There are plenty of updates from The Crafty Cabal, the beer lovers bonus scheme for supporters of The Crafty Pint, after a busy fortnight.
First up, massive thanks to the team at Stomping Ground, the forthcoming brewpub from the people behind The Local Taphouses and GABS. They welcomed a group of Cabalistas into their new home last night for a pre-opening sneak peek tour and tasting.
The team there is clearly pretty damn excited ahead of the opening, which is about ten days away. And with good reason: the venue is going to take your breath away. It's coming together nicely (we'll post photos on Facebook over the weekend), as are the beers.
Last night, we were talked through five of the 12 beers that will be tapped at launch: the Gipps St Pale, a rauchbier they brewed with Stone & Wood, a delicious brown ale, a Berliner weisse sampled straight and with woodruff syrup (see the green beer above) and, finally, a barley wine that had only previously been tasted by the Stomping Ground staff. It was a great experience and, no doubt, we'll all be back when the venue is officially open.
And here's what else is new...
SYDNEY DRINKS
We're off to throw our fourth state launch party in Sydney next month. Join us at the Royal Albert Hotel on September 8 where we'll be shouting beers and food from 5.30pm to 8pm for Cabalistas (and a plus one) and our friends and supporters from the local beer world.
Members can register now by logging into their member's area. People yet to join can sign up and register.
BEER INCIDER EXPERIENCE CABAL SPECIALS
As part of this year's Beer InCider Experience in Brisbane, we've lined up some exclusive VIP packages for Crafty Pint supporters. They include:
- Entry to the festival on both days
- A spot at an exclusive Cabalista Blind Tasting hosted by Brews & Bacon at 2pm on September 17
These are valued at $80 but the cost to Cabalistas is... $0!
FOR NEW SIGNUPS
- We're offering two VIP passes to the first five people to sign up after August 10, 2016, with a QLD postcode.
- Join The Crafty Cabal here and you'll instantly get a VIP pass for you and one for a mate worth $160 in total.
- Then you've still got a year to redeem other deals, attend other events and whatever else takes your fancy.
EXISTING CABALISTAS
- Head into your member's area now and register for the ballot.
- We'll pick the winners at the end of August.
- Each will receive one VIP pass.
NEW DEALS
As promised, with a bunch of events locked in, we've switched our focus onto adding more deals and offers at venues around the country. New for Cabalistas in the past fortnight are:
- Free tasting paddle at Dainton Family Brewery
- Free delivery for 12 months with Hops to Home's CANimal packs – this one alone is worth just under $120!
- Free tasting paddle at Mornington Peninsula Brewery
- Free middy at Wayward Brewing Company
- Free tasting paddle at the Clifton Hill Brewpub
We'll be adding new offers and deals regularly so, if you're a member, make sure you keep logging in regularly and hitting the NEW tab.
CRAFTY CABALE LAUNCH
There's still time to register for our SA launch party at The Wheaty next weekend. We'll be tapping the Landlady collab we brewed with some of our Cabal members last month – and we've got the tap decal through from our regular illustrator, Andy Shaw.
We're also pouring Hawkers Pilsner, shouting food for Cabalistas and their plus ones and we've had some very limited edition glasses produced for members too. If you want to come down and haven't yet signed up, you still can – and you can bring a mate along to drink and eat on us at the event too.
Look out for some more ongoing deals at SA breweries being added in the coming days too.
WINNERS
Congrats to the four winners in our Bendigo on the Hop 2016 competition. The following Cabalistas are off to next Saturday's unique walking festival for free:
- Frazer Greenwood
- Aaron Smith
- Nick Penfold
- Ian McDonald
Have fun, folks! For those who missed out, there are still tickets available although some of the starting points have already sold out so don't hang around too long.