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Brewski, Barleywine & Brisbane's Beautiful Beer Community
For the second week running, we found ourselves in the midst of some breaking news with our podcast guests – this time good news.
A few days before this episode went live, we heard an exciting rumour about Matt Emmerson and Antoinette Pollock from Brewski and My Beer Dealer. We gave the couple a call and, sure enough, at that very moment they were signing paperwork that will see them open a new My Beer Dealer in Fortitude Valley – one they intend to make one of the biggest drink-in bottleshops in Australia
Given the ink is still drying on their agreement, we'll wait until nearer opening – pencilled in for October – to tell the full story of the Alfred St Bar & Bottlo, but it makes for an upbeat opening to this week's episode (which is full of love and laughs anyway).
The main interview was recorded a few weeks back, with Mick Wüst and Craig Williams joining Matt and Ant at their Caxton Street venue just after they'd announced they were closing the legendary Brewski and adjoining My Beer Dealer to focus on their other bottleshops.
They reflect on the ten years-plus at the helm of one of Australia's finest craft beer venues, the rise of Brisbane's colourful beer scene, Brewsvegas, barleywine events and the emotions that come with bidding farewell to their second child.
The couple also offer insights – on creating a successful brand, how their backgrounds in marketing helped them experiment with events, creating a community, and the future of craft beer and beer-focused venues – all while sharing stories from more than ten years of beer.
Given the main recording was set up before we'd actually launched The Crafty Pint Podcast, without our producer on hand to assist with setup, and in a drink-in bottleshop, we did face a few technical challenges. As such, this show is audio-only – something that will occur on occasion – so if you've been enjoying past episodes on YouTube there's no vision with this one. There's also some inconsistency in the audio, even after Matt risked his life clambering over the My Beer Dealer fridges in an attempt to shut them off and reduce background sound as best as possible.
However, you're here for the chat and that, as you'd expect from two such legends of the industry, is as entertaining as it is enlightening.
You can find the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. And, with a few episodes under our belt, we've also created a dedicated section for The Crafty Pint Podcast on the site, as well as on the homepage.
And if you'd like one last hurrah (or a few) at Brewski, last drinks are being called on August 31.
We're keen to work with partners looking to reach new audiences and achieve their objectives in fun and creative ways. So, if you'd like to be part of the action, get in touch.
James Smith launched The Crafty Pint in 2010, two years after moving to Australia from the UK. He was taken to Mountain Goat within weeks of landing in Melbourne, joined their indoor cricket team, and is still navigating the rabbit hole that is craft beer to this day.
The beers that turned you on to good beer:
- Watching pints of McEwan's 80 Shilling settle when visiting family in Edinburgh.
- Pints of flat Bass from the jug at the Cap & Stocking in Kegworth.
- A first Paulaner Hefeweizen when working in Munich in 1998: “This smells of bananas!”
- Castle Rock Harvest Pale – how could a 3.8 percent ABV beer be so good? (It turns out it was an early example of the three Cs – Cascade, Centennial and Columbus – in an English bitter).
- Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA poured through hops at the Sunset Grill in Cambridge, MA, in the company of a man who turned out to be the Beer Nut (while we were both covering a double murder case at the time).
- Ordering a Mountain Goat Hightail on my first day as an Aussie resident as it was local and I’d never heard of it; “A dark Australian beer; well I never…”
- Murray’s Icon 2IPA at Beer DeLuxe Fed Square, recommended by a guy I’d not long known who's now the main man at Fixation, served by Mik Halse, now head of sales at Hawkers. How could an Australian beer smell as good as that?!?
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
- Any really good, fresh and balanced West Coast style IPA. Punchy hop aromatics are the most obvious way to capture someone's attention and these IPAs, done well, present the key components in beer (if you're sticking to just water, malt, hops and yeast) in harmony yet with the volume turned up.
- Saison Dupont. Arguably a selfish choice here as I bloody love the broad saison style and dearly hope it will finally take hold in Australia one day. Given a choice, I'd probably crack one enlivened with Brettanomyces like Molly Rose Matilde for myself but, when it comes to turning on someone new, you've got to go with the classic.
- Rodenbach Caractère Rouge. Because if you don't enjoy or can't appreciate this beer, I'll never win you over. And because Filip, the fruit and wood specialist at Rodenbach that designed it, is a beautiful human.
The last beer you enjoyed:
Fixation IPA at The Incubator.
Three things that represent you:
- The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Golden Plains
NB All articles written by James in the first eight years of the site appear as By Crafty Pint. Today, that's used for collaborative efforts by the wider team.
