News & Feature Stories
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...
What Drinkers Want
The biggest ever survey of Australian craft beer drinkers has been carried out by Sydney bottleshop Beer Cartel. The results of what they plan to turn into an annual survey are out today.
Back In Black
A new brewery has risen on the site of Duckstein's former Margaret River location, with the man who built the original brewery returning at the helm. Ross Lewis spoke to Paul Gasmier about being back in Black.
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.
Serendipity on the Sunshine Coast
We meet the man heading up Brouhaha on the Sunshine Coast, a man who sent off a job application from Hong Kong airport in hope and ended up overseeing the expansion of London's Beavertown Brewery.
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.
CANimalia
It's not just standard tinnies that are on the rise in the local craft beer world. Slowly but surely, more venues and breweries are investing in CANimals, the repurposed food packing technology pioneered by Oskar Blues in the US.
Events Wrap – 05.08.16
From IPA Day to birthdays, moving festivals to Oktoberfest celebrations, degustations paired with beer through to dark beer and sea shanties, August really does have it all – including the launch of the very first Crafty Cabale.
A Day In The Life Of A: Senior Brewer
What's life like as a commercial brewer? We spent a day with Adrian McNulty, the well-travelled brewer now in the Señor role at Moon Dog, to find out what goes into heading up brewing operations at one of Australia's quirkiest breweries.
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!
Serving And Enjoying Beer
So, you've picked up a beer from your local brewery or bottleshop, now how can you ensure it's kept in the best possible condition? And what is the best way to serve it?
Getting Blind with Crafty: IPA (Part II)
After two sessions, we've now put 40 Australian brewed IPAs to the test. In part II, we set about blind tasting beers weighing 6.5 percent and above. And here's the results; how did your favourites fare?
How Beer Is Made
Learn the basics of brewing beer, from the ingredient that go into to the processes brewers go through before a beer leaves the brewery and makes its way to your glass.
Drinking In Style: IPA
In advance of publishing the results from part II of our IPA blind tasting, our Resident Beer Scholar returns with a look at the style. Busting myths and telling the IPA's tale from the 18th century through to today's frenzied hop obsession.
Beer In Australia: An Introduction
This is a slightly shortened version of one of the chapters in The Great Australian Beer Guide, written by The Crafty Pint's founder James Smith and published by Hardie Grant in 2016.
The Great Australian Beer Guide Is Out
The Crafty Pint's founder has written his second beer book. The Great Australian Beer Guide is out across the country from today. It's a colourful snapshot of the local beer scene told through 150 beers and breweries.
Home State Glory In Perth
Most of the silverware stayed at home at last night's Perth Royal Beer Show. Indeed, much of it ended up headed to one place: the joint brewery shared by Feral and Nail, with other winners including Billabong, Gage Roads and Elmar's.
Cold As Ice – Brewing In Antarctica
In Antarctica, beer selection is understandably limited. But a group of Australian Antarctic researchers is helping to broaden the options via a growing homebrewing program at Australian research base Casey Station.
Cabal Update – 29/07/2016
We've got another party, another competition and our first "get in quick" exclusive event for you in the latest update from The Crafty Cabal, the beer lover bonus scheme for supporters of The Crafty Pint.
The Big Issue: Gotta Catch 'Em All II
In part I of Gotta Catch 'Em All, we looked at the rise of beer hunting, collecting and rating in the craft beer community. Today, we delve deeper in the company of a diverse panel from the beer world, including Untappd's co-founder.
The Big Issue: Gotta Catch 'Em All
For some, tasting every new, rare and highly rated beer has become an addiction, one that's aided by sites and apps like RateBeer and Untappd. Over two days, Kerry McBride explores whether this is a good thing for beer.
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.
The Crafty Dozen – July 2016
It's only a few weeks since our last roundup of new listings on the site but, as the Crafty team expands with the industry, we're adding them faster than ever. So here's 12 more breweries, bars and bottleshops for you.
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.
Events Wrap 22.07.16
If there's a general theme to events in the lead up to International Beer Day, it would be one of love, community and sharing. That or IPAs, hot dogs and free beer...
Pirate Life Sails On
Pirate Life continued its dream start to life by taking out the Champion Large Brewery trophy at the Craft Beer Awards in Brisbane last night. Other big winners included Little Creatures, Green Beacon and Hope Brewhouse.
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.
Who Brews Australia's Highest Beers?
If there's one brewery above all others that won't be struggling to keep its beers chilled this winter it's Blizzard. "Australia's highest brewery" opened in the Victorian alps in March, brewing next to a Dinner Plain ski lift.
Canning & Expanding
It's all change at Barossa Valley Brewing as one of the longest-established of SA's microbreweries expands and repackages its beers in cans. It's also in the process of establishing its Tanunda base as a mid-size contract facility, as Matt King discovered.
Sole Foeder
Never one to rest on his laurels, Ben Kraus has launched a new line of beers from his Beechworth brewery. Mayday Hills will see the Bridge Road Brewers team focus on creating beers in a large oak foeder.
The Story Of: Little Creatures Pale Ale
The first two beers in this series looked at quirky contemporary cult favourites. So, for the third entry, we thought we'd do something different and look at a beer that's done as much as any to change Aussie beer culture: Little Creatures Pale Ale.
Crafty Cabal Update – 15/07/16
It's been a busy fortnight since our last Cabal update, including the brewing of the very first Crafty Cabale with the legends at The Wheaty in Adelaide. We've got plenty of winners to announce as well as some forthcoming goodies.
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...
By The Power Of Dainton
It's been a long time coming for Dainton Family Brewery but they're close to brewing in their own brewery. As they celebrated, Kerry McBride sat down with Dan Dainton and father Kevin to chat about the winding road that led them to Carrum Downs.
Making Capital
Until recently, Canberra had little in the way of beer to call its own. Today, with Capital Brewing having followed both BentSpoke and Pact Beer, it has five brewing companies operating there. Will Ziebell caught up with the newest.
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.
Samoyeds Still Smiling
Myponga brewery Smiling Samoyed made it two for two at the Royal Adelaide Beer & Cider Awards, with its Dark Ale backing up last year's Best Beer win. Other big winners last night included Pirate Life, Goodieson Brewery and Coopers.
Events Wrap 08.07.16
If anyone thought that summer was beer season, the absolute avalanche of winter beer events being held across the country might suggest otherwise...
A Meeting of Malts
From humble origins to another means by which we can take our palates on an adventure in booze, the boilermaker has come a long way. Will Ziebell speaks to some whisky and beer pairing gurus to find out why the two work so well together.
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.
Best Beers of 2016 – So Far
We're not big fans of lists here at Crafty Towers, but with so many new beers released every week we felt we'd make an exception to take stock midway through 2016. We asked contributors to nominate their best new brews and here are the top picks.
Crafty Cabal Update – 01/07/16
With our second launch party done and dusted in Brisbane, it's all eyes on Adelaide for the next week or two. We've got lots of winners to announce and some new swag to give away too – read all about it in our second update from The Crafty Cabal.
A Day In The Life Of: A Beer Rep
Ever wondered what it's like to work in the beer world? Is it as much fun as you think it would be? And what skills do you need to take on roles in the beer industry? A Day In The Life Of seeks to answer those questions and more. Starting with #replife.
Pint of Origin Hits SA
A plethora of Aussie beer never before seen in SA is making its way to Adelaide as Pint of Origin takes its first steps outside Good Beer Week. The ever popular multi-venue showcase of Aussie beer appears across the city from July 2 to 10.
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.
Events Wrap 24.06.16
Whether you need to spend some leftover cash before the end of the financial year, want to settle into a mid-winter Christmas, or join the Crafty Cabal's travelling circus of good beer and good times, there are events aplenty as we reach the mid point of the year.
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.
Flying High In The Southern Highlands
The Southern Highlands of New South Wales has a new brewery to call its own and local interest has been so great that it's had to increase capacity before the doors officially open.
