News & Feature Stories
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.
2020: The Year In Beer
Well, who saw that coming? We kick off our end of 2020 coverage with a look back at some of the biggest trends and standout moments of the past twelve months.
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.
A Beer World Legend Retires. Into A New Job
After more than three decades of brewing beer and teaching others how to, Peter Aldred decided to retire. It didn't last long, as he swapped the brewing courses of Federation Uni for the brew deck of new Ballarat brewpub Aunty Jacks.
Crafty Crawls: The Adelaide 'Burbs
We've presented guides to good beer in the heart of Adelaide and many of SA's tourism regions, but there's plenty to be enjoyed in the 'burbs too. Matt King toured the city checking out the breweries, bars bottleshops and more besides.
Hepburn Springs A Surprise
Hepburn Springs Brewing Co's trophy triumph at the 2020 Indies was one of the highlights of the night. We got in touch with the tiny family-run operation to find out more about their inspiring win.
Ten Years Of Eagle Bay Brewing
Their brewery is one of the most spectacular in Australia, they're responsible for some of WA's best-loved beers, and today celebrate ten years since they poured their first beers. But does anyone know much about the Eagle Bay tale?
Getting Blind With Crafty: Non-Alcoholic Beer
For our first and only blind tasting of 2020, we went with a suitably 2020 lineup: non-alcoholic beers. They may well ruin the pun in the series title, but how do they stack up in front of our panel of industry experts?
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!
BrewBox: Making Homebrewing Simpler
A pair of 4 Pines brewers have launched a new business designed to ease people into the world of craft brewing at home. We chatted to Henry and Dylan about their hopes for BrewBox.
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Who Brews Bandolier Beers?
At the end of 2019, Bandolier Brewing opened the doors and gave the people of Warragul a brewery of their own. This year might not have turned out how they expected but those locals helped them survive two waves of COVID.
SA Stalwarts Shine At Royal Adelaide Awards
Some of the breweries that helped lay the foundations for SA's beer scene today took centre stage at the 2020 Royal Adelaide Beer & Cider Awards. Lobethal Bierhaus, Vale and Coopers were among the big winners.
Little Bang To Release 12,000 Hazy IPAs
Need more hazy IPA in your life? Then you're in luck as Adelaide's Little Bang are releasing 12,000 of them this December. We chatted to the lunatic behind the venture.
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.
Postcards from the Edge No.60: Distilled Good Times
Left with kegged beer that no longer had a home when the pandemic hit, both Sparkke Change and Stone & Wood decided to turn it into something else.
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.
Win A Crafty Cabal Table Tennis Table!
Want an eye-catching, all-weather table tennis table for your brewery, venue or other beer business? We're giving one of Pongo's epic aluminium tables away to a Crafty Pint partner with a Crafty Cabal deal in place.
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.
Otherside Go On Tour
COVID-19 gave the team behind Otherside Brewing Co and Freo.Social to take stock and reassess their model. One outcome launches tomorrow as they kick off three weeks of Welcome to the Otherside as a taster of what could lie ahead.
Craft Beer For Dogs
Dogs feature heavily in the beer community: there are brew dogs, events for dogs, breweries named after dogs, social accounts featuring dogs as heavily as beer. And now there are craft beer treats for dogs too.
Who Brews As Springside Brewing?
A new baby birthed a new hobby. A new hobby attracted a new community. A new community led to a new brewing company. This is the story of Springside Brewing.
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.
The Rise Of Activebeer
We're already written numerous times about non-alcoholic beer in 2020. Now, two Aussie companies are looking to take things a step further when it comes to healthy drinking with the launch of beers designed for enjoyment post-exercise.
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.
Who Brews As Manly Hops?
Many brewers want their beer distributed as far as possible. But if you want to drink Manly Hops' beers, you'll have to go to Manly. Here's the story of this exclusive brewing company making "bullshit-free beer".
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.
Disco Monks From Outer Space
To celebrate the relaunch of our beer club, The Crafty Cabal, we got together with our good mates at Fixation and Molly Rose to brew a one-off beer. Disco Monks From Outer Space is a members-only release.
Love Beer? Join The Club!
We've been beavering away behind the walls of Crafty Towers ready to relaunch our beer club, The Crafty Cabal. It's now bigger, bolder, more expansive yet still the same price it's been from the start.
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...
How Do You Build A Brewery?
What do you do if you want to start a brewery, but can't find the information you need? If you're Chris Hayton, you interview brewers and other industry professionals, make a podcast, and share it with the world.
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.
Cheeky Monkey Win Inaugural WA Beer Of The Year
Cheeky Monkey's Hazy IPA claimed top spot in the inaugural WA Good Food Guide Beer Of The Year awards. The 18-months-in-the-making beer headed a top three featuring their fellow South West brewers Eagle Bay and Beerfarm.
Total Eclipse Of The Hop
Seven years after the launch of Enigma, Hop Products Australia today unveil the latest` hop variety to graduate from their breeding program. Eclipse is a sibling of star pupil Galaxy set to bring a hit of mandarin to an IPA near you soon.
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.
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.
