News & Feature Stories
Otway Gets X-Rated
They always seem to be chasing new experiences down at Otway Estate. Already home to one of the biggest ranges of beers under the Prickly Moses and Otway banners, barely a moment seems to pass without…
The Beer Frontier
No doubt many of you who tuned into the adventures of Oz and James on SBS’s Drink for Britain as they toured the UK supping beers aplenty on their search for the drink that defined Britain sat there…
Ale Lovers: Get Pumped!
Anyone who’s visited the UK and toured its pubs will no doubt have enjoyed a pint or two of real ale poured from a traditional beer engine – you know, the sort with the long wooden handle that…
Beer & Food: Salmon and Strawberry Appetiser
Anyone that’s picked up a bottle or three of Red Hill’s Temptation might want to give this a try – it’s the recipe for the dish that was matched with it at a beer dinner at St Kilda’s Circa restaurant…
Cider Season
If the culmination of the country’s two biggest winter sporting competitions over the weekend wasn’t confirmation enough that Spring has sprung, the arrival of a new cider in readiness for the summer…
COMPETITION: Win free passes to the Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase
If there’s a better way to sample a load of the best new brews coming out of Victoria, we’ve yet to discover it. So it’s little wonder the past couple of Microbreweries Showcases at Melbourne’s…
Blog of the Month: eat, drink, stagger
If there’s one thing The Crafty Pint likes to be, it’s fair to one and all. So, having had Beer Blokes as the first featured blog, it’s time to redress the balance. We’re not saying Prof Pilsner…
Beer & Food: Carbonnade of Beef from the Courthouse Hotel
Judging by the growing number of beer dinners indicates, the pairing of beer and food is becoming ever more popular, aided by the likes of high profile characters like Paul Mercurio and Chris Badenoch…
Oktoberfest Roundup
When The Crafty Pint lived in Munich many moons ago, it was unlucky / lucky enough never to attend the Oktoberfest (depending whose view you listen to). Those who have been suggest that the number of Aussies…
Your Local Bottleshop
Their two bars already turn over 200 different beers on tap every year and now the Local Taphouse empire is to expand into the realm of take home beers. The team behind the St Kilda bar has already been…
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Beer & Bites
The local market is always a good place to sample tasty produce: a little cheese, the odd pickle or two – and now beer. Matilda Bay will be setting up shop in Melbourne’s Prahran Market and…
Mornington Opens Friday
Australia’s newest brewery will open its doors to the public for the first time this Friday. The Mornington Peninsula Brewery will be pouring an American Pale Ale, English Brown Ale and Belgian Witbier…
Grand Final - Great Beer
Want to know how multi-talented Aussie beer people are? Then check out the Grand Final Breakfast on Channel 7 this morning. At some point, a comedy duo called Elbowskin will perform a song about the game.…
Taphouse Retains Title
The Local Taphouse has been named Best Specialty Beer Venue for the second year running at the Australian Bar Awards. It picked up the award at Bartender Magazine’s glitzy award ceremony in the Grand…
Grand Final Beers
When Geelong and Hawthorn met in the 2008 Grand Final, the fridge and sinks where The Crafty Pint watched the match were filled with Cooper’s and Mountain Goat. Twelve months later and the vastly…
Brew & A: Bridge Road's Nardia McGrath
Whatever the current VB ads might have you believe, beer is anything but an exclusively male world. Look around the bars and breweries of Australia and you’ll find female brewers and bar owners, Beer…
How Beer Is Made 2
It’s been around for millennia and takes on all manner of guises, yet making good beer’s really all about understanding how to use four simple ingredients in harmony: water, grain, yeast and hops. In…
Koo's A Big Boy Now?
Theirs is one of the best stories among a multitude of good ones in the Australian craft beer revolution: a bunch of mates who liked good beer and spent every spare moment over several years pulling in…
Who Invited Brett?
Brett. A good Aussie name. One you could imagine belonging to a larrikin. The sort of larrikin who’s generally a pretty good sort but might gatecrash the odd party. And when he does, it’s 50/50…
Our Man In: America
A trio of Aussie beer lovers, who work in various roles in the Melbourne beer world, recently embarked on a 25 day tour of American breweries and beer bars. One of them, Tom Delmont, reflects on some of the lessons learnt amid the many fine beers.
Australia's Next Brewery
Chances are there were many grand plans concocted over numerous beers on the day the Hawks won the flag in 2008. Equally, the chances are that few were remembered the following morning, let alone actually…
Brew & A: Holgate's Ian Morgan
Ian Morgan is Paul Holgate’s right hand man at the Woodend brewery. The one-time US Marine is also an avid student of the history of beer, as you’ll see from his two-part feature “How Beer Is Made”…
A Peek At Purvis
The boxes are being emptied and the shelves laden with 100s of beers as the team from Purvis Cellars prepares to open the door on its new venture, Purvis Beer. The beer-only store in the heart of Richmond…
Hello. And Welcome!
Amazing things are happening in the world of Australian beer. Across the country, new breweries, beer bars and bottleshops dedicated to uniquely crafted beer are opening every month. The range and variety…
How Beer Is Made
Beer: in essence just water, grain and yeast – usually with a bunch of hops added – yet capable of being tailored into all manner of weird and wonderful concoctions. With a history stretching back…
More Beer for Melbourne
Frankly, Melburnian beer lovers are a lucky (spoilt?) little bunch. Certainly that was the view of plenty of out-of-towners at last week’s Beer Lover’s Guide To Australia launch. The most beer…
Blog of the Month: Beer Blokes
Anyone who’s a regular at beer events around Victoria will have come across Prof Pilsner: wise-cracking beer dinner host, restaurant manager, beer blogger and all round top bloke. He also gave The Crafty…
Newton's Third Beer Law
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So said Sir Isaac Newton, a man whose most famous moment of inspiration suggests he was more of a cider man, but whose Third Law could easily…
Beer Shakes!
The crazies at Denmark’s Mikkeller brewery are doing their best to redefine the concept of breakfast beer with their superb dark range and, courtesy of the boys at Beermen.tv, May’s Beer & Brewer Expo…
Bright Ideas
It doesn’t seem that long ago that putting beer into a champagne bottle seemed radical. Yet this week Epicure, in Melbourne’s Age newspaper, ran a Crafty Pint penned piece on the appearance of growlers…
Extra Special Bottles
A couple of years ago, word began spreading about a new Victorian beer that was exciting the noses and palates of all who had tried it. With huge, fragrant hop aromas seldom found in Australian beers at…
Braggots
Hands up who’s heard of a braggot before? Not many, I’ll wager. And not surprising, really, given it’s a mead-ale hybrid with origins in Medieval England. A few homebrewers out there may have tried…
A Shot In The Dark
The days are getting shorter, the coats longer, the rain steadier and the beers darker. So Matilda Bay has opted to bring out its first coffee beer since Crema, one of the first limited release brews to…
Welcome to The Crafty Pint
Aussie beer. Once nothing more than a byword for cold, fizzy and functional. Today, undergoing the most incredible transformation since The Beatles discovered LSD and grew beards. From Freo to Hobart,…
Beery words for beginners
Once you start exploring the world of real beer, you're likely to come across all sorts of phrases and terminology you're not familiar with. It's not essential you know them to enjoy good beer, but they…
