bars

Behind Bars: Saccharomyces

It's like a German beer hall. Or a Belgian beer café. But it's mostly full of Aussie beer. But sometimes it's full of German or Belgian or American beer. It's Saccharomyces Beer Café, and there's not much like it.

Behind Bars: Mongrel

If you're into skeletons, sour cocktails and sausage daddies – or, at least, if they don't scare you off – then Mongrel's brand of weirdness is for you. We chatted with the pint-pouring pooches at the Milton bar for our Behind Bars series.

Akasha To Open A Sydney Barrel Room

They're best known for their mastery of hops, but the team at Akasha are set to showcase a rather different side to the brewery. We called into the soon-to-open Akasha Barrel Room in Leichhardt to get the lowdown.

The Beer Slingers: Bobbie Peels

After years running various hospo businesses, including launching Burnley Brewing, old mates Phil Gijsbers and Neil Mills have their first pub. With renos complete at the historic Bobbie Peels, we invited them to kick off a new series.

Behind Bars: Miles Hull

It's more than two decades since Miles Hull was brought in as GM of a new brewery in Freo called Little Creatures. With his latest hospo venture, Ruinbar, now open in Perth, we sat down for a chat about the evolving beer scene.

Behind Bars: Wilbury & Sons

Prahran and Moorabbin aren't the first suburbs that come to mind when you think Melbourne craft beer. Yet Byron Barrowclough has been working to broaden tastes in both. We had a chat with him as his latest bar, Wilbury & Sons, turns one.

The Welder's Dog Pack Grows Again

Seven years on from the launch of their first craft beer bar in Armidale, The Welder's Dog team have opened a third. They've renovated the 135-year-old Oxford Hotel in Inverell, installing 20 taps and with a kitchen on the way.

Doors To Dunnies Part II: Meet Me At The Bar

In his ongoing mission to find out what makes a great boozer great, Luke Robertson moves from the doorway to the bar, heading back in time to Pompeii and back again to the modern era of polished timber and glazed lava.

Behind Bars: The TapHouse Townsville

Some thought they'd have to put Great Northern on to survive. Nine hundred craft beers through their taps later, it looks like the TapHouse Townsville crew backed the right horse after all.

Heading Out For A Few Bo Gurks

Bo Gurks is a new bar in Melbourne's southeast with a nonsense name but serious dedication to craft beer. We chatted to founder Jarred Turnbull and the team at nearby Alice Rebel's to hear how Bayside residents are embracing local.

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Behind Bars: Oldfield Cellars

Behind Bars is where we get in touch with retailers across Australia to find out what's hot with them and their customers, and get their insight on the evolving beer world. Here we chat to Central Coast legends Oldfield Cellars.

Doors To Dunnies Part I: Let Me In

What makes a great boozer great? In a unique new series, award-winning beer writer and podcaster Luke Robertson sets out to find the answer, breaking down the experience of going out in Australia in the company of experts.

Behind Bars: Harts Pub At Ten

Inside a 130-year-old building in The Rocks, Harts Pub is a ten-year-old bar that's won the gratitude of Sydney beer drinkers and Australian independent breweries alike as one of the city's earliest adopters of craft beer.

Behind Bars: Beer Cartel At Ten

What started as two guys hand-packing boxes of beer to put in the mail has grown into one of Australia's largest online beer retailers. It's fair to say Beer Cartel have come a long way in ten years.

Crafty Crawls: Adelaide's Small Bars

They may not offer bars lined with taps – or lengthy bottle and can lists – but, since a 2013 law change opened the door for them, many of Adelaide's small bars have been leading the way with craft beer, with enthusiastic staff serving well curated offerings.

Behind Bars: East of Everything & Rosalita's

Gen and Michael Cotter started bringing good booze to Melbourne's eastern suburbs a decade and a half ago. As they prepare to open Rosalita's – a third venue in the same building – we caught up with the team.

Behind Bars: Copper & Oak

The brothers behind Copper & Oak have been selling booze to the people of Perth for more than 15 years. Guy Southern called in for a chat to see what they make of the fast-changing beer scene that surrounds them.

Behind Bars: Big Ears

Big Ears is one of the bars working hard to bring better beer - along with tasty meatballs - to the people of Geelong. Ainsley Killingback is chief beer proselytist and here tells us about Geelong's crafty credentials.

Melbourne Airport Lands A Brewery

Melbourne Airport is to get its own brewery, with Stomping Ground set to open their third venue there this coming summer. It's part of a revamp of the airport's offering designed to showcase Melbourne's food and drink scene.

Behind Bars: Old Faithful Amos

He's one of the beer world's most colourful of characters – most passionate advocates too. For this Behind Bars feature, we get some insight on the Perth and WA beer scene from the inimitable Amos at Old Faithful.


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Small Brewers. Bigger Beers

There could be good news on the horizon for Newcastle's small brewers following an announcement that a trial from Sydney's Inner West is set for the city and would allow them to sell full-sized beers instead of just tasters to customers.

Behind Bars: Hopheads

Back in the early days of The Crafty Pint, Adrian Chong was one of the keenest beer lovers we'd see at events across Melbourne. Since then, he's opened craft beer bars in Malaysia and recently added a second Hopheads in Melbourne's west.

Behind Bars: Cambrian Hotel

Bendigo's Cambrian Hotel is a fine example of how to embrace the modern beer world without losing touch with heritage, combining good local beer with good food and warm hospitality in a pub altered little from its gold rush origins.

Behind Bars: The Hive Bar

The Hive Bar has been keeping things local and crafty in Sydney's Inner West longer than most. It makes co-owner Adam Parker well placed to comment on the rapidly changing scene there as the number of breweries continues to grow.

Behind Bars: Refuge Small Bar

Refuge Small Bar is one of the finest looking beer bars you'll find anywhere in Australia. We caught up with the Subiaco venue's owners to find out where they think the local beer scene is headed as part of our Behind Bars series.

Behind Bars: Monkey Bar Dubbo

He went from a first experience of craft beer at the Grain Store in Newcastle to documenting a year of beer online and now, along with wife Cass, Tim Smith is helping build the beer scene in Dubbo.

Behind Bars: Adam Lesk

It's not be that long since Adam Lesk switched working for a builder for running one of the craftiest bottleshops in Australia, but he's wasted little time becoming a guru. Already a Certified Cicerone and hunter of the world's best beers, here he offers some insight as part of our Behind Bars series.

Crafty Crawls: Brisbane's Suburban Bars II

In part two of her Crawl through Brisbane's 'burbs, Julia Charalambous heads to the south. There, new breweries sit alongside crafty venues and bottleshops to offer locals plenty of the good stuff, often as fresh as you could wish for.

Crafty Crawls: Brisbane's Suburban Bars I

Breweries and venues serving up the good stuff are popping up further and further away from Brisbane's CBD. Here, in part one of a two-part Crafty Crawl, Jules Charalambous checks out some gems in Brisbane's northside.

Behind Bars: Jac Morgan

Behind Bars sees The Crafty Pint hop around the country asking people behind reputable beer bars what they're seeing in front of them: what are people drinking, what are the coming styles and so on. This time, it's Jac from Melbourne's Dr Morse.

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Behind Bars: Zach Hill

There's been a fair bit focus on Ballarat recently, with the launch a Beer Trail and announcements of a $100m brewery project and a Brewing Centre of Excellence. Here, one of the city's barmen tells us what's happening on the ground.

Behind Bars: Joel Beresford

For our first Behind Bars interview with one of Australia's leading venue operators, we return to WA to chat with Joel Beresford. He's Perth's Mr Beer, is involved in many facets of the industry and just loves his sours.

Behind Bars: Mane Liquor at 10

On November 14, Mane Liquor celebrated ten years in business. In this extended Behind Bars article, owners Elliot Moore and Josh Daley talked to Guy Southern about witnessing a decade of craft beer evolution from behind the counter.

Behind Bars: Nick Pogonoski

There was a time when Tooheys was pretty much all you could hope for in Newcastle, but today venues such as the Grain Store are bring craft beer to the people. For our Behind Bars series, the venue's manager Nick Pogonoski tells us where tastes are at in Newy.

Behind Bars: Dane Adkins

We've written plenty about the burgeoning SA beer scene. Now, in our second Behind Bars feature, the owner of Sweet Amber Brew Café tells us what's hot at his bar and where he sees Adelaide's beer scene heading.

Behind Bars: Josh Edmeades

Is anyone better placed to tell you what's hot in the beer world than the beer gurus at the country's best venues? Today, we kick off Behind Bars, a series that asks bar staff around Australia what their customers are digging.