“From very early on, we all agreed that we would play to our strengths.”

More than a thousand brewing companies have come and, in many cases, gone since the craft beer era began in Australia, but there’s never been one quite like One Drop.

The Botany-based operation make cracking “normal” beers yet have become a byword for the wild and WTF, the experimental and eccentric. They weren’t the first brewery to make smoothie sours, for example, but they’ve taken such beers – and myriad other styles – to new places others wouldn’t have conceived, let alone dared, creating beers that defy the odds and just work. 

James joined them at their brewery earlier in the year for a chat about their storming of the GABS Hottest 100 with We Jammin’, the serendipitous way brewer Nick Calder-Scholes was discovered by founders Meg Barbic and Clay Grant, their approach to brewing, “contained chaos”, being “collectively creative”, and moving craft beer away from “pale, male and stale”.

If you’re wondering why this episode is running so late after the recording, it’s due to technical issues. It was the first recording with a new setup and somehow James was capturing video at such high quality it filled his laptop’s entire hard drive before the chat was over, leaving us with a corrupted file. So lovely was the backdrop for the guests, he was determined to rescue it, but despite many attempts it wasn’t to be. That said, the chat is colourful enough to paint vivid pictures with words.

There’s one of our longer intros this week, as Will and James reflect on the imminent closures of Wayward’s taproom and White Bay Brewery following various mergers and acquisitions. We also discuss the news that Coles and Endeavour Group will be making it clearer which beer brands they own – and issue a shout out to anyone who has been de-ranged by the big two retailers (hit up [email protected] if that's you).

Other stories from the past week include Guy Southern’s wonderful interview with new Feral head brewer Charlotte Freeston and the second part of Benedict Kennedy-Cox’s tour of Tasmania’s north, while the show also features the latest winner in our Have You Done A Rallings? campaign highlighting the country’s good beer citizens.

Start of segments:

• 20:18 – One Drop Part 1
• 42:25 – Have You Done A Rallings?
• 47:31 – One Drop Part 2

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