Search results for "the story of:"

Wolf of the Willows Brewer

When launching a brewery, sometimes staring down the barrel of brewing history at the great names that have come before you can be an intimidating task. How to reach those heights when you’re only just stepping away from brewing in your own back yard? But Wolf of the Willows founders Scott and Renae…

Moffat Beach Brewing Co Brewer

Just because a waterfront brewery is busy doesn’t mean the beer is any good. After all, a view of the ocean can cover a multitude of sins. So, if you were to catch a glimpse of the buzzing crowd at Moffat Beach Brewing’s brewpub on Seaview Terrace, you could be forgiven if you wondered whether the…

The Suburban Brew Brewer

“Love Thy Neighbour, Love Their Beer” is the motto which epitomises The Suburban Brew’s embrace of a strong community, and an ethos centred around fostering good conversation and a supportive, welcoming environment at their Adelaide taproom. The name was sparked by the time when owner Tony Dichiera…

The Welder's Dog Brewer

Growing up in Armidale, there was much about the rural city and the surrounding New England region for Dan Emery and Tom Croft to love: the area’s natural beauty, the way country and city life came together, and the kinship so frequently attached to communities built on farming. One thing they didn’t…

Moffat Beach Brewing Co (Caloundra) Brewer

Just because a waterfront brewery is busy doesn’t mean the beer is any good. After all, a view of the ocean can cover a multitude of sins. So, if you were to catch a glimpse of the buzzing crowd at [Moffat Beach Brewing’s brewpub](https://craftypint.com/brewery/431/moffat-beach-brewing-co) on Seaview…

Southern Highlands Brewing Co Brewer

In years to come, there’s little doubt 2023 will be looked upon as one of the more momentous periods in Australia’s modern beer history – even compared to those that preceded it, complete with fires, floods and lockdowns. It was a year in which the industry witnessed all manner of changes: sales,…

The Coastal Brewing Company Brewer

Forster possesses the kind of force that draws people in. The coastal getaway in New South Wales and its twin town of Tuncurry are surrounded by pristine waterways, and sandwiched between Wallis Lake to the west and the Pacific to the east. The glistening waters and beaches of the Barrington Coast…

Willie The Boatman Brewer

Sydney’s inner west has played host to a variety of interesting characters in its long history. William Kerr, Anthony Albanese, Patrick McInerney and are among them – and, although they may sound like a random assortment of names, they’re all characters in a story that supersedes the area itself. That…

Otherside Brewing Co Brewer

“What if we could ‘can’ this feeling?” That’s where Otherside Brewing Co started out: surrounded by the noise, sunshine, energy and shared experience of the summer festival season, something upon which the brewery’s owners had built a very successful career. Within two years of being…

Slumdog Brewing Brewer

There are few plots of land anywhere in Australia so steeped in modern beer folklore as that found at 152 Haddrill Road in the Swan Valley. And it’s a location where new chapters are being added to a story that’s already delivered many twists and turns over the years. Pull off the road into the…

Artisan Brewing Brewer

Artisan Brewing is a Belgian-style brewer born of a love for an often-neglected element in brewing: yeast. Their journey began in WA’s Great Southern in 2001 when globe-trotting husband and wife, Brian and Julia Fitzgerald, purchased a farm just west of Denmark after falling in love with the stunning…

Bonehead Brewing Brewer

We all make bonehead decisions sometimes. But not all bonehead decisions need to be bad ones. And you’re unlikely to find a better example of that than Melbourne’s Bonehead Brewing. Sure, Travis Nott and Anthony Dinoto’s decision to leave their respective careers behind to create a brewery…

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…

Future Magic Brewing Co Brewer

Future Magic may sound like something from a sci-fi or fantasy book. But it comes straight from the history books. Before microscopes were invented – or, at least, before their scientific findings reached rural Norway – Scandinavian farmhouse brewers didn’t know what yeast was. They thought…

Stone & Wood (Lion/Kirin) Brewer

The Stone & Wood story is the closest you'll come to a fairy tale in the world of Australian brewing. It's the story of three friends who'd done rather well for themselves in the world of big league brewing and decided to head off and do it for themselves in one of the country's most beautiful spots.…

CBCo Port Melbourne Brewer

The CBCo story is one that can be neatly viewed in two parts – parts that are equally neatly centred on each coast of Australia. Part one began in the West, way back in 2004 when "craft beer" wasn't even a phrase used by those brewing it, while part two has at its heart this brewery and venue in Port…

Clifton Hill Brewing Brewer

Melbourne has always been a city packed with good pubs and, more recently, it’s wholeheartedly embraced small breweries too. Nowhere is that more evident than in the city’s inner north, where good pubs line backstreets and breweries have taken over industrial areas. Clifton Hill Brewing combine…

Dangerous Ales Brewer

There’s no point mincing words here: the Shoalhaven region of South Coast NSW is bloody magical. Insanely gorgeous beaches, rolling hills where you can discover gourmet cheese, wine, chocolate and more, outdoor activities from surfing and whale-watching to hiking and fishing on tree-lined rivers…

Gales Brewery Brewer

When people talk about visiting a “local brewery”, it’s easy to imagine they’ve got a place just like Gales Brewery in mind. The warehouse venue is off the beaten track but still easy to get to, it’s industrial while remaining welcoming, the beer is made right next to where you’re sat,…

Lord Nelson Brewer

There are few, if any, places in Australia that can rival The Rocks when it comes to recreating the feel of the old country. And within The Rocks there is nowhere that captures the essence of the classic British pub better than the Lord Nelson. The grand old building dating from 1841 - the oldest licensed…

Madocke Beer Brewing Co Brewer

If I was a Belgian who moved to Australia to open a brewery specialising in Belgian beer, I’d be waving the Belgian flag from the roof of the brewery and yelling at passersby: “Belgians make amazing beer!” It’s a good thing Annelies Nijskens and Jimmy Van Eetvelde are less obnoxious than I am. Madocke…

Badlands Brewery Brewer

They say the best things come to those who wait and, boy, did Jon Shiner wait. Fully thirteen years passed between the day he released the first Badlands Brewery beers in 2010 and the day he welcomed the first guests through the doors of his Orange brewpub. For context, in the intervening period,…

Beer Fontaine Brewer

Botany is a strange place. Named for the much more famous bay just to the south, bordered by Sydney airport to the west and Port Botany to the southeast, it’s a chaotic amalgam of land use. A ring of residential streets surrounds a hub of light industrial units with warehouses and heavy industry…

Bodriggy Brewing Co Brewer

Pete Walsh and the team behind Bodriggy Brewing Co aren’t phased by big projects. Standing in their future 1500 square metre brewpub in early 2017 – at the time filled with cars from neighbouring businesses using it as parking space – Pete rattled off the plans for the Abbotsford building. Brewhouse…

Brick Lane Brewing Brewer

They say it takes a village to raise a child and the African proverb certainly runs true for breweries. For Brick Lane, their village was on the smaller side when 25 founders came together to launch the brewery in 2017. But among them were some big names from the world of sport – Billy Slater,…

Chuck & Son's Brewing Co Brewer

Top-shelf beers. A beautiful taproom with a sunny rooftop terrace. Delicious food from a dedicated food truck. Negronis made with hop-infused gin. Amber ale-marinated lamb ribs. And a super-cute kids’ play area. These are just some of the reasons to check out Chuck & Son’s Brewing Co, the latest…

Dollar Bill Brewing Brewer

It's not easy to bring something new to the Australian beer landscape now that it's populated by hundreds of breweries and you can find quality venues with rotating tap lineups in country towns. But it's fair to say Dollar Bill Brewing have managed to stand out from the crowd from the moment they first…

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…

Heroes and Villains Brewer

These days, you’ll find Heroes & Villains growing into their Osborne Park brewery, yet the story stretches back more twenty years, of which the past few have seen head brewer Shannon Mizen’s dream realised in liquid beer gold. Like many, Shannon began homebrewing as a means to save money, and…

Phat Brew Club Brewer

At the start of 2023, Perth welcomed another brewpub to its growing collection – and what a venue and story it represents. Not too long before greeting the first guests to arrive at The Clubroom in City West, the team behind Phat Brew Club were still playing around as homebrewers, before success in…

Phillip Island Brewing Co Brewer

Phillip Island might be best known for penguins and beaches, but spend a little time there and you’ll soon discover an abundance of riches waiting to be enjoyed away from the crowds. In particular, the island boasts a wealth of local produce: freshly-caught seafood; farmgate fruit and vegetables;…

Pikes Beer Company Brewer

The Pike family's story begins a long time ago; indeed, the brewery’s foundations were laid long before any of us were even born. Theirs is a tale of long distance ocean travel, all in the hope of starting life anew in Australia and creating a long lasting legacy. It all began in 1878, when a 41-year-old…

Reckless Brewing Brewer

When your brewery name is an adjective, you’ve got a question to answer: is it a fitting description of your brewery? So: is Reckless Brewing as reckless as the name suggests? The answer is yes… and no. Yes, because it was started by three friends who threw caution to the wind and entered…

Seeker Brewing Brewer

Wollongong is a city surrounded by ample opportunities to get stuck into all manner of great pastimes. World-class mountain biking, hiking and surfing are all found within close proximity of the coastal city. And, increasingly, the old industrial hub has become a hotbed for excellent, locally-produced…

Shambles Brewery Brewer

“Shambles” might denote a complete mess but, when you walk through the doors of the Hobart brewery bearing that name, there’s nothing disorderly to be found. Quite the opposite, in fact. Instead, Shambles Brewery is a sleek, modern brewpub in which glistening copper beer taps serve fresh beer…

Six String Brewing Brewer

If you want an example of the passion that drives the craft beer industry in Australia, look no further than Erina's Six String Brewery. This brewery, set up by longtime friends Chris Benson and Adam Klasterka on the New South Wales Central Coast, is a lesson in following your dream no matter what gets…

Tar Barrel Brewery & Distillery Brewer

Tar Barrel Brewery & Distillery might only have launched in 2020, but the Mornington Peninsula good beer haunt’s history is one that quite wonderfully reflects the story of craft beer in the preceding decade. That story starts with Mornington Peninsula Brewery and its opening in 2010 following a…

Uraidla Brewery Brewer

The Adelaide Hills region is a treasure trove of quaint, quirky towns that typically boast little more than a pub, a general store and a post office. These popular towns ooze a certain quiet country charm capable of luring travellers and day-trippers from near and far. One such place is Uraidla,…

Valhalla Brewing Brewer

With hundreds of brewing companies of all shapes and sizes blanketing most of Australia these days, you might think you’ve heard every possible genesis story – and each of their subtle variations. You could easily think the same with Valhalla too, given it was brought into existence by a homebrewer…

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…

Woolgoolga Brewing Co Brewer

Hang on… is it called Woolgoolga Brewing, or Woopi Brewing? For anyone not familiar with the coastal town of Woolgoolga on the north coast of NSW, let me save you some confusion: Woopi Brewing is Woolgoolga Brewing. Woolgoolga Brewing is Woopi Brewing. Woolgoolga is called Woopi by just about…

Woolshed Brewery Brewer

The Woolshed Brewery is located in an old shearing shed on the banks of the picturesque Murray River in the Riverland region of South Australia. The sheds are steeped in history with many yarns spun and hard earned knock off drinks enjoyed in them over the years. The entire station on which they’re…

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…

Atomic Brewer

Atomic is a name that will be familiar to many in the local beer world – and with good reason. An American style pale ale bearing that name was debuted by Gage Roads so long ago in craft beer years it predates almost the entire modern day industry in Australia. And, like the Australian beer world that…

Aunty Jacks Brewer

Thanks in large part to the gold rush, Ballarat is a city with a long connection to beer and brewing. As one of the wealthiest places on Earth for a period, it became not just a grand city, but one awash with pubs; at one time, you’d have found hundreds of watering holes scattered throughout the booming…

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…

Black Hops Brewing Brewer

“Made by 3 mates on the Gold Coast.” This has been the slogan of Black Hops Brewery for some time, now. And it does capture the heart the story: how founders Eddie Oldfield, Michael McGovern and Dan Norris brought Black Hops into existence. But when you look at Black Hops’ three breweries…

Boatrocker Brewers & Distillers Brewer

Regular readers of The Crafty Pint will know all about Boatrocker already. Launched as a brewing company back in 2009, with its beers brewed at Southern Bay, its co-founder Matt Houghton has written a series of features about the trials, tribulations and excitement of starting a brewery (read them [here](/features/post/starting-a-brewery-the-boatrocker-story-pt-iv/)).…

Brewmanity Brewer

The diversity in the backgrounds of those getting involved in the craft beer industry in Australia is a sure sign of its growing popularity and reach. Collaborations have seen everyone from chefs to rock stars to radio stations try their hand at making beer. But there are others taking their involvement…

Bridge Road Brewers Brewer

Budding young winemaker Ben Kraus headed to Italy at the start of the Millennium to learn more about the art of making wine. Somewhere along the way, he got distracted on the ski slopes of Austria and ended up working at Tiroler Bier, a traditional microbrewery in Innsbruck, and returned to Australia…

Bucketty's Brewing Co Brewer

When a brewery’s grand opening includes the mayor cutting through a branch with a chainsaw instead of the standard ribbon ceremony, you’ve got to wonder why. Nick and Lexi McDonald originally planned to open a brewery in Bucketty, a little spot in the Hunter Valley. They bought land and even planted…

Capital Brewing Co Brewer

When Capital Brewing talk about Good Natured Brews, they aren’t kidding. Whether it’s the beers, lively taproom, support for their Canberra community or the natural world, the brewery has been driven by purpose since day one. That story started out with Laurence Kain and Tom Hertel; two…

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…

CoConspirators Brewing Brewer

Conspiracy theories have long marched hand and hand with human history. Whenever impressive or outrageous feats take place, there’s likely to be people eager to offer their own hot take on what exactly went down. And, as social media has made ever greater inroads into our everyday lives, conspiracies…

Cornella Brewery Brewer

When it comes to alcohol, there can be a tendency to divide. Beer drinkers are beer drinkers and wine drinkers are wine drinkers. But reality has a habit of casting such ideas aside and nowhere does that happen more clearly than at Cornella Brewery and The Shiraz Republic in Central Victoria. Located…

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…

Fixation Brewing Co (Lion/Kirin) Brewer

Around 2014, we'd often hear refrains along the lines of: "Everyone's got an IPA these days." Yet it didn't take much investigation to discover that, a few exceptions apart, this was far from the case. Sure, there were plenty of one-off or occasional draught only releases hitting taps, but in terms of…

FogHorn Brewery Brewer

Over the past decade and more, there have been few brewers who have put out as many great beers in as many different styles as Shawn Sherlock. While head brewer at Murray's, he was named Australian Brewer of the Year in recognition of a mastery of brewing that saw beer lovers clamouring for everything…

Fox Friday Brewer

Craft beer can bring with it a whole lot of good. It can give you the chance to push yourself out of your comfort zone on the way to exploring new flavours, or lead you to discover a drink or place you’ll return to again and again. Better yet, it can be a whole lot of fun, has the power to bring people…

Froth Craft Brewery, Exmouth Brewer

Like many Australian craft breweries, Froth was born from a dream: a dream which came to fruition when Froth Craft Brewery opened the doors of its Exmouth brewpub for the first time in February 2017. By opening Exmouth’s inaugural brewery, they became the first new brewery between Perth and Matso'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…

Green Gully Brewing Brewer

Despite the fact there are far more breweries and beer brands operating in Australia than at any point in history, it’s surprisingly rare to be surprised. Sure, there’s a cornucopia of beer styles available in hundreds of bars, pubs and bottlos but, for the most part, brewers are focusing most of…

Hawkers Beer Brewer

At the start of summer 2013, The Crafty Pint received an email from a wine expert and booze world publisher introducing us to Joseph Abboud, the chef behind Melbourne’s popular Rumi and Moor’s Head restaurants. Joseph had just returned from a visit to his mother country, Lebanon, which somehow had…

Heaps Normal Brewer

What’s more normal than sharing a beer to celebrate one of life’s most joyous moments? And if you still have the beer, the joy, the occasion, yet none of the alcohol, is the moment any less important? Surely not. It’s that question raised by the brewing company Heaps Normal, which launched…

Hobart Brewing Company Brewer

Some breweries feel like they could be anywhere. A nice taproom with wooden tables in a warehouse that could just as easily be in St Kilda as South Sydney or the Sunshine Coast. Hobart Brewing Co is not like that, however. Strolling into their vast waterfront beer garden and famous Red Shed in Hobart’s…

Holgate Brewhouse Brewer

A genuine one stop shop for the discerning beer tourist, Holgate's Woodend Brewhouse combines a brewery, public bar, restaurant and hotel under a single roof. Just an hour from Melbourne, in the shadow of the Macedon Ranges, you'll to find a bar lined with site-brewed beers on tap, including some hand-pulled…

Inner North Brewing Co Brewer

Inner North Brewing Co’s name might perfectly encapsulate their location, but it’s only one way in which the Melbourne brewers have centred themselves in their community. The small, inner north brewery is found in a Brunswick back street that itself sits off another back street, and since opening…

Jervis Bay Brewing Co Brewer

“There seems to be a growing inclination in Australia to mispronounce the name Jervis Bay. May I please assure you that the correct pronunciation of this word is Jervis and not Jarvis.” - Mr Jervis Manton, 1928. With that out of the way, welcome to Jervis Bay Brewing, the brewery that makes a…

Jetty Road Brewer

Whether your first encounter with Jetty Road is walking into their highly impressive brewery venue in Dromana or picking up a pack of their beers, complete with its sleek and polished branding, you might well conclude Jetty Road arrived in the world fully formed, the result of calculated planning and…

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…

King River Brewing Brewer

Just like the wider High Country region it calls home, King Valley is a beautiful place to visit. And, just like its neighbouring valleys, it has much to offer visitors, whether their intention is to explore nature, enjoy outdoor pursuits or indulge their senses with fine local produce. Unlike some…

Matilda Bay (CUB/Asahi) Brewer

Anyone with even a passing interest in the history of beer in Australia will be well aware of the crucial role played by Matilda Bay. Launched in 1983 at the height – or nadir – of the industry’s domination by a handful of large brewing companies, the brewery is rightly recognised as ground zero…

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…

Mountain Monk Brewers Brewer

It can be a terrible thing for a town to lose its one and only pub. Such a loss can leave locals without a central place to socialise as well as taking away the opportunity for people from across generations to gather to share stories, beers and steaming hot bowls of chippies. This is particularly…

Newstead Brewing Co Brewer

When you look at the independent beer scene in Brisbane, Newstead Brewing Co is part of the furniture. It’s a brewery that’s been seen on billboards, attached to sporting teams, and welcomes visitors to this fine city with its own bar at Brisbane Airport’s domestic terminal. But if you’re…

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…

Pirate Life (CUB/Asahi) Brewer

Pirate Life Brewing’s story is one of the most remarkable in the contemporary Australian beer scene. It's a tale that began in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where two young brewers, Jack Cameron and Jared "Red" Proudfoot, met and honed their brewing skills through apprenticeships for BrewDog. Here, in…

Riverside Brewing Company Brewer

**NB New owners are in place at Riverside. Look out for an updated listing with their story, plans and the new beer lineup soon!** For many years western Sydney was regarded by craft beer drinkers as a barren land, not to be ventured into for fear of being left at the mercy of the mainstream. But…

Sailors Grave Brewing Brewer

Sometimes, even with hindsight, it's hard to work out why some things catch one's eye more than others. Case in point being Sailors Grave Brewing. The Orbost brewery first came to our attention when we spotted a regional newspaper article on Chris and Gab Moore's plans to open a brewery in an historic,…

Shedshaker Brewing Brewer

Long ago, Castlemaine’s claim to fame was the local abundance of two valuable resources: gold and beer. Despite the town retaining so many of its historical buildings, those particular reasons for being had long since gone; the gold had all been mined and the last brewery closed its doors in 1925. Prior…

Slow Lane Brewing Brewer

Sydney is a city that’s always in a rush. Standing defiantly amid all of this is Slow Lane Brewing. Hidden away from the hustle and bustle on a quiet backstreet in Botany, this small South Sydney brewery opened in 2020 and instantly made a big impression with their modern take on traditional, European-inspired…

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…

St Andrews Beach Brewery Brewer

In a country in which craft beer continues its seemingly inexorable rise, breweries are beginning to appear in all manner of unlikely spots. While reimagining an old warehouse in an industrial corner of town still seems to be the primary mode of transformation, beer tourists can discover much else on…

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…

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…

Swell Brewery & Taphouse Brewer

Dan Wright is the nomadic type, living a life that’s seen him travel far and wide searching for great surf and rolling snow covered mountains while absorbing the buzz of the local craft beer scene wherever he roams. The owner and head brewer at South Australia’s Swell, he first came up with the…

Twang Brewing Brewer

For all the negatives that came with COVID and its lockdowns, there were a handful of positives to arise from the pandemic too. Many people got to know their communities better and spent more time exploring them, walking every inch of their local streets and parks, meeting neighbours they’d only acknowledged…

Urban Alley Brewery Brewer

As Australia’s local beer scene continues to spread its wings and encroach ever more into the mainstream, breweries are beginning to be found everywhere. Once an industrial warehouse or characterful building in a regional town seemed to be the most likely spot to find a local brewery, but that’s…

Watts River Brewing Brewer

In 2014, when Lion decided to move White Rabbit from its original home in Healesville to Geelong, the news was met with some concern from both locals and those who would regularly make the trip to visit the brewery. But, for two local families, White Rabbit’s departure was viewed as an opportunity:…

Westside Ale Works Brewer

Festina tarde is an Italian saying – often associated with the Renaissance but also used by Roman rulers – that translates as "make haste slowly". By all means, hurry, but don't rush things, and take care too. Westside Ale Works' story is one of “hurrying slowly”. It started in 2016, when…

White Bay Brewery 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 original logo showcased the twin smokestacks of the abandoned White…

Wild Hop Brewing Co Brewer

When Wild Hop began their journey in WA’s South West in 2019, the brewery enjoyed a rapid and climactic launch that put the ambitious start-up among the cream of the crop of the state’s brewery venues. Their inaugural beers, primarily New World-inspired and hop-driven, caused excitement among punters…

Boston Brewing Co Brewer

It was sometime around New Year's Eve 2014 that The Crafty Pint first called in to Boston Brewing Co at the home it shares with a winery in the Great Southern region of WA. There, we discovered much that was consistent with other breweries found in the tourist regions south of Perth. There was a kids…

Bruny Island Beer Co Brewer

Bruny Island, in Tasmania's south, is a place famed for fine produce celebrating the region's natural bounty. Among those who have helped build its reputation is Nick Haddow, the founder of Bruny Island Cheese. Evan Hunter is a Tasmanian who has worked with a number of the state's leading booze producers,…

Coldstream Brewery Brewer

When Coldstream Brewery launched in 2007, the size, shape and character of the local beer world was a long way from where it is today. And, like the roads that lead to the their home in the Yarra Valley, the Coldstream story since then has followed a far from a straight path. Originally brought to…

The Local Taproom Venue

There are few words destined to send a shiver down the spines of many Victorians more than “lockdown”, yet there are some aspects of the pandemic’s legacy that are positive. Prominent among those is the embrace of local businesses and a better connection with our surrounding communities; after…

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…

Rainbow Hotel Venue

A classic inner suburban corner pub with a colourful history, Fitzroy's Rainbow Hotel had been getting a little tatty around the edges until the King brothers moved in back in late 2010. You wouldn't know it now, as they wasted little time bringing experience gained from running pubs here and in the…

The Lincoln Venue

When you cast an eye over the range of customers that has pulled up a chair at the Hotel Lincoln in Carlton, the history of the place becomes abundantly clear. Despite a reinvigoration of the venue in late 2014 when former MoVida Aqui manager Iain Ling took over the 160-year-old pub, it still remains…

The Crafty Squire Venue

Melbourne CBD's very own one stop shop for beer, comprising brewery, multiple bars and restaurants all under one roof – not to mention a rooftop terrace with the roof removed. The former Portland Hotel became The Crafty Squire in 2015, following a major refit and expansion upstairs into rooms formerly…

The Fitzroy Pinnacle Venue

There's little doubt the Pinnacle is one of North Fitzroy's most striking structures. The impossibly sharp wedge of a building, complete with statues and a turret, rises from one side of St Georges Road and makes it clear from a distance that it's the kind of pub you should walk into.  Long…

Beer Barrel Bottleshop

A few years ago, if you'd walked up to your average Sydneysider and politely enquired as to where you might get your growler filled, the typical reaction would likely have been somewhere between shock and bemusement. You suspect it’d be different these days, with growlers having grown in popularity…

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,…

The Retreat Hotel Venue

There are few spots to enjoy a pint quite like the front bar at The Retreat. It’s a space soaked in both character and history, where the stained-glass detailing above the well-worn bar and the walls lined with photos of bygone Melbourne create the feeling you’ve travelled back to an earlier point…

Abbl Brewery Management Software Venue

Designed by Aussie brewers, Abbl is your complete brewery management software. Specifically designed to simplify and optimise the day-to-day running of your brewery. Helping you manage, track, and analyse your data and give you a deeper understanding of your business. With inventory, production, sales,…

Whisky and Alement Venue

Melbourne likes to claim plenty in the way of “bests” for itself. Best coffee they say. Best city for live music. Best for sports too. Best statue of an earthworm. Best tram network… The list goes on. And, whether you heartily agree or wish to quibble with such claims, the Victorian…

Freddie Wimpoles Venue

In contemplating what you might look for in a craft beer venue, few people would think to put taxidermied deer heads and political references at the top of their must have list, but St Kilda’s Freddie Wimpoles manages to deliver on both so well that you couldn’t imagine it any other…

Heartbreaker Venue

“Go to Heartbreaker.” Such is the pull of the Melbourne CBD bar that this is a phrase suited to almost any occasion.  Visiting Melbourne? Go to Heartbreaker. Wondering where to meet everyone before a gig? Go to Heartbreaker. Still out at 2am and keen to kick on? Go to Heartbreaker. In…

Jono Outred Content & Consult Venue

Jono Outred Content & Consult offers a range of services within the craft brewing industry, including copywriting, creative writing/storytelling, photography and branding consultation. With more than 12 years of hands-on experience within the beer industry, Jono Outred Content & Consult can authentically…

Miss Moses Venue

The Weight may be one of The Band’s best known songs but, as far as song names go, it’s one of the least recognisable. The classic late 60s song you’ve almost certainly sung along to is likely one you know best by either the ambiguous chorus of “Take a load off Fanny” or,…

Voyager Craft Malt Venue

Crafted in the heart of the Riverina, Voyager Craft Malt specialises in producing small batch, single origin artisanal malts from a diverse range of locally grown and regionally sourced premium quality grain.…

Whitehart Bar Venue

Late on Christmas Eve 1974, much of Darwin’s population was facing up to Cyclone Tracy, a storm that tore through the city, ensuring it would never look the same again. Many fled the cyclone and never returned, but for those who did, they needed a replacement for the pubs destroyed by Tracy. Thankfully,…

Ellerslie Australia Venue

Great Beer Starts Here With a history dating back to the 1930s, Ellerslie Australia is a fourth-generation family company that's proudly Australian-owned. Adding to our heritage as Australia’s largest independent hop grower, we have continued to team up with world renowned producers to offer a comprehensive…

Audacious Monk Cellars VenueBottleshop

Audacious Monk opened in 2016 yet there’s something about the bar and bottleshop that makes it feels timeless. Sitting on what’s quite literally the boundary of Preston and Reservoir, the neighbourhood haunt is the work of David Vass and Caz Scholtz who, after long careers in the alcohol industry,…

Blackhearts & Sparrows Bottleshop

Blackhearts & Sparrows started out as a home for boutique and obscure wines but, in a reflection of the nation’s changing drinking habits, has increasingly become one of the best places to unearth good beer. They might still call themselves wine purveyors, but their stores across Melbourne – and,…

Blackhearts & Sparrows Braddon Bottleshop

Over the course of a decade, the siblings behind Blackhearts & Sparrows have opened a string of beautiful stores; after making it nine locations in Melbourne, they spread the love further afield with their tenth store, bringing their independent and intimate brand of liquor retail to the nation’s…

Blackman's Brewery Geelong Venue

As soon as Victoria's second COVID lockdown ended towards the end of 2020, there was a rush of good news from some of the state's breweries, who'd clearly been using the time well. Among them was the team at Blackman's, who had secured a site in the Geelong suburb of Grovedale to build a production brewery…

Bogs Footwear Venue

Bogs Footwear’s history started over a decade ago in Portland, Oregon, initially providing comfortable waterproof footwear to the Oregon farm community. And, as word of mouth grew about the Bogs boot range and their waterproof comfort, many local craft brewers started choosing the boots to keep…

Copper & Oak Bottleshop

Copper & Oak Liquor Merchants have been serving the people of Perth with fine wine, craft beer and quality spirits for decades but in order to trace the store’s origins you have to go back some years earlier – and cross an ocean.  Jose Pestana’s whole working life has been dedicated to the…

Cromer Cellars Bottleshop

Carawa Road is a fairly quiet street in the fairly quiet suburb of Cromer in Sydney's Northern Beaches. As you drive through this typical suburban scene, the only thing that might jump out at you is a small cluster of shops about halfway down. There are no more than half dozen of them; neighbourhood…

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…

Freo.Social Venue

Otherside Brewing Co’s Myaree production facility may be where most of the brewing magic happens but sibling venue Freo.Social, part of the Triple 1 Three hospitality group, is where the party starts. Given the Otherside project was originally conceived as a means of “bottling the feeling” of being…

Hardimans Hotel Venue

In Kensington, pubs are an endangered species. Considering the suburb sits a mere four kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD, it’s a shortage that’s something of an oddity.  The similarly placed 'burbs of Richmond, South Melbourne, Footscray and Carlton once had them in droves and, though many…

Lallemand Brewing Venue

Supported by decades of long-standing industry experience, an extensive support network, and strong technical expertise, Lallemand Brewing is perfectly positioned to help breweries achieve their growth and quality goals by offering products, services, and education. Lallemand Brewing’s premium…

Moonah Hotel & Cellars VenueBottleshop

It might have been constructed back in 1934 but it’s the recent history of Moonah Hotel & Cellars that seems to best capture why it was built. When the first stones of any pub are laid, surely the idea driving the founders is that they’re creating a legacy that will last – that the gathering place…

Nillumbik Cellars Bottleshop

If you were asked where you could find one of Australia’s finest bottleshops, one filled with quality wine from Australia and around the world, chances are it would take you some time before you landed on Diamond Creek. But for nearly 50 years, the suburb in Melbourne’s outer northern edge…

Northbridge Brewing Co Venue

Seven years is a long time to wait for a beer. Yet the eternity spent transforming the site of a defunct food court in the heart of Perth’s entertainment district proved to be worth the wait as the Northbridge Brewing Co now sits proudly overlooking the grassed lawn of the Northbridge Piazza.  When…

Range Brewing Abbotsford Venue

In a year in which lockdowns and closures formed a far greater part of the narrative than Melbourne’s beer fans would have liked, Range Brewing delivered a welcome piece of news. In the dark of midwinter, the Brisbane brewery revealed they would be opening a new taproom before 2020 was out – and…

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…

Stomping Ground Morris Moor Venue

When Stomping Ground launched, it was the first brewery in Collingwood in close to a century. Yet, while that’s a significant milestone in itself, there’s something about the brewery’s home that’s always helped them stand out from the crowd.   Part of Stomping Ground’s success can…

Stone & Wood Brewery Brisbane Venue

Stone & Wood's much-loved beers and their mellow Byron Bay-inspired vibes can now be sampled in the heart of Brisbane after the brewery opened a taproom in Fortitude Valley. Given the explosion of craft beer in Brisbane through the 2010s, an expansion into Brisbane with their first venue…

Synergy Custom Solutions Pty Ltd Venue

Synergy Custom Solutions is an Australian-owned, Australian-run company, and a one stop shop for your brewing business. We offer Brewery Solutions and many other services to make your life as a Brewer or Distiller easier, saving you time and money. We provide: Complete brewery and distillery systems…

To All My Friends Venue

In my travels through the global craft beer world, I’ve come across many a brewery launched by people from the world of IT. It’s actually quite uncanny just how many have made the switch, yet it’s not a path many have taken when it comes to hospitality. On the evidence of To All My Friends, the…

Union Hotel Newtown Venue

For many years there wasn't much to distinguish The Union Hotel from most of the other typical Aussie pubs lining Newtown's famous King Street; big, old, a little worn and with the same beer selection as every other place. These days though, it's a very different story. A family-owned business for just…

Hawkers & Against The Grain Bo & Luke Down Under 2020 Beer

The story of Bo & Luke Down Under goes back a while. Sticking to the Australian chapter of the story, the beer was brewed in May 2019 when Against The Grain were in Melbourne for Good Beer Week. They laid down a smoked imperial stout featuring rye, mesquite and beechwood smoked malts, which then spent…

Stone & Wood Beers of the Earth Beer

What is it they say about great minds thinking alike? In the same month, two of the country's biggest, most successful and fastest-growing breweries have released mixed six-packs and, not only that, the concepts behind them are eerily similar. As we've posted elsewhere on the site, Sydney's 4 Pines has…

The Suburban Brew Coffee Vienna Lager Beer

After debuting at the inaugural Eastside Hop in June, an event that saw beer lovers ferried between Suburban, Little Bang and SixTwelve's breweries, Suburban’s Vienna Coffee Lager is now out in cans too, merging the cleanliness of a lager with big and bold cold drip coffee. The latter comes from local…

Wolf of the Willows & Lark Distillery Barrel-Aged JSP III Beer

They've got quite the thing going on with Aussie spirits producers, have Wolf of the Willows. They've brewed beers with Tequila Tromba and Patient Wolf Gin and here comes their third collab with the godfather of Tasmania's whisky community, Lark Distillery. This instalment follows the same traditions…

Wolf Of The Willows & Ale Of A Time Southern Brut IPA Beer

They've been busy, um, wolves down at their Bayside brewery in recent weeks. This is the third new can we've had from Wolf Of The Willows in a month, all featuring artwork by their illustrator buddies BySequence and Studio Worldwide, and the second of them to involve collaborators. This time around,…

Wolf Of The Willows & Patient Wolf Tom Collins Sour Beer

The worlds of beer and gin have found much common ground in recent years, and not just because the latter industry is enjoying the sort of time in the spotlight increasingly enjoyed by craft brewers. Whether it's been Young Henrys using hops in its Noble Cut Gin or Hargreaves Hill teaming up with Four…

Modus Operandi M.O.na Pale Ale Beer

The story of this beer is that there is no real story - it’s just M.O.na Pale for Mona Vale. But unfortunately that’s selling the beer a bit short. This US-inspired pale ale started out in the brewery's permanent range before being bumped to a seasonal when they rebranded at the end of 2015. When…

Bowden Brewing Up Dog, Lord Of The Isles, Stout & Space Snakes Beer

The steady stream of new beers continues at Bowden, with this foursome covering a variety of styles. Starting with one most readers will be most familiar with, we have **Up Dog** an American pale complete with reference to The Office. Featuring American Idaho 7, Simcoe and Amarillo for the dry hop, it…

Wolf of the Willows The Haze Has Spoken & West Coast Is The Way Beer

Despite embarking on several evenings of back-to-back Star Wars viewing with my youngest during our most recent bout of COVID, we're yet to make it to The Mandalorian. But if this pair of IPAs name-checking the series are any guide, perhaps it should be added to the watch list. It's not the first…

The Craft & Co Draught Beer

The Craft & Co’s core range Draught was given a new look in 2022 just as the Melbourne brewery's new production brewery started firing but that’s not where the beer’s story starts. By then, it had already been around for some time, found fans in the brewery's Collingwood home and picked up a gold…

The Story Of: Moff's Summer Ale News

Last month, we went behind the scenes at The Indies beer awards, peering inside the world of the stewards without whom such events couldn't run. Now, as part of our occasional The Story Of... series, we take a deep dive into the story of Moff's Summer Ale, the little beer that can – and does. Completing…

The Story Of: Korben News

The Story Of... is an occasional series on The Crafty Pint that's traditionally delved into the backstory of iconic and cult beers. It's been a while since we last ran one – and we may well expand it to include more than just beers in the future.For now, however, the series makes a comeback with the…

The Story Of: Watermelon Warhead News

"All men are created equal," said Thomas Jefferson rather famously, presumably intending to include "and women" if only he hadn't spilt his morning tea over that bit of his cue cards. But does the same apply to beers? Or are some beers greater – whatever that means – than others? For…

The Story Of: Pacific Ale News

It's the middle of 2007 and three mates are gathered in the kitchen of a house in the Melbourne suburb of Surrey Hills. They're surrounded by 45 different bottles of beers. It's a motley lineup, one that stretches from Czech pilsners to Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, from Mountain Goat…

The Story Of: La Sirène Praline News

The Story Of... is an occasional series looking at beers that have made an impact or become cult favourites over the years. Ahead of the inaugural Praline Day celebrations, we invite the team at La Sirène to reflect on the luscious stout that was unlike anything they'd brewed when it won the People's…

The Story Of: Red Hill Imperial Stout News

We're deep into what lovers of the biggest, blackest beers on the planet like to call Imperial Stout Season. So what better time to pay homage to one of Australia's first – and very best? Here, we invite Karen and Dave Golding, founders of Red Hill Brewery on the Mornington Peninsula Brewery, to share…

The Story Of: B2 Bomber News

Several imperial IPAs get released each week, black IPAs can be a little hard to find in 2023, and Belgian IPAs, well, outside of a couple of smaller Aussie breweries you’d probably need a time machine to hunt down a locally-brewed version. Yet despite its improbable series of prefixes, there's an imperial…

The Story Of: Moon Dog Black Lung News

The Story Of... is a series in which we pay homage to notable Australian craft beers. They could be trailblazing beers that have redefined the scene, iconic beers with a place in history or beers that simply stand out from the crowd for one reason or another. Over the past couple of years, we've turned…

The Story Of: Hop Hog At Ten News

In 2008, the field was wide and open for those who’d already launched a brewery in Australia. But, if you were living within that world, your view was probably far more myopic.  Back then, the challenges of gaining shelf space and taps – not to mention fighting to have craft beer recognised…

The Story Of: Boatrocker Ramjet News

For the second in our series looking at the story behind some of the coolest, most iconic or most sought after beers in Australia we ahowcase Boatrocker's Ramjet. The imperial stout has only been around a couple of years but has blown away pretty much everyone who has tried it. The beer even has…

The Story Of: Bridge Road Brewers Chevalier Saison News

Back in 2005, Bridge Road Brewers was a small outfit in Beechworth, brewing beers out of Ben Kraus’ parents’ shed. Craft beer was still a relative novelty in Australia, certainly a far cry from where it is now, and with few independent breweries operating throughout regional Australia. Far…

The Story Of: La Sirène Saison News

Traditionally, saisons were brewed by the farmers of the Wallonia region to be consumed in the warmer months. So, as the mercury starts to rise across Australia, we decided to feature a brewery that has put French and Belgian inspired farmhouse ales at the heart of everything it does as part of our…

The Story Of: Lark Imperial JSP News

Barrel-aged beers are a common sight during winter. Increasingly, you'll find them celebrated in boilermaker pairings too. And yet, despite their relative ubiquity, the Wolf of the Willows Barrel Exchange Project – one centred around barrel-ageing and pairing beer with whisky – manages to stand out…

The Story Of: Little Creatures Pale Ale News

If you ask Australian craft beer drinkers – or brewers, for that matter – to name their beer epiphany, Little Creatures Pale Ale would crop up in more stories than most. Indeed, we'd wager that a survey of all drinkers – at least those with a few years of discernment under their…

The Story Of: Little Creatures Rogers' News

This week saw Little Creatures release a new Single Batch beer. Reinhold is a Sticke Altbier head brewer Russ Gosling describes as a German cousin to the brewery's mid-strength staple Rogers'. Here, Ross Lewis from The Sip, travels back in time with one of the Rogers in whose honour the beer…

The Story Of: Mountain Goat Hightail News

This month sees Mountain Goat turn 19, which means its first beer, Hightail, is also turning 19. A year on from the brewery's purchase by Asahi, we spoke to its brewer, Dave Bonighton, about the beer then and now, and the many other Goat beers it's inspired. When was the beer first conceived? Probably…

The (Pint of) Origin Story News

The beginnings were pretty inauspicious. Grumblings from some in the Sydney beer scene about Melbourne getting all the good stuff following the surprise success of the first Good Beer Week got me thinking.  "How can we make it easy for brewers all over the country to get involved…

The Big Story of a Small Beer News

The first time The Crafty Pint crossed paths with Richard “Richo” Moroney at Colonial Brewing in Margaret River was a moment still etched in the memory. Sat across the table in an expensive looking pink shirt, sleeves rolled up to reveal a sweet watch, and with sharp shades completing the picture,…

The Wild Ones: Two Metre Tall News

The Wild Ones is a series showcasing Australian brewers creating spontaneously fermented-ales – beers brought to life by wild yeasts and bacteria in their backyards. Just as summer 2022 was ending, we ventured to Two Metre Tall's farm in the Derwent Valley to chat to the couple behind one…

The Crafty Pint's Top Stories Of 2017 News

We live in an era in which much traditional media is dying a slow, drawn out death and a new form of media, in which journalism is less important than eyeballs, page views and clicks, is taking over. As respected guardians of the art of journalism scramble to survive – weighing up the risks of a paywall…

Blackman's 10th Birthday Party Event

Everyone loves a "locals done good" story, and you'd have to say that Blackman's is a cracker. Since opening their Torquay brewery a decade ago, the family-run brewery has been on an upward and outward rise that's seen them taking out a Champion Brewery trophy and spread their delicious footprint…