The Beer Engine

When the old Senate clock struck midnight, everyone agreed that Mitch McConnell had finally reached the end of his very long political journey. The room fell silent—until a tiny, glowing brewery gnome appeared carrying a frothing mug of impossibly golden beer. “This,” the gnome declared, “is the Legendary Last Lager, brewed once every thousand years from moonlit barley and the laughter of pub regulars.”

The magical beer was poured into Mitch’s hands, and with one dramatic sip, the room erupted in sparkling foam. His eyes flew open, the lights flickered, and somewhere in the distance an eagle high-fived a unicorn. He stood up, dusted off his jacket, and calmly announced, “I suppose there’s still time for one more meeting.” The gnome simply shrugged and ordered another round.

From that day on, rumors spread that somewhere in the hills there was a secret brewery capable of reviving anyone—as long as they appreciated a well-made pint and didn’t ask too many questions about the recipe. Historians dismissed the tale, bartenders swore it was true, and every time someone raised a glass, they wondered if it contained just a drop of that legendary, life-restoring brew.

Griff finally got one of these goofy PR merch offers, and it’s for one of his favorite things: the beautiful White Castle slider. On today’s big show, we introduce Paul Bearer / Paul Heyman who is now in charge of that State Fair thing or something? Lots of beer talk from 2 of the most different cities ever, and some of that annoying and incoherent basketball talk that you guys all love, am I right. World Cup is still going on, think we’ll beat the final with our stupid little game? Guess we’ll find out next week. 

Show notes?! In this economy?! Yeah, I’m doing em. Griff is back from the technology conference and the people there are freakin HORNY. Also, we gotta be having some of those Sweet Tomatoes / Potatoes (Tuna Tarragon, yum) and arguing over the virtues of Hell’s Kitchen on the internet. We also congratulate the nation of Scotland for proving to Boston that they aren’t even good at the thing they brag about (getting drunk and fighting), and there’s some more World Cup bracket before we take a nice one week break while Griff goes to “drain the swamp.” Alright, have fun out there!

The boys are back for another episode of Beer Engine, recorded live while Game 4 of the NBA Finals played out in the background. As you’d expect, there are plenty of basketball interruptions, score checks and completely unqualified sporting opinions mixed in with the usual beer-fuelled conversation.

The big feature this week is the launch of the inaugural Beer Engine World Cup of Beer. Inspired by sporting tournaments around the globe, Tony and Griff begin the impossible task of pitting classic beer styles against each other in a knockout bracket to determine the greatest beer style of all time.

Will traditional lagers reign supreme? Can pale ales overcome the competition? Do dark beers get the respect they deserve? The arguments begin here.

Along the way, the discussion drifts through brewing, beer culture, industry news, favourite styles, brewery experiences and the eternal challenge of deciding what actually makes a beer “great”.

In This Episode

• Watching Game 4 of the NBA Finals while recording
• Live reactions, distractions and basketball chat
• Introducing the Beer Engine World Cup of Beer
• Building the first tournament bracket
• Classic beer styles go head-to-head
• The most influential beers of all time
• Underrated and overrated beer styles
• Lager versus ale: the eternal debate
• Dark beer appreciation society
• Brewery stories and brewing observations
• Craft beer trends and industry chatter
• Listener arguments waiting to happen

The Beer Engine World Cup of Beer

The Beer Engine World Cup of Beer aims to answer a question nobody can agree on:

What is the greatest beer style ever created?

Over the coming episodes, beer styles from around the world will battle through a tournament bracket featuring classic lagers, pale ales, IPAs, stouts, porters, Belgian ales, wheat beers, pilsners and more.

Expect controversy, questionable decisions and plenty of passionate defence of favourite styles.

In this episode of Beer Engine, Tony and Griff are back behind the microphones to discuss the latest happenings in the world of craft beer, brewing, hospitality and everything in between.

The conversation covers the challenges facing independent breweries, industry trends, new beer releases, and the realities of running a brewery in regional Australia. Along the way, the discussion wanders into brewing techniques, beer styles, customer expectations, hospitality experiences and the ever-changing landscape of the Australian beer scene.

As always, there are plenty of tangents, laughs, strong opinions and stories from behind the scenes of brewery life.

Topics Discussed

• The current state of the Australian craft beer industry
• New beer releases and what’s on tap
• Brewing processes and production challenges
• Beer styles and recipe development
• Hospitality and customer experiences
• Events, festivals and beer culture
• Regional brewing and local communities
• Packaging, branding and marketing
• Industry news and trends
• General beer nerd discussions and listener favourites

Featured Beers

A selection of locally brewed beers, seasonal releases and industry favourites are discussed throughout the episode, alongside insights into what makes great beer and the stories behind the brews.

About Beer Engine

Beer Engine is a podcast for beer lovers, brewers and anyone interested in the craft beer industry. Hosted by Tony and Griff, each episode explores brewing, beer culture, hospitality, industry news and the stories that make independent beer unique.

Whether you’re a professional brewer, homebrewer, hospitality worker or simply someone who enjoys a great pint, Beer Engine delivers conversations from the heart of the Australian beer community.

Follow Beer Engine

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow along for future episodes featuring beer reviews, brewery insights, industry discussions and plenty of brewing banter.

Yep, I drank the gloop and I liked it - the taste of that pistachio bullshit! It was pretty rough, but we rode the gloop waves through Copenhagen. Also, Seth gets meth mouth, Griff buys $100 of candy, and Tony rips AI to absolute shreds. It’s over for you jerks over at OpenAI and Anthropic! We played Family  Feud and Tony has to do some serious hair splitting. Alright, very good, time to go, I’m about to sneeze!!

This week on The Beer Engine Podcast, Griff forgot to do the show notes.
 Not “running late.”
 Not “half-finished.”
 Forgot. Entirely.

So instead of a polished episode description filled with timestamps, witty observations, and at least one legally questionable comparison to regional fast food chains, you get this hastily assembled emergency broadcast from the depths of Tony’s notes app.

Somewhere in this episode:

• Someone says “we’ll cut that out” and absolutely nobody does.
• A beer gets reviewed with the confidence of a man reading the wrong Untappd entry.
• Griff attempts to explain himself.
• Tony slowly realises he’s now hosting a podcast and writing the description in real time.
• The stinger is still too long.
• “News: The Game” continues to drift further from both news and games.
• At least one discussion could’ve been solved with a five second Google search.
• A completely normal topic somehow becomes a 20-minute debate.

Also featured:

• Strong opinions delivered with almost no research.
• Accidental dead air.
• Someone talking over the intro music.
• A callback to a joke nobody remembers.
• Audio levels that were definitely checked beforehand. Probably.

The Beer Engine Podcast:
 Elite-level beer discussion occasionally interrupted by operational failure.

That's right, we've been served our papers. Just kidding, but we have lots of papers for you that we will deliver through your ears. Court records have been reviewed, Zwanzes have been drank and drunk, and dinners have been ruined. All on today's Beer Engine Pod. Get it now!

We are on top of the news. I look up the news every week!!! We somehow did cover another sale in the industry but it wasn’t the big big one. Also, I have to know if Beggars Pizza is good in the next 28 minutes and if I don’t find out, I will leave Crestwood crestfallen. We did the final four of another great bracket season, how do I do it every year where we are 3 weeks after the real Final Four. Welp, until next week, bye bye.

You would think this is an April Fools bit, but honestly, I couldn’t have written anything this funny. The Beer Engine outlives yet another foe. We have conquered Boingo, Weathers, and the Hulkster. How do we do it?! Also a dynamite bracket region that was merely a week after we’ve finished the actual March Madness, and a farewell to the 2nd Bulls Front Office that the Beer Engine has experienced. Damn we’ve been doing this a long time!!