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Aussie Exports: From Wollongong to Toronto
From home brewing in Wollongong to barrel aged sours in Toronto, David Everitt is living out quite the dream. In the second of our Aussie Export articles, he tells us how it came to pass and offers insights into the Canadian beer scene.
Starting a Brewery Part II
Thinking of starting your own brewery? Then part two of our series featuring advice from people already in the beer industry is for you. Following last week's top tips from brewers, here are the thoughts of six experts in other fields.
Bruny Island Brews
A young Tasmanian brewer who spent time at Moo Brew, Seven Sheds and Lark Distillery is back brewing. This time around, Evan Hunter has partnered with Nick Haddow of Bruny Island Cheese Co to launch a brewery focused on creating authentic Tasmanian beers.
Beer Travel: Orange
If you're looking for evidence of the growth of craft beer in Australia, you need only look at Orange in Central West NSW. There, as Tim Hanlon discovered, within a 25km radius of Orange's city centre you'll find three microbreweries, with more on the way.
New Events Wrap – 26.02.16
This week's cross-country collection of new events balances brand new beer with historical themes, a host of opportunities to meet brewers – including one of the most well known gypsies – and plants the seeds of your Easter plans.
New Events Wrap – 19.02.16
From casks to Champagne ale to birthdays and farewells, this week's roundup of new events provides a colourful snapshot of how diverse the local beer scene has become. And how you can enjoy being part of it.
The Big Issue: Hops
There have been shortages in the supply of certain hops in past years but 2016 promises to be the first in which there is a significant impact on Aussie brewers. We speak to four key growers and suppliers to find out why – and how to prepare.
New Events Wrap – 12.02.16
Want to know what's coming up in the beer world? Every week, we'll be rounding up all the latest beer events added to the Crafty Pint Events Diary. If you'd like to see yours appear there and here, drop us a line at events@craftypint.com.
Drinking History
After researching the Australian Sparkling Pale Ale style for America's Brewing Network, Peter Symons began to delve further into historical Australian beer. The result is Bronzed Brews, a book blending history with 42 home brew recipes for historical beers.
Arrogant Bootlegging Bastards
Margaret River brewery Bootleg has scored quite the coup and been invited to become one of a handful of breweries invited to brew Stone's legendary Arrogant Bastard. And all because of a bit of cheek and a spot of mountain biking through WA.
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Best New Beers of 2015: ACT
ACT welcomed a new brewing company into the fold in 2015 as champion home brewer Kevin Hingston took his beers to market as Pact. It gave our ACT panel four local breweries to pick from for their best new releases in the territory this year.
Best New Beers of 2015: Victoria
For the fourth of our Best New Beers of 2015 roundups, we look at the state with the largest number of breweries and brewing companies. Which ten beers did our panel reckon were the best of the year? And do you agree?
Eastbound And Down
The southeastern suburbs of Melbourne are now home to a remarkable number of breweries. Kerry McBride spoke to some of the brewers now – or very soon to be – calling the area home about what makes it so appealing.
Best New Beers of 2015: Tasmania
We kick off our end of year best of roundups in Tasmania. A panel of beer gurus gathered at Saint John Craft Beer to chew the fat and come up with their top 10 from all the new releases in the state in 2015.
Down The Rabbit Hole
Last year, Lion announced it was closing the White Rabbit brewery in Healesville and moving Little Creatures' little sibling to Geelong. The move – and considerable expansion and diversification – is now complete, as Kerry McBride discovered.
Fixated On IPA
Australia is set to get its first IPA brewing company. Fixation is a new venture between the Stone & Wood Group and IPA-loving former Mountain Goat rep, Melbourne beer legend Tom Delmont, that will release nothing but India Pale Ales.
40 Acres Brewing
His working life as a Navy electrician has taken him to China, Vietnam, Malaysia and China again. But, following a holiday on the Murray, Trevor Mitchell has planted his family on land in Central Victoria and turned 25 years of home brewing nous into 40 Acres Brewing.
Who Brews Hair Of The Dog XPA?
They met as part of the Merri Mashers, one of the youngest yet most proactive home brew clubs in Victoria, then decided that if they were making good beer, while not test it out on the public. And thus was born Old Wives Ales.
A Dozen More
We've added a dozen more new listings to our brewery, venue and bottleshop directories since our last roundup. So, as has become our habit, here they are collected in one place in case you missed them first time around.
BentSpoke Beer For All
Just 18 months after opening the doors of its Canberra brewpub, BentSpoke Brewing today took possession of a second site that will allow them to increase production and package their beers.
On A Mission
What with all the column inches and conversations we've dedicated to issues such as transparency, integrity, ownership and so on in recent weeks, we thought it was time The Crafty Pint came clean.
Capital Gains
Canberra has long been home to some of the finest beers in Australia, albeit on a small scale. As the capital's annual beer week and Beer Day Out approach, local home brewer Drew Sculthorpe finds the scene growing apace.
Getting Blind With Crafty: Ownership Special
Part two of our examination of the issue of ownership in the craft beer world is a blind tasting special. In it, we pit beers from the big brewers, major retailers and multinationals against those from small independent Australian brewing companies.
The Big Issue: Ownership
Takeovers and buy-ins, supermarket craft and vague labelling. Both here and internationally, the issue of ownership and its impact on the beer world is constantly in the news. Over two days, we look at what it means for craft beer and those who drink it in Australia.
Mountain Goat Bought By Asahi
Melbourne's longest established microbrewery, Mountain Goat, has been bought by Asahi. The Japanese company has taken a 100 percent ownership stake in the Richmond based company as of today.
Who Brews Venom?
After a lifetime growing up in pubs and working for breweries, Joel Drysdale has brought friends and family into his new brewing venture, Venom, which launched recently with the Kiwi-hopped Golden Ale.
Five Years Of Endeavour
They are one of the longest-running contract brewing companies in Australia and put a unique spin on their beers. As they celebrated turning five, Nick Oscilowski chatted with two-thirds of the Endeavour team about their unusual path to success.
Crafty Like A Fox
For the most part, Australia's restaurants are paying little more than lip service to good beer. Footscray's Fox in the Corn, however, is a shining example of how well it can be done.
Who Brews Three Toe Ale?
The growth in the number of small brewing companies, often gypsies using others' facilities, continues to rise. Nick O catches up with another: NSW based Merchant Brewing.
The Original Craft Brewer
In the week that Coopers launched its 2015 Vintage Ale, we look at how the 153-year-old family business continues to plough its own furrow as the country's longest established craft brewery.
The Boys Are Back In Town
The Monk in Freo has a new dream team in charge and is busy redesigning the venue, the beers and the menu – and starting a barrel room program to boot.
Big Beers
With winter closing in, here's an article The Crafty Pint's founder originally wrote for James Halliday's Wine Companion Magazine looking at big, hearty beers.
Beer Travel: NZ Hops
With the Southern Hemisphere hop harvest coming to a close and fresh hop beers on their way, we chat to the man heading up NZ Hops.
Project X
If you had the last keg of a limited release baltic porter, what would you do? Most of us would grab an empty glass and start pouring but Justin Fox, head brewer at Colonial Brewery, instead saw an opportunity…
Hop Plotting
In their increasingly challenging battle to meet the world’s insatiable desire, hop producers the world over are constantly looking to produce more hops. Not just more in terms of volume, but more in…
Blog of the Month: beerwinebeer
With the British & Irish Lions have beaten the Wallabies and Andy Murray the new King of Wimbledon, it seems only right to look north for inspiration for the latest featured blog. And where better to go…
Blog of the Month: Two Brewers Abroad
Given it’s been rather more than a month since we last ran a feature on one of the many colourful blogs that exist in the world of Aussie craft beer, the series' name is becoming a little less than accurate.…
The Bicep's Back
It started as a bit of fun. Challenged with brewing an unusual beer for the Media Brew beer competition at Beervana, The Crafty Pint approached Murray’s to be its partner. They agreed and were soon afterwards…
Beer Travel: Hops Spring Eternal
Big brewer: bad; craft brewer: good. It's a hoary old perception and one to which no thoughtful beer drinker would give any credence. Just because beer brand X is ultimately owned by brewing giant Y, it…
James Halliday Article: On The Hop
This week sees the launch of the eighth edition of James Halliday’s Wine Companion Magazine, in which we have an article looking at the Australian craft beer industry’s position in the wider world.…
Beer Travel: A Journey Into Hops
The year was 1824. Beethoven was still alive and composing his symphonies, though you'd need to hear them live because radio wouldn't be invented for about another eight decades. In that year, the MCG…
Pint of Origin
During last year’s Good Beer Week, The Crafty Pint ran a couple of events during the week aimed at getting people to check out as many craft beer venues as possible – The Crafty Crawl – and showing…
A Little Green
The people that have done as much as anyone in Oz to introduce drinkers to hops in beer have been playing around a little. Coinciding with this year’s hop harvest, the brewers at Little Creatures attempted…
Head For The Hills
No one should ever need much of a reason to head to Victoria’s northeast. The High Country has plenty going on whether you’re into mountain biking, hiking, fine wine, skiing, gourmet food, extreme…
Our Man In: America
A trio of Aussie beer lovers, who work in various roles in the Melbourne beer world, recently embarked on a 25 day tour of American breweries and beer bars. One of them, Tom Delmont, reflects on some of the lessons learnt amid the many fine beers.
