"When I first moved to Australia, I felt Australian beer was so far behind... I think we're at least on par with the US right now."

When we switched The Crafty Pint Podcast to a dedicated weekly news show (plus fortnightly extended interviews [https://craftypint.com/news/4237/episode-118-be-brave-the-art-of-beer-and-food-pairing]), we promised we might invite on the occasional guest. Doing that has taken precisely one week – and what a special guest we have for you.

Mazen Hajjar will be known to many in the beer industry as the face and voice of Hawkers Beer. Following the Melbourne brewery's merger with White Bay early last year to form the Social Drinks Group [https://craftypint.com/news/3678/hawkers-and-white-bay-merge-to-form-social-drinks-group], Mazen moved to Dubai for love, and to be closer to his family, and stepped back from day-to-day operations.

In March, however, he returned to the role of CEO [https://craftypint.com/news/4009/judd-michel-to-depart-social-drinks-group-mazen-hajjar-to-serve-as-interim-ceo], since when he's been overseeing the business from Dubai. On one of his regular trips to Melbourne, we enticed him to join James Smith and Will Ziebell in The Crafty Pint studio to chat about life in Dubai, Hawkers, White Bay, independence, and his – and many others' – perennial bugbears: excise tax and tap contracts.

The trio also talk about beer travel, inspired by Briony Liebich's Crafty Crawl around McLaren Vale and the Fleurieu [https://craftypint.com/news/4235/crafty-crawls-mclaren-vale-and-the-fleurieu] and Jono Outred's update of Wild Hop Brewing [https://craftypint.com/brewery/wild-hop-brewing-co]'s page on The Crafty Pint.

Victoria is also amidst a rush of milestone birthdays, with Tallboy & Moose and Watts River celebrating ten years on the same weekend and Stomping Ground throwing a major street party [https://craftypint.com/event/14217/stompo-street-fest-2026] (for which you could win tickets [https://craftycabal.com/giveaways-and-merch]) to mark their decade next month.

We'll be back with another special edition of the weekly show next week. We're recording it as soon as the winners have been announced at The Beer Championships awards night, for which ticket sales close this Friday.

For now, if you've any feedback on the new format, or anything else you'd like to share with us, get in touch [podcast@craftypint.com]!

Start of segments:

 * 0:26 – Ryefield Hops 2027 Harvest Pre-Sale
 * 1:22 – Mazen, Social Drinks Group, Fighting For Independence & Helles
 * 17:14 – Stompo Street Fest
 * 18:04 – Beer Travel, Milestone Birthdays & Rezza

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.

Mazen Hajjar | Independence | Beer Travel | Birthdays

“The freedom in beer pairing is much, much bigger than with wine.”

Rob and Bronwyn Kabboord have been responsible for some of the most enjoyable – and often spectacular – beer and food pairings I’ve experienced. And I’m pretty sure there will be plenty of others out there who can say the same.

During their time running Merricote in Westgarth, they combined Rob’s incredible dishes and a legendary cheese trolley with Bron’s award-winning wine list and an adventurous, expansive approach to beer rarely found in restaurants, whether here or overseas.

With Rob opening Rühe, a 24-seat bistro in Kyneton, with sommelier Daniel Saligari in August, and Bron now eight years into her time alongside Annie Smithers at Trentham's iconic du Fermier, we invited them into the studio for a warm and wide-ranging chat.

The conversation spans the breadth of drinks and food pairing, beer’s position in the hospitality and fine dining worlds, their careers and beer epiphanies, pioneering beer dinners, beetroot hotdogs in the gardens of New York’s legendary Stone Barns, vintage Orvals at the world’s best beer restaurant in Belgium, chocolate cigars and Cantillon.

For anyone keen learn more about pairing drinks and food, there’s also plenty to be gleaned when we surprise them with a couple of beers and let their creative juices flow.

If you missed the previous episode, we’ve tweaked the format of our podcasts. From now on, Thursdays will be Weekly News shows, still featuring the occasional guest, and every other Tuesday we’ll publish long-form interviews, panel discussions and other more timeless shows.

Be Brave: The Art of Beer & Food Pairing

It’s all change at The Crafty Pint Podcast. Well, if not all change, then certainly a fair bit of it in terms of format, scheduling and frequency.

From this week’s episode onwards, you can look forward to 50 percent more shows as we instigate an evolution that’s been on the cards for some time: splitting the opening “Week On Crafty” segments into one show, and the giving the long-form interviews and panel discussions their own space.

Thursdays will now be a Weekly News show focusing on the ups, downs, ins and outs of the beer world, while every other Tuesday – starting on October 6 – we’ll run extended features. Will and James explain the rationale in the opening half of this week’s show, but it’s a format we’ve trialled with sibling podcast, The Full Measure, and found makes a lot of sense.

As for the “news” part of this week’s show – after we’ve heard about Will’s honeymoon in Italy, of course – we reflect on King River’s rebirth [https://craftypint.com/news/4223/king-river-lives-on-for-now-new-venue-and-brand-in-pipeline] and upcoming plans, Young Henrys’ move [https://craftypint.com/news/4229/young-henrys-to-move-into-mountain-goat-s-former-newtown-brewpub] into Mountain Goat’s former Newtown brewpub, the launch of a new brewery in the Northern Beaches, some trans-Pacific collabs [https://craftypint.com/news/4227/blackmans-bring-their-west-coast-road-trip-home], and a follow-up of sorts [https://thepoint.com.au/opinions/260926-hops-and-robbers-why-australian-beer-needs-tax-reform] to last week’s election pledge in Victoria.

Make sure to look out for / mark your diaries so you don’t miss Tuesday’s chat with the delightful Rob and Bron Kabboord, and we'll be back with the next Weekly News – possibly with a guest host – on Thursday.

Start of segments:
 * 0:24 – Ryefield Hops [https://www.ryefieldhops.com/]‘ 2027 Presale
 * 1:21 – Weekly News Part 1
 * 12:13 – The Full Measure [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/]
 * 12:48 – Weekly News Part 2

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.

New Beginnings, Italian Adventures & Trans-Pacific Collabs

“Sometimes the most unsuspecting whisky can turn out to be the best boilermaker you’ve ever had.”

We take another trip inside the world of hospitality this week with the couple behind award-winning whisky (and beer and boilermakers) bar, Whisky & Alement [https://craftypint.com/bar/whisky-and-alement].

Brooke Hayman and Julian White are hospo lifers (albeit with a past dalliance in circus acrobatics for good measure), who have been at the forefront of introducing Australians to whisky and boilermakers since they fell in love with them while running Chez Regine, the Melbourne CBD bar Brooke launched a decade-and-a-half ago after spotting an ad in the newspaper (remember them?) which they later transformed into what it is today.

We cover their travels, the highlights from thirteen years of Whisky & Alement (and how it was named by a regular of theirs), Pint of Origin, an inspirational day with Bill Lark, the evolving bar scene, the curse of excise and more – including surprising them with a boilermaker challenge.

Prior to the main interview, Liz O’Brien is back as guest host as we cast an eye over the past week in beer. It’s included a $3m election pledge [https://craftypint.com/news/4219/victorian-labor-pledge-3m-taproom-and-tourism-boost-for-states-brewers] from Victorian Labor, the launch of a new campaign celebrating independence [https://craftypint.com/news/4213/bridge-road-brewers-launch-worth-it-campaign] from Bridge Road Brewers, the Sydney Royal awards [https://craftypint.com/news/4215/reckless-and-marionette-win-best-in-show-trophies-at-sydney-royal], our latest Crafty Crawl [https://craftypint.com/news/4178/crafty-crawls-the-breweries-of-brunswick], and a hint about a story that did end up dropping in time: a new era [https://craftypint.com/news/4223/king-river-lives-on-for-now-new-venue-and-brand-in-pipeline] on the way for King River Brewing.

If you enjoy the show, please like and subscribe, rate and review, tell your mates, and help us build our audience so we can get more people excited – and educated – about great beer and hospitality.

Start of segments:
 * 0:19 – The Week On Crafty
 * 17:53 – Ryefield Hops 2027 Harvest Pre-sale
 * 18:46 – Brooke & Jules Part 1
 * 46:49 – The Full Measure Podcast
 * 47:24 – Brooke & Jules Part 2

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.

When We Play, We Learn ft Whisky & Alement

"We're just trying to make really bright, clean, aromatic beer every time."

Future Brewing have been at the centre of some wholesome beer world camaraderie in recent weeks, with the Inner West Ale Trail – and others – rallying behind them with a Love Thy Neighbour fundraiser [https://craftypint.com/news/4165/inner-west-brewers-rally-as-future-fight-for-their-future] and beer to assist the brewery as they battle ongoing challenges to their existence.

It made co-founder Brady Hannett’s visit to Melbourne very timely, as we invited him to join us in the studio ahead of the St Peters brewery’s third birthday. As well as discussing the heartwarming support they’ve received and the benefits they’ve found from being part of the country’s most prominent beer trail, we spread our wings wider too.

The chat takes in Brady’s early epiphanies inspired by Feral’s beers in WA, his defining decision to learn brewing in California, his kindred spirits at Kicks and Bracket [https://craftypint.com/brewery/bracket-brewing], the importance of events, and the brewing ethos that has put Future at the forefront of the rise of West Coast pilsners and Cali IPAs [https://craftypint.com/news/3373/snappy-n-hoppy-the-rise-of-west-coast-pilsner-and-cali-ipa] in Australia.

There are two special guests on this week’s show, as James is joined by Liz O'Brien for a review of The Week On Crafty. Liz joined the team in early 2025 and has played a crucial role in the developing our community engagement, whether through Pint of Origin, The Crafty Cabal beer club [https://craftycabal.com/], or the way you experience The Crafty Pint and our sibling publication, The Full Measure [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/], on socials.

We look back at our deep dive into nitro stouts [https://craftypint.com/news/4209/drinking-in-style-nitro-stouts], features on a brewer who’s returned to the family winery [https://craftypint.com/news/4163/brew-and-a-abby-heslop] in Queensland and a young gun in the West [https://craftypint.com/news/4212/jake-loader-slays-beer], the latest new listings on the site – Long Point Brewing [https://craftypint.com/brewery/long-point-brewing] and Bottle Keg Can [https://craftypint.com/bottleshop/bottle-keg-can] – and the latest events and offers for Cabal members.

Start of segments:
 * 0:33 – The Week On Crafty
 * 20:29 – Introduction to The Full Measure Podcast
 * 21:01 – Brady Hannett Part 1
 * 36:22 – Register for CIBD 2027
 * 37:25 – Grainstock 2026
 * 38:16 – Brady Hannett Part 2

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint or The Full Measure, contact craig@craftypint.com.

From West Coast To Inner West ft Future Brewing

In this exclusive series - The New Hop Order, presented by HPA - The Crafty Pint Podcast explores what’s happening on the cutting edge of hop innovation from breeding and processing to brewing. In this episode, we’re talking with Haas Director of Hop Breeding Michael Ferguson and Haas Sensory Manager Jeff Dailey about sustainable replacements for classic hops that are highly susceptible to climate change.

THE NEW HOP ORDER: Hop Breeding Company: The House That Citra® Built

"That's what it's about at the end of the day: connections, community and people.”

What is the essence of good hospitality? What is its purpose, and how do you give people what they want in 2026?

As they set out to reimagine Mr West [https://craftypint.com/bar-and-bottleshop/mr-west] in Footscray – complete with transforming the downstairs bottleshop into a new drink-in space called The Cave – we invited Josh Hodges and Jack Roebuck on to the show to find out what they’ve learned across their careers in beer, bars and beyond.

We delve into the reasons behind their decision to refresh Mr West, their belief that the guest experience is all, the soaring success they’re enjoying at Bar Spontana in Brunswick, and their respective backstories: Josh taking inspiration from parents who played a key role in giving craft beer a foothold in Melbourne; Jack’s journey from First Choice Liquor to Left Handed Giant in Bristol then back to Melbourne.

For The Week On Crafty, James is once again joined by Luke McCarthy, editor of our just-launched sibling publication The Full Measure [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/]. We discuss Moon Dog’s plans to take their Wild West concept to Geelong [https://craftypint.com/news/4202/moon-dog-to-bring-the-wild-west-to-geelong], the sad news that much-loved High Country brewery King River has gone into liquidation [https://craftypint.com/news/4204/king-river-brewing-enters-liquidation-future-uncertain], Woopi Brewing’s fifth anniversary [https://craftypint.com/news/4174/woopi-brewing-co-five-years-in-five-beers], and the launch of Detective Nic Amaro – a collab brew between Molly Rose, Proud Mary Coffee and our Crafty Cabal beer club [https://craftycabal.com/] members.

Start of segments:
 * 0:15 – The Week On Crafty
 * 13:29 – Grainstock 2026 [https://www.grainstock.com.au/]
 * 14:17 – Jack & Josh Part 1
 * 34:15 – Get a free Packpal sample [https://packpal.com.au/products/sample]
 * 35:19 – Jack & Josh Part 2

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.

Connections, Community & The Guest Experience – Mr West / Bar Spontana

“It’s still fun. That’s the best part.”

CoConspirators are in the midst of a year of tenth anniversary celebrations – and approaching five years at their Brunswick brewpub – so we figured it was a fine time to invite the two couples behind the brewery on the show.

It gave us the chance to do things a bit differently too: interviewing the couples separately – while aiming to keep the questions as distinct as possible. James chatted to Jacqui and Tim, Will to Maggie and Deon, and between them they painted a rich picture of their story to date.

We go back to early beers as homebrewers and their Merri Mashers days, cover their transition from brewers without a home to owners of an ever-evolving brewpub, delve into their favourite beers and events, the challenges they’ve faced along the way, and their plans for the next decade of CoConspirators [https://craftypint.com/brewing-company/coconspirators-brewing].

With Will in Italy on his honeymoon, Luke McCarthy from our new sister publication, The Full Measure, stepped into co-hosting roles for The Week On Crafty, which covered James’ entry [https://craftypint.com/news/4193/the-crafty-pint-and-full-measure-founder-honoured-at-2026-mfwf-legends-and-trailblazers-awards] into the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival Legends hall of fame, Village Days moving into Wildflower’s [https://craftypint.com/news/4196/indie-beer-to-return-to-wildflower-as-village-days-move-in] old home, Mildura’s new brewery Sunneva [https://craftypint.com/news/4189/brew-and-a-sunneva-brewing], our listing for Last St Brewery [https://craftypint.com/brewery/last-st-brewery] and some upcoming events and special offers for our Crafty Cabal beer club [https://craftycabal.com/] members.

If you enjoy the show, please like, subscribe, rate or review – and if you’re into spirits, make sure you take a look at The Full Measure [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/], which comes with its own podcast [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/podcast].

Start of segments:
 * 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
 * 15:03 – Get a free Packpal sample [https://packpal.com.au/sample]
 * 16:08 – Price Screen & Digital [https://pricescreen.com.au/get-a-quote/]
 * 17:09 – Tim Martin & Jacqui Sacco (plus Bingo)
 * 39:33 – Bintani [https://bintani.com.au/] Brewery Boosters – Simplifying The Brew Day
 * 43:21 – Deon & Maggie Smit

To find out more about partnering with The Crafty Pint or The Full Measure, contact craig@craftypint.com.

Ten Years Of CoConspirators

“I hope everybody snacks. If you don't snack, fix that.

Lindsy Greig’s career in craft beer saw her depart New Orleans for New Zealand before jumping across The Ditch to brew in Australia.

After arriving on these shores, Lindsy brewed for Stomping Ground then worked in brewery management software with Beer30. These days, she is HPA’s sales rep for New Zealand. It’s a role that sees Lindsy travel frequently to New Zealand to help brewers become better acquainted with hops from Australia's largest grower.

As well as discussing her career in beer – right back to its earliest days – and her take on the world of beer marketing, the Certified Cicerone shares her love for beer and snack pairing, something she does online, as part of her job, at beer festivals and, as of now, on The Crafty Pint Podcast.

Before the main interview, Will and James chat about the launch of The Crafty Pint’s sibling publication, The Full Measure [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/], which has set out to cover the Australian spirits world in the manner we’ve now been covering beer for 16 years.

They also discuss Will’s article [https://craftypint.com/news/4176/back-to-the-future-selling-beer-in-2026] on two new sales businesses in Australia, in which he picked their brains on the current state of sales and the golden rules that never change, as well as a couple of listings fresh on the site: Saltline Brewing [https://craftypint.com/brewery/saltline-brewing] in Dunsborough and the gluten-free The Freehouse from TWØBAYS in Collingwood.

Start of segments:
 * 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
 * 8:59 – Grainstock 2026 [https://www.grainstock.com.au/]
 * 9:47 – CIBD Asia Pacific Convention 2027 [https://cibd2027.com.au/]
 * 10:50 – Lindsy Part 1
 * 31:30 – Get a free Packpal sample [https://packpal.com.au/products/sample]
 * 32:35 – Lindsy Part 2

To find out more about partnering with The Crafty Pint or The Full Measure, contact craig@craftypint.com.

Here, There & Every Pair ft Lindsy Greig

Excuse us while we interrupt our usual programming for an important announcement...

As the eagle-eyed and hawk-eared among you will have ascertained from hints dropped in recent weeks, we've been working on a major new project. And that project is now live.

Sixteen years on from launching The Crafty Pint, we've created The Full Measure [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/]: a publication dedicated to the world of Australian spirits. It comes with its own podcast [https://www.youtube.com/@fullmeasuremag] too – a blend of weekly shows covering the latest spirits news and fortnightly feature interviews – but first up is a chance to find out all about this new chapter in Australian spirits.

Regular Crafty Pint hosts, James Smith and Will Ziebell, joined The Full Measure editor Luke McCarthy in the studio for a chat about the local spirits industry and our plans to do justice to the amazing people, places and products that have made it one of the most exciting on the planet.

To find out more, check out The Full Measure here [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/]. It’s worth taking a look at Luke’s article-meets-manifesto, The Case for Australian Spirits [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/news/4154/the-case-for-australian-spirits] too.

Introducing The Full Measure

The Crafty Pint (@craftypint) · Zencastr

The Crafty Pint (@craftypint)

The Crafty Pint is the home of craft beer in Australia.

The online magazine and resource has been crafting beer's best stories since 2010 and, in July 2024, launched The Crafty Pint Podcast.

Hosted by the editorial team behind Australia's leading craft beer media publication, the show features curated discussion of industry news, as well as an ever-changing lineup of guests sharing perspectives from all corners of the craft beer world.

Subscribe now and delve into the fascinating stories shaping beer.