“Year one for us is proof of concept.”

In January, we unveiled plans for a new form of beer awards being conceived by industry titans Justin Fox and Jayne Lewis. Five months on and submissions are now open for The Beer Championships, so we invited them to join us on the show to find out more.

We delve into the genesis for this new approach to assessing and celebrating greatness in beer, their reasons for heading down this path after years spent judging across the world, and their desire to achieve significant commercial benefits for finalists and champions. We also tease from them the Oscars-inspired name for the trophies they’ll be handing out in October.

It would be remiss of us to have two such respected individuals, with rare breadth of knowledge across many facets of the beer community, on the show and not ask more of them.

So, in the second half of the main chat, we invite Justin and Jayne to tell us what they’re seeing and hearing about the beer world’s health and prospects, and to share their personal feelings on where the industry sits as we approach the midpoint of 2026.

Talking of that, we’ll be taking a short break from running new extended interviews from the end of June. We’ll still publish weekly news updates; however, throughout July, these will be paired with some of our favourite shows from the past two years. Fresh long-form interviews will return at the end of July.

We’re working on a major new project that’s launching in the second half of 2026, and Will, James and Matt will all be overseas for stretches between now and September, hence the short change in transmissions.

In terms of this week’s news, we cover a VA on the Central Coast, the opening of a European-style beer hall in Hobart, the final leg of our 86 tram Crafty Crawl, and the launch of our competition to find the dream Aussie Beer XI now the World Cup is underway.

Start of segments:

• 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
• 12:30 – Industry Insights with American Canning Machines
• 13:40 – Justin & Jayne Part 1
• 38:47 – Enter The Beer Championships
• 39:39 – Justin & Jayne Part 2

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].