Articles by Will Ziebell
World Beer Cup Winners 2018
James Squire, Nail and BentSpoke all won medals at the prestigious World Beer Cup in Nashville today (or last night US time). Will Ziebell caught up with Nail's John Stallwood as he knocked back a celebratory VPA.
Aussie Exports: Craig Thorn of BAOS
He's a hip hop artist who runs a Canadian beer podcast, YouTube channel and writes about beer too. But, before that, Craig Thorn was in Melbourne drinking macro lagers and feeling fancy. Now, as part of our Aussie Exports series, he tells us how that all changed.
Beer Nuts: Ben Costin
At Brewsvegas 2018, the inaugural running of the Brewniverse Pageant took place. The aim was to crown a beer king or queen of Brisbane and the winner was Ben Costin. We find out more about him as part of our Beer Nuts series.
Royal Blood's Capital Connection
High flying UK rockers Royal Blood are heading to Australia for Groovin The Moo. And they've created their own beer too. Thanks to a friendship with one of Capital Brewing's owners, they've created Royal Brew, a blood orange IPA.
Howzat! 4 Pines Hits The SCG
New partnerships that would have been unthinkable a few years ago continued to be forged. 4 Pines has followed its deal with Manly Ferries by creating its own bar at the SCG, while Newstead will have its beers served on Queensland's long distance trains.
BrewCon 2018 Program Announced
There's a new name, new location, new categories and new entries for this year's craft brewers conference and craft beer awards. Now called BrewCon and The Indies, they take place in Sydney in June and the program and tickets are out now.
Crafty Cabal Update - April 2018
Another month gone, another update from The Crafty Cabal, our beer lovers bonus scheme. We've got a new competition featuring Blizzard Brewing's beers plus new offers in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
The Collaborators: Clint Weaver
The Collaborators is the series in which we shine a spotlight on people and businesses working in tandem with the craft beer world. Here, we meet a designer whose work adorns beer magazines, cans, decals and even a pub.
Hops From On High
Increasing numbers of brewers and beer lovers with a bit of land are trying their hand at growing hops, among them the duo behind Southern Highland Brewing Co. After a successful second harvest, they've just put out the first harvest ale brewed with locally grown hops.
Going Green: 24 Hour Power
In the second article in an occasional series looking at sustainable practices in brewing, Will Ziebell looks at the growing use of batteries to allow breweries to become less reliant on the grid.
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Who Brews At Deepwater?
He's got a strong track record when it comes to bringing good beer to places where there was little to be found. And now former Archive and The Park Werribee man, Isaac Zietek, has joined his father-in-law to bring beer to the people of NSW's Northern Tablelands.
From Rhineland To Richmond
He was winning awards for his beers before he was legally allowed to buy one before setting off to learn to brew in Germany – and trying to shake things up with his own brewing company. Now back in Australia, at the helm of Melbourne's Burnley Brewing, we catch up with Michael Stanzel.
Aussie Exports: Cristal Peck – Parasite Produktions
If you picked up some cans of Wolf Of The Willow's third Acidulus release, you've experienced a little bit of Berlin's Parasite Produktions. Formed by an American-Australian couple and focused on experimenting with booze, here's the Aussie half, Cristal Peck, to tell us more.
Who Brews Froth Beers?
Exmouth is a place better known for tourism than local beer, but two breweries in the coastal town are changing that. Last year we caught up with Whalebone Brewing and now it's the turn of Ningaloo Coast's other brewery: Froth Craft Beer.
Going Green: Sustainable Brewing
Brewing is, by its nature, an industry that's high on consumption – and we don't just mean in terms of beer drinking. Here, we kick off a new series, Going Green, that looks at sustainable practices within the Australian beer industry.
St Patrick & The Black Stuff
As Irishmen and women – genuine and honorary-for-the-day – prepare to celebrate St Patrick's Day across the planet, we look back at the day's origins, how it become synonymous with Guinness and how it was and is celebrated in Australia.
Who Brews Into Six Tanks?
Slowly but surely, a craft beer scene is taking shape in and around Darwin. Six Tanks Brew Co is playing a key role, brewing a range of beers onsite that share the venue's 26 taps with other local and independent Australian brewers.
Aussie Exports: Jess Wolfgang
Jess Wolfgang spent years working with Keith Grice at Hunter Beer Co before being convinced to move to her partner's homeland in New Zealand. Together, they started Rhyme and Reason in Wanaka, where they brew local beer for anyone enjoying the town's splendour.
Crafty Cabal Update - March 2018
It's a jam-packed update from The Crafty Cabal, our beer lovers bonus scheme, with heaps of offers, competitions, free beer, events and more for anyone who wants to support what we do to enjoy.
More Pink Boots Made For Brewing
The evolution of the Pink Boots Society, set up to assist and encourage women working in beer, continues apace. As the 2018 series of collaborative brews kicks off, the Australian wing of the global society has its own hop blend to play with and is launching in Tasmania too.
Fresh, Wet, Green & Hoppy
Hop harvest has started across Australia, with the first fresh or wet hop beers already hitting taps and fridges. But what are they and why are more and more brewers looking to brew them every year?
Brew & A: Ben Simmons
When the family that owned the Clifton Hill Hotel decided to move it from being an Irish pub with TAB to inner-city brewpub, we doubt they envisaged it would lead to the development of a sour beer program. We caught up with the brewer that started taking it in that direction.
Who Brews In The Huon Valley?
The Tasmanian brewing industry more than doubled in numbers over a two year period. One of the new arrivals on the state's beer scene was Church Hill, founded by Bradley Churchill on his property in the Huon Valley.
Pirate Life Lands A $2 Million Bounty
Pirate Life took a massive step towards the completion of its proposed $15m second brewery site today with the announcement that the SA State Government has given the business a $2 million grant.
Aussie Exports: Trystam Hayden
He grew up skateboarding around the bar of Sydney's oldest continuously licensed pub, the Lord Nelson. Now, having moved to the other side of the planet, Trystam Hayden is keeping the family brewing tradition alive at the Britannia Brewing Co in Vancouver.
Who Brews As Sunday Road?
With so much attention understandably given to the phenomenal rise of breweries in Sydney’s inner west, it can by easy to overlook the inroads craft beer is making into and outwards in other…
Newstead Forges An Old Alliance
It's 90 years since Sir Charles Kingsford Smith made the first trans-Pacific flight. To mark the occasion, Alliance Airlines has had one of its aircraft specially decorated and created a new collaboration beer with Newstead Brewing.
The Gang Of Sour
A Brunswick warehouse that initially housed Himmel Hünd's brewery has been turned into an incubator of sorts for small brewing companies playing with barrels. Will Ziebell finds out more.
Who Brews Mitta Mitta Beers?
The town of Mitta Mitta, in Victoria’s northeast, is a place better know for dairy farms and outdoor pursuits. But now it's got a brewery too so we asked founder and brewer Tim Cabelka to join us for the latest in our Who Brews? series.
Who Brews Jetty Road Beers?
Towards the end of last year the Mornington Peninsula gained another two new breweries. Blake Bowden is the head brewer of Jetty Road, which launched with a contract brewed pale ale and has just opened its own venue in Dromana.
Bright Bares All For Mental Health
The issue of mental health is one that's been discussed increasingly openly in the beer world over the past year. Now, Bright Brewery's staff are looking to raise funds and awareness via the release of a new calendar in which they bare all.
Who Brews At The Mill?
At the start of 217, The Mill Brewery opened its doors in Collingwood for the first time, joining the suburb's ever expanding craft community. As the year draws to a close, The Crafty Pint called in for a chat with the brewery's founder, Mirek Aldridge.
Who Brews Whalebone Beers?
Hoping to add local beer to the long list of reasons for visiting Exmouth is Whalebone Brewing Company, which takes its name - and some of its building materials - from the area it calls home.
Beer Power
Beer is once again being used as a force for good thanks to the team behind the Little Gippsland Brewing Co. They have launched Craft Draught with the aim of supporting community projects in their home region.
Confusion Deposit Scheme
New legislation designed to tackle litter in New South Wales is set to go live this Friday. Yet there are serious and growing concerns throughout the craft beer industry that the scheme is flawed and is set to affect small brewers disproportionately.
A Fixed Abode
Fans of Fixation's IPAs have an additional reason to get excited. The award-winning brewing company is less than six months away from opening a brewpub in Collingwood. Will Ziebell finds out more from Mr Fixation, Tom Delmont.
Decapod Grog
Help save the world's largest freshwater invertebrate by drinking beer! Moo Brew has partnered with The Wilderness Society to raise money to help protect the endangered Tasmanian giant freshwater lobster.
Aussie Exports: Beerbliotek
Just before Christmas last year, a barman at Mother Kelly's in Bethnal Green was eager to point us in the direction of beers from Swedish outfit Beerbliotek, explaining they were producing some of the…
Who Brews Hoppin' Mad Beers?
While there’s no shortage of breweries in Australia that contain a reference to hops in their name, we’d wager there’s few – if any – whose name is also a reference to jazz legends or plastic saxophones. Meet Sydney gypsies Hoppin' Mad.
The Big Issue: Brewer Shortage
As the craft beer industry continues to expand at a rate of knots, it's experiencing growing pains. Among them is a shortage of experienced brewers, an issue that can prove costly, time-consuming and, potentially, dangerous.
Strait Forward
In the grand scheme of things, Tasmania isn't that far from the mainland. Yet the Bass Strait has proven a challenging hurdle for most of the state's small brewers. Change could be at hand, however, as Will Ziebell discovers.
Heathcote's Hops
A nanobrewery and tiny hop farm join forces this weekend to launch their collaborative Wet Hop IPA as part of a mission to show Heathcote can be known for more than Shiraz. We spoke to Skull Gully Hops and Cornella Real ahead of the launch.
Craft Beer Takes Flight
In another positive step for small, independent brewers in Australia, Cheeky Monkey has secured a spot on all Singapore Airlines flights to and from Perth. Since then, Green Beacon and BentSpoke have been confirmed as partners too.
The Pinny Restored
Almost two years after a fire destroyed much of the building, one of Melbourne's iconic pubs is back to full strength. Will Ziebell caught up with Fitzroy Pinnacle owner Leigh Wilkes as his staff prepare to serve the first meals since November 2015.
Bombers Beer
At the start of a big week for the club, Essendon has just lined up an end of season treat for its fans. Players were on hand at Colonial's brewery today to help package Bombers Beer, now available in cans decorated in the club's iconic colours.
Getting Into The Spirit
Australia's craft spirit industry is enjoying a rapid rise not dissimilar to that enjoyed by beer in recent years. The connections between the two are strong, particularly at a growing number of breweries that are distilling in house.
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.
Meet The Beeries
If two awards nights in 24 hours wasn't enough to sate you, don't worry: The Beeries is coming. It's a beer awards with a difference, one that focuses on the broader beer community and the people within and comes to Brisbane in September.
Crafty Crawls: Preston
As craft beer nudges ever further outwards from its original Melbourne heartlands, so do our Crafty Crawls. Here, Will Ziebell finds much to satisfy in the evolving suburb that of Preston.
Craft Beer Heroes: John Preston
John Preston is one of the country's most unassuming craft beer heroes. In various ways, he's been helping drive the country's homebrew scene forward while supporting many ventures in the commercial brewing world too.
