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New ideas and technologies helping to drive beer forward.
The Growler Renaissance
People have come up with many new concepts as they attempt to navigate the COVID-19 crisis. But it's a rather older one that's been helping keep many businesses afloat and our drains free of delicious draught beer.
Postcards from the Edge No.18: From Menulog To Menudog
If you live around Carlton North you may have seen an unusual form of home delivery service in recent weeks. The Great Northern team have been sending beer and food out via their security dog and barman on skateboard...
Postcards from the Edge No.10: Can Together
The craft beer industry has always been one fired by the spirit of collaboration, something which has come to the fore during the COVID-19 crisis. We spoke to two brewers helping get their peers beers into punters' hands.
Postcards from the Edge No.8: Sanitation For The Nation
Brewers and distillers across the country have been switching production in recent weeks to help meet the country's need for more hand sanitiser.
Postcards from the Edge No.3: Quarantinnied
It's amazing how fast things can happen when the pressure's on. The team at Carwyn Cellars has created a special Canvent featuring 24 Victorian brewers in just a couple of days so people can enjoy beers together apart.
Postcards From The Edge No.2: GoFeedMe
What do you do if you're one of the thousands of beer and hospo people forced out of work by the COVID-19 pandemic? In the case of Deb Lieu and James Balboni, you launch a mission to feed others in your position.
Postcards From The Edge No.1: Cherry Cheer
As the beer and hospitality industries adapt to the new reality, there are some inspiring examples around. We joined The Cherry Tree crew as they launched their home deliveries by bringing cheer to the streets of Richmond.
Drink Up – Bushfire Relief's Global Brew
Well over 200 breweries across the planet have brewed a version of the Australian Resilience Beer in support of bushfire relief. Judd Owen spoke to those involved here and overseas – while lending a hand with one of them too.
Back To The Future - The Rise Of Small Festivals
There's a new breed of beer festival on the rise, one that combines elements of those from craft beer's earlier days with a more tightly-curated program of beers and brewers.
All Aboard The Beer Quality Motorhome
In recent months, Lallemand Brewing's technical manager Dan McCulloch has been taking a motorhome around Australia visiting breweries. Will Ziebell jumped on board to find out what he was doing and, more importantly, ask why.
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Space Yeast, Rare Fruit & Roving Coolships
Dozens of international breweries send their beers to Australia, but there's only one we know of using yeast harvested at 70,000 feet and a roving coolship. Will Ziebell chatted to the man behind Lanikai's Hawaiian beers to find out more.
Nail's Pale Ale Trail
WA icon Nail are to put the beer upon which the brand was built on hiatus as they launch a series of trial releases that will allow the public to vote on a new addition to the core range.
Mine's A Sunshine State
Thanks to the launch of small hop farms, a local operation producing yeast for brewers and the production of malt with Queensland provenance, Archer in Brisbane have created QPA, which they believe is the first modern, all-Queensland beer.
The Abbotsford Renaissance
In recent times, you were more likely to see FOR LEASE signs going up on Abbotsford's historic pubs. But that's all changing, as new owners have injected life into a trio of pubs, helping turn it into one of Melbourne's best 'burbs for good beer.
Sowing The Seeds Of Hemp Beer
Young Henrys become the latest brewery to launch a hemp beer following law changes in Australia last year. We spoke to brewers using hemp as well as the researchers helping them get the flavours and aromas into their beers.
Free To Brew What We Want
Greater awareness around coeliac disease and gluten intolerance is leading to more GF products hitting the market, including beers. As a new gluten free brewery in Victoria nears opening, we find out more from brewers and researchers.
Festive Adventage
Since their debut in Australia just a handful of years ago, beer-filled advent calendars have become remarkably popular, with thousands expected to be sold this year. Will Ziebell spoke to some of the people putting them together.
Fresh Or Dead
As the audience for craft beer grows and competition intensifies, quality and education are more important than ever. We speak to a Brisbane brewery and Melbourne retailer finding their own ways of spreading the fresh is best message.
The Collaborators: Feeling Animated
With more beers fighting for tap and fridge space than ever before, the challenge of capturing beer drinkers' attention has never been greater. Label manufacturer Graphix is hoping a moving new development will appeal to brewers looking to stand out.
The Big Issue: Cold Comfort
The "fresh is best" message is gaining traction in the beer world. But, for the vast majority of beers, keeping them cold is crucial too. As a couple of new businesses launch with cold storage and transport in mind, we look at why staying cool matters.
What's In A Name?
While many brewers are happy to stick to the [Brewery Name] [Beer Style] format when naming their beers, there are plenty who take great pleasure coming up with beer titles. We find out why from three of the most avid fans of beery wordplay.
Bottling The Farm
Van Dieman have released the first of their "estate ales" – beers brewed with ingredients grown and sourced entirely on Will Tatchell's family farm south of Launceston. Bert Spinks joined him for a tasting and tour of the farm he's finally bottled.
Enter The Netherworld
Brisbane has its offbeat bars. And Australia has other venues that combine gaming and arcades with craft beer. But there's quite possibly never been anything quite like Netherworld. Ahead of its huge Monster Menagerie, we crawl tentatively inside...
Whitfords Brings Craft Beer To Westfield
The team behind Perth's Northbridge Brewing Co has opened its second venue. Whitfords Brewing Co is find in the unlikely location of a suburban Westfield shopping mall and looks set to pull the crowds.
Russian Moo-lette
In one of the more innovative promotional gambits we've seen, Moo Brew founder David Walsh has commissioned a roulette style vending machine filled with the brewery's cans – and one option drinkers may wish to give the bullet.
Canvas. Comic Strip. Can.
Following on from our look at branding in the beer industry, Ross Lewis chats to a couple of designers working on Australian breweries' cans as well as a brewery owner whose tinnies are among the most spectacular you'll see.
Gone To Pot
The search for new techniques, flavours and experiences in the beer world continues apace. At The Craft & Co in Collingwood, brewer Heath McVeigh has been brewing with the sort of clay amphora used for beer and wine in the Roman Empire.
Cavitation Salvation
Could techniques similar to those used by the remarkable mantis shrimp help revolutionise brewing? According to a group of Italian scientists, a process called cavitation could save time, water, energy and waste. Dan Sandy takes a look.
Wildflower Blooming
Dozens of breweries will open their doors across Australia in 2017. They will come in all shapes and sizes, but we doubt any will be quite like Wildflower. Nick O spent time with the blendery's driving force, Topher Boehm.
The Breeder
Washington State based Select Botanicals Group has developed some of the hops most beloved of craft brewers. We met head breeder Jason Perrault when he was in Melbourne to talk torture, promiscuity and limitless possibilities.
Stepping Up
Newstead Brewing is deep into stage two of its development, building a large brewery close to XXXX and launching a project to study Brisbane's indigenous yeasts. In a broad-ranging interview, Judd Owen speaks to founder Mark Howes and new head brewer Dr Kerry Claydon.
Mall Brewing
The team behind Perth's Northbridge Brewing Company is set to open a brewpub in a northern suburbs shopping mall. And the move could be a sign of things to come as the nature of shopping centres evolves.
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.
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.
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.
In Hot Pursuit Of Hoppiness
When it comes to delivering the message of "Fresh is best", has anyone gone to greater lengths than the duo from Adelaide's Big Shed Brewing Concern? Matt King reports on their unique Cannonball Run of beer.
Ocho's Online Brewery
The flurry of new brewing companies opening in Tasmania continues apace. Yet it's fair to say that Ocho stands out. Not just because it opened with a barrel-aged saison, but because its means of getting beer to punters is rather unusual.
The Micro Malting Man
Adelaide Hills brewer Al Turnbull of Lobethal Bierhaus is nearing the end of a decade long dream. He's designed and built his own in-house malting that will him to create his own malt for brewing, becoming the first SA craft brewer to do so.
Touch Wood
Boatrocker's Barrel Room is set for a soft launch tomorrow. Sitting across the road from the brewery, it will eventually house 300 barrels, as well as the 15-tap bar, making it one of the most ambitious ventures in the Australian beer world.
The Big Story of a Small Beer
Guy Southern chatted to Colonial Brewing's manager-cum-raconteur Richard Moroney to get the story behind their uniquely packaged Small Ale. He walked away with an insight into the essence of beer and why it pays to remember that it is, after all, just beer.
Bottling The Farm
Two Metre Tall isn't the only Tasmanian brewery on a mission to create estate ales creating solely in homegrown ingredients. Van Dieman hopes to capture its farm in a beer soon too.
Turning The Handles
One of the many marvellous things about Canberra's Bentspoke is its unique tap handles. We chatted with the retired cartographer behind them.
The Collaborators: Love Handles
A former circus and sideshow performer, roller derby coach and ceramicist has started creating custom tap handles for Australian craft breweries.
Do The Can-Can
The cans keep on coming. A couple of weeks ago, we reported on the launch of the first canned beer from WA's Colonial Brewing and now we've been lucky enough to get our hands on the four tinnies from Brisbane's…
The Beer Necessities
There's no doubt this weekend's Meredith Music Festival will, in one sense at least, be like none of the 23 preceding Meredith Music Festivals. In the not too distant past, those who made beer their tipple…
Taking On The Taps
Such is the rapid growth rate of craft beer today, it is enough of a challenge trying to stay up-to-date with every new Australian beer release, let alone the hundreds arriving from overseas. Thus, while…
It's Time To Talk Hops
Of all the brewers to have played around with the new wave of Aussie hops, none has delved quite as deep as Ben Kraus at Bridge Road. With one of the country’s main hop farms, Rostrevor, just down the…
House Of Cards
People have tried various means of educating people about beer. You’ll find tasting notes on the bars of breweries, menus with suggested food and beer pairings, posters outlining the various beer families,…
It's In The Can
Craft beer drinkers are all too aware that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. The path to discovering better beer is intrinsically linked with an understanding, or at the very least an appreciation,…
Collaboration Crazy
Beer knowledge hasn’t always expanded as fast as the craft beer industry. And, while the world would be a terribly dull place if everyone was an uber-keen beer geek eager to analyse every nuance in their…
