News & Feature Stories
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.
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.
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...
Getting Blind With Crafty: Saison Revisited
It's a style that's much loved at Crafty Towers and a favourite of many brewers, as well as one that's broad and complex. So, 40 months on from last time, we assembled another blind tasting panel to assess a lineup of saisons.
Cabal Update – 07.10.16
In this update from The Crafty Pint's beer lovers bonus scheme, we prepare to ramp things up in WA, announce winners, launch new prizes and unveil the latest new offers to go live around the country.
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.
Cool Times In Tassie
Last year, we wrote about Van Dieman's plans for a 100 percent estate grown ale. Now the Tasmanian brewery has taken another step into the unknown and brewed its first beers in a custom designed coolship.
Gage Roads' New Road
It's been a momentous few months for Gage Roads, with the WA brewery winning Champion Australian Beer and then announcing a split from Woolies. Pia Poynton caught up with one of the men plotting the new course.
The Story Of: Mountain Goat Hightail
This month sees Mountain Goat turn 19, which means its first beer, Hightail, is also turning 19. A year on from the brewery's purchase by Asahi, we spoke to its brewer, Dave Bonighton, about the beer then and now.
Events Wrap 30.09.16
Like a big fruit smoothie, the upcoming month of events contains an enormous mash of flavours; wild stuff out west; dining with the head brewer from the world's oldest brewery; a sweaty birthday beer dinner in Melbourne, and a whole heap more...
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What Is Oktoberfest?
As Munich's Oktoberfest comes to a close, and with scores of imitators taking place across Austalia, we look at where the global phenomenon started and how the Bavarian organisers are trying to keep tradition alive.
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.
All Change At Kooinda
After years of changing ownership, management and brewers – plus concerns over consistency – a new team at Kooinda hopes a brand refresh and the outsourcing of much brewing will see the much-loved brewery rise again.
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.
Bridge Road's Robust Result
Bridge Road's Ben Kraus is one of the Australian beer world's most innovative brewery owners. Yet it's one of his oldest brews that has brought triumph at this year's Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show.
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.
Cabal Update – 23.09.16
We've got more festival VIP packs, hundreds of dollars of tasting tokens for new and existing Crafty Pint supporters and details of new offers in this update from our beer lovers bonus scheme, The Crafty Cabal.
High Hopes
A few lesser known names appeared among the trophy winners at this year's Craft Beer Awards. No one was more surprised at Hope Estate's Champion Brewery win than its brewer, Matt, who spoke to Will Ziebell about his beers and plans for cans.
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.
Beer Food: The Chuck Norris of Collingwood
When you've got a brewery, restaurant, bar and deli under one roof, it makes sense to cross-pollinate. And that's what they're doing at The Craft & Co where the symbiosis between beer and food goes beyond simple pairing.
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.
Topping Up At The Billabong
Billabong Brewery's 23rd year in business is turning out to be a pretty good one. Its Wheat Beer collected more trophies, a new bar is up and running and the owners took on the law and they won.
Australian Beer Festivals 2016/17
There are few times of the year when a beer lover can't find a festival or beer week in some part of the country. To make it easy, we've gathered together the major events and beer weeks in one handy guide.
Events Wrap 16.09.16
Oooooom-pah! It's Oktoberfest, in case you didn't know, and there are plenty of places around the country at which you can celebrate it. And if that's not your scene, theres even more in store for you...
Be Part of Pint of Origin
Pint of Origin is a longstanding highlight of Good Beer Week and is starting to appear at other beer weeks too. Ahead of GBW 2017 registrations opening, we're inviting Melbourne venues to apply to become a PoO venue next year.
South Australia's Next Wave Pt II
Last Wednesday, we showcased three of the new brewing companies set to launch in SA in the coming months. Here, Matt King gets the lowdown on four more that hope to have their first beers out soon.
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.
On Vocation
Despite the rapid growth of the beer industry, the number of courses designed to train and educate brewers has remained few. Now, a new one is to launch in NSW under the stewardship of Neal Cameron.
Cabal Update – 09.09.16
There's plenty of new stuff – both front and back of house – for us to tell you about in the latest fortnightly update from The Crafty Cabal, the beer lovers bonus scheme for our supporters.
Mead Made Modern
A tiny number of Australian brewers have played with mead and braggots, but there's now a small yet growing number of people specialising in these ancient beverages. Marie Claire Jarratt spoke to some of them in her debut article for the site.
South Australia's Next Wave Pt I
Recent years have seen the South Australian brewing scene expand rapidly. And there's little sign of things slowing down soon, as Matt King discovered when he made contact with the next wave of brewers coming through.
Aussies Win Big In London
Australian microbreweries collected both Supreme Champion trophies at last night's International Beer Challenge in London. Melbourne's Hawkers took out the brewery title with SA's Prancing Pony winning best beer.
A Grave You Can Dig
Sailors Grave is a brewery breathing fresh life into the historic former butter factory in Orbost. Its core range includes a gose featuring locally harvested seaweed and its beers will start hitting Melbourne this month.
Events Wrap 02.09.16
Hello Spring, hello festival season! In today's roundup of the new events added to the calendar in the past fortnight, it's clear that beer festival season is upon us.
Big Little Bottleshops
As the Wine Republic team opens a third store and Slowbeer prepares to open a second in Fitzroy, Kerry McBride looks at the little bottleshops thinking big.
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.
Gage Roads' Return To Independence
With many observers of the local beer world awaiting news of the next significant brewery buy out since Asahi took control of Mountain Goat, WA's Gage Roads is going the other way and buying back shares from Woolworths.
Cabal Update – 26.08.16
Plenty of new offers for Crafty Pint supporters this week, including some coming up this weekend. Updates on forthcoming events and a reminder that deadlines are approaching in some giveaways too.
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.
Pairings From Portland
Meet Paul Kasten, a chef who helped pioneer beer and food pairing in Portland and now calls Melbourne home. The head chef that helped launch new brewpub Stomping Ground is coming on board as a beer food expert at The Crafty Pint.
Now Is The Sour
While some might have forecast the renaissance that beer has been enjoying globally, would many have predicted the rise of sours? Award-winning writer Michael Donaldson laps up the tsunami of sours breaking on Kiwi shores.
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.
Events Wrap 19.08.16
Do you like your beer on the move, aged in barrels, stuck in a can, sunk by the stein, dressed in drag or shuffled along a bingo board? Well then, you're in luck as there's an event for you in the coming days and weeks.
The Story Of: Bridge Road Brewers Chevalier Saison
It's Australia's longest brewed saison, a style that's becoming increasingly popular, and continues to charm drinkers and judges alike. Will Ziebell brings us the story behind Bridge Road's Chevalier Saison.
Brewed With Balls
There's little left for brewers to put into beer. Locally, we've seen squid ink, belly button fluff and whale vomit used, while elsewhere there's been much more besides, as showcased in the new Brewed With Balls book.
Storming the Beaches
4 Pines is to further stamp its claim to be a Northern Beaches brewery with the opening of three new venues over the coming months. They include a restaurant, speciality barrel-aged beer venue and a bakery.
Arts & Craft
The link between beer and art has never been stronger than it is today. Kerry McBride speaks to three breweries from Australia and overseas in order to explore how a label can be so much more than just a label.
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.
Cabal Update – 12/08/16
We've got a whopper of an update for you from inside The Crafty Cabal, featuring winners, VIP passes, a special sign up incentive, more events and a pile of new deals and offers at venues and breweries.
