Posing naked for a calendar may not feature highly on everybody's bucket list, but it seems that Brisbane's craft beer community just can't help themselves.
Following the huge success of the 2014 Males With Ales calendar, a venture kickstarted by Brisbane's Chicks With Ales all women beer appreciation society, which predominantly showcased the city's local, male brewers in the buff, Brewed Nude 2015 casts its net around the wider industry and this time around there is far too much flesh from both sexes.
A number of Brisbane's craft beer bar owners agreed to bare all along with a local beer blogger [Darren says you may wish to avoid May, apparently – Crafty], a handful of brewers and many Brisbane-based sales reps from homegrown breweries and distributors.
Spearheaded by The Scratch Bar co-owner, Benjamin Nicholls, Rocky Reed from Northdown Craft Beer Movement and photographer Matt Hoffman, Brewed Nude 2015 is a charity piece aimed at raising money for Karuna – a local charity that assists people in dealing with the loss of life.
Setting the bar high last time around, Males With Ales raised just over a whopping $10,000 and the hope is that Brewed Nude 2015 will do the same. There is no reason why it won't succeed either: after all, who wouldn't want to stare at some finely tuned bodies from Brisbane's fervent craft beer scene for the next twelve months?!
Benjamin insists that nobody shied away from getting their kit off when asked: "Bizarrely, everybody that was approached to appear was dead set up for it. Many didn't give the concept an ounce of consideration."
It certainly wasn't an issue for the snapper as he was also the mastermind and cameraman behind the Shower Beers site.
"I've taken well over 100 set up photos of people naked drinking," he says. "It's years and years of finding excuses to photograph people naked."
There was one instance where he agreed to get naked too so that his subjects would, another case of a "West End boy who it came to naturally" and a couple of shoots that took place in public settings that drew the attention of passers-by, but, overall, relatively little resistance.
So it appears that either everybody is completely happy and comfortable with their bodies. Or that contributors felt that pulling together for a good cause was something extremely worthy of nakedness. On balance, it would seem that the latter is far closer to the truth; it's no secret that there is an amazing amount of mutual love and admiration where good beer and Brisbane is concerned. Clubbing together in the name of charity seems like a natural progression and further exemplifies the camaraderie in place.
As for the resultant photos, Benjamin confirms that none of the photographs required touching up in any way – except for two instances...
"For the most part what you see is what we captured," he says. "However, one female nipple and an entire scrotum needed a little bit of attention so as not to offend anybody. However, the minor remedial work was in no way as complex as the 2014 calendar where there was a necessity to edit out Ross Kenrick's (Bacchus Brewing) entire nether region!"
For Rocky, highlights of the project – other than indulging a love of social nudity and beer – included "simply being involved in a project that showcases the spirit of the Brissie craft beer scene and the exceptionally good of people who are a part of it."
Downsides? "It takes a little while to be able to make eye contact with your fellow beer colleagues again!" she says.
As for the beer side of the Brisbane scene, Benjamin says things are "going along swimmingly" with more venues opening. It sounds like that's the case with planning for next year's Brewsvegas too. The program hasn't been announced yet but he says there will be around 120 events of a "good spread and variety" and "some really fun things".
In the meantime, while awaiting its announcement, you can snap up a copy of Brewed Nude 2015 at most craft beer venues across Brisbane at a cost of just $15 and keep yourself busy working out whose nipple and scrotum needed touching up. You can also obtain a copy online by clicking here.
Darren Magin is the man behind 250 Beers and somehow manages to be at every beer event in Brisbane despite living more than an hour outside the city and having two young kids. Miraculous, really...
