News & Feature Stories
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.
Roads To Royalty
At last night's awards dinner the Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show handed out a record number of gold medals with Gage Roads, Bridge Road Brewers and The Australian Brewery among the big winners.
AB InBev Buys 4 Pines
In news that will send shockwaves through the Australian beer industry, it has been announced today that AB InBev has taken 100 percent ownership of 4 Pines. It is the global brewing giant's first Australian purchase since merging with SABMiller.
4 Pines: Behind The Sale
Following a courtship of more than 12 months, 4 Pines today became a 100 percent owned subsidiary of AB InBev. We spoke to brewery co-founder Jaron Mitchell and Peter Filipovic at AB InBev to find out more on the background to the sale.
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.
Brewsvegas Celebrates Its First Beeries
Queensland's craft beer community came together en masse last night to celebrate The Beeries, an awards with a difference. Instead of judging beers and breweries, it handed out awards to the people that make up the state's industry.
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.
Help Us Get Blind: Pale Ale Double Header
For our next blind tasting, we're going to return to pale ales for the first time since 2013. With so many available, we're splitting the tasting into two sessions – New World and American pales – and want your help compiling the lineup.
Big In Japan
Three Victorian breweries are celebrating collecting multiple medal hauls in one of Asia's biggest beer competitions at the weekend. Holgate led the way with four medals at the International Beer Cup in Japan as Mountain Goat and Edge won two each.
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A Brewer Walks Into A Winery...
Ahead of the launch of Molly Rose Brewing, young brewer Nic Sandery has been immersing himself in beer cultures across the world and writing about them for us. More recently, he immersed himself in wine 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.
Beer Travel: Much Ado About Pliny
Russian River Brewing Company - the home of Pliny the Elder - is one of the world's most admired breweries. Kerry McBride caught up with its owners to hear the lengths they go to so in keeping their fans sated and asks: "Will their beers ever make it to Australia?"
Crafty Crawls: The Great Ocean Road
Any trip along the Great Ocean Road always came with the promise of natural beauty and jaw-dropping experiences – unless you were after good beer. Today, with a number of small breweries calling the region home, the situation is much improved.
Crafty Pint Supporter News – 08.09.17
It's a seriously bumper update for Crafty Pint supporters this week with heaps of new ballots and giveaways plus some new offers and a stack of signup bonuses for new members too.
Beer Food: Paul West
River Cottage's Paul West recently collaborated with the team at Melbourne's Stomping Ground to create a beer to launch at a degustation at the Beer Hall. We chatted to him and Brewer Asher Hall about the partnership and also grabbed the recipes for the dishes presented on the night.
Retro Philter
The Craft Beer Awards have had a tendency to turn the spotlight on new brewing companies. And that was no different in 2017 as four-month-old Philter took out Champion Pale Ale. We chat to the well travelled brewer at the helm.
Another Prize For Pirate Life
There was more awards joy for Pirate Life overnight as it was named Brewer of the Year at the International Beer Challenge in London. The Adelaide-based brewery was one of three Australian breweries to collect gold alongside Prancing Pony and Hawkers.
Who Brews at the Ministry Of Beer?
While the state's bigger names tend to grab the headlines, South Australia has seen a large number of smaller operations come to life in the past couple of years. One of them is the experimental, farm based Ministry of Beer.
The Crafty Dozen – August 2017
With plenty going on, we've been a little slower than usual in getting new brewery, venue and bottleshop listings up on the site. But, with the arrival of Batch Brewing Co, it's time for another roundup of the latest dozen.
Pirates Aiming For Port
With the title of Australia's Best Brewery bestowed on them from the biggest ever survey of the country's craft beer drinkers, we chatted to Pirate Life co-founder Red Proudfoot about the recognition and where their ambition will take them next.
Beer Nuts: Rosemarie Ensink
There are few characters more colourful in the Australian beer community than Rosie Ensink – and not just because of her neon chameleon like hair. Here, Graham Frizzell delves deep into her beery obsession as she becomes our latest Beer Nut.
Australian Craft Beer Survey Results 2017
Pirate Life and pale ales are Australia's most popular, according to the results of the biggest ever survey of craft beer drinkers. Beer Cartel's survey of 17,000 drinkers also revealed that independence matters and The Crafty Pint remains the most read Australian beer at new source.
The Collaborators: More Craft Malt
Hops tend to grab most of the craft beer world's attention when it comes to beer's core ingredients, but as more maltings – big and small – open across Australia, giving brewers new malt varieties to play with, the much-loved flowers may soon be sharing a little of the limelight.
Beer Nuts: Paul Cooke
Talk about dedication to the cause. Paul and Laura Cooke have taken a year away from teaching to tour Australia, calling in to as many breweries as they can, with Paul writing notes for every beer along the way. A true Beer Nut!
It's Business Time
The Crafty Pint is set to add a business directory to the site to give beer-related businesses a platform to showcase their offering to our audience. If you'd like to find out more, read on.
Craft Beer Heroes: Liam Pereira
Within the Australian craft beer community, there is a handful of characters almost everyone seems to know – or at least knows of. Liam Pereira is one of those characters. We caught up with him as he prepares to oversee his first Sydney Beer Week.
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.
Crafty Pint Supporter News – 19.08.17
We've got some juicy updates this week for both existing Crafty Pint supporters and readers thinking of joining The Crafty Cabal and taking advantage of all the benefits that come your way in return.
Box Clever
With the fourth Bendigo On The Hop approaching, we caught up with the city's sole commercial brewer, Doug Brooke. Now into his fifth year at Brookes Beer, we picked his brains about the challenges of being small, independent and regional.
Beer Travel: Yorkshire
In the last of four articles inspired by his global travels, Nic Sandery recounts his time spent in one of the world's lesser discussed traditional brewing regions. In Yorkshire, he soaks up beers old and new, but mainly midnight curries with giant naan breads.
The Collaborators: Binary Beer
A homebrewer is working with a team at the University of Wollongong to create a keg tracking device that could offer brewers real-time information their kegs. Binary Beer is currently being trialled with Five Barrel Brewing and the Headland Hotel.
Getting Blind With Crafty: Imperial Stouts Revisited
After a four year break, we returned to the most epic of beer styles, imperial stout, for our latest blind tasting. Old favourites and beers not around four years ago went into battle. Who would win?
West City Brewing For Sale
West City Brewing is the latest brewing company to be put on the market. The gypsy operation based in Melbourne's west is best known for its Footscray Ale.
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.
The Big Issue: Branding Revisited
With the marketplace becoming ever busier, cans on the rise and breweries rebranding seemingly every week, it's time to revisit the issue of branding. Over two days, our trio of WA writers examine one of the great challenges facing brewers.
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.
Big Beer Monopoly
One of the visitors to this year's Craft Beer Awards was a German journalist and storyteller who has penned a book on the globalisation of beer. Matt King caught up with Dr Ina Verstl to find out more.
Beer Travel: Bamberg
Nic Sandery is a young brewer set to launch Molly Rose Brewing in the second half of 2017. He embarked on a global beer tour seeking inspiration for his beers and has been documenting his experiences for us. Here, he visits German home of smoke, Bamberg.
Who Brews Slipstream Beers?
The brewing scene in and around Brisbane continues to expand. In recent months, Slipstream launched its first beers and is now opening the cellar door bar at its brewery in the south of the city. Here's founder Deale Stanley-Hunt to tell us more.
Crafty Pint Supporters News – 04.08.17
Time for another update from The Crafty Cabal, the beer lovers bonus scheme in which readers can become supporters of the site and in return get access to heaps of offers, exclusive events, festival tickets and more.
How The West Was Won
The west of Melbourne is undergoing a period of massive growth, and craft beer is expanding right alongside it. The Crafty Pint visited new venues Mr West and Bar Josephine, as well as Two Birds, to find out what the west will do next.
Who Brews With Two Heads?
Two Heads are better than one – at least according to the Hedley brothers. Campbell and Greg decided to abandon life in Sydney and start a brewery. Today, you'll find them and their beers in a converted mill in Bathurst. We find out more...
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.
Bodriggy Takes Top Award In SA
It was a mixture of faces old and new as the trophies were handed out at the 2017 Royal Adelaide Beer & Cider Awards. Among the winners were Pirate Life, Bodriggy, Nail, Vale, Coopers and Little Bang Brewing.
Roll Out The Barrels
This week sees Hawkers Beer release not one, not two, but four different barrel aged imperial stouts at the same time. With even grander plans for its barrel program in the future, we find out more from CEO Mazen Hajjar.
Craft Beer Awards Winners 2017
Dainton Family Brewery, 4 Pines, Fixation and the Wheaty Brewing Corps were the big winners at the 2017 Craft Beer Awards, collecting the major trophies at the Independent Brewers Association's big night in Adelaide.
The Story Of: Moon Dog Black Lung
With the seventh iteration set to leave the brewery this week, we chat to Moon Dog co-founder Josh Uljans about the only special release to be released annually. This is The Story Of: Black Lung.
Craft Beer Heroes: Trev Birks
Bendigo has arguably the most developed craft beer scene of any city outside the state capitals. In large part, that's down to Bendigo Beer, the group promoting better beer there since 2011. Ahead of its latest festival, we chat to one of its founders.
