News & Feature Stories
Crafty Cabal Update – 01.12.17
We've been a little slack in providing updates on what's been going on with The Crafty Cabal via the main Crafty site recently, relying on socials and the EDM. But we're here with plenty of updates now...
Pirate Life Sold To CUB
Pirate Life Brewing has been sold to CUB / AB InBev. You can read the media release here and find our interview with co-founder Mick Cameron linked below too.
More On The Pirate Life Sale to AB InBev
Following the announcement that Pirate Life has been sold to CUB/AB InBev, we chatted to the Adelaide brewery's co-founder Mick Cameron and Peter Filipovic of AB InBev to find out more.
Igniting A Sparkke
Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, an all female beer (and other booze) company has set about raising awareness and funds for a range of causes with slogan-plastered cans. Matt King caught up with two of the members of the Sparkke Change team.
Changing The Date
Following the ABC's decision to move the date of the annual triple j Hottest 100 from Australia Day, the team behind the GABS Hottest 100 Beers poll has followed suit. The countdown for the best new beers of 2017 will take place on the fourth Saturday of January, with voting opening mid-December.
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.
Crafty Crawls: The Hunter Valley
It's not all wine, you know. The Hunter Valley now has four breweries amid the vines. Neil Richardson took a tour of them all for this Crafty Crawl.
The Other Side Of The Coin
When Feral sold to Coca Cola Amatil last month, two iconic WA brands were affected. The other was Nail, which had been in partnership with Feral for the past six years. We caught up with Nail's John Stallwood to see what the sale means for him.
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.
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Drinking Even More History
Early in 2016, Peter Symons published Bronzed Brews, a collection of 42 recipes for long lost Australian beers that homebrewers could bring back to life. He enjoyed it so much, he's already produced a second book.
I'd Buy That For A Dollar
Wu-Tang Clan, Papua New Guinean bank notes, Norwegian farmhouse brewing, truffle cheese, German techno DJs and pseudo-Lambic ales... It's fair to say Ballarat based Dollar Bill Brewing isn't your common or garden brewing company. We caught up with the couple behind it.
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.
Crafty Crawls: Brisbane's Suburban Bars II
In part two of her Crawl through Brisbane's 'burbs, Julia Charalambous heads to the south. There, new breweries sit alongside crafty venues and bottleshops to offer locals plenty of the good stuff, often as fresh as you could wish for.
Crafty Crawls: Brisbane's Suburban Bars I
Breweries and venues serving up the good stuff are popping up further and further away from Brisbane's CBD. Here, in part one of a two-part Crafty Crawl, Jules Charalambous checks out some gems in Brisbane's northside.
Brew & A: Charlie Hodgson
The rapid growth of the beer industry in and around Brisbane continues apace. Among the newcomers is Helios Brewing, a Yeerongpilly based operation that made a great signing before launch, snapping up Mash's trophy-winning brewer Charlie Hodgson.
The Perks Of Being Crafty
If things like free beer, exclusive events, competitions and free festival tickets get you excited, you should become a Crafty Pint supporter by joining The Crafty Cabal. Here's a short video explaining how it works.
Price Wars Revisited
Back in May, we ran a two-part Secret Brewer feature looking at the price war going on in parts of Australia. Six months on, it's intensifying and spreading, according to a number of brewers we've spoken to.
Brew & A: Keith Grice
The Hunter Valley today boasts quite the collection of diverse microbreweries. But, for many years, there was just one: the Hunter Beer Co based at Potters Hotel. Keith Grice has been at the brewing helm for the past decade; we find out more.
Help Us Get Blind: Pale Ale Voting Round II
With American style pale ales done and dusted, it's time for part two of our two-part pale ale blind tasting. Here, we're looking at more New World style pales and want you to help us select the field for the panel.
Cans, Bands and Beer Lands
The combination of good music and craft beer has become a common sight at music festivals across the United States. In Australia, progress is slower, but the ironclad grip of the big boys is slowly loosening and local Australian breweries are sneaking their way in.
Who Brews Blasta Beers?
In just two years, Steven Russell has gone from his first homebrew to launching Blasta Brewing and next year will open a brewpub designed to be a community hub as well as a home for his beers. We found out more.
Aussie Exports: The Beer Podcast
For the most part, our Aussie Exports series has focused on Australians who have found work in breweries in other parts of the world. Today, we feature a pair doing something rather different: running a beer podcast from their adopted home of London.
A Day In The Life Of A Barrel Room: Goose Island
From one of the largest barrel programs in the Southern Hemisphere to one 50 times its size... Here we step inside Goose Island's Barrel House in Chicago, home to 15,000 barrels and the legendary Bourbon County Stout.
A Day In The Life Of A Barrel Room: Boatrocker
In May, Boatrocker and Goose Island came together to create a barrel aged beer together. Given they're at the forefront of barrel ageing in their respective countries, the release of October Beer seemed a perfect opportunity for us to run side-by-side features on life in their barrel rooms.
Who Brews Farmhouse Ginger Beer?
Both farmhouse ales and soured beers have been rising in popularity for some time. Yet has Australia seen a farmhouse ginger beer yet? It's the beer chosen by the team behind the Welder's Dog bars to launch their brewery. We find out more.
Crafty Crawls: Redfern
As the 2017 Sydney Beer Week kicks off, we return to the streets of the New South Wales capital for another Crafty Crawl. Here, Judd Owen takes us through Redfern in the manner only he can.
The Collaborators: Ryefield Hops
The owners of a former dairy farm in the south of New South Wales have embarked on a new direction: hop farming. Ryefield Hops harvested its first crop earlier this year, with some of those hops going into Waratah, an all NSW beer released by Wildflower during Sydney Beer Week.
Craft Beer Heroes: Clodagh Harris
As The Fox Hotel in Collingwood prepares to host its tenth birthday bash, we caught up with one of its three founders. Clodagh Harris has been working in and around beer in Melbourne for two decades, educating and inspiring many others along the way.
Crafty Crawls: Far North Queensland
In late 2013, The Crafty Pint travelled with Mountain Goat to Cairns for the launch of their Summer Ale cans. It's fair to say, those cases were almost the only craft beer to be found in the region. Since then, however, much has changed.
Archer Takes Off
A new brewery is taking flight in Brisbane this month. Archer Brewing has been launched by former pilot Stuart Martin, wife Lucy and the man behind Croft Brewing and has found an underground home in the base of the city's International Hotel.
Getting Blind With Crafty: American Pale Ales
With so many pale ales on the market today, we split our latest tasting into two rounds. First to be put to the blind taste test was American style pales, with New World to follow before the year is out. Who did our panel put on top?
The Story Of: Little Creatures Rogers'
Little Creatures' new Single Batch Reinhold is "Rogers' German cousin", according to head brewer Russ Gosling. It led Ross Lewis to catch up with one of the Rogers' whose name adorns the mid-strength ale for a journey down Memory Lane.
Coca-Cola Amatil Buys Feral Brewing
WA trailblazer Feral Brewing has become the latest leading Australian craft brewery to sell its business to a multinational operation. Today, it was announced the business has been acquired 100 percent by Coca-Cola Amatil.
Bickford's Buys Vale Brewing
Two of the country's biggest craft brewers have been sold on the same day, with news that The Bickford's Group has bought Vale Brewing following Coca-Cola Amatil's purchase of Feral Brewing Co.
Who Brews On The Western Ridge?
From a single keg first release to expletive-bearing tinnies and nine other beers along the way, it's been a busy first 11 months for the fiercely local and independent Western Ridge Brewing Collective from the Barossa Valley.
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.
The Story Of: La Sirène Saison
Traditionally, saisons were brewed to be consumed in the warmer months. As we (allegedly) head in that direction in Australia, we caught up with the man who has put farmhouse style ales at the heart of everything he does.
Garage Project On Top At NZ Beer Awards
Garage Project was named New Zealand's Champion Brewery at the weekend's NZ Brewers Guild Beer Awards. Other winners included names both familiar and unfamiliar to Aussie beer drinkers, while the Beer Writer of the Year went to a woman for the first time.
Rocks Taken Off The Market
The owners of Rocks Brewing have taken the brewery off the market. Earlier this year, they announced the brewery and venue in Alexandria were for sale, although they planned to continue making beers under the Rocks banner.
Goat At 20 – Part II
Time to bring the story up to date. In part II of our look back at two decades of Mountain Goat, we tell the last 11 of the 20 stories of people, moments and beers that helped build the Melbourne legend.
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...
Mountain Goat At 20 – Part I
Mountain Goat wasn't the first craft brewery to launch in Australia but for many beer drinkers, especially those from Melbourne, it has a special place in their heart. As it turns 20, we head back across the two decades in the company of owners and staff, past and present.
New Business Directory Goes Live
The Crafty Pint has added a new business directory to the site. It is designed to complement those we have for breweries, venues and bottleshops and help beer businesses reach our audience to find new customers.
Beer Travel: Nelson-Tasman
While Wellington claims to be New Zealand’s "craft beer capital" and cities like Christchurch and Auckland occasionally stake a claim for the title, the Nelson/Tasman area feels like its home. Our Man In NZ Jono Galuszka recounts his weeklong road trip through the area,
Ballpark Figures
The announcement of Gage Road’s exclusive supply rights to the new Perth Stadium is another accolade for a brewery that continues to build momentum. Guy Southern spoke with National Sales & Marketing Manager, Scott Player, about the road to the deal and what’s next.
Beer Travel: 48 Hours In Portland
To suggest you could conquer Portland in anything less than literal years is an utter falsehood. If time is limited, the best one can hope for is to tick off beer meccas such as Deschutes or Cascade while hoping to get under the skin of one of the world's best beer cities. Kerry McBride gave it a go.
Craft Beer To Pour At New Perth Stadium
Gage Roads has continued its run of success on multiple fronts by winning the right to pour its beers at the new Perth Stadium. It is reported that the Palmyra based brewery beat off competition from brewing giants to seal the deal.
