I know what you are all thinking out there in the community...F%$K You Corona Virus!

It's a strange time we are currently living in, and our little world of Craft Beer, there will be many tough times to come. To help combat this, the Crafty Pint have started the #keeplocalalive campaign to see if we as a community can help out the people working in the industry.

I caught up with James, and my old mate, Will Tatchell from Van Dieman Brewing over lunch this week to find out more about the campaign and how this pandemic is affecting business.

https://craftypint.com/keeping-local-alive

Grant Tondro is the co-founder of the 3 Local Brothers Restaurant Group, who operate a whole bunch of food and beverage outlets throughout Southern California.

One of their venues is Mason Ale Works, a 15 barrel, or 18 hectolitre operation just North of San Diego, which is a craft beer hot spot in the USA. The Brewery is set inside an airplane hangar-like building that is home to a huge restaurant, a humongous bar, and an eight-lane bowling alley, with its own separate bar.

Grant sat in his car in Las Vegas to record this interview, how is that for dedication. He shared some many great stories and insights on being "all-in" on craft beer, including:

•The story of their original brewer was faster at raising funds than them, and left to do his own thing before they could get started; but

•How he helped them find his own replacement, who found his own replacement, who eventually stayed;

•The open and honest feedback they got that changed their entire beer menu;

•The plethora of collaboration options in San Diego; and

•Beating the Mexican breweries at their own game with a beer that was actually a mistake.

Grant is a great story teller who was very generous with his time during the interview, and afterwards when our audio files got lost on the interwebs!

https://www.facebook.com/BeerHealer

https://www.masonaleworks.com

http://www.3localbrothers.com/

So it seems that the beer lovers of Western Australia really love their beer, and I mean REALLY REALLY love their beer. I reached out to my listeners recently about what they wanted to hear more of on the Beer Healer Interviews, and the WA message rang through loud and clear..."We want to know more about the WA breweries and the people behind them".

My guest on this episode is Reece Weadon, the founder of an Urban Brewery in WA called Nowhereman. Reece was once the Director of WA Beer Week, but almost 3 years ago he jumped in to the craft beer game even deeper in opening up Nowhereman.

Nowhereman is not your basic brew pub, they are a lot of intricate details that go to make up the overall experience for their clientele, but I will let Reece explain.

In this episode we talk about:

•some of the things he would have changed with his brew house, if he had the space;

•how he might now create that space with renovation;

•his advice for brew pub dreamers;

•brewing collaboration beers with local venues;

•how they brewed a lager from the start to take on Emu Export;

•the importance of having great people around you; and

•how the WA Craft Beer scene has changed.

Enjoy the episode!

If you are a craft beer lover and have been to Hobart, you would most likely have visited one of the original craft beer hot spots on the waterfront, Preachers bar. That's pretty much where Chris Cooper began his foray into the world of craft beer, as co-owner of that establishment.

With other friends and business partners, Chris continues to operate a number of venues and bottle shops, but maybe his crowning achievement was taking a chance on this thing called craft beer and opening the Last Rites Brewery.

That was 2015, and nearing on 5 years later, the start up brewery has grown to be one of the larger independent breweries in Tasmania.

Never ones to take themselves too seriously, Chris and his mates run their brewery with a real sense of fun, most visible in the naming of their beers. But don't mistake that humour for not taking the business side of the operation seriously, these guys are running a very successful operation.

In this open and honest chat, Chris talks about the fun that he and his mates have had in opening the brewery, as well as some of the challenges. They recognise they had been coasting along in recent times, focusssing on other parts of the business, but it is now time to zero in on Last Rites with brand refresh and a new sense of vigour for pumping out great beer.

In this episode, it's all about the equipment! Once again I have Dave Padden from Akasha, and From Ben's, Ben Miller joining me in the discussion.

We discuss how we got started, our previous kits and what we are currently brewing on. Dave talks about his brewery and making the step up from his Gatorade eski. Ben talks us through his Semi-Pro setup, and I talk about my Braumeister...even the old Brewie gets a mention (and a few laughs).

We talk about the most important tools, reminisce about some great equipment hacks and as usual, the boys offer up a bit of advice for brewers at all levels.

Strap on your seat belts pod casters, this episode covers a lot of ground!

For those of you who know the name Mazen Hajjar know that he is never afraid to speak his mind and he doesn't take life too seriously...a great mix for having a great conversation about something we both love, craft beer. If you don't know Mazen, you need to take a long hard look at yourself. The Middle Eastern born, new Australian is the heart and soul of Victorian brewery Hawkers. He's an entrepreneur, a visionary, a bit of a hustler, and now he is an Aussie we can also call him a shit stirrer!!

Mazen has a lot to talk about on this episode...raising funds for fire victims with Christian O'Connell, a new collaboration with 3 Weavers, how his brewers biggest mistake became one of their success stories, and a big Crowd Funding plan.

If you like what I am doing here, please like, subscribe, follow and share the podcast to help me spread these stories far and wide!

On this episode, I speak with one time IT Nerd, Grum Knight. He gave away the IT game many years ago and chased his dreams of opening a brewery...and EXIT Brewing was born!

He cut his teeth as a part of the Cavalier Brewing posse that included a bunch of brewers now at the helm of breweries across the country. A few years down the track he is at a point where he has to do more than just make great beer with his best mate, Frase. Now there are things like a Brand Refresh to consider and plans to keep collecting those AIBA medals.

A great chat with a bloke who has had a great career to date.

Last chance to contribute to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3Q9285D

Richard Watkins, the Godfather of Canberra brewing and Co-Founder of Bentspoke Brewing, has been on the tools for almost 25 years. In that time, he has seen it all and has a few stories to share.

In this episode, we talk about how he created the Hoppinator, his love of the Brew Pub model, advice on starting a brewery, Bentspoke Wild Ales and Australia's 3rd favourite beer for the 3rd year in a row...Crankshaft IPA!

It's been a tough few weeks for the community of Canberra with the bush fires, and Bentspoke have been heavily involved assisting in the fund raising efforts, so I really appreciate the time Richard took to have a chat with me.

Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3Q9285D

Friend of the show and one of my favourite guests, Zoe Ottaway is back to discuss the latest beer trend (according to BWS) to hit the market, Lifestyle Products.

Has it really just arrived? Will it be a fad or become a trend? And what about those 0% beers, will they catch on in the craft beer market.

Zoe answers these questions and more as we discuss some amazing product failures from the past and talk about what may be coming down the line. And Zoe provides a bazillion insights (yes, really, i counted) on all things craft beer marketing.

Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3Q9285D

This episode is for anyone interested in travelling a different path in the craft beer industry!

Speciation Artisan Ales (https://speciationartisanales.com/) is based in Michigan, USA. Mitch Ermatinger founded the company on a shoe string budget with his wife Whitney, after having paid his dues in a number of jobs that would later hold him in good stead as he became "Mr Everything" at the brewery.

This is a story of pragmatic decision making, doing the best you can with what you have and chasing a dream to make awesome beers form the natural surrounds. Mitch also found a unique way to have a tap room without needing a tap room, while also building hype around his beers...it's genius!

if you are wanting to start your own small brewery, love wild ales, or appreciate cool ideas and thinking outside the square...this episode is for you!