The Cool Room

It's the second of our 2024 Carwyn Cellars / Coolroom Black Box sessions with a truly extraordinary line up of beers and brewers - a huge thank you to everyone who joined us online on the day!

We kick things off with Ben Duval revealing some of the behind-the-scenes gossip of putting together the black box before Adam from Rocky Ridge takes us through the Imperial Ken Oats Pastry Stout. He reveals what the brewery has planned for their new Victorian adventure and what the best tricks for brewing with coffee are!

Then Ned from Fox Friday brings us the "One Friday" BBA Imperial stout made in collaboration with One Drop. We learn all about the nascent Fox barrel program and just how a collaboration between two breweries works.

Then it's time for "The Final Deed", a BBA Imperial Stout resulting from the visit of Carwyn, the Coolroom and a heap of beery influencers to Deeds just days before they closed. We're incredibly lucky to be joined by Curtis Uhryn who shares the techniques that went into the making of this beer, his feelings about the closure of the brewery and his plans for the future.

The interactions between the brewers as they taste each others beers and reflect on their experiences in the craft beer industry makes this one of our most interesting episodes ever! Thanks again to them all for being so open and honest with their answers!

It's a truly epic start to this year's Carwyn Cellars / Coolroom Black Box as some of the most innovative brewers from Australia join us to talk about their beers.

Tito from Carwyn gives us some insights into how the breweries for the box are chosen and organised and then we are underway with Brendan from 3 Ravens and an absolutely amazing barrel-aged barley wine.

We change styles completely for beer #2 as Ross from Bacchus Brewing talks us through the Gingerdead Man, at the same time bringing us to speed with everything that's happened at the brewery since he joined us almost exactly one year ago.

And then for the first time ever we welcome Working Title Brewing Co into the Coolroom with "In Bruges" which has some amazing intricate flavours and a great fun attitude from the brewers to accompany it.

The Coolroom are all sold out of this year's Black Boxes but you can try the beers on tap at Carwyn Cellars in Thornbury or you can grab the very last releases of the pack from their website here: https://carwyncellars.com.au/products/the-black-box-2024

Celebrating 25 years of great craft beers Paul Holgate and Head Brewer Chris Brady join us for a tasting of some best known beers while sharing stories of their journey in brewing.

You can buy the beers we discuss from our online store here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/holgate-mixed-6-pack

Don't forget you can join the podcast and Holgate at this year's Obsidian Beer Festival being held in Ballarat on June 29 - tickets are available here: https://hullabalooevents.com.au/obsidian-dark-beer-fest

In this episode we hear the story of the Mt Macedon Pale Ale, how it has changed over the years yet remains at the heart of their core range and the legendary Millennium Falcon - one of the most anticipated craft beer releases each year in Australia.

Stay tuned for the second half of the interview coming soon in Episode 234!

It's a massive episode today as we're deep in the heart of Winter Beer Festivals in Australia and we kick off with Jacqui from Coconspirators telling us all about this year's Famiglia Affairs Festival - check out our Facebook page for information about how you can 2 free tickets to the event!

Then we're up to Darker Days Festival at Bright Brewery with special guest co-host Evin Craney. We get all the goss on what goes into organising a festival like this, and what he's most looking forward to this year. 

Then Bright head brewer Lewis Kerr joins the table and we taste our way through the collaboration beers from this year's festival while chatting with each of the brewers who participated.

There's 250kg of banana puree, 2500 oysters, one perturbed Pocket beagle, an intense discussion on the differences between feijoas and pineapple guavas, a lot of work for our legal department and Davydd gets excited by the idea of giant wicker chicken...

It's a tale of two city's beer festivals as we chat to the teams behind Ballarat's new Obsidian Dark Beer Festival and Bendigo On The Hop.

Tom Madden gives us the down low on everything we can expect at the brand new Obsidian Dark Beer Festival taking place on the heated floors of Ballarat's Mining Exchange at the end of June. We hear what inspired him to start a new festival during a tricky time in the industry, which breweries will be attending and which beers he's most looking forward to trying.

Then Chris from Bendigo Beer returns to the show to preview this year's 10th anniversary Bendigo On The Hop which has now extended into a week of fun events at the end of August. We not only learn about the history of the festival and of some returning craft brewery stalwarts but also of new breweries and venues joining in for the first time.

You can learn more about Obsidian here: https://hullabalooevents.com.au/obsidian-dark-beer-fest 

And Bendigo On The Hop here: https://www.bendigobeer.com/both-2024

Duncan from Hop Nation joins Warren and special guest host Travis for a discussion about all the latest news and views from the brewery.

You can taste along with the beers discussed in the podcast by grabbing a tasting pack from our online store here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/hop-nation-8-pack

Duncan explains where the idea for Hop Nation came from and what it was like when the brewery started out, as well as his own journey from wine maker to brewer.

We learn how old favorites like the J Juice have changed over time [and what's changed back] his approach to collaborations with the likes of Wildflower and the hops that inspire him.

And of course we get some inside scoops on what's planned for the Carwyn/Coolroom Black Box, their visit to Bright Brewery's Darker Days Festival and the imminent release of this year's Kalash Imperial Stout

It's the Hair of the Dog Breakfast at Beer Deluxe in Fed Square and accompanied by some amazing food from Telina Menzies we share some amazing brews and some great stories with 4 fantastic brewers.

We kick off with Ed and Fiona from Dollar Bill who have some fantastic news to share [no spoilers - but it involves local government talk!] We learn what new trophies they have on their sideboard and the inner-Bendigonian in Davydd comes out as he discusses Lake Wendouree.

Then it's on to Nick from Local Brewing Co who tells us all about the beers they've brought to the breakfast and how they've just passed 400,000 meals donated to Second Bite. We learn how they source their ingredients and some of the special measures they need to take when using them.

Then Coconspirators return and after a rather confusing start we establish when they started to brew the legendary Matriarch and how many versions they've brewed [and what's planned for the future]. Then Olmo reveals the secrets of making the very special beer that we enjoy with dessert.

We finish off with Ashley from 2 Metre Tall in an interview that you're not going to want to miss. We learn why tigers at the zoo aren't really wild, all about the early feedback emails he received and why he believes we've hit peak glad wrap...

For the first time ever a Japanese Brewery, Black Tide, joins us for our Thursday night Meet the Brewers Series - and there's some fascinating stories to share!

You can grab the beers we discuss in this episode from our online store here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/black-tide-mixed-4-pack

If you're quick you can also head down to Benchwarmer Bar in North Melbourne and find them on tap - a big thanks to Locky from Benchwarmer [who pops up in the podcast a couple of times] for all his help in making this episode happen!

James from Black Tide has an amazing story to share starting in a home-brew store in Portland Oregon and leading to running a brewery in a Japanese fishing town with lots of lessons and insights along the way.

We find out what he's learned from internships at Japanese breweries, the similarities and differences of how things are done compared to the US and how the Japanese craft beer market is faring generally.

There's a detailed discussion about the amazing art that appears on Black Tide cans and of course there's a coolroom experience or two to share - and did Locky really dress up a couple of kegs in a trench coat to get them through a Japanese airport?

It's the second half of our interview with Evin from Bright [and also the Independent Brewers Association] as we delve into the story behind the North East Victorian IPA.

We get the lowdown on the upcoming Darker Days festival where the Coolroom will be the guest podcaster alongside some great brewers and musical guests The Delta Riggs - you can grab your tickets here: https://darkerdays.com.au/ - don't forget to use the codeword Coolroom10 for a nice discount!

We also get some insights into this year's hop harvest and the close links between the local suppliers and Bright, as well the latest part of the Bright Brewery family - Infinite Barrelworks.

We finish off with a chat about last year's Black Box beer "Mushroom Bear" and get a tiny preview of what they are planning for this year's contribution - we even get a little behind the scenes story of the chaos caused when Tito from Carwyn last visited the brewery. Don't forget you can get your 2024 Black Box here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/2024-carwyn-coolroom-black-box

Evin Craney from Bright Brewery is a regular visitor to the Coolroom and he returns with the Puteketeke Pilsner [thanks John Oliver] under his wing for a chat about all that's happening in the Australian Craft Beer scene.

Before we get to Evin there's a quick chat out at Deeds Brewing where some lucky listeners got to join the brew team, Davydd and Tito from Carwyn Cellars to help blend their contribution to this year's Carwyn/Coolroom Black Box.

Obviously at the time we didn't know that Deeds would be announcing just a couple of days later that they were ceasing operations and we again want to pass on to the Deeds team our thanks for some awesome beers over the years and wish them all luck in their future endeavours.

If you'd like to purchase one of the black boxes including the beer we created at Deeds you can do so here: https://the-coolroom-podcast.myshopify.com/products/2024-carwyn-coolroom-black-box

We recorded with Evin before the news about Deeds came out but with his Independent Brewers Association hat on we still got to chat about the challenges that he sees for the industry at the moment but also the things that make him optimistic for the future.

There's plenty of market and design chat, commentary on the work of our friend Mr Pocket Beagles and a special code word to help you get 10% off your Bright Brewery Darker Days Festival tickets!

Look out for Episode 227 coming soon with the second half of our chat with Evin!