided to find out why.
Frothing At The Mag
Beer-loving historical book editor Emily Day wanted a beer mag to read while drinking in her favourite Melbourne pubs. So she went and created one. The first edition of Froth is out now.
Who Brews Stompbox?
Fledgling brewery kick|snare created quite the buzz around Launceston when its IPA Stomp Box hit taps. The first of the musically inspired to come from its own brewing kit are launched this weekend.
Brew & A: Will from Feral Brewing
WA's Feral Brewing has been a genuine trailblazer for the Australian beer industry. Key to their success in recent years has been brewer Will Irving, owner Brendan Varis' trusted lieutenant in the breweries.
Who Brews Venom?
After a lifetime growing up in pubs and working for breweries, Joel Drysdale has brought friends and family into his new brewing venture, Venom, which launched recently with the Kiwi-hopped Golden Ale.
Beer Nuts: The Beer Drinkers
Beertography has become quite the thing. And few, is any, Aussies are doing it as well as The Beer Drinkers, two mates from Hobart and Melbourne – our latest Beer Nuts.
Throwing Open Their Robe
South Australia's newest microbrewery sees historical brewing return to Robe Town as a Latvian couple open the doors of one of the country's most unlikely breweries.
Aussie Beer Blogs: What's Mashing WA
Having resurrected our focus on Australian beer bloggers with Brews and Bacon, we're switching our gaze to the west and What's Mashing WA, a blog that focuses predominantly on the state's beer scene.
Who Brews Three Toe Ale?
The growth in the number of small brewing companies, often gypsies using others' facilities, continues to rise. Nick O catches up with another: NSW based Merchant Brewing.
