News & Feature Stories
Who Brews At 22 Paces?
The beer lovers of Tassie will be able to sample the first release from new brewing company 22 Paces this weekend. Dorian Broomhall caught up with co-owner Steve Tully to find out more.
It's Good To Be Social
It's fair to say 2020 has thrown plenty of curveballs at the beer industry yet the industry's come up with plenty of ways to do good. Now Local Brewing Co have brought a number of them together under the Social Tinnies banner.
Black Hops & Love For Local Dominate Beer Cartel's 2020 Survey
Support for local beer rose sharply in 2020 as drinkers rallied behind their locals during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Beer Cartel's annual survey. It also says Black Hops replace Balter as the country's favourite brewery.
Brew & A: Five Barrel Brewing
From bushfires to COVID, closures, cans, quarantine and a Kiwi, it's been a full-on year at Wollongong's Five Barrel. As they launch their new look lineup, we chat to founder Phil and his new head brewer, imported via hotel quarantine from NZ.
Heading Sou'East To Sou'West
One of brewing's elder statesmen is on the move after thirteen years in the Otway Ranges. We caught up with Luke Scott to chat about his decision to switch Prickly Moses for new Torquay brewery Sou'West and a job closer to family.
Back On The Craft Beers Pt II
Many of Melbourne's historic pubs have been closed this year longer than they were during even the world wars. Among them is the Rainbow Hotel in Fitzroy. As they prepare to reopen after 180 days closed, we ask how it's been.
Back On The Craft Beers Pt I
As Melbourne's venues prepare to reopen, we return to the pub with which we kicked off our Postcards from the Edge series on March 23. We joined Cherry Tree staff and a local to see how they've survived two lockdowns.
Postcards From The Edge No.57: Back In The Van
Beer tourism was hit hard during the COVID-19 shutdowns, but now venues are open and borders are closed, local customers are keeping Hop On Brewery Tours busy. We chatted to them about beer tourism in a pandemic.
Postcards from the Edge No.58: #ShoutAVicADrink
With Melbourne's venues finally set to open as restrictions ease significantly across Victoria, the team at an Armadale bar and bottleshop have launched a campaign enabling people to shout people exiting lockdown a drink.
WA Trailblazers Feral Turn 18
Feral are one of a few breweries you can say without any doubt changed beer in Australia forever. As they turn eighteen, and with co-founder Brendan Varis no longer involved, we chatted to the new team about the future.
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Dark Emu – Telling Stories With Beer
Sailors Grave are among the country's most avid and adventurous collaborators and harvesters of all things local to East Gippsland. But the Orbost brewery's latest collab really gets to the heart of the brewery.
Postcards From The Edge No.56: Duking It Out
While many beer venues have struggled during the pandemic, the Thorpe Hospitality Group managed to increase their revenue, tripled their staff, and have now acquired a new pub, The Duke of Enmore.
Bacchus To The Drawing Board
If there's a beer trend taking off, there's a good chance Brisbane's Bacchus Brewing will be one of the first on board. One that's passed the envelope-pushers by is cans; until now, with the brewery making the switch this November.
Black Hops Buy Brisbane's Semi-Pro
Black Hops have bought Brisbane's Semi-Pro Brewing and will turn their East Brisbane brewpub into the third Black Hops brewery venue. The Semi-Pro founders are sticking around as part of the new venture.
Who Brews Noodledoof Beers?
Noodledoof is a brewery and distillery opened by two mates in Victoria's west. As they approach their first birthday, we chatted to co-founder Alex "Doof" Carr about an opening twelve months encompassing a pandemic.
Crafty Cabal Update – October 2020
It's time for the monthly update on the latest from our beer club, The Crafty Cabal, and it's the last one before we unveil its new look too. We've got events, winners, giveaways, teasers and more...
Beer Basics: Hops
Hops are the star in many of the big hits of the modern beer world. In the second of his Beer Basics articles giving readers an introduction to beer and brewing, Molly Rose founder Nic Sandery moves from malt to hops.
Going Green: BrewDog's Big Ideas
The beer industry is responsible for generating a lot of carbon dioxide but BrewDog are on a path to change that. We caught up with their top dog in Australia to talk about carbon offset plans as they mark one year here.
Postcards from the Edge No.55: Check Yourself
Venues across the country have implemented COVID-Safe plans to let punters inside and now the Night Time Industries Association is calling on customers to do their part too.
Who Brews Bracket Beers?
Bracket Brewing opened the doors to their Alexandria brewery a little after the City of Sydney began to enjoy an easing of COVID-19 restrictions. We caught up with the father and son team to ask Who Brews Bracket beers?
GABS Canned For 2020
After two postponements and the earlier cancellation of their Auckland event, the GABS team has been forced to defer their remaining 2020 events. Instead, they're now looking ahead to their traditional dates in 2021.
Crafty Crawls: The Barossa
It's known globally for its wine, but over the years the offering from local breweries has grown. With a few venues supporting local beer and even a craft maltster in the region, the Barossa has plenty to offer beer tourist now too.
Budget Delivers Little For Indie Beer
The Independent Brewers Association (IBA) has welcomed some aspects of the Federal Government "recession-busting", jobs-focused budget, but many of the industry's request do not appear to have been addressed.
Dollar Bill's Dream Edges Closer
The family behind Dollar Bill Brewing is hopeful they'll be able to open their unique cellar door experience in spring 2020 after reaching the advertising stage for their "Invermay Beer Farm" in Ballarat.
Running With Thieves
With their cans now landing in the fridges of WA retailers, Guy Southern caught up with the team behind Running With Thieves for a chat about the development of their South Fremantle venue, brewery and distillery.
More Sober, More Often
As Ocsober kicks off, the choices for anyone wanting an booze-free beer, wine or spirit in their hand is bigger than ever before. Heck, there's even a new online retailer specialising in them.
Postcards from the Edge No.54: So Long, Farewell...
Among the thousands of Aussies stranded overseas are Ben and Maria Kraus and their kids. A planned year long stay has been extended by flight cancellations, so Ben is now helping commission a new brewery in Innsbruck.
The Collaborators: Native Flavours
As they prepare to launch their seventh collaborative Native Series beer together, Jono Outred spoke to the people at Beerfarm and Fervor driving these unique beers and the educational aspect that surrounds them.
Postcards from the Edge No.53: Monkey Brews
The couple who brought craft beer to Dubbo put the COVID-19 lockdown to good use: taking the skills learned over ten years of homebrewing to follow through on a long-held plan to brew their own beers for their regulars.
Postcards from the Edge No.52: Live & Loud
The live music industry has been hit just has hard as beer – if not harder – by COVID-19. As it starts to return in new COVIDSafe fashion, long-time good times supporters Young Henrys are back supporting gigs in Sydney.
Beer Basics: Malt, Malt, Malt
A couple of years back, we launched a new series aiming to teach people about the basics of beer and brewing. It slipped through the cracks but is now back, ready to boost your beer knowledge and enjoyment.
Atomic Beer Project Opens In Redfern
After months of delays due to COVID-19, Atomic Beer Project's new brewery and venue is ready to open in Redfern. It represents a major East Coast move for the Good Drinks group formed by WA's Gage Roads.
All Change At All Hands Again
A joint venture between 4 Pines and Signature Hospitality Group will see the home of All Hands Brewing House, reigning Indies Champion Australian Brewpub, become part of The Sporting Globe chain of sports bars.
Crafty Cabal Update – September 2020
Time for our monthly update on goings-on with The Crafty Pint's beer club, The Crafty Cabal. And what a busy month it's been...
Postcards from the Edge No.51: Wide Open Roads
Today sees venues across Victoria open for the first time in weeks after restrictions were eased on their second shutdown. We chatted to two of the businesses eager to welcome guests back.
Modus' Norty Little Number
A new non-alcoholic beer hits the market next week as Modus Operandi launch NORT. We chatted to Modus co-founder Jaz Wearin about a project that started with a middle of the night epiphany just ten weeks ago.
Who Brews Common Ground Beers?
In 2019, Aether Brewing co-founders Jimmy Young and Dave Ward decided to go their separate ways. The former can now be found at the helm of Common Ground Brewing, located in the former Aether brewpub in Milton.
Victorians To Take To The Streets
Victorians could be heading to the streets (and rooftops and parks) as part of the state government's plan to bring the hospitality industry back to life in a COVIDSafe manner. But questions remain over what the future holds.
Ten Years Of Crafty: The Time Barrel
We've spent most of this series looking back over the past decade. Now it's time to look at the here and now. We're going to create a time capsule – well, barrel – that represents beer now ready to be opened in 2030.
Ten Years Of Crafty: In Ten(ish) Beers
It took The Crafty Pint's founder eight years to put his name on an article, but now we've forced him to open up about some of the beers and stories that have guided his time in the beer world.
Ten Years Of Crafty: Changing Tastes
Styles have come and gone, limited releases are a growing focus, and there's never been more choice for drinkers. Here, we look at just how far and fast tastes have changed since we launched The Crafty Pint.
Who Brews In The Happy Valley?
Happy Valley is a brewery built for locals in the Brisbane suburb of Stafford, with a name stemming from the locale's original name. We caught up with the team to ask Who Brews Happy Valley beers?
Ten Years Of Crafty: Beer In The Media
For most people, the idea that beer writers even exist is a hard one to conceive. Yet there's an evolving media landscape dedicated in one way or another to the beer world. Here we look at how it's changed over the years.
Ten Years Of Crafty: Meet The Team II
In part two of the midway feature in our Ten Years Of Crafty series we again hand the mic to some of the people who've been part of the growth of the site over the past decade.
Ten Years Of Crafty: Meet The Team I
We've been blessed to have some wonderful people contribute to The Crafty Pint in various ways over the past decade. Here we kick off a two-parter featuring some of them and their highlights of the past decade.
Ten Years Of Crafty: The Big Ones
Lists. Bad news. Controversy. That's all people want, right? Thankfully, a perusal of the most read stories of the past decade on The Crafty Pint suggests you're a more discerning audience.
Ten Years Of Crafty: Infiltrating And Taking Over
The beer industry today is far bigger, far better in many ways, far more colourful and far more competitive. It's also changed plenty with independence now declared with the same gusto once applied to craft. Here's a look at how.
Postcards from the Edge No.50: Pivoting Properly
While they await the day they can open again, the team at The Cambrian in Bendigo have been keeping busy. Once they finished renos they embarked on a course to understand how to make their business better post-COVID.
Ten Years Of Crafty: In Pictures
If a picture says a thousand words, then many millions have been spoken over the past decade in beer. Here's a collection of beers from the past decade. We could have run many, many more...
Ten Years Of Crafty: The Wobbly Boot
Today we kick off a series of features looking back over the ten years since The Crafty Pint launched. And where better to start than the start. Or, more accurately, before the start...
