red duck

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.

Behind Bars: Zach Hill

There's been a fair bit focus on Ballarat recently, with the launch a Beer Trail and announcements of a $100m brewery project and a Brewing Centre of Excellence. Here, one of the city's barmen tells us what's happening on the ground.

Brewing Up Excellence

The Victorian State Government recently announced it was contributing half a million dollars towards the development of a Centre of Excellence for beer in Ballarat. Will Ziebell finds out more from the man driving the project.

Crafty Crawls: Ballarat City Guide

Each summer, Ballarat attracts thousands of beer fanciers to its City Oval for its annual festival. But, with four breweries and a growing number a craft venues, there's plenty of reason for beer lovers to visit at other times.

Cabal Update - 20.01.17

New year, new beers, new offers! The Crafty Cabal is kicking into action for 2017, and there are plenty of cool events and offers in the wings to grab the attention of our existing and future Cabalistas.

Cabal Update - 2.12.16

A whole year has passed since the Crafty Cabal was launched into the beerosphere. In that time, we've given away more than $10K in tickets and beers, poured 25 kegs for members, hosted 14 events – and it's just getting started.

Mead Made Modern

A tiny number of Australian brewers have played with mead and braggots, but there's now a small yet growing number of people specialising in these ancient beverages. Marie Claire Jarratt spoke to some of them in her debut article for the site.

Brewed With Balls

There's little left for brewers to put into beer. Locally, we've seen squid ink, belly button fluff and whale vomit used, while elsewhere there's been much more besides, as showcased in the new Brewed With Balls book.

Who Brews Valhalla Beers?

For our latest Who Brews...? feature, we head to the Surf Coast where crowd-funding helped Valhalla get off the ground. Their second release is coming soon, while are plans for a taproom on the coast too.

The Big Issue: Branding

As the beer landscape in Australia becomes ever more crowded and competition intensifies, it's not enough simply to brew good beer. How a brewery presents itself and its beers is perhaps more crucial then ever before, so we're addressing branding as our second "Big Issue" topic.

Pickled OnMarket
CBCo Goldy
A Decade Of Duck

Red Duck this week marks a decade of brewing. It's been a decade in which boundaries have been pushed and history plundered for inspiration, with spirits next on the agenda.

Beer Travel: Ballarat

It's taken its sweet time but Ballarat is finally developing a beer scene worthy of the name. In advance of the opening of Hop Temple, Ballarat beer lover Clayton Morrison rounds up the city's craftiest spots.