There are a lot of very talented people in the craft beer world. And not just the brewers either. In our relatively short lifetime, The Crafty Pint has been lucky enough to work with a number of filmmakers, editors and cameramen to shoot short films on various aspects of the beer industry and document some of our events. We’ve had the travel journal from our trip to Goat Island, a music video for the Beer Song and sweet little wraps of events like those from the first ever GABS and the Gypsy & The Goat.
And today we’re kicking off the latest partnership, with the launch of Crafty Tales. This will be an occasional series of short films looking at different personalities and themes within Australian craft beer. It is being shot, edited (and pretty much everything else) by the team at Melbourne’s New McPherson video agency. Founder James McPherson is an avid home brewer and part of the Australian National Homebrewing Conference team and approached The Crafty Pint last year asking if we would help them with their next in house “love project”; in other words, a project that wasn’t for a client but that they wanted to do for fun and experimentation.
We jumped at the chance, worked out some stories to approach and set about lining up opportunities. The first video, which you’ll find atop our TV page, features the story of Mountain Goat from Dave Bonighton’s home brew days and daft fancy dress to their plans for the future. Next up will be a look at Boneyard Brewing, the spin off from Josie Bones that has seen founder Chris Badenoch hook up with award-winning home brewer and beer judge Brendan Sullivan to start producing some rather good beers at 3 Ravens.
We threw a few questions at James to find out why they were doing it…
What’s your relationship with beer and brewing?
I drank my fair share of Carlton Cold and Hahn Ice as a teenager, and as hard as it is to believe today, I thought it was pretty⦠pretty⦠good. It wasn’t until I first enjoyed Little Creatures Pale Ale that I discovered what beer could be. Back then, Little Creatures wasn’t even available in Victoria, so to sate my need for Cascade hops I had to learn how to brew. After a good friend introduced me to Grain and Grape, I discovered a whole sub culture of homebrewing, through which I became involved with the Australian National Homebrewing Conference and the somewhat intense world of clubs.
My love of beer is often challenged by periods of wine quaffing, intermittent fitness and big hop fatigue, but I’ve found the joy beer is, in that there is always something you haven’t tasted (never more than now).
Why did you decide to do Crafty Tales?
Well it doesn’t hurt to know the brewer⦠but really it’s a studio project⦠a love job. We’re pretty good at telling stories, and as far as we can tell – in the visual medium – the Aussie craft brewing scene is under represented.
Firstly, we’re doing this project for us. We’re genuinely interested in people have decided to dedicate their professional lives to making something that gives us, and so many other, such happiness. Making beer is not the easiest way to make a fortune (most will tell you it’s the easiest way to lose one), and these are people who are putting themselves out there, putting their hard labour in a bottle, and everyone’s a critic. Despite this, brewers are more often than not the most relaxed, friendly and down to earth characters we run across in our work.
Secondly, we do tend to pour a lot of beers in the process of making these films – so many artfully executed shots of pints backlit by the sun in 200 frames a second – someone has to drink it.
What you hope to gain from it and where you hope it leads?
We’d be happy if Crafty Tales finds an audience on The Crafty Pint, but there may be opportunities in different markets. Who knows?⦠maybe some nice people from PayTV land will see the genesis of a lifestyle craft beer doco series⦠well maybe?
What are the types of tales you want to tell?
We want to profile the people who make Australian craft brewing what it is, and we’ll curate snap shots/vignettes of the most brilliant/fucked up ideas in craft brewing.
Head here to watch Episode 1
New McPherson by New McPherson
New McPherson is a Fitzroy based video agency, that normally works with corporate, government and agency clients producing all kinds of video collateral. We’re a team of writers, producers, directors, editors and motion artists. We are visual storytellers.
We are an established company of multi-disciplined video experts that produces branded video content for corporate and not for profit clients including: Myer, Telstra, University of Melbourne and the Victorian Government.
We have worked extensively in the education sector and are a long standing suppliers of innovative and compelling video production services to the University of Melbourne. We have also recently completed a Regional Development Australia/DBI project promoting attractions and activities in Melbourne’s East to international students and their visiting friends and relatives.
In 2012, New McPherson was the most awarded Victorian-based video agency at the Australian Video Producer Association Awards, taking out three categories.
