The Crafty Pint Podcast

"I'm still passionate about what I do, I still love what I do, and I still think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world. I get to make beer for a living and, especially taking the step coming here to Bali, I get to mentor people that might not have necessarily ever had an opportunity like this before, so I feel really lucky that I have the power to be able to do that and pay it forward."

Given her fondness for travel, adventure and life on the ocean, perhaps it was destiny that Sam Füss would end up brewing in Bali. Certainly, more than two years after moving to the island's northwest – the "real Bali" as she puts it – she's embracing every opportunity that has come her way.

Sam was enticed to move there with her partner Dani by the founders of Beaches Brewing Co back in 2022, and in recent weeks oversaw the release of their first two beers, Pale and Cerveza. The switch of scenery gave her the chance to help build another brewery after being involved in the early stages of a number in Australia, including Little Creatures in Freo and Philter in Marrickville.

She joined us from her beautiful home – ocean views on one side, volcano on the other, a pool a few metres behind her, the call to prayer carried on the wind outside – to take us inside the experience of getting Beaches off the ground, training up locals with no prior experience, educating people who've never encountered craft beer before, and working in a beer culture that, in its own way, is like the Australian scene when she moved from the bar at Little Creatures to the brewery around a quarter-century ago.

We also trace her career from those early days through building a race track inside Matilda Bay's former brewery in Dandenong to True South, Young Henrys, and the trophy-laden days at Philter prior to the big move. Sam reflects on lessons learned and wisdom gained, on the characters who mentored her, and on the rewards she now finds in mentoring others.

And, as anyone who knows Sam would expect, we have a good laugh along the way, with the main interview kicking off at 11:47. 

Prior to that, we discuss the week's news, including the sale of Westside Ale Works to new owners who plan to keep things as Casey Wagner had them, the impending launch of Vegan a la Beer, a guide to pairing beer with plant-based food, Seasonal and Whitelakes' success in the WA Beer of the Year awards, Burleigh Brewing's 18th birthday re-brews, the epic lineup for High Country Hop 2025, our upcoming event at Molly Rose, and GABS nominations.

Relevant links from this week's show:

Westside's sale:https://craftypint.com/news/3636/westside-ale-works-sells-but-the-future-still-looks-hoppy

Vegan a la Beer: The Appetiser: https://craftypint.com/news/3631/vegan-a-la-beer-the-appetiser

WA Beer of the Year 2025: https://craftypint.com/news/3629/seasonal-win-wa-beer-of-the-year-with-black-oat-cream-ipa-mudi

Burleigh Brewing's 18th birthday beers: https://craftypint.com/beer/11067/burleigh-brewing-18th-birthday-re-brews

The High Country Hop 2025: https://craftypint.com/event/13525/the-high-country-hop-2025

Crafty Cabal giveaways: https://craftycabal.com/giveaways-and-merch

The Molly Rose Story – Distilled: https://craftypint.com/event/13532/the-molly-rose-story--distilled

Nominate your beers for the GABS H100 of 2024: https://craftypint.com/news/3630/gabs-hottest-100-craft-beer-nominations-now-open

Sam Sets Sail For Bali: https://craftypint.com/news/2922/sam-sets-sails-for-bali

Beaches Brewery Bali: https://beachesbrewingco.com/

Thanks to Beer30, sponsors of this week's show.

To support the show, contact [email protected].

It’s fair to say Episode 017 of The Crafty Pint Podcast is a special one. After all, you can count the number of people who’ve achieved what this week’s guests have achieved on one hand.

It was all the way back in 1999 that Paul and Tash Holgate sold the first Holgate beers, long before “craft beer” was a term – it was “boutique beers” and “microbreweries” in those days – and a full decade before the industry’s growth really started to go into overdrive. Little Creatures hadn’t yet launched, and Mountain Goat were barely two years into their adventure down the road in Melbourne.

Now, 25 years on, they occupy rarified territory: marking their quarter-century milestone while still independent, still running the business hands-on, still making plans for the years ahead, and all while producing some of the finest beers of their history to date.

We joined Paul and Tash in the bar of the pub in Woodend that has acted as their home since they moved the brewery out of the family home in their first few years of operation.

There, they reflected on the early years, when they were raising a very young family at a time when even getting their hands on things as straightforward and essential as ingredients and packaging was a tall order, and when most venues they approached dismissed their beer as homebrew.

We hear their take on the rise of the craft beer industry, how they’ve navigated the changes as it evolved into something well beyond their expectations, the hurdles they’ve faced and successes they’ve enjoyed over the past quarter-century, and how they’ve gone about celebrating their 25 Years of Beers.

You couldn’t wish to spend time in the company of a more down-to-earth and genuine couple, or to meet two people still so clearly loving what they do, even in the face of the challenges that have arisen in recent years.

The chat with Paul and Tash begins at 09:30

Prior to that, Will and I discuss two fun stories we published this week: one on a mini-revival for beer in bottles – notably longnecks; the other looking at the reasons behind the rise of hops from New Zealand both here and globally in the past couple of years.

We also touch on the news that Australia’s first non-alc brewing company, the Indigenous-led Sobah Beverages, is looking to sell its brewery and taproom on the Gold Coast, and the impending opening of two regional breweries in Victoria: the all-new Bendigo Brewing and a new, larger site in Castlemaine for Shedshaker.

Relevant links:  

Back On The Bottle: https://craftypint.com/news/3617/back-on-the-bottle  

Choice Az! The Rise Of Kiwi Hops: https://craftypint.com/news/3623/choice-az-the-rise-of-kiwi-hops  

Sobah Beverages Downsizing: https://craftypint.com/news/3619/sobah-beverages-put-brewery-on-market-and-plan-to-downsize  

Bendigo Brewing Opening: https://craftypint.com/event/13512/bendigo-brewings-grand-opening-weekend  

James on The Do Landers Podcast: https://thedolanders.com/  

Holgate Brewhouse: https://craftypint.com/brewery/156/holgate-brewhouse  

Holgate ESB: https://craftypint.com/beer/10917/holgate-brewhouse-esb  

Holgate x Noodledoof Dank AF: https://craftypint.com/beer/10855/holgate-x-noodledoof-dank-af-west-coast-ipa  

Paul & Tash: https://craftypint.com/news/2255/craftys-advent-calendar-paul-and-tash-holgate  

Bintani: https://www.bintani.com.au/

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

What does it mean to be a sustainable business or to brew in a sustainable manner? Can beer really do good, or are such claims just there to make marketing departments feel better about themselves? And, if so, how can they have a positive impact on the world around them, from their local community to the drinkers who buy their beers?

Such questions – and helping people find the right answers to them – have occupied James Perrin throughout his career in beer. It's one that started with Lion in New Zealand, brought him to Stone & Wood in the midst of their rapid growth, and continues to this day in many ways.

He's still involved in a Northern Rivers brewery too, albeit a rather smaller one. He left Stone & Wood after the sale to Lion / Kirin, and these days is part of the team running Spangled Drongo, a brewery which makes a donation from every beer sold to help protect the natural habitat around them.

He also works with businesses looking to be better global citizens in and outside beer, both in Australia and overseas, and has helped some – most recently Jervis Bay Brewing Co – gain B Corp status.

James is a wealth of knowledge on all things sustainability and has developed a model of six ways in which businesses can look to have a positive impact. He joined us on the show to explain his approach, discuss various programs and certifications in this space, and to highlight examples from the beer world that have impressed him.

He talks passionately about the importance of authenticity in making connections with consumers, and is a firm believer that indie beer businesses occupy a role within communities through which they can make changes for the better and inspire others to follow suit.

The chat with James starts at 16:17

Prior to that we welcomed another guest, who joined James for the preamble. With Will making his way back to Australia from Bali, Benedict Kennedy-Cox stepped up to the oche.

Benny has been writing for The Crafty Pint for a few years now, often combining beer with another passion of his: travel. He was in Melbourne so dropped into the studio to discuss the week's news, share some of his favourite experiences on the road, including getting abused by a waiter in Köln, and offer insight into the sustainably-minded businesses he's written about for us.

There also a heads-up for our forthcoming lager-centric event at The Wheaty.

Relevant links:

Going Green: Sustainable Brewing: https://craftypint.com/news/1767/going-green-sustainable-brewing

Spangled Drongo Brewing: https://craftypint.com/brewery/865/spangled-drongo-brewery 

Jervis Bay Secure B Corp Status: https://craftypint.com/news/3588/better-every-day-jervis-bay-become-a-b-corp 

James Perrin's website: https://www.jamesperrin.com.au/ 

Ryefield Hops' Certifiably Sustainable Growth: https://craftypint.com/news/3376/ryefield-hops-certifiably-sustainable-growth 

Frogs Hollow's Off-Grid Brewery: https://craftypint.com/news/3590/going-green-frogs-hollows-off-grid-brewery 

Mitta Mitta Brewing: https://craftypint.com/brewery/398/mitta-mitta-brewing-co 

Ten Lessons From Ten Years: Wolf of the Willows: https://craftypint.com/news/3614/ten-lessons-from-ten-years-wolf-of-the-willows 

Planned vs Rogue: https://www.youtube.com/@PlannedvsRogue 

Upcoming lager event at The Wheaty: https://craftypint.com/event/13508/exploring-the-ever-larger-world-of-lager

Sun Tap Decals: https://www.suntapdecals.com.au/  

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

In Episode 015 of The Crafty Pint Podcast we head overseas for the first time. Our destination is a tiny brewery most people won't have heard of, where we're joined by a guest with whom many will be very familiar.  

The tiny brewery is Shortjaw Brewing, located in Westport: a town on the sparsely populated west coast of New Zealand's South Island. The guest is the man who, along with his partner Emma, decided to take over the site of a 30-year-old, twice-liquidated brewery during the early period of the COVID pandemic and bring it back to life.  

Luke Robertson is far better known in beer circles – at least outside Westport and surrounds – from his time in Australia. This is mainly due to Ale of a Time, the blog that spawned a podcast of the same name, both of them home to sharp, witty and occasionally caustic observations of, and commentary on, the wide world of beer.  

That was just one of many roles in the Australian beer world for Luke, who helped deliver major events such as Good Beer Week and BrewCon for the Independent Brewers Association, while writing – mostly on beer – for high profile publications not just in his adopted home but overseas, notably for Good Beer Hunting.  

Thirty months on from pouring the first Shortjaw beer for guests, he joined us to reflect on his change of direction – or putting his money where his mouth is, as he puts it: how he's approached building a customer base for a regional brewery in one of the most remote parts of the planet, his fondness for creating beers that represent the place in which they're brewed, and some of the highs and lows that come with launching a brewery in the toughest climate for beer in decades.  

The chat with Luke starts at 11:05.  

Prior to that, we interrupt Will's holiday in Bali to go behind the scenes of his deep dive article into the experiences of working at beer's sinking ships. Over a period of months, he spoke to former employees at a number of businesses across Australia that have been through administration, ceased operating, or changed hands over the past couple of years, and the picture they paint is far from pretty.  

We also discuss the reaction to the article since its publication on Monday, with comments received from outside Australia and beyond the beer world too.  

You'll find links relevant to the episode below:  

Shortjaw Brewing: https://shortjaw.co.nz/  

Ale of a Time: https://aleofatime.com/  

From Beer Blogger To Brewery Owner: https://craftypint.com/news/2799/from-beer-blogger-to-brewery-owner  

Working Inside Beer's Sinking Ships: https://craftypint.com/news/3605/working-inside-beers-sinking-ships  

Brew & A ft Charlie Claridge: https://craftypint.com/news/3609/brew-and-a-charlie-claridge-esker-beer-co  

Sun Tap Decals: https://www.suntapdecals.com.au/  

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

The craft beer era has given rise to thousands of stories, but none like that of Moon Dog.

Founders Karl van Buuren and brothers Josh and Jake Uljans announced themselves to an unsuspecting beer world in the manner of a custard pie to the face – well before custard pie beers were a thing – and have never stopped evolving and innovating. Neither have they lost focus on keeping two words – "delicious" and "fun" – at the heart of everything they do. 

After a few years of ever more outrageous releases, they opened their first venue in Abbotsford on the site of their first brewery (and schoolmates Josh and Karl's home for 14 months) before introducing a core range, growing fast, and taking over neighbouring buildings in Abbotsford as they became available.

Arguably just as outrageous as their early beers was what came in 2019: Moon Dog World, a vast venue in Preston that saw them convert a warehouse into a tropical paradise complete with waterfall, lagoon and Wall of Warnie.

Since then, they've embraced the arrival of hard seltzers in Australia, with Fizzer becoming one of the biggest brands in the country, and explored other avenues within the world of RTDs, while expanding their portfolio of megavenues. Indeed, the last of these was the main reason we sat down with Josh and Karl this week.

We joined them at Doglands, a 1200-capacity venue on the concourse of Marvel Stadium that was set to welcome people headed to Travis Scott's show later that night. It arrives hot on the heels of Moon Dog Wild West in the former Franco Cozzo building in Footscray, and just weeks (they hope) before they open in Frankston.

Our chat covers Moon Dog's evolution from craft brewer to multi-beverage producer and entertainment provider, the challenges and benefits of running vast venues, the importance of remaining true to yourself and your brand – whatever you end up doing, building and retaining great teams, and having fun along the way.

The conversation with them begins at 10:20.

Prior to that, we discuss stories from the week just gone, including the heartwarming tale of the changing of the guard at the Sunshine Coast's oldest brewery, where the owners' youngest daughter has taken up the reins, and the launch of a new Beer Cocktails series on The Crafty Pint.

You'll find links relevant to the show here:

A Curran Affair: Sunshine Coast's Oldest Brewery Passes To The Next Generation: https://craftypint.com/news/3602/a-curran-affair-sunshine-coasts-oldest-brewery-passes-to-the-next-generation

Beer Cocktails with Matt at Melville: https://craftypint.com/news/3604/beer-cocktails-with-matt-at-melville-simcoe-smash

Spangled Drongo Brewery: https://craftypint.com/brewery/865/spangled-drongo-brewery 

Bearhug Pallet Wraps: https://craftypint.com/business/1428/bearhug-pallet-wraps 

Be A Pint Of Origin Venue In 2025: https://craftypint.com/news/3591/be-a-pint-of-origin-host-venue-in-2025

The Gin Drinker's Toolkit Launch: https://craftypint.com/event/13493/gin-drinkers-toolkit-book-launch--gin-party--milton-common

Our breaking story on Moon Dog's plans for Docklands: https://craftypint.com/news/3219/marvel-ous-moon-dog-to-open-vast-docklands-brewpub   

Building Moon Dog's World: https://craftypint.com/news/2198/building-moon-dogs-world

Sun Tap Decals: https://www.suntapdecals.com.au/ 

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

There are few brewers anywhere in Australia with a pedigree to match that of Shawn Sherlock. For the past decade, he's been at the helm of FogHorn Brewery in Newcastle; prior to that he was at Murray's Brewing, helping the business grow from its roots in the Pub With No Beer in Taylors Arm (population: 133) to one of the country's envelope-pushing craft beer pioneers selling 1.5m litres per year at the time he moved on.  

Even before that – when he was lecturing courses in Australian history in his hometown of Newcastle – he was an avid homebrewer; indeed, we can probably thank the Howard administration's swingeing cuts to Arts funding for kickstarting one of the finest brewing careers of the modern era.  

As we were preparing to launch The Crafty Pint Podcast, Shawn was taking full control of FogHorn from Mighty Craft, the "craft beer accelerator" no longer involved in craft beer, which had bought into the business when his original partner was moving on. It meant we were keen to bring him onto the show to chat about his experiences working within different brewery ownership models – which he does.  

That he is on the show this week is also in part due to his role in the creation of Brewcastle, an ale trail guide to Newcastle's best beer (and spirits) spots; FogHorn was the first new brewery to open in the city a decade ago and has since been joined by many others.  

Over the course of the episode, we trace his career from its very start through the creation of many beers that were ahead of their time to his position today as a much-respected figure in the local beer community. He offers thoughts on the sort of business models that can succeed, what matters if you want to survive in brewing, and even gives some insight into creating great stouts, something he knows plenty about – he's got a few trophies as proof.  

14:05 Start of the conversation with Shawn.  

In the intro, we discuss a number of this week's stories and new beer releases; below are all relevant links:  

Range open Rays in Camp Hill: https://craftypint.com/news/3596/range-open-a-second-suburban-bar-rays-in-camp-hill  

Slipstream Social House opens on the Sunshine Coast: https://craftypint.com/event/13484/slipstream-social-house-opening-party  

Doglands to open in Melbourne's Docklands: https://craftypint.com/news/3597/moon-dog-to-open-doglands-next-to-marvel-stadium-in-coming-days  

Copper & Oak win WA Liquor Retailer of the Year: https://www.facebook.com/copperandoak/posts/pfbid02JDqmLAJn1Zs1CNoj3SqfsZjqE9Zuy6tVz9WjgavvrWkAiWZQkkkLRepq9R4hCeUNl  

Black Arts to close: https://craftypint.com/news/3598/black-arts-brewers-and-blenders-to-close  

Brew & A: Ted Carey: https://craftypint.com/news/3594/brew-and-a-ted-carey  

Aussie Exports: Emma Elmslie: https://craftypint.com/news/3600/aussie-exports-emma-elmslie-shining-peak-nz  

Green Gully Brett There Be Rock: https://craftypint.com/beer/10999/green-gully-island-beer-teri-grisette-24-and-brett-there-be-rock  

Newcastle Becomes Brewcastle: https://craftypint.com/news/3599/newcastle-becomes-brewcastle-with-launch-of-new-ale-trail  

Shawn takes full control of FogHorn: https://craftypint.com/news/3472/foghorn-founder-takes-full-control-of-brewery-as-mighty-craft-exit-craft  

The creation of the Auld Bulgin' Boysterous Bicep: https://craftypint.com/news/423/never-mind-the-molluscs  

To register for a WSET course with a 10% discount: https://craftypint.com/wset-beer-qualifications--australia  

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

When choosing guests for The Crafty Pint Podcast, we favour people we know have good stories to tell (which, in fairness, doesn't discount many people working in beer) and a particular area of knowledge, expertise or insight to share with listeners and viewers.  

In the case of Amanda Baker – Bakes to most – they were high on our priority list but leapt to the top when Will spotted something odd going on with the Instagram account Lost Palms, the Gold Coast brewery at which they work. Everything the brewery had posted in seven years disappeared overnight to be replaced by a series of stark, mysterious posts.  

Attention captured, Will suggested we get Bakes on straight away, which technically meant they were coming on for a discussion around social media, marketing and branding. But, as anyone who knows Bakes knows, we were never going to pin them down to something as straightforward as that.  

So, settle in for a chat that, yes, looks at the new approach Lost Palms are taking and what sparked the change, but also examines branding more widely – not least as they're involved in the launch of new energy drink SAYG.  

A year on from Bakes' appearance in one of our most widely read and discussed articles of 2023, Chronically Crafty, which explored working in beer with a chronic medical condition, we reflect on the impact that had and how to keep those discussions going.  

Meanwhile, Bakes' recent trip to North America, where they stayed with meme legend, Wort Wrangler, brewed collabs with Seek Beer Co and Dominion City, forced themselves onto the Jester King workforce, and met up with Ren Navarro, the founder of Beer Diversity (now B.Diversity), sparks a conversation about community and diversity in beer.  

Essentially, it's a few episodes rolled into one, with a preamble in which we discuss the phenomenal number of Oktoberfests in Australia this year, New South Wales' first off-grid brewery, Mick Wüst's deep dive into life in a sensory lab, and opening registrations for Pint of Origin 2025.  

Links relevant to or referenced in the show:  

Going Green: Frogs Hollow's Off-Grid Brewery: https://craftypint.com/news/3590/going-green-frogs-hollows-off-grid-brewery  

A Yeast For The Senses: Life In A Sensory Lab: https://craftypint.com/news/3573/a-yeast-for-the-senses-life-inside-a-sensory-lab  

Be Part Of Pint Of Origin 2025: https://craftypint.com/news/3591/be-a-pint-of-origin-host-venue-in-2025  

Save 10% On Registrations For WSET's Beer Courses: https://tinyurl.com/j4eyfrty  

Lost Palms' Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostpalmsbrewingco/  

SAYG: https://www.sayg.com.au/  

Chronically Crafty: https://craftypint.com/news/3252/chronically-crafty-managing-health-in-the-beer-industry  

Wort Wrangler: https://www.instagram.com/wortwrangler/  

Ren Navarro: https://bdiversitygroup.com/about-ren  

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

We're pretty sure we've never seen anything close to the number of Oktoberfests taking place at breweries and bars around Australia as we're witnessing in 2024. So, as they started to ramp up, we sat down with Nathan Munt, co-founder and head brewer at King River Brewing, and a man who loves celebrating classic German and Belgian beer styles all year round.  

He launched the brewery with his wife Brianna in the heart of the idyllic King Valley in the Victorian High Country back in 2016, with a lineup featuring an Altbier, Kolsch, and a style that had first made him fall in love with beer: a Belgian tripel called Waiting For Godot, for reasons explained in this episode of The Crafty Pint Podcast.  

As well as sharing the story of how he went from a lover of food and wine to filling a garage with brewing equipment before swapping the world of banking for brewing trophy-winning beers, he discusses life running a small regional brewery, the joys of touring the High Country, sticking to his guns and brewing the styles he loves even as most of the industry was ignoring them, and his desire to see Kolsch properly understood and enjoyed in Australia. (Even if the pale ale he finally gave in and brewed five years after launching King River is now their best-seller...) 

Links relevant to or referenced in the show:  

Felons Brewing To Open Waterfront Venue In Manly: https://craftypint.com/news/3587/brisbane-based-felons-to-open-another-waterfront-venue-in-manly  

Jervis Bay Brewing Co Become A B Corp Business: https://craftypint.com/news/3588/better-every-day-jervis-bay-become-a-b-corp  

Behind Bars with Tristan Jallais of Natural Wine & Liquor: https://craftypint.com/news/3579/behind-bars-natural-science-wine-and-liquor  

King River Brewing on The Crafty Pint: https://craftypint.com/brewery/352/king-river-brewing  

Brew & A: Nathan Munt: https://craftypint.com/news/2942/brew-and-a-nathan-munt  

Muntoberfest 2024: https://events.humanitix.com/muntoberfest-2024/tickets

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

Gillian Letham only stepped behind the bar of The Mill on Constance to help out her partner and his mate. Eleven years later, while that venue – one of those that helped build Brisbane’s beer scene – is long closed, she now oversees three venues around the city.

They’re all found in Brisbane’s ‘burbs – The Oxford Tap House in Bulimba, The Woods in Mitchellton, Clover in Holland Park – leading our feature writer Mick Wüst to tag her the Queen of the Suburbs.

Just weeks after she opened Clover, she joined Mick and Craig Williams at The Woods for a chat about her unplanned move into craft beer bar operator, her role in helping to create and build Brewsvegas, and much more, including insights into the unique challenges that come with running suburban venues.

Links relevant to or referenced in the show:

Details of the ATO’s proposed changes: https://craftypint.com/news/3582/submissions-open-on-atos-excise-draft

IBA launches Economic Data Needs Analysis: https://independentbrewers.org.au/2024/09/23/iba-launches-economic-data-needs-analysis/

Phenomenal Phat To Phire Up Hillarys Boat Harbour: https://craftypint.com/news/3580/phenomenal-phat-to-phire-up-hillarys-boat-harbour

Gillian Letham's entry in our end of 2010s Advent Calendar: https://craftypint.com/news/2250/craftys-advent-calendar-gillian-letham 

There’s a good chance you’ve heard or read the word terpenes being bandied about the beer world of late. If you haven’t, there’s a very good chance you will at some point.

What we can confirm with certainty is that you have definitely had them in a beer – they’re aromatic compounds found in most plants and herbs, including hops. The reason they’ve become one of the hot terms of 2024 for brewers, suppliers and beer geeks, however, is the way they’re now being provided to and used by brewers in beers.

Without giving too much away – not least because you’ll gain a much better understanding from listening to the experts in this podcast episode – brewers now have access to terpenes in concentrated form which allows them to add specific characters to their beers, whether that’s enhancing a particular fruitiness in a pale ale or giving an IPA an aroma very much like the one emanating from the cupboard of your uni weed dealer.

They’re one of a growing number of new tools at the disposal of brewers, so we invited one who has been among the first to jump on them in Australia, Scott McKinnon of Wolf of the Willows, and Sam Bethune, who handles technical sales for Bintani, onto the show to tell us all about them: what they are, where they come from, how they’re used, and why they like them.

That’s only part of the discussion, however. Before we get to the technical stuff, they share their stories: how they fell in love with craft beer and later ended up making it their livelihood.

Scott’s story starts out as a ski bum on the slopes of Colorado, while Sam’s begins while touring the States in another guise – with a mate who’s also now in beer. With Wolf of the Willows’ tenth anniversary coming up, we chat about their XPA – one of the very first in Australia – and their evolution as a brewing company, while Sam takes us back to his days as Fixation’s first head brewer at the Incubator and to the High Country and the small hop farm he’s nurturing.

Come for the knowledge, stay for the laughs!

Links referenced in or relevant to the show:

Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Awards winners: https://craftypint.com/news/3575/more-trophy-success-for-esker-beer-co-in-sydney

Last Rites & T-Bone Move In Together: https://craftypint.com/news/3569/t-bone-and-last-rites-move-in-together

A Taste Of Old Blighty: https://craftypint.com/news/3572/a-taste-of-old-blighty

Turning Towards Terpenes: https://craftypint.com/news/3363/turning-towards-terpenes

Wolf of the Willows’ terpene beers: https://craftypint.com/beer/10433/wolf-of-the-willows-gelato | https://craftypint.com/beer/10259/wolf-of-the-willows-king-louis-xiii | https://craftypint.com/beer/10189/wolf-of-the-willows-pineapple-express-california-ipa

In Hop Pursuits: A Guide To New Hop Products: https://craftypint.com/news/3559/in-hop-pursuit-a-guide-to-new-hop-products

Australia’s Generation XPA: https://craftypint.com/news/2844/australias-generation-xpa

Sydney Beer Week: https://sydneybeerweek.com.au/