Articles by Will Ziebell
Good Beer Week: Ten Years Of Beers
When Good Beer Week kicks off on Friday, the festival will finally turn ten – a year later than planned. To mark the occasion, we took a trip down Memory Lane with some of those involved in building and enjoying it over the past decade.
Is Fresh Always Best?
Fresh is best is a mantra we hear often in the beer world but can a beer be too fresh? Packaging shock is common parlance in the wine world but rarely raised in beer, while hazy, hoppy beers can perform better later too.
Federal Government Increases Excise Refund For Brewers
The Federal Government today announced that the excise refund cap for breweries and distilleries will increase from $100,000 to $350,000, with the decision welcomed by the Independent Breweries Association.
Follow The Beer Pioneer
William Buckley's tale of survival is one that's stuck with Australians thanks to one iconic phrase. Now, a Melbourne comedian is tracing Buckley's path while visiting as many local breweries as he can.
Beer Travel With Bright Eyes
How long do you think it would take to visit every single one of Australia's hundreds of breweries? Chelsea Bright is embarking on a mission to do just that – and plans to hit her target by Good Beer Week 2023.
The Collaborators: This Is My Boomstick!
Boomstick Glassware blend a love for craft beer, pop culture and collaboration into the design of unique creations from which you can enjoy your favourite crafties. We chatted to the small team behind the project to find out more.
Going Green: Bright Bins
Bright Brewery have long put sustainable practices at the core of their business and are now looking to take a recycling initiative nationwide.
We're Going On A Beer Hunt
Beer tourism is an oft-touted economic benefit of the rise of local breweries. Now two suburban areas with more local beer than most have invested in the establishment of local brewery trails with support from local government.
Who Brews Nice Guys Beers?
Melbourne is home to many suburban breweries with Richmond one that's played an essential role in the development in craft beer for decades. It's now home to Nice Guys, which brings a new aesthetic to the local beer scene.
West Bestern: The Rise Of The Hopheads
The Hopheads story started in Melbourne's outer west but has been moving closer to the city ever since. Ahead of their third store opening in Yarraville, we caught up with the team to chat about the bottleshop 'n' bar's rise.
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Carwyn's Forgotten Beers
The mission at Carwyn Cellars has always been focused on bringing better booze to the people and now the bottleshop and bar team has started brewing. Well, brewing again. Well, releasing beer.
BrewDog Australia Ready To Grow Up
More brewpubs and bars, a hotel with shower beer fridges and catering for dogs, and new beers for Australian and NZ markets. We caught up with BrewDog's new main man here to find out more about the Scottish brewer's plans.
Fox Friday's Fantastic Foray
Fox Friday have announced major plans to expand in their home state of Tasmania and open a brewpub in Melbourne. We caught up with Benn Hooper from the hazy specialists to find out more.
Ballistic Add To Their Arsenal
Ballistic Beer have welcomed two more brewpubs into their family, with the announcement the Queensland brewery has bought The Whitsunday Island Brewing Company in Airlie Beach and Bargara Brewing in Bundaberg.
Quantum Physicist, Champion Beer Writer, Brewer
The country's biggest beer competition might have skipped a year due to COVID but the Australian International Beer Awards are back. With entries open, we caught up with the last winner of the Best Media Trophy, Marie Claire Jarratt.
Brew & A: Ben from Ida Pruul
Westside Ale Works in South Melbourne always have a wide variety of beers pouring from their 30 taps. These days, they tend to include wild ales created on-site by Ben Sewell under the Ida Pruul banner.
Brunswick's Booze-Free Bar
Alcohol-free alternatives to beer, wine and spirits have come a long way in recent times and soon Melburnians will have a dedicated space to try those offerings in. We got in touch with the Brunswick Aces team to find out more.
Who Brews Shapeshifter Beers?
Shapeshifter launched in 2019 and have been finding fans across South Australia for their limited release hazy beers. We caught up with the brewing company's founders to ask them Who Brews Shapeshifter beers?
Boekamp Bier Relaunches As The Albert Brewery
Boekamp Bier's sudden closure in December last year was sad news for Tassie craft drinkers and lager lovers. Now co-founder Mark French has relaunched with a new look and name but with the same dedication to lager.
Dollar Bill's Ballarat Dream Quashed
Dollar Bill's dream of opening a cellar door in Ballarat won't be turning into reality after the local council rejected their planning application. But the brewery's founders are already working on plans for what's next.
Putting The Micro In Microbrewing
Use of the term has dropped away somewhat in recent years, but there's really one way one to describe Edward Kerr's research into barley protein at the University of Queensland: microbrewing.
A Hazy Shade Of Pale
Hazy pale ales look set to be one of the styles of 2021 as more and more breweries add them to their core offerings and drinkers embrace their juicy, fluffy, fruity sessionability. But just what are they?
TikTok On The Beer Clock
TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform on the planet, but is there any craft beer content on there? And, if so, should Aussie beer lovers and breweries be using it? Will Ziebell heads down the rabbit hole...
Is The Growler Honeymoon Over?
The popularity of growlers reached new heights when pubs shut and the government relaxed rules around repackaging booze. Those regulations return next month and people in the beer industry aren't overly happy..
No Save Point For Moon Dog
Moon Dog have joined forces with a dozen other breweries worldwide as part of hip hop duo Run The Jewels' No Save Point collab. We chatted to the Melbourne brewery about how the project came into being.
Who Blends Sobremesa Beers?
At the end of 2020, Casey Grieve and Hannah McErlane released the first farmhouse style release as Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery. We caught up with the couple to talk about their vision for the new brewing company.
Two Birds Bought By Fermentum
Two Birds have been acquired by Fermentum, the parent company of Stone & Wood and Fixation, among others. It comes ten years after founders Jayne Lewis decided to form Australia's first female-owned brewing company.
Ryefield Hops: Securing A Future
At the start of last year, the small-scale Ryefield Hops' entire harvest was destroyed by drought and the subsequent bushfires. We caught up with co-founder Jade McManus to talk about the year that was and their plans for the future.
The Curious Case Of Lord Howe Island's Breweries
Last week, Lion's managing director announced their plans to help build a brewery on Lord Howe Island. It turns out this was news to many of those running the island – and the existing Lord Howe Island Brewing Co.
Headin' Down To Castlemaine's Love Shack
New Year's Eve at Castlemaine's Theatre Royal is always a hoot. And the ringing in of 2021 is set to be bigger and beerier too, with the opening of Love Shack Brewing Co on New Year's Eve.
Beer Travel: The High Country Breweries Pt 2
In part two of our guide to the High Country breweries, we start off in Myrtleford before taking the long, winding and beer-soaked road back to Melbourne. Join us!
Manuka Oval's Crafty Takeover
In an historic decision, BentSpoke, Capital and Lion have each been given two bars each at the ACT's Manuka Oval for the upcoming 2020 cricket season.
Range Abbotsford Opens Today
Just over a week after they cleaned up at the Indies awards, Range Brewing are opening their Abbotsford taproom. Will Ziebell called in for a sneak peek with co-founder Gerard Martin.
Bad Shepherd: Five Years In Five Beers
It's five years since Bad Shepherd opened their Cheltenham brewpub, a half decade of huge change in beer. We invited co-founder Dereck Hales to take a trip down Memory Lane via five of their beers.
Blackman's Grovedale Groove
Having well and truly outgrown their Torquay home, Blackman's are set to open a new brewery in Geelong next year. Will Ziebell spoke to founder Renn Blackman about the latest expansion for the family brewery.
Jetty Road To Lorne Pier
Mornington Peninsula-based Jetty Road are set to welcome beer fans to another popular tourist spot from next week as they set up home in Lorne. They've also confirmed they're no longer going ahead with a South Melbourne brewpub.
Hop Nation's Zymurgy Zone
Today sees Hop Nation open a new venue with the team behind Yarraville's fine diner Navi. We caught up with brewery co-founder Sam Hambour to find out more about the West Footscray space.
Range Win Big At 2020's Indies
Range had an impressive night at the Indies 2020, taking out four trophies including Champion Australian Independent Beer. Perennial award winners Dainton and Moffat Beach also added to their considerable collection of silverware.
A Summer Of GABS
The pandemic has ensured 2020 became a year of cancellations but the team at GABS is hoping 2021 will look a fair bit different with the festival organisers announcing two new Queensland events for January.
Beer Travel: The High Country Breweries Pt 1
No less than eight months on from when we planned to run our post-bushfires guide to the High Country, and with COVID-19 seemingly under control, the rig of steel down, and the NSW border opening, it's finally time...
Postcards From The Edge No.59: The Indies Reinvented
Most major beer events have been cancelled in Australia this year. But, having had to cull most of theirs, the IBA was determined the Indies awards would survive. We found out how they reworked it for our COVID times.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
