Morrison Brewery Tasmanian IPA Beer
Paul Morrison has favoured traditional beer styles ever since setting up shop in Launceston many moons ago, which means Morrison Brewery hasn’t forayed too much or that often into New World styles – until now. This Tasmanian IPA is brimming with tropical flavours, all borne from a trio of classic…
Beer Travel: Greece News
Last time we heard from Storyteller Spinks, he was in Turkey. He's since moved on to Greece, where he's ensured plenty of time on his travels has been spent in the company of people working in and writing about the country's nascent craft beer scene. “Pino kai metho," one of my favourite Greek…
Beer Travel: The Scottish Isles News
Use the words "craft beer" and "Scotland" in the same sentence and most people will think of BrewDog. But there's much more to be discovered – even in the country's outermost reaches, as wandering Tasmanian Bert Spinks discovered. August in Edinburgh is off its chops. Festival season means loads…
Beer Travel: Thirsty In Hungary News
Let’s start with a little lesson in linguistics: the Hungarian word for "beer" is sör, pronounced "shewr" (or something close to that); it's a funny little word that has travelled. That’s Hungarian for you – it’s a fascinatingly diabolical language, the word-hoard of equestrian…
Beer Travel: Iceland News
The Crafty Pint may focus almost entirely on the Australian craft beer world, but we're not afraid to cast our eyes further afield to see what's on offer in other parts of the world. Thanks to wandering Tasmanian storyteller Bert Spinks, we can now offer you a taste of Iceland, a country full of special…
Beer Travel: Copenhagen News
As he heads homewards from the northern reaches of Europe, wandering Tasmanian Bert Spinks finds time to dip his toes into the "stylish", "serious" and "eccentric" beer scene in Copenhagen for another Beer Travel missive from the other side of the planet. I have less than 48 hours in Copenhagen, and…
Beer Travel: Iceland Revisited News
In 1809, there was only one place to drink in Reykjavík, a den for Danish merchants that they called the "klúbbinn". I had returned to Iceland in order to research the events of that summer; it’s a rather interesting history, but I’ll spare you most of the details, other than to say when I finished…
The Collaborators: Not For Horses News
An individual’s journey to becoming a craft maltster is not an obvious thing, but perhaps it’s even less so in the case of Bill Armstrong. “I’m the world’s only drone-flying, barley-malting stand-up comedian,” he tells me and I suppose he’s probably right. It’s 5.30pm,…
Beer Travel: Bushwalking with Beer News
Having returned to his home in Tasmania after touring the outer reaches of Northern Europe, whence he experienced beer in the Scottish Isles, Iceland and Copenhagen, wandering storyteller Bert Spinks has been out bushwalking. Here, he ponders the whys and wherefores of doing it with beer. This week…
Beer Travel: Another Belgium News
I realised this year that I had been to most countries in Europe, but never to Belgium. For someone who writes beer travel stories it had become a bit of a joke. Spontaneously, I decided it was time to fill the gap on the map. I was curious about the stories of newer Belgian brewers; plenty has…
Dean Can Draw – Bringing Crushed Cans To Life News
How long does it take you to crush a tinnie? Half a second if you’re being casual. Maybe three seconds if you’re holding intense eye contact with someone to make a point. If you’re taking a photograph of that same crushed tinnie, you might then take a few minutes setting it up just right. Ten…
Bottling The Farm News
The gardens and farms of northern Tasmania have burst to life. The fields are chockers with crops; backyards are busy with the harvesting of beetroot and brassicas; the berries aren't far off; and there are paddocks completely mauve with poppies or baby blue with linseed. But, if you want a symbol of…
Beer Food: The Brewer & The Chocolatier News
It was a thought that came to me over a delicious lunch in Brussels, one in which beef had been stewed in Tripel: "Why isn't more food cooked in beer?" It was a thought I let simmer away as I flew all the way back to Tasmania this spring. My home island has, over time, become a destination for gourmands;…
Best New Tasmanian Beers Of 2018 News
It's fair to say 2018 offered up plenty more reasons for Australians to be dissatisfied with democracy, but one can only assume that a list of the best craft beers for the year – selected by an arbitrarily-chosen panel of experts – will brook no complaints from the public. Right? After…
Beer Travel: Darwin News
In the 1980s, the acclaimed travel writer Jan Morris visited Darwin. “Never did a town greet its visitors more boisterously,” she said. “Never did the beer flow quite so fast.” I’m visiting Darwin for the first time and I quite agree. Normally the most abstemious of beverage connoisseurs,…
Beer Travel: Istanbul News
There probably aren’t too many brewpubs whose directions include a mosque, but these are the directions I have. When I get out of the Metro, I’m told I should look for a minaret poking up into the sky and turn left. The instructions are set to lead me to Bosphorus Brewing Company, one of the few…
Ten Years Of Seven Sheds, A Lifetime Of Beer News
This month sees Tasmanian brewery Seven Sheds celebrate ten years of beers (plus the odd mead and melomel) at its Railton home. The brewery, hop garden and cellar door is run by Willie Simpson and Catherine Stark and regularly showcases local producers and beer's history – sometimes via forgotten…
Crafty Crawls: Hobart – The Venues News
Hobart is Australia’s second oldest city, and for more than two centuries, Hobartians have not been shy of a drink. Over the course of many decades, the various breweries in the Vandemonian capital became consolidated into a single big one, but recent years have seen a proliferation of inventive…
Cool Times In Tassie News
It’s a classic Tassie spring arvo out in White Hills. Sunshine contends with bouts of heavy rain, happy sheep dodder along bright green fields, and rainbows come and go every few minutes. I’m bouncing down a charming narrow country road to the home of Van Dieman Brewing, in the hawthorn-lined…
Best New Tasmanian Beers of 2016 News
This gig is getting tougher. If you’d made me compile a list of my favourite Tassie beers released a few years ago, it’d be finished in half an hour. Nowadays, though, working out which crafty concoctions deserve a mention in the best of the Tasmania’s brews for 2016 has taken many weeks,…
Ten Years Of Crafty: In Pictures News
If a picture says a thousand words, then many millions have been spoken over the past decade in beer... After kicking off our tenth anniversary coverage with a long read on the genesis of the site, today we're switching tack. We've taken a trip down Memory Lane, making our way through…
