We return to normal programming – temporarily at least ahead of our GABS Hottest 100 Countdown livestream – for Episode 028 of The Crafty Pint Podcast, featuring one of the interviews we recorded on the road in South Australia in late 2024.

That said, it's arguably a little harsh to refer to Loophole Brewing as normal. Sure, it's a brewery that makes beer, but there's more to distinguish Loophole from your run-of-the-mill breweries than most. The entire operation is off grid. It's based on the grounds of a winery (but is no token beer brand designed to offer a modicum of choice at the cellar door). They grow barley they've used in their beers. They've won trophies for beer-wine hybrids and beer featuring local saltwater, and fermented the winery's grapes with nothing but Brettanomyces.

In short, there was plenty to talk about when we pulled up at Cape Jaffa Wines – the first to plant vines on this stretch of the Limestone Coast – half an hour north of Robe.

We were there to catch up with Tom O'Reilly, head brewer and also the man who designed and built the brewery for the Hooper family, the pioneers who saw the potential for producing wine in the region back in the 1990s.

As well as discussing the brewery and winery's innovative and sustainable approach and regular cross-pollination of ideas and ingredients, we chat about Sunlight Liquor – Tom's mead brand, making a positive impact on the wider beer industry, the importance of educating drinkers, and how a mishap on his first night shift at Stone & Wood led to the creation of a Molly Rose favourite.

Prior to the chat with Tom, we look at some of the positive news stories of the past week, including the imminent arrival of a Bridge Road bar at Melbourne Airport – hot on the heels of a Stone & Wood bar opening at Sydney Airport, the acquisition of Port Mac brewery Moorebeer by its long-term head brewer, and the arrival of Subculture Brewing in Brunswick.

We've enjoyed a great start to our campaign shining a light on good beer citizens, "Have you done a Rallings?", while applications are now open for this year's Young Henrys IWD Brewing Scholarship supporting women and non-binary individuals aiming to get into the industry too. This week's episode also features a new segment featuring Steve "Hendo" Henderson of Rockstar Brewer with tips on brewing better beer.

Start of segments:

• 12:43 – Tom O’Reilly (part one)
• 29:43 – Rockstar Brewer
• 35:28 – Tom O’Reilly (part two)

Relevant links:

• Loophole Brewing
• Cape Jaffa Wines
• Bridge Road Brewers Land At Melbourne Airport
• Brewer Buys Brewery
• Who Brews Subculture Beers?
• Young Henrys IWD Scholarship
• Have You Done A Rallings?
• GABS H100 Countdown Livestream
• Rockstar Brewing Academy
• The High Country Hop
• IBD 2025

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].

The Crafty Pint Podcast is back for 2025 after a most enjoyable break; we hope all our listeners and viewers had a great festive period too.

Our first show of the year is a little different to most. We still reflect on the stories we’ve covered since the start of 2025, including the news that KAIJU! have become the latest brewing company to enter voluntary administration almost a year to the day after Wayward Brewing did the same, heralding Aussie craft beer’s toughest 12 months.

However, there’s no main guest this time around. Instead, we look ahead to some of the notable upcoming events we’re involved in, as well as announcing a new campaign through which we hope to shine a light on the good deeds taking place throughout the beer and hospo industries.

In terms of events, The Catfish’s QI: Beer Edition on January 18 features both podcast producer Matt Hofmann as MC and Crafty founder James Smith as a panelist. Then, a week later, we’re hosting the live countdown of the GABS Hottest 100 via YouTube, while we also look ahead to the 2025 IBD Asia Pacific Convention in Hobart in conversation with convention chair Brendan Flanagan.

The aforementioned new campaign has been created in partnership with the team at Rallings. You can find out what it means to have “done a Rallings” from the person who came up with the concept in the second half of the show. Or you can get straight on with nominating anyone you know who’s done a good deed – big or small – in the wider beer world via the link below.

We’ll feature the best stories from those nominations in future shows – and there’s prizes up for grabs for both the nominee and the person or business that nominates them.

Start of segments:

• 7:46 – Discussion of recent news
• 19:01 – Brendan Flanagan – IBD
• 23:44 – Preview of GABS Hottest 100 Live Countdown & "Have you done a Rallings?"

Relevant links:

• KAIJU! Enter VA
• Dash & Smash – Inside The World Of The Aussie Beer Milers
• Ten Lessons From Ten Years – Cupitt's Estate
• Catfish QI: Beer Edition (Jan 18)
• GABS H100 Live Countdown
• Nominate A Good Beer Citizen
• IBD Asia Pacific Convention 2025
• Sign Up For The Next Brewing Course At Bendigo TAFE 

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].

The final episode of The Crafty Pint's Year In Beer 2024 series is a double-header with a triple dose of guests. After completing the full set of states, it's the turn of ACT and the Northern Territory.

There have been notable anniversaries, not least in the capital with both BentSpoke Brewing and Page Bottler marking ten years in 2024, plus expansions, acquisitions, new openings, and the roller-coaster tale of Tumut River Brewing Co – one that's ended on a high with former staff now the new owners.

Joining us to cast an eye over the past 12 months are Mat Farrington, Tim Rasheed and Kyle Pearson.

Mat is the founder of CanBEERra, which he launched nine years ago to capture the goings-on in the beer world across the wider Canberra region. As well as offering insight into some of the newer operations, he's been mighty impressed with Cypher Brewing and their weekly tinnie releases of the past 12 months, plus the manner in which both To All My Friends and Herbert's at Evatt have shown how to operate as top-notch craft beer venues.

Tim opened Page Bottler a decade ago and now crams more great beer per square metre into his store than you'll likely find anywhere in Australia. He brings two decades in booze retail to the table as he offers his thoughts on where the local / indie beer world sits and how breweries backing their own identity rather than overreaching is the way to go.

And Kyle is the driving force behind Alice Springs Brewing Co and, as of a few weeks ago, the new owner of Beer Garden Brewing in Port Lincoln. He reflects on 2024, in which the brewery enjoyed the triumphant launch of their Territorian sub-brand and have put down deeper roots locally, as well as the reasons behind buying a second brewery 16 hours' drive from Alice. He also casts an eye over 12 months in which all of the NT's brewers have enjoyed successes, including One Mile's huge Territory Bar-BQ Festival in October, despite a drop in tourism.

Start of guest segments:

3:50 – Mat Farrington

17:30 – Tim Rasheed

28:18 – Kyle Pearson

The Crafty Pint's 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au.

Relevant links:

The Crafty Pint's Year In Beer 2024: The National Picture: https://craftypint.com/news/3646/year-in-beer-2024-the-national-picture

CanBEERra: http://www.canbeerra.com/

Page Bottler: https://craftypint.com/bottleshop/1106/page-bottler

Alice Springs Brewing Co: https://craftypint.com/brewery/544/alice-springs-brewing-co

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].

We head to Queensland for the penultimate podcast of our Year In Beer 2024 series. 

As with much of the local beer industry, it's been a challenging time for many in the state. A number of craft beer venues have closed or changed hands, the most high profile of which was Brewski, whose owners Ant and Matt joined us for an earlier show before rocking up with their new My Beer Dealer in Fortitude Valley. 

Talking of high profile, the voluntary administration and, ultimately, sale of Black Hops Brewing to a new ownership team was among the most talked-about of all the littered the past 12 months in Australia. But, even here, the changes that brought led to an unexpected opportunity for two of the guests on this episode: Phil Sharp and Daniel Venema of Hiker Brewing. 

They took ownership of Black Hops Brisbane and converted it to their second home, a move they hadn't expected to make for a couple of years yet. However, such a decision feels very in keeping with the brewery's fine start to life. 

The founders discuss the lean and mean, community-centric ethos that's brought them to this point, the opportunities for smaller, locals-focused breweries to step in as the new pokie-free pub, their fondness for Working Title's beers, and how they were the real winners of the GABS Hottest 100 of 2023. 

We kick off, however, with Brisbane-based Crafty Pint writer Mick Wüst for his take on the past 12 months: the trends he's witnessed, the beers he's enjoyed, and what he's been up to, which has included publishing a second book and completing a third (both on spirits, following his first on beer). 

From there, we head to the Sunshine Coast where Craig Williams sits down at the home of Josh Donohoe, founder of Sunshine Coast Craft Beer Tours. A renewed focus on beer tourism is something we wrote about in the national trends article that launched this series and it's cropped up in other episodes, but few are as well versed as Josh. Not only has he been running tours in the region since the days when they had just a handful of breweries, but he's played a central role in the Craft Beer Capital tourism marketing campaign, even travelling with the region's brewers to sing the Sunshine Coast's praises in New Zealand. 

Start of guest segments: 

• 2:40 – Mick Wüst 
• 14:16 – Josh Donohoe 
• 26:33 – Phil Sharp & Daniel Venema

The Crafty Pint's 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au.  

Relevant links: 

• The Crafty Pint’s Year In Beer 2024  
• Sunshine Coast Craft Beer Tours 
• Mick's Gin Drinker's Toolkit  
• Hiker Brewing

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].

Our final podcast episode before Christmas touches down in New South Wales for a look back at the Year In Beer there in the company of a trio of guests. 

First up we have Nemesia Dale-Cully – better known as Meesh to most. She's enjoyed a number of roles in the local beer world, first in Adelaide before moving from running Shapeshifter's venue to take over the hospitality side of things at Wildflower, and is also involved in Pink Boots Society Australia.

Joining her for a chat with Will and James is another of our Sydney-based writers. We brought Benny onto the show as guest host a few weeks ago, and now it's a chance to meet Jason Treuen. As well as writing for The Crafty Pint, he's part of the team that brought the Inner West Ale Trail to life and a keen homebrewer.  

From there, we head north to chat to Nick McDonald, co-founder of Bucketty's Brewing, one of the many breweries that call the Northern Beaches home and as bluntly honest a guest as we've had on the show to date. 

Across the two conversations, we cover everything from the challenges of running small breweries in 2024 and renewed interest in beer tourism to the importance of community and the theatre of pouring beer. We also discuss trends, the standout breweries, beers and events of the past 12 months, and Jason's banana hefeweizen IPA...

At the start of the show, given it's in our standard Thursday slot, we also go over the news of the previous week, with a focus on the IBA's announcement that there will be no BrewCon or Indies awards in 2025 as well as WA's one-man Evil Mega Corp.

Start of guest segments:

• 10:42 – Jason Treuen & Nemesia Dale-Cully
• 39:42 – Nick McDonald  

The Crafty Pint’s 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au.

Relevant links:

• The Crafty Pint’s Year In Beer 2024
• Wildflower & Mountain Culture launch Village
• Inner West Ale Trail Launches 
• Bucketty's Brewing 
• No BrewCon or Indies in 2025 
• Evil Mega Corp's No-Scale Ambition 

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].

The second half of our Year In Beer 2024 series sees us head across the Bass Strait to see what's been happening in Tasmania.

Unlike much of the country, the beer industry in the southern state has survived the year relatively unscathed. And just like much of the country, it's also seen the renewed interest in lager styles we've been writing about for a while now continue to grow.

Joining hosts James and Will first is Matt Fielding, one half of the Science Made Beerable team; we had hoped to chat to the not-for-profit's co-founder Kelsey Picard too, but Kelsey was back home in New Zealand leaving Matt to hold the fort, which he did with aplomb. 

With Matt based in Hobart, we took a trip north to catch up with our second guest, Scott Seymour. We first crossed paths with Scott in Bendigo when he was one of the early driving forces behind Bendigo Beer's efforts to encourage the regional city to embrace craft beer.

He's since moved to Tassie after falling in love with the island on a family holiday, going on to open a trio of beer businesses in the north of the state: Penguin Beer Co, Island State Brewing, and The Pier.

As well as filling us in on how 2024 has been for them and their hopes and plans for 2025, they reflect on the beer scene across the state, suggesting some top beer spots for visitors to the state, highlighting a couple of newcomers to the scene, heaping praise upon Spotty Dog Brewers and their enviable location, doffing a cap to 20 years of Two Metre Tall, and the importance of supporting local.

Start of guest segments:

• 1:34 – Matt Fielding
• 13:05 – Scott Seymour  

The Crafty Pint’s 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au. 

Relevant links:

• The Crafty Pint’s Year In Beer 2024 
• Who Owns Your Beer?
• Science Made Beerable
• Penguin Beer Co 

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].

The third of our Year In Beer 2024 podcasts finds us on home turf as we turn our attention to Victoria. 

It’s undoubtedly been a tough year for many there, something that became very apparent when we started totting up the voluntary administrations, sales and closures from the past 12 months. Hospo trade has been down and suffered accordingly too, yet there’s also been much to enjoy and plenty to celebrate, from great beers, new breweries and venues, to successful events and more.

Joining Will and James to cast an eye over the year are Cherry Murphy and Jimmy Krekelberg. Cherry spent ten years with Blackhearts & Sparrows, many of those as the indie retail chain’s beer buyer, curating their range, hosting diverse events, and putting together a number of fascinating collaborations.

Jimmy is the founder and head brewer of Good Land Brewing in Traralgon, a brewery he founded after plying his trade at a number of breweries overseas. While his lager is their biggest seller, he’s garnered a reputation as a brewer of some seriously out there and creative beers too, from voluptuous smoothie sours to hefty imperial stouts.

As part of their chat about the year in beer in Victoria, Will and James also discuss this week’s opening of Sailors Grave’s Dunetown home in Gippsland, three years after they unveiled their plans.

Start of guest segments:

• 23:32 – Cherry Murphy
• 33:41 – Jimmy Krekelberg 

The Crafty Pint’s 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au.

Relevant links: 

• The Crafty Pint’s Year In Beer 2024 
• Sailors Grave Dunetown 
• Good Land Brewing 

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].

For the third instalment – and second podcast episode – of our Year In Beer 2024 series, we head west to catch up with two of the people behind one of the state's brightest new breweries and the brothers who run a business that's been watching the state's craft beer scene grow for two decades.

The first of those are Terri and Trav Moore, part of the team behind Phat Brew Club, which has risen in next to no time from homebrew competition winners to pro brewers without a home to operators of one of Perth's largest and liveliest brewpubs. They've enjoyed yet another banging year in 2024 and are set to open a second venue in 2025.

The brothers are Jose and Nelio Pestana, founders of one of WA's finest indie retailers of top-notch booze, Copper & Oak. They opened their first store more than 20 years ago, saw the way the market was heading early, now operate a second store and have a third on the way.

As well as selling one of the widest selections of beer in WA, they're arch-collaborators who've released a series of consistently excellent beers with some of the state's finest. Full disclosure: Crafty Pint contributor Guy Southern is part of the Copper & Oak team these days and picked up one of the outfits' three major awards in the past two years.

Prior to catching up with our guests, Will and James pick the brains of both Guy and our writer in the South West, Jono Outred. 

Across the three segments, we discover what's been going down in WA over the past 12 months – the noteworthy trends, the hottest breweries, the most delicious beers, and more – as well as looking ahead to 2025.

NB There was an internet connection issue that kicked in towards the end of the chat with Terri and Trav that affected their video; the audio is fine throughout, however.

Start of each segment:

• 1:36 – Jono and Guy
• 17:03 – Terri & Trav
• 32:03 – Jose, Nelio & Guy  

The Crafty Pint's 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au. 

Relevant links: 

• The Crafty Pint's Year In Beer 2024: The National Picture
• Phat Brew Club
• Copper & Oak

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].

As 2024 comes to a close, The Crafty Pint Podcast is hitting the road, taking a trip across Australia as we try to make sense of how this dramatic year has impacted people in different parts of the industry. 

Our annual Year In Beer article explored the national trends and tumultuous nature of making and selling beer in 2024, but how do things look at the state level?

To find out, we’re asking people from across the industry how they’ve navigated the past 12 months: their standout moments, plus the beers, breweries, venues and events they loved most. We also ask them to look ahead to 2025: who and what to look out for, as well as their hopes and wildest dreams for the future.

First up, James and Will drove from Melbourne to Adelaide for conversation with long-term Crafty Pint writer Matt King, who’s been covering the South Australian scene for us for a decade. He recently decided to call it a day when it comes to beer writing to focus on his job and family so the chat doubled up as a trip down Memory Lane through that decade spent covering beer in SA. 

(Before anyone asks: sorry, we won’t be burning fuel to make it to every capital city for this series!)

Following Matt, we’re joined by Briony Liebich and Steve Brockman. Briony runs Flavour Logic where she specialises in teaching sensory skills to brewers and anyone else in and around the industry, while Steve is an experienced brewer who switched from Brightstar Brewing to work for AMSAT Character Malts in 2024. 

The chat with the first of our guests starts at 9:00. 

Prior to that, James and Will chat about our Year In Beer: The National Picture article.

 The Crafty Pint's 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au.

Relevant links:

Year In Beer: The National Picture

Former Staff Return Tumut River Brewing To Its Roots

FOUND.Subiaco Opens

Uraidla win at the Indies 

Suburban Scoop SA's Best Beer Trophy

Flavour Logic’s website 

AMSAT Character Malts’ website

“I think the thing that’s really important for consumers and the industry writ large to know is how many forces are currently at play that are going to make being a small brewer more challenging.

“We call this the death by a thousand cuts.”

If 2023 was a rough year for the indie beer world, 2024 has been worse – brutal doesn’t seem too harsh a term to describe the conditions faced by many in the industry. And those challenges have also been faced by the Independent Brewers Association (IBA), the body representing Australia’s indie brewers.

In the face of a major drop in income, they’ve been forced to tighten their belt in terms of what they’ve been able to offer. And, as with many businesses in beer and hospo, have reduced the size of their team. At the same time, faced with such challenges, they’ve kept fighting the fight on as many fronts as they can – “we’re small but scrappy” is how they put it.

So, before we switch to a series of state by state by territory podcast episodes reflecting on the year in beer, we invited IBA CEO Kylie Lethbridge and head of industry development Sabrina Kunz to join us on the show.

As you can imagine with the indie beer world fighting battles on so many fronts, it’s a seriously wide-ranging conversation. We start by looking back on a year in which VAs, closures and business restructuring have dominated many of the headlines but during which there have been new arrivals, expansions and growth too.

We discuss the major uptick in honest, respectful coverage of the beer world by mainstream media, the challenges and opportunities when it comes to state and federal governments, building long-term relationships and partnerships around the country, the biggest issues on the table for 2025, and how to build consumer awareness and support for the industry.

The chat with Kylie and Sabrina kicks off at 7:40. 

Prior to that there's just the briefest of intros as we had to record this week's early prior to hitting the road for SA before dawn on Wednesday for a sold-out event at The Wheaty and a bunch of podcast recordings you'll get to enjoy over the coming weeks and months. 

We discussed the return of one of craft beer's key figures, Phil Sexton, to brewing alongside son Harry with the launch of Keeper Brewing at the former home of Temple, as well as our upcoming event with Molly Rose.  

Thanks to show sponsors FOBOH and The High Country Hop. 

Relevant links: 

That's A Keeper: Sexton Family Turn Temple Into A Shrine To Pils

The Molly Rose Story – Distilled: 

Independent Brewers Association website: https://independentbrewers.org.au/ 

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].