A very special episode as Australian craft beer legend Ben Kraus returns to the Coolroom to share all his latest news and his thoughts on the changing scene in Australia.

One of the reasons Ben is on is to help promote Bridge Road being a part of this year's Hair of the Dog Breakfast at Beer Deluxe - tickets are on sale now:

https://beerdeluxefedsquare.com.au/events/hair-of-the-dog

But we also have a great tasting pack of beers to accompany this episode - they're the ones you're going to hear us chatting about and you can find them here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/bridge-road-brewing-6-pack

In this episode we get a heap of insights into Ben's love the  Celtic red ale as well as his approaches to wet hop beers - as well as styles like saison which have moved in and out of the Bridge Road line up.

We hear his thoughts on the many changes he's seen in the Australian craft beer industry but also what he's learned lately through collaborations with Hop Products Australia, Mountain Culture and Adnams!

It's the second part of our chat with Mattias Isaksson from Great Ocean Road Brewing as we continue the story of his journey as a brewer.

You can get the beers for this episode delivered from our online store here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/great-ocean-road-6-pack

In this episode we find out what Mattias has seen in coolrooms, what toys he'd buy if he won tattslotto and we "nerd out about Saab" some more.

We have some wonderfully detailed discussions about NZ Hops and less important ones about the differences between D and E type keg couplers...

Davydd and Warren are joined by the Master Brewer from Great Ocean Road, Mattias Isaksson for a delicious tasting and discussion of his journey in brewing.

You can grab the beers for this episode from our online store and sip them as we chat! https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/great-ocean-road-6-pack

As well as all that's going on at Great Ocean Road we start to hear of Mattias' journey from working in the Saab Factory to being a Master Brewer via the Merri Mashers home brew club and Old Wives Ales.

Apologies for the delay in getting this episode out - we promise to have the second half of the interview out real soon!

It's a huge live show recorded at Coconspirators Famiglia Affairs 4 featuring Sobremesa, Sailors Grave, The Mill, King River and of course Coconspirators themselves!

A huge thank you to everyone who made the day possible and to all the lovely Coolroomans who came up and said hello while we were recording. As ever with live shows there's a bit of background noise here so apologies in advance!

As ever there are some great scoops here including a new home for Sobremesa, new things at The Mill's home, a summer beach stout from Sailors Grave and all the news from King River's High Country vantage point.

And because Davydd's footy tipping is going so badly it's time to declare winter is drawing to an end and spring is on the way - so we ask what the breweries are looking forward to when the weather warms up!

It's been an extravaganza of Prancing Pony content in the Coolroom lately and we round this out with this the second part of our interview with Frank - don't forget to go back a couple of episodes if you haven't heard the first!

We get into some heavy hitting beers here and have an equally intense discussion about the changes that Frank has seen in the industry over the time that he's been a brewer. We discuss a few of the low points but also what he thinks the best ways to inspire young people to enter the industry are.

We ask if there's an extra little bit of rebelliousness in Adelaide brewers, get some secrets of changes in techniques they've made at the brewery and round things out with a couple of questions about Frank and Corinna's motorbike exploits!

Don't forget you can get the tasting pack to accompany this episode from our online store here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/prancing-pony-mixed-8-pack

It's a huge episode featuring the interviews we recorded at this year's Obsidian Beer Festival featuring Prancing Pony, Dollar Bill, Noodledoof and Bells Beach Brewing.

Once again a huge thank you to Tom and all the team at the festival for inviting us to be part of the shenanigans and also to today's guest co-host Ian McNally of the infamous rival podcast.

We kick off today with Corinna from Prancing Pony sharing all that Frank kept secret in Episode 267 [check it out if you're a prancing pony fan!] especially about why they named their festival beer "Freakshow".

Then after a year away from the podcast Fi from Dollar Bill returns to share some good news about recent beer awards but also some less than good news about the brewery's ongoing discussions with Council.

Next up it's Sam from Noodledoof with a beer that "shouldn't be legal" and a heap of good yarns from down Koroit way and who also weighs in on what makes regional beer festivals so much fun.

And we round things out with Adam from Bells Beach with a run down of everything that's been going on at the brewery since the last time they were on the show and insights into what led them to create their festival beers!

Ian alleges that people from Bendigo are "flimsy" and Davydd threatens to start a new band called "Accordion Flux" before we finally decide that it's time to turn the microphones off...

It's off to the scenic Adelaide Hills [and the Salt Lakes of South Australia] in this episode featuring two great SA breweries!

Don't forget you can buy tasting packs that accompany both of these episodes from our online store here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/

With Max from Uraidla we continue our chat about the hops that inspire him and some important lessons about what it's like to work in a smaller emerging brewery. We find out who he'd like to collab with and he shares his experiences in many a Coolroom.

Then we welcome back Frank from Prancing Pony to the show and the opportunity to taste some new beers and old favorites too.

We learn how part of a salt lake that Frank races motor bikes on has ended up in the first beer we're tasting, how his brewing style has changed over the years he's been brewing and all about his thoughts on beer festivals.

Make sure you look out for the second part of the interview with Frank which will be out soon, but also the episode from the Obsidian Beer festival featuring the other half of Prancing Pony, Corinna!

It's a truly gargantuan episode of the Coolroom featuring previews and reviews of a heap of great craft beer festivals all of which occur in places starting with B!

We kick things off with a final preview of Ballarat's Obsidian Dark Beer Festival with Tom Madden, before bringing things back to the city with Jacqui from Coconspirators whetting our appetites for Famiglia Affairs 4! Then it's Trevor from Bendigo Beer with the first scoop of what's going to be new at Bendigo on the Hop 2025!

All of that would normally be an episode just by itself but we've super-sized things for our Festival of Festivals episode and so we're off to Darker Days Festival for some live interviews with all the breweries who were part of that awesome weekend.

Evin Craney and Bright's Head Brewer help lead the conversation as we catch up with Matt from Boatrocker, Geoff from Seeker, James from Stomping Ground and finally Guy from Urbanaut.

A huge thank you to all of the breweries that invite us along to be part of festivities - there are some truly awesome people in the Victorian craft beer scene and we're so lucky to get to work with so many of them.

If you're wondering what to do with your winter weekends then why not come and join us at Ballarat https://hullabalooevents.com.au/obsidian-dark-beer-fest Brunswick https://events.humanitix.com/famiglia-affairs-2025-co-conspirators-brewpub or Bendigo https://www.bendigobeer.com/both-2025

We're off to the scenic Adelaide Hills in this episode to visit Max from Uraidla Brewing to sample some great beers and to hear the story of his journey as a brewer.

If you want to taste the beers we're discussing as you listen you can grab them from our online store here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/uraidla-mixed-4-pack

Max explains how a love of craft beer led him from being a bartender to a brewer at his favorite brewery with a heap of great tips for people who'd like to follow a similar career path one day.

We get to hear his thoughts on pilsners and pale ales and the techniques he uses to bring out the best in the ingredients and where he sources them from in the first place.

And we learn how they pronounce centrifuge in Adelaide!

It's the second part of our interview with Matthias Trum from wonderful Schlenkerla Brewery in Bamburg - if you haven't checked out the previous episode make sure you do so before diving into this one!

In this episode we taste more of Matthias' beers [grab them wherever you can and listen in] and hear all about the techniques used to make them and the innovations he's brought to the centuries old family brewery.

We learn a heap more helpful Franconian phrases, learn the history of refrigeration and where coolrooms were born, and all about Smoked Beer Appreciation Day.

A huge thanks to Matthias for spending time with all the Coolroom crowd at the Flem/Ken Bowls Club and to the excellent people from Phoenix Beers who made the event possible!