News & Feature Stories
Hottest 100 Craft Beers of 2013: The Breakdown
So, for the third year running, the country’s three favourite craft beers, according to The Local Taphouse’s Hottest 100 poll, remain the same. And they’re in the same order as last year too with…
H100 Of 2013 Results
For the sixth year running, The Local Taphouse has run its annual poll to find out which Aussie craft beers have wooed drinkers. With the support of The Crafty Pint and Brews News, the number of votes…
Statement From Temple
TEMPLE: "It is with much regret that we announce the departure of Brewmaster and Co-Founder Ron Feruglio from Temple Brewing Company. Ron has had a huge impact on the brewing world, starting with his…
Two Birds Are Brewing
One of the most popular brewing teams in Australia is bringing brewing to Melbourne’s Inner West. Two Birds Brewing, which was formed by former Mountain Goat head brewer Jayne Lewis (above right) and…
James Halliday Article: Aussies Taking Off
This week we’ve filed our latest feature for James Halliday’s Wine Companion Magazine – a look at the growing interest in wild and sour beers in Australia. We sought input from Richard Watkins, the…
Smiles From Beer To Beer
There are many ways of starting a new business. You can spend years carefully plotting every step, drawing up reams of business plans, running projections through computers, seeking advice from far and…
The Cask Bar's Calling
Here at Crafty Towers, we love a good pun. Or a bad pun, if we’re perfectly honest. We love real ales too, what with the site’s founder being born in Burton-upon-Trent, home of the pale ale,…
Show Us Yer Bottles
Time for a shout out. As readers of our weekly newsletter will be aware, The Crafty Pint’s founder has been commissioned to write a book on Aussie beer for the publishers of James Halliday’s…
Change Must Come
As the Alabama 3 made abundantly clear in the world’s finest ever Country ‘n’ Western, pro-Communism, techno banger, Mao Tse Tung Said: “Change must come through the barrel of a…
Walking The Walk
“We’ve talked the talk. Now it’s time to walk the walk,” says Jade Flavell as we discuss plans for her forthcoming brewery. It’s a fair point. When any brewery opens people will have high hopes…
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Craft Beer Rising is Go!
Registrations are NOW OPEN for anyone wishing to hold an event on our forthcoming national day in celebration of Australian craft beer. On February 22, 2014, The Crafty Pint is inviting brewers, venues,…
Crafty's 50 Of 2013
There’s not long to go now until voting closes for the Hottest 100 Craft Beers of 2013. The deadline for the sixth annual poll run by The Local Taphouses and supported by The Crafty Pint and Brews…
The Monks Of Margs
Walking into the brewhouse at Colonial Brewing in Margaret River there is an unmistakably familiar atmosphere, one that is probably unique considering it’s a relatively new brewing team. Paul Wyman (above…
The Year in Beer 2013: Victoria and Western Australia
For our final look back at the year that was we posed questions to some faces old and new in the country’s two craft beer big hitters, Victoria and WA (although NSW is coming up fast on the rails…). Among…
2014: Shit's Gettin' Real
The first day of the year is always one for looking forward with hope and in high spirits (tempered only slightly by the dustiness that comes with seeing out the previous one with two bottles of Auld Bulgin'…
The Year in Beer 2013: New South Wales & South Australia
The second of our end of year roundups heads to New South Wales and South Australia, where the thoughts and hopes of Crafty Pint’s men in each state are joined by those of the folks behind Newcastle’s…
The Year in Beer 2013: Queensland & Tasmania
It’s been another huge year for craft beer in Australia. But you don’t need us to tell you that – we do it pretty much incessantly day in, day out. So, as in previous years, we thought we’d invite…
Craft Beer Rising!
Who fancies making a load of noise about our wonderful homegrown beer industry? If you’re a reader of The Crafty Pint, the chances are you do. And if you’re a subscriber to our weekly newsletter…
Calling All Beer Media
People have been writing about beer in Australia almost as long as there has been brewing in Australia. But the rise of craft beer and the advent of the internet and its potential for writers to reach…
H100 Craft Beers of 2013
Australia’s longest-running people’s vote for the best craft beers of the year is back for a sixth time. The Hottest 100 Australian Craft Beers of 2013 poll opens today, with beer lovers able…
Best Of The Batch
When Santa skimmed over this year's naughty and nice list – moving swiftly past Lance Armstrong, the global intelligence community and the entire roster of the Essendon football club – he evidently…
Hey, We're The Monkeys
It's not every Sunday that you get to sit down and talk to a pair of monkeys but that's exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago. Alex Poulsen and Ross Terlick are the two new brewers at Cheeky Monkey,…
Getting Blind With Crafty: Christmas Ales
“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth…” Or in the case of a Christmas blind tasting, how about a classic coming out on top (to prove…
Drinking In Style: Christmas Beers
On the eve of our final Blind Tasting of 2013, resident Beer Scholar Chris Brady has taken another delve into the past so he can deliver another sermon of style. This time we’re looking at Christmas beers because, well, because it’s Christmas.
Full Of Heart
It’s turning into a colourful end to a rollercoaster year for one of the country’s more idiosyncratic breweries. Black Heart Brewery is found in a two-storey shed next to a swimming pool at the back…
Shrinking To Expand
It’s a sure sign that the beer world is changing when what could previously be described as an immovable object starts shape-shifting. Hamstrung to an extent by the size of their brew length and fermenters,…
A Little Bit Bigger
The doors to Little Creatures‘ new venture in Geelong are open. The $60 million brewery and hospitality venue was opened by the Victorian Premier Dr Dennis Napthine in front of an audience of invited…
Ask Brewer Jayne: Choosing What To Brew
It’s time to welcome back our occasional series featuring the “Agony Aunt of Aussie craft” Jayne Lewis. To the handful of people that haven’t come across Jayne or her wares (just…
From Siberia With Love
The seeds for the most unique new addition to Melbourne’s craft beer scene were first sown 11 years ago on the Gold Coast. Eighteen-year-old Anton Sagan, not long arrived in Australia from Siberia, was…
Brewing Like Berserk
Ekim founder Mike Jorgensen is reeling off the beers he brews: After Battle Pale Ale; Viking IPA; Berserker Amber IPA; Hell Black IPA. “It’s fair to say you’re a brewer who likes hops then.” “I…
Getting Blind With Crafty: Golden & Summer Ales
With summer upon us, it seemed only right to have a look at the quaffable end of the ale world for our latest Blind Tasting. That said, the choice of style (in a fairly loose sense) wasn’t met with unanimous…
Drinking In Style: Golden Ales
With summer approaching, we decided to look at the lighter end of the beer spectrum for our next Blind Tasting. As such, we opted for a rather loose collection of beers that fall under the Golden / Summer…
Rise Of The Beer Fest
The beer festival scene is booming in Australia. In a few short years, we’ve gone from next to no dedicated beer festivals to an absolute smorgasbord, with more being added every year. From November…
Beer Travel: Beer Lovers Week & The Tasmanian International Beerfest 2013
There was quite the choice for beer lovers this November when it came to beer events. There were concurrent beer weeks in Canberra, WA and Hobart plus the Beer Day Out, Beers By The Bay, Fremantle Beerfest…
Anyone For Cricket?
Earlier this year Asahi Premium Beverages, formerly known as Independent Distillers, bought the Cricketers Arms Lager brand and it became the basis for an attempt to enter the growing craft beer market.…
Festive Excess
Perhaps it’s only right that, as we approach the time of year when people tend to overindulge, we find ourselves amid a glut of festive occasions. Or festivals to be precise. We’ve got three…
Competition: Win A Taste Of The Tropics
The Australian beer industry is a colourful place. There are brewers inspired by the traditional beers of Germany, Belgium and the UK. There are others taking their lead from the States. There are those…
GABS Wants Brew!
It might be six months away, but already the biggest week for craft beer in the Australian calendar is taking shape. Good Beer Week submissions are closed and being shaped into a nine-day bonanza and now…
Blowing Minds
“This is blowing my mind,” says a guy at one table. “Mate, this is mind-blowing,” says another at a table across the room. Two beers into the first public Crafty Pint Blind Tasting event and…
Beer Travel: The Fremantle BeerFest
The curtain has just come down on this year’s WA Beer Week, having risen with the inaugural Fremantle BeerFest on the opening weekend. Pia Poynton, AKA girlplusbeer and also recent recipient of the…
Brew & A: Ironhouse Brewery
The first ever Hobart Beer Lovers Week is up and running and in just over 24 hours the Tasmanian International Beerfest returns to the city’s waterfront. So we figured it was as good a time as any to…
Deadline Day
Tomorrow is deadline day for anyone wanting to take part in either Newcastle Craft Beer Week or Good Beer Week in 2014. For those planning to run events in Newcastle, it’s your last chance to submit…
Back In Black
With its second birthday fast approaching (and a Bolivian band lined up to mark the occasion…), what was one of Australia’s tiniest breweries has started cranking beers out of a shiny new Italian…
Treading Gingerly
A Sydney brewery has been taken by surprise by international “upset” inadvertently caused by one of its labels. The label for 4 Pines offshoot Brookvale Union’s Ginger Beer, which was only released…
Something Big's Brewing
It started more than a decade ago with the ultimate man’s cave. But, finally, after years of hard work, the brewing dream shared by Jason Harris and Craig Basford is set to become a reality. "We began…
Brew & A: Indian Ocean Brewery
We’d originally planned to run this Brew & A with the head brewer at Indian Ocean Brewing this week as a precursor to WA Beer Week starting. Then we got the results of this year’s Perth Royal Beer…
Winners Out West
This year’s Perth Royal Beer Show has thrown up some eye-catching winners alongside the usual familiar faces. There will have been a heavily-laden plane heading back to Sydney too after New South Wales…
Feral's Fresh Facelift
It’s all change at one of Australia’s champion breweries as Feral undergoes a facelift. After the start of their occasional Brewpub series of limited bottled releases comes a new permanent beer, Sly…
Willy Fest Takes Shape
A couple of months ago, we caught up with Scott Meager, owner of the Steam Packet Inn in Williamstown. He’d just been given the green light to go ahead with a new beer festival in the Melbourne suburb…
Competition: BEERtographers Wanted!
The organisers of the Great Australian Beer Festival have teamed up with Little Creatures for a competition that will seeing the winner take home $1500 and earn a permanent place at the soon-to-open Little…
