Melbourne's west is enjoying a boom in both brewing and beer venues. West City Brewing is, for now, a gypsy operation that has been enjoying success with its hoppy Footscray Ale and hopes to open a place in the west soon.
If there's a general theme to events in the lead up to International Beer Day, it would be one of love, community and sharing. That or IPAs, hot dogs and free beer...
Pirate Life continued its dream start to life by taking out the Champion Large Brewery trophy at the Craft Beer Awards in Brisbane last night. Other big winners included Little Creatures, Green Beacon and Hope Brewhouse.
From brewing braggot in Beechworth to starting her own brewery in Newfoundland, it's clear that Nardia McGrath's enjoying life to the full. With Pig & Pepper Brewing set to open, we caught up with her for our Aussie Exports series.
If there's one brewery above all others that won't be struggling to keep its beers chilled this winter it's Blizzard. "Australia's highest brewery" opened in the Victorian alps in March, brewing next to a Dinner Plain ski lift.
It's all change at Barossa Valley Brewing as one of the longest-established of SA's microbreweries expands and repackages its beers in cans. It's also in the process of establishing its Tanunda base as a mid-size contract facility, as Matt King discovered.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Ben Kraus has launched a new line of beers from his Beechworth brewery. Mayday Hills will see the Bridge Road Brewers team focus on creating beers in a large oak foeder.
The first two beers in this series looked at quirky contemporary cult favourites. So, for the third entry, we thought we'd do something different and look at a beer that's done as much as any to change Aussie beer culture: Little Creatures Pale Ale.
It's been a busy fortnight since our last Cabal update, including the brewing of the very first Crafty Cabale with the legends at The Wheaty in Adelaide. We've got plenty of winners to announce as well as some forthcoming goodies.
In the second leg of a leisurely trip through some of New Zealand's lesser known North Island breweries, Nick Oscilowski heads towards the west coast and discovers something old and something new...
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It's been a long time coming for Dainton Family Brewery but they're close to brewing in their own brewery. As they celebrated, Kerry McBride sat down with Dan Dainton and father Kevin to chat about the winding road that led them to Carrum Downs.
Until recently, Canberra had little in the way of beer to call its own. Today, with Capital Brewing having followed both BentSpoke and Pact Beer, it has five brewing companies operating there. Will Ziebell caught up with the newest.
While there's much talk of craft beer booming across Australia, what of the Top End? As Bert Spinks discovers, the microbrewing industry there has just doubled in size. OK, so that still means there's just two, but they're beery and boisterous.
Myponga brewery Smiling Samoyed made it two for two at the Royal Adelaide Beer & Cider Awards, with its Dark Ale backing up last year's Best Beer win. Other big winners last night included Pirate Life, Goodieson Brewery and Coopers.
If anyone thought that summer was beer season, the absolute avalanche of winter beer events being held across the country might suggest otherwise...
From humble origins to another means by which we can take our palates on an adventure in booze, the boilermaker has come a long way. Will Ziebell speaks to some whisky and beer pairing gurus to find out why the two work so well together.
There are plenty of great Kiwi breweries that are well known in Australia. But there's much else to discover too. In the first of four features on some of the lesser known lights of the North Island, Nick Oscilowski heads to the Coromandel Peninsula.
We're not big fans of lists here at Crafty Towers, but with so many new beers released every week we felt we'd make an exception to take stock midway through 2016. We asked contributors to nominate their best new brews and here are the top picks.
With our second launch party done and dusted in Brisbane, it's all eyes on Adelaide for the next week or two. We've got lots of winners to announce and some new swag to give away too – read all about it in our second update from The Crafty Cabal.
Ever wondered what it's like to work in the beer world? Is it as much fun as you think it would be? And what skills do you need to take on roles in the beer industry? A Day In The Life Of seeks to answer those questions and more. Starting with #replife.
A plethora of Aussie beer never before seen in SA is making its way to Adelaide as Pint of Origin takes its first steps outside Good Beer Week. The ever popular multi-venue showcase of Aussie beer appears across the city from July 2 to 10.
For most Aussies visiting the US the West Coast takes priority. But, as part of his mission to explore global beer cultures, Molly Rose founder Nic Sandery chose to spend time in North Carolina. In his second article for us, here's what he discovered there.
WA may have kickstarted the contemporary craft beer industry more than three decades ago, yet the venues of Perth have been slow to get on board. That's been changing in recent years, as this Crafty Crawl – our first from WA – indicates.
For our latest missive from an Aussie overseas, we return to the UK. There, former 4 Pines man Adrian Lugg has landed a role at Sambrook's Brewery in London. He offered Kerry McBride his insights into brewery life on both sides of the planet.
Whether you need to spend some leftover cash before the end of the financial year, want to settle into a mid-winter Christmas, or join the Crafty Cabal's travelling circus of good beer and good times, there are events aplenty as we reach the mid point of the year.
With a reputation for walking on the wild side well established, Kiwi trailblazers Garage Project are set to get wilder still. Kerry McBride joined them for a tour of their new Wild Workshop where they'll be working with barrels, foeders and a coolship.
The Southern Highlands of New South Wales has a new brewery to call its own and local interest has been so great that it's had to increase capacity before the doors officially open.
Much is brewing three hours south of Perth in what is increasingly becoming the Margaret River beer region. Guy Southern headed there to spend time in the company of the merry men that call the beery bucolic bliss of The Beerfarm home.
French inspired beer and Parisian bistronomy is coming to Alexandria thanks to Vince de Soyres, Thomas Cauquill and their Frenchies Bistro and Brewery. We caught up with the former Little Brewing and Flat Rock brewer to find out more.
Wellingtonian expat Kerry McBride returned home and caught up with the woman tasked with driving New Zealand's leading beer festival, Beervana, as well as a local brewery making its debut, to find out what attendees can look forward to in August.
With The Crafty Cabal officially launched earlier in the year and a series of follow up launches and events now underway across the country, we're starting fortnightly roundups of what's new here on Crafty, alternating with our New Events wraps.
It's been a while, but our blind tastings are back. And, having punished panelists with some less than thrilling lineups previously, here we tackle flavour of the month IPA. With so many now available, we're splitting the tasting over two panels.
It's often said that brewing is where art meets science. Yet, thanks to the new brewing team in control at Indian Ocean, on Perth's northern fringe, it's becoming a case of art meets science meets art as they get creative with their decals.
Today sees Bright Brewery mark ten years since they first opened the doors of their brewery site in the Victorian High Country. Much has changed – and is changing – so we fired some questions at co-founder, and still owner, Scott Brandon.
Glen Humphries is the man behind the beer site Beer Is Your Friend. Last month, he won the AIBA Beer Media trophy, sponsored by The Crafty Pint. Here, we find out more about the man, why he can't stop writing and his thoughts on beer.
After launching with a trio of Melbourne jaunts, we're taking our Crafty Crawls on the road. First is a gentle saunter up and down the hills and pretty streets of Surry Hills and surrounds, as enjoyed by Judd Owen of Brewed, Crude & Bitter fame.
When it comes to delivering the message of "Fresh is best", has anyone gone to greater lengths than the duo from Adelaide's Big Shed Brewing Concern? Matt King reports on their unique Cannonball Run of beer.
Melbourne's Wild Wild West was, not too long ago, something of a craft beer wasteland. But today that couldn't be further from the truth, as Will Ziebell discovers on a crafty wander through Footscray and its surrounding 'burbs.
The return of our not-often-enough-for-our-liking brewer Q&A series heads south to Hobart. There, amid a flurry of new brewery openings, you find Hobart Brewing Company, whose head brewer Scott Overdorf has seen more beer than most.
Each time we've added another dozen breweries, venues and bottleshops to our directory, we like to gather them in one place so you know they're there. So here's 12 new listings featuring good beer folks from Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
With the Good Beer Week recovery well underway (albeit with GABS hitting Sydney for the second time this weekend), it's time to start planning the next few months of cool weather, beer tinged deliciousness...
Water makes up more than 90 percent of the beer you drink. It is also in increasingly scarce supply in Australia. For our latest Big Issue article, Graham Frizzell speaks to three people looking to reduce their breweries' water consumption here and in California.
Having swapped New Zealand for Australia during the GFC, a Wellington couple has found themselves striking out in a new direction at the foot of Mount Wellington. We meet the Clarksons as they launch Hobart's newest brewery, Fox Friday.
Last year, four homebrewing mates and their partners turned their hobby into a commercial reality when they launched Innate Brewing. Now, with a professional brewer on board, they're looking to make waves in WA's craft beer scene.
Stone & Wood backed up a medal at the recent World Beer Cup in the US by taking out the Champion Large Brewery title at the Australian International Beer Awards last night. Other big winners included Two Birds, Pirate Life, BrewCult and Gage Roads.
Melbourne's northside is set to welcome another brewpub. Hot on the heels of Stomping Ground's pre-opening shindig on the opening weekend of Good Beer Week, Bodriggy in Abbotsford is hosting a gig in the former mechanics it will one day call home.
Julian Lelah and his surfing buddies used to love nothing more than touring Margaret River's breweries after a morning catching waves. Now he's turned the tours they used to do for fun into a business, launching the region's only beer only tour company.
Aussie Exports is supposed to be a series of features on Australians doing fun things in craft beer overseas. Yet, this once, we're doing something a little different as we feature honorary Aussie Dan Johnston, now back in his native Canada at Collective Arts.
Hot on the heels of our first Crafty Crawl – a guide to the craftiest spots on the 86 tram – here's another. Kerry McBride has been out in her local 'burbs to pick out some of the best beer venues to check out in Richmond and Abbotsford.
Craft Beer Heroes is a series that shines a spotlight on people doing great things for beer in Australia, including the unsung heroes. Kate Paterson is truly one of those: you may never have heard of her, but she's probably given you a good time.