Freshwater Brewing Co Brewer
In the space of just a few years, the Northern Beaches suburb of Brookvale has evolved from an industrial area known primarily for a footy stadium and shopping centre into what is arguably Australia’s fastest-growing beer suburb. At the time of writing, there are no less than six Brookvale breweries…
Brightstar Brewing Brewer
Brightstar Brewing’s founders, Megan and Gareth Parker, opened the doors to their Adelaide venue at an exciting time in Australia’s beer journey, an era in which breweries and beer venues were appearing in suburbs and regional towns across the country. Quality was on the rise, experimentation was…
Cypher Brewing Brewer
To run a successful brewpub, there are many elements you need to nail, many codes you need to crack. Fortunately, Cypher Brewing Co don’t just have the right name when it comes to craft beer cryptography: they’ve got the right space and plenty of good ideas, too. For one, there’s the neighbourhood…
SURE Brewing Brewer
“Fancy a beer?” “Sure!” “OK if my mate joins us?” “Sure!” Language is a wonderful thing, capable of expressing so many sentiments, alive with nuance, and so essential to pretty much every element of human life we’d be lost without it. And, as four letter words go, “sure”…
Straddie Brewing Brewer
“There are many easier places to build a brewery than the second largest sand island in the world. There are cheaper places to do it. But it started with Straddie.” North Stradbroke Island – or Straddie to anyone who knows it – captures the hearts of pretty much everyone who visits it. That…
Aether Brewing Brewer
“In Greek mythology, Aether is the fifth element, which holds the universe together. Obviously… that’s beer.” This is the idea that gave birth to Aether Brewing years ago, well before the brewery opened in 2016. Plenty has changed at Aether in the intervening years, including the core range…
Batch Brewing Co Brewer
When you can include wild fermentation, trophy winning beers, a bottleshop that brews and a brewery that distills, there’s merit to the argument that Sydney’s Inner West is home to the most interesting concentration of beer businesses in Australia. Yet, as recently as 2012 there was just one independent…
Bells Beach Brewing Brewer
Bells Beach’s surfing credentials are known far and wide. The Rip Curl Pro has been held there continuously since the 1960s and tourists regularly flock to the beach – and the surrounding Surf Coast region – for a dip, surf and wipe out. However, as anyone who’s spent time there over the years…
Catchment Brewing Co Brewer
Since opening their doors in November 2015, the Catchment Brewing crew have been growing into the eclectic, artistic and historic landscape that makes up West End. West End is a patchwork of character and colour: a blend of cultures and a haven for non-mainstream lifestyles, long known as an area…
Hudson Brewing Brewer
Wynnum – a suburb in Brisbane’s bayside – is home to many good things, none of which have historically involved quality beer. For many, the suburb is best known as a place for quiet, relaxed pastimes spent on Moreton Bay, or for its glittering foreshore, packed on the weekends with people devouring…
Molly Rose Brewing Brewer
There are so many opportunities to immerse yourself in the beer industry these days that it's far easier to amass knowledge and experience before launching your own venture. But we'll wager there are very few out there who have gone to quite the lengths of Nic Sandery. Sure, the fact he spent time…
Philter Brewing Brewer
Few breweries have burst onto the craft beer scene quite as triumphantly as Philter. A mere four months into existence, with only two beers to their name, the brewing company took home one of the most coveted titles in Australian beer – Champion Pale Ale at the 2017 Craft Beer Awards. It turned out…
Range Brewing Brewer
Some people said it would never work. You can’t have a successful brewery in Australia without a core range†, they said. A core range is how you build a following of loyal customers, they said. But the team at Range Brewing have never had a problem finding people to drink their beer. Since…
Slow Lane Brewing Brewer
Sydney is a city that’s always in a rush. Pedestrians charge down the footpath like they’re late for an urgent meeting. Cyclists cut and weave through traffic like their lives depend on it. Cars rev their engines and honk their horns and show their impatience with every erratic lane change. Everything…
Stomping Ground Brewing Co Brewer
It is a little known piece of Australian brewing history that, in the late 1800s, the Collingwood neighbourhood had as many as 40 breweries, the highest density ever in Australia, before amalgamations and buyouts saw them all closed by the early 1900s. While this little slice of history is not often…
Your Mates Brewing Brewer
It’s the age old story. Mate meets mate. Mate dreams about making beer for the Sunshine Coast with mate. Mate opens brewery that serves up rippin’ brews with mate. At least, that’s the story of Hep and McGarry, the duo behind Your Mates Brewing. Perhaps you heard of them when they started gypsy…
Bandolier Brewing Brewer
Bandolier Brewing’s name stems from a love of Western movies and, while Warragul isn’t exactly the sort of place that conjures the likes of Deadwood, the name still feels incredibly apt. That’s not because Warragul sits in West Gippsland, about an hour out of Melbourne, either. It’s due to…
Felons Brewing Co Brewer
It’s the 1820s: Four convicts from Sydney are the first westerners to stumble upon the Brisbane River after bad weather seriously messes with their navigation. Fast forward more than a century to the 1930s: The Howard Smith Wharves and the Story Bridge are constructed to provide relief work during…
Shark Island Brewing Brewer
Shark Island Brewing Co is proud to be part of the Sutherland Shire. From the fact the brewery itself is named after a reef break just off Cronulla, to the naming of some of its beers – you can hunt down the surf spots that inspired Voodoo IPA, The Point Dark Ale, and Shiprock Hazy Pale Ale –…
Heads of Noosa Brewing Co Brewer
When it comes to attracting attention from afar, Noosa seems to be the star of the Sunshine Coast. People visit from all over to ride the barrels and breaks of the enviable swell, or to cruise down the river at a lazy pace; some soak in all of the boutique shopping and gourmet cuisine and pumping nightlife…
Mismatch Brewing Co Brewer
Bringing together a bunch of seemingly mismatched people to start a business might not seem the smartest of ideas. But take a look at where Mismatch Brewing Company – and its associated operations – sits today and you’d have to conclude the founders were onto a good thing. Mismatched they might…
Sobremesa Fermentary & Blendery Brewer
It is, without a doubt, the kind of thing that can elevate the small moments in life into something special. I’m talking about that period towards the end of a meal with mates: the food has been served and enjoyed and you’re relaxing around the table – talking, catching up, taking pure pleasure…
Venom Brewing Brewer
The first time we encountered Joel Drysdale, he was walking up the path to Crafty Towers bearing a four-pack of Moo Brew Imperial Stout bottles. As introductions go, it's up there. Later, we crossed paths regularly in his guise as "The Beer Dude" for Tooborac Hotel & Brewery, charged with getting the…
Balter Brewing (CUB/Asahi) Brewer
To balter is to dance artlessly without particular skill or grace, but usually with enjoyment. It’s also the name of the Gold Coast brewery opened by a quartet of Australian surfing legends and some mates, with a trophy-winning brewer at the helm to ensure that when it comes to the beers there’s…
Froth Craft Bunbrewery, Bunbury Brewer
In early 2022, the bustling regional city of Bunbury welcomed a new player into its already vibrant hospitality arena. This came in the form of Froth Craft Bunbrewery (the boys never waste a punny opportunity), a southwest expansion for the trio that first started slinging beers up the coast in Exmouth. With…
Happy Valley Brewer
The suburb now called Stafford used to be called Happy Valley, which is simply a delightful name for a suburb. It seems a shame that Sir Thomas Brisbane changed the name to reference his time in the Staffordshire Regiment. But if there was ever a time for the name Happy Valley to return, it was when…
Beaches Brewery Brewer
There is a civil war taking place in Sydney as the Inner West and Northern Beaches battle to be recognised as the harbour city’s crafty capital. For years, the former looked untouchable as new brewery opening followed new brewery opening. And, while fresh-faced reinforcements continue to bolster the…
Eumundi Brewery (Lion/Kirin) Brewer
For a small town in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, Eumundi’s name is surprisingly well known. People come from far and wide for its massive twice-weekly markets, where vivid artworks, handcrafted textiles, sustainable goods and alternative remedies are available as far as the eye can see. The artistic…
Hopsters Co-operative Brewery Brewer
Hopsters is no ordinary taproom and brewery. Based in Enmore, in Sydney’s inner-west, it’s Australia’s first brewing co-op, founded, funded and democratically run by its 850-plus members. Fuelled by the ethos, “Drink like you own the place”, you’ll find their passionate member-volunteers…
KAIJU! Beer Brewer
It's well documented that the rise of craft beer and the popularity of hop forward beer styles have led to frequent hop shortages. Globally, the growers of certain New World varieties are unable to keep up with demand. And it's fair to say the situation could be far worse too. How? Well, if every…
Red Bluff Brewers Brewer
Spend enough time around the beer industry and you’ll likely hear someone utter the joke: “How do you make a small fortune? Start with a big one and open a brewery.” Equally, while the appetite for beer that’s something other than industrial lager continues to grow, the marketplace is a tough…
Land & Sea Brewer
Ask people why they moved to the Sunshine Coast, and more tham a few of them will say: “For the lifestyle.” Perhaps they were sick of working too much, or always feeling busy and in a rush, or not taking enough time to slow down and enjoy their life. Land & Sea is a brewery all about the balanced…
NORT Brewer
Your friend catches your eye across the table. “Another beer?” “No reason why not!” She hands you a tinnie of Tropical XPA and grabs her third bottle of Refreshing Ale. You pass her the bottle opener and hear the familiar hiss of the lid, then stick your can in a stubbie cooler and crack…
Sydney Brewery Brewer
There are plenty of breweries in Sydney. But there’s only one Sydney Brewery. In some ways, the folks at Sydney Brewery have flown under the radar for a while: perhaps because they were comfortably servicing their own venues and a number of Rydges hotels; perhaps because their beers were previously…
Tallboy and Moose Brewer
There’s something special about the part of Melbourne where Thornbury and Preston meet. Whether you want to call it Thornbury North or Preston South, it’s an area that’s become one of Melbourne’s most interesting, with cafés, band rooms, bars and restaurants all making the suburb a place locals…
White Bay Beer Co Brewer
White Bay is an area that holds both industrial behemoths and a Hollywood film location, so it stands to reason White Bay Beer Co would capture that blend of character - down to earth, but not without sophistication. The brewery’s logo shows the twin smokestacks of the abandoned White Bay Power…
Stomping Ground Brewery & Beer Hall Venue
It is a little known piece of Australian brewing history that, in the late 1800s, the Collingwood neighbourhood had as many as 40 breweries, the highest density ever in Australia, before amalgamations and buyouts saw them all closed by the early 1900s. While this little slice of history isn't…
Bonny Venue
Brunswick Street is home to many spots for dining while drinking wine, beer or cocktails but nowhere brings them together quite like Bonny Bar. The sleek Fitzroy space opened in early 2020 and with 27 taps it didn’t just boost the neighbourhood’s offering of delicious drinks but ensured each could…
Felons Barrel Hall Venue
Felons Barrel Hall shares some characteristics with the Felons Brewing venue next door, some characteristics with the beer halls of Germany, and some characteristics with other local breweries’ barrel venues. And yet it’s distinctly unlike all of them. Where else can you get a Munich-style Helles…
Hopheads Yarraville VenueBottleshop
Yarraville is the kind of Melbourne suburb that’s long had a village feel about it. The historic buildings along Anderson and Ballarat Streets turn the area’s beating heart into a place where shopping or sipping a coffee feels akin to visiting a candlestick maker at some point early in the last century. While…
Mr West VenueBottleshop
Every now and then, a new venue comes along that feels like an instant classic. Welcome to Mr West, Footscray’s latest ode to craft beer, wine, spirits and good times. While housed in an unassuming stretch of the pedestrianised Nicholson Street Mall, as soon as you climb the stairs to the first floor…
The Woolhouse Venue
This small bar pouring 14 taps of independent beer and cider isn’t in Melbourne. Nor is it even in Victoria; it’s a kilometre over the NSW border as the crow flies (or two kilometres for those of us who aren’t crows). But The Woolhouse is an oasis of good beer in Albury, a kind of outpost…
The Ambrose Bar Venue
The humble golf club, not a place usually synonymous with craft beer. That said, do golfers like a beer? It’s a resounding yes on that. But what do they like drinking? Fiona Williams, manager at the Ambrose Bar set out to find out. First established in 1926 in a small shed on the outskirts of Toowoomba,…
Pumpyard Bar & Brewery / Dovetails Restaurant Venue
On the corner of Limestone and Ellenborough Streets is a complex of stately red brick buildings. These heritage listed behemoths were built a century ago to house the Technical College, but they’re now a precinct offering some of the best food and drink in Ipswich. Walking between these tall buildings…
Saccharomyces Beer Café Venue
For folks fixated on finding tasty treats, South Brisbane’s Fish Lane is quickly becoming a reliable source. Spanning four blocks back from Grey Street to Manning Street, you could almost forget you’re in Brisbane’s busiest tourist precinct. The area has undergone a rejuvenation; once dominated…
Burnley Brewing Freundschaftsbezeugung Beer
Following the success of Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl, Burnley Brewing have welcomed Freundschaftsbezeugung for 2022. OK, you may have questions about those statements and that’s fine. After COVID scuppered their Oktoberfest last year, the Melbourne brewery decided to release multiple packs of traditional…
Working Title Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Holy Smoke & Braindead Beer
When you’ve had three drinks, are you ready for a fiesta, or ready for a siesta? I’m a little from Column A, a little from Column B – I start yawning a lot, but I swear I’m having fun on the inside. Drink number one: **Once Upon A Time In Mexico Margarita Sour**. (Is it bad that I haven’t…
Felons Brewing Imperial Stout 2023 Beer
In the last couple of years, Felons have released imperial stouts inspired by the traditional stouts of the UK. This year, they’ve hopped across the pond and put together an American style version, letting US hops shout alongside the roar of the malts in the six-strong grain bill. Specifically, they’ve…
Helios Brewing's June 2023 Quartet Beer
In an era of 13.3 percent ABV beers called things like Chocolate Brownie Imperial Pastry Stout, sometimes it’s the little beers that stand out. This **Wet Hop Table Saison** is a fun little beer. It’s a collab with Hilltop Hops, a small Brisbane hop farm. And for anyone who’s ever had their…
Green Beacon Alien Weaponry, Frivolous Juice, Trade Winds & Kinetic Beer
Three IPAs and a Cali pils. The hops are coming hard and fast at Green Beacon. The name of our first one here – **Alien Weaponry West Coast DDH IPA** – has me thinking of the Marvel movies, since people in those are always shooting blue zappy stuff from guns they stole from the aliens. You know,…
Eagle Bay India Red Lager Beer
Long before a significant number of the country's smaller brewers decided to start exploring some of the classic beer styles of the world, rather than banging out hazies and XPAs at great speed, Eagle Bay were focused on doing such things – and doing them well. But when it comes to hybridising a couple…
Hawke's Brewing Legend IPA 2022 Beer
In the lead up to the last Federal Election, the passing of Bob Hawke caused the party he once led to rein in the intensity of their campaigning as they paid respects to a Labor – and Australian – great. As the big day approaches in 2022, they'll be hoping the emergence of the third Legend IPA bearing…
Mr Banks Super Secret Beer Drinking Beer Competition Beer
They'll throw any amount of hops at hazies, fruit at sours and adjuncts at stouts but, when it comes to lagers, Mr Banks tend to keep things simple and let the classic styles stay, well, classic. Oktoberfest is a fitting time to be brewing traditional lagers too, and Mr Banks have set their classically-minded…
Batch Brewing Co Juicy Boys & Island Style Beer
Bring on the fruit; bring on the juice. Batch NEIPA **Juicy Boys** has been described by one Untappd user as “fruity as all hell,” and they’re not wrong. In the aroma, a wallop of tropical fruit salad joins with the richness of dark brown sugar, but the molasses character recedes once you start…
Indian Ocean Brewing Hop Mess Beer
Anyone drinking in Perth at the moment might fear they're about to be consumed by a wave of double IPAs, in this case labelled IIPA. Here, Indian Ocean joins the high ABV swell of contenders with a decidedly old school take and, as they say, “make a solid beer with enough hearty constitution to stand…
Drinking In Style: Imperial Stouts News
Here at The Crafty Pint, we’re not afraid of doing things arse about face. Avid followers will be aware that we usually preface each of our Blind Tasting Panels with an article by resident Beer Scholar Chris Brady. However, prior to the last one, he was busy moving house with young family in tow, having…
Drinking In Style: Amber and Red Ales News
In order to keep pace with the Crafty Pint Tasting Panel, this month's instalment of Drinking In Style takes a look at two styles named for their respective hues: amber and red. If only there were a green ale to complete a brewer's traffic light… Amber Ale Amber ales are yet another gift to…
Drinking In Style: Golden Ales News
With summer approaching, we decided to look at the lighter end of the beer spectrum for our next Blind Tasting. As such, we opted for a rather loose collection of beers that fall under the Golden / Summer Ale bracket. And, as usually happens in these circumstances, we sent resident Beer Scholar Chris…
Drinking In Style: IPA News
Before we publish the results of part two of our IPA blind tasting, our Resident Beer Scholar, Chris Brady, returns with another of his journeys back in time. Here, he goes back to the earliest days of the India pale ale styles, busts a few myths and finishes up back in the present day, where hop…
Drinking In Style: Pale Lagers News
Tomorrow, we'll publish the results of the final blind tasting of the year. We lined up a collection of mostly Australian pale lagers, a style that's growing in popularity among smaller brewers. Before we reveal who came out on top, Resident Beer Scholar Chris Brady delves into beer's multifarious past…
Drinking In Style: Saisons News
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. Picture the scene. The sun is hot in a cloudless…
Drinking In Style: Christmas Beers News
On the eve of our final Blind Tasting of 2013, resident Beer Scholar Chris Brady has taken another delve into the past so he can deliver another sermon of style. This time we’re looking at Christmas beers because, well, because it’s Christmas. The following piece is actually an updated version of…
Drinking In Style: English Ales News
As ever when we convene a Blind Tasting Panel, we ask our resident beer scholar, Chris Brady, a home brewing pasta maker turned brewer at Holgate Brewhouse, to give us some insight into the style being tackled. Our most recent panel looked at English ales, which initially sounds like a ridiculous thing…
Drinking In Style: Porter News
After a rather lengthy break, we reconvened the Crafty Pint Blind Tasting Panel at the weekend for a look at porters. As ever, before publishing the results, here we have our Resident Beer Scholar, Chris Brady, delving back into the beer’s colourful and myth-riddled past to ascertain just what it is…
Drinking in Style: Brown Ales News
After a brief post-Good Beer Week hiatus, the Crafty Pint Blind Tasting Panel returned this week and with it our regular series looking at beer styles is back. Crafty Towers' resident beer scholar (he’s asked we refrain from using “Beer Dork”) Chris Brady has donned cloth cap, put a whippet on…
Drinking In Style News
As long term readers of The Crafty Pint will know, we try and keep things as light and breezy as we can. Where possible, we avoid getting too technical or nerdy (although there are those that argue the very fact it is a site about craft beer means it instantly qualifies as beer nerdy…) and look…
Drinking in Style: American Pale Ales News
With Good Beer Week imminent, we figured we should do a Pint of Origin style face-off for the next Crafty Pint Blind Tasting Panel. So later today, the motley crew of brewers (amateur and professional), beer reps, writers and beer lovers will gather at Crafty Towers to pit a selection of Australian pales…
Australia's Generation XPA News
They're probably not t-shirt worthy nor tattoo-able, they're more consumed than rated online, and the one in your hand is very likely core range rather than limited release too. Yet XPAs are one of the most widely available, and commonly brewed, beer styles in Australia, with…
A Hazy Shade Of Pale News
There was a time not that long ago when people in the know questioned whether the rapid rise of hazy beers – then predominantly IPAs – would prove to be a mere fad or something more permanent. I guess we know the answer now: this juice train has plenty of steam. It might have been…
Ten Years Of Crafty: Changing Tastes News
If you were an Aussie who was into beer in 1970 – and we don't mean the mere act of drinking it – your options were, let's face it, pretty limited. Unless you looked beyond these shores, you were faced with a choice of 23 breweries producing mostly similar beers. And if you were that same Aussie…
Drinking Even More History News
Early in 2016, Peter Symons published Bronzed Brews, a collection of 42 recipes for long lost Australian beers that homebrewers could bring back to life. He enjoyed it so much, he's already produced a second book. In 6 O'CLOCK Brews: Home Brewing More Old Australian Brews, he has unearthed another collection…
Drinking History News
An invitation to contribute information on the Australian Sparkling Pale Ale style to a show on America's Brewing Network led one Sydney man on a voyage of discovery. Home brewer of 18 years Peter Symons (pictured above at the Noel Butlin Archive in 2012) decided to delve further into Australia's brewing…
Shut Up And Drink Your Dessert: Pastry Beers Part 2 News
In part one of this deep dive into the world of pastry beers, we looked at what they are, where they came from, and how they’re made. In part two, we’ll explore why they’re so appealing and who’s drinking them; what brewers are trying to achieve with pastry beers, and how they’d respond…
Turning Towards Terpenes News
Hops have long felt like the beating heart of craft beer. Sure, you wouldn't have something nearly as pleasant to drink without the malt, water and yeast, but it tends to be hops that are the biggest star in most new beer releases. What's more, it's varieties of this ingredient – above all others –…
Shut Up And Drink Your Dessert: Pastry Beers Part 1 News
Sweet, thick beers that taste like dessert used to be few and far between, but now it feels like they're everywhere. In part one of this two-parter, we’re looking at: what are pastry beers, where did they come from, and how are they made? In part two, we’ll explore who’s drinking them and…
