beer education
In Hop Pursuit: A Guide To New Hop Products
Innovation within the world of hops has been in hyperdrive *checks that's not a trademarked term* with heaps of advanced hop products with funky names firing up your beers. So let's attempt to demystify this fragrant new world.
Episode 002: Lindsay Astarita of Stomping Ground
Ahead of the 2024 Indies awards, we sat down with Lindsay Astarita, sensory and quality guru at Stomping Ground, for a chat about her role, what it's like to be a beer judge, and a life spent travelling the world via craft beer.
WSET Announces First Local Beer Course Providers
In 2023, WSET announced the organisation would be launching courses dedicated to beer education. Now those educators have been trained, WSET has revealed the first Australian providers of courses.
Diversifying The Pathways Into Brewing
With applications for this year's Young Henrys Brewing Scholarship for female, female-identifying and non-binary people closing soon, we chatted to two brewers about their experiences since ditching corporate jobs.
WA's Beer History To Star In New State Library Exhibition
A new exhibition exploring nearly 200 years of brewing history in WA opens this weekend. Crafty writer Guy Southern, who conducted ten interviews covering the modern era, took us behind the scenes of Liquid Gold.
WSET To Launch New Beer Qualifications In Australia
New beer courses are launching in Australia next year as global training organisation WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) add beer to their repertoire – and bringing Two Birds founder Jayne Lewis to their team.
Scholarships Made Beerable
Looking to learn more about the science of brewing? The founders of Science Made Beerable have launched a scholarship to give people eager to study a science-focused beer-related course a helping hand.
Backing Beer: Australia's Cicerone Community
Paul Daley has spent the best part of a decade advocating for beer. Now, he's launched the Australian Cicerone – Certified Professionals Community with some of the country's top beer advocates to better promote the industry they love.
High Country Hop Technical Symposium – The Presentations
Ahead of the 2023 High Country Hop festival, Bridge Road Brewers put on a Technical Symposium sponsored by the Independent Brewers Association. We MC'd and recorded the day, and you can listen to all of the sessions here.
Shut Up And Drink Your Dessert: Pastry Beers Part 2
Pastry beers are everywhere now, like it or not. In part two of our deep dive, we explore their appeal: who's drinking them, the brewers' intentions and why they're still "real beer" – as well as the cost to your wallet and waistline.
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Shut Up And Drink Your Dessert: Pastry Beers Part 1
Sweet, thick beers that taste like dessert used to be few and far between, but now it feels like they're everywhere. In the first of this two-part deep dive, we look at what pastry beers are, where they came from, and how they're made.
Watch The High County Hop Technical Symposium
Once the party was done and dusted on the Saturday of The High Country Hop, industry figures gathered for the Bintani Technical Symposium at Beechworth Town Hall. Now you can catch up on the presentations.
Biotransformation: Where Hops & Yeast Meet
Many fans of hoppy beers will have enjoyed the fruits of Sam Bethune's labour from his days at Fixation. These days, he's with ingredients supplier Bintani where he's been experimenting ahead of the 2022 High Country Hop.
Aussie Exports: Australia's First Master Cicerone
Late last year, Shane McNamara joined a very small group of beer experts with the title Master Cicerone. As the first Australian to take on the title, he's also in a minority of one. We got in touch to find out more for our Aussie Export series.
Ballarat Notches 50 Years Of Teaching Brewers
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first postgraduate brewing course offered in Ballarat - and there's no sign of the course slowing down. We chatted to a few of the key figures from the past half century about its past, present and future.
The Lager Renaissance
Once shunned by many in the craft beer world, lagers are enjoying something of a quiet renaissance. Graham Frizzell takes a look at why, and asks what makes a great lager for the discerning contemporary drinker?
A Day In The Life Of: A Technical Brewer
He gets to play around with new ingredients and techniques as much, if not more, than any brewer in the country, yet you'll never taste his beers. We spent A Day In The Life Of Ellerslie Hop's technical brewer Glenn Harrison.
Meet The Hop Doctor
Dr Tom Shellhammer is a world-leading expert in hop chemistry helping brewers understand how better to use hops. We caught up with him in Tasmania as he gives a series of talks in Australia.
Kveik – Something Borrowed, Something True Blue
In part one of this mini-series, Mick Wust took a journey into the history of Norwegian "super-yeast" kveik. Here, he speaks to some of the early adopters in Australia to find out more about its unique appeal.
Kveik – Something Old, Something New
There's a new yeast in town. Actually, it's not new at all, but it is extraordinary. Here, Mick Wust delves into the romantic history of Norwegian kveik before speaking to Australian brewers and bar owners who've fallen for its charms.
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Drink Smarter
Two years on from their launch, the University of Melbourne's courses focusing on beer and brewing have been completed by hundreds, with some students already securing work. University alumnus Will Ziebell returned to the scene.
Advancing Beer Education
Matt Marinich has been one of the leaders when it comes to education in the Australian beer world for years. And this month, he's become an Advanced Cicerone, the first in Australia – and, indeed, the Southern Hemisphere.
Keg Bottle Can: A New Guide To Aussie Beer
Local beer lovers are in for a treat in the coming weeks as two new books are released in the lead up to Father's Day. One of them comes from Luke Robertson, founder of the Ale Of A Time blog and podcast, beer writer, host and more.
A Day In The Life Of: A Beer Judge
Next month sees brewers and beer experts from across the globe gather in Melbourne for the Australian International Beer Awards. But what goes into being a beer judge? Is it the best job in the world. Nick O find out.
On Vocation
Despite the rapid growth of the beer industry, the number of courses designed to train and educate brewers has remained few. Now, a new one is to launch in NSW under the stewardship of Neal Cameron.
A Day In The Life Of A: Senior Brewer
What's life like as a commercial brewer? We spent a day with Adrian McNulty, the well-travelled brewer now in the Señor role at Moon Dog, to find out what goes into heading up brewing operations at one of Australia's quirkiest breweries.
Drinking In Style: IPA
In advance of publishing the results from part II of our IPA blind tasting, our Resident Beer Scholar returns with a look at the style. Busting myths and telling the IPA's tale from the 18th century through to today's frenzied hop obsession.
Drinking In Style: Saisons
Want to know a little more about the beers you love? Then read on, as Crafty’s resident “beer dork” Chris Brady (his words, not ours) kicks off what will be regular features looking at the beers of the world. Kicking it off is a look at saisons.
