On this episode of The Crafty Pint Podcast, Will’s joined as co-host by Luke McCarthy, editor of our fledgling sibling publication, The Full Measure [https://thefullmeasure.com.au/]. 

It’s a fitting week for Luke to join too, given we ran a story on [https://craftypint.com/news/4270/captain-blighs-set-for-sale] Steve Brooks’ decision to retire and sell Captain Bligh’s, which makes whisky and other spirits alongside beer in Hobart.

Will and Luke also thoroughly enjoyed Neil Richardson’s story [https://craftypint.com/news/4268/newcastles-local-legend-jaci-lappin] about Newcastle’s legendary local, Jaci Lappin, who took over the Carrington Bowling Club in 2008 when it was $300,000 in debt and turned the space into a community hub with a wholehearted embrace of craft beer.

We’ve also reveal the dates for next year's Pint of Origin Festival [https://craftypint.com/news/4272/be-part-of-pint-of-origin-festival-2027], look ahead to the excellent Made In The Inner West Festival [https://craftypint.com/event/14251/made-in-the-inner-west-festival] in Sydney next week, and reflect on the decision by the team behind Crafted to call off the Newcastle leg of their 2026 series due to slow ticket sales as they switch focus to their Melbourne debut on November 21 [https://craftypint.com/event/14162/crafted-festival-melbourne-2026].

Also on the show, Will chats about meeting the team behind Elwood Brewing and the EBCo Taproom, who have turned a longstanding tiki bar into a craft venue. Looking ahead, Crafty Cheer will return to Molly Rose on December 2, when the Crafty and Full Measure crew will be joined by Victorian brewers and distillers to kick off the festive season. Grab your tickets here [https://craftypint.com/event/14257/crafty-cheer-a-festive-feast-2026].

Start of segments:

 * 0:16 – Stompo Street Fest
 * 1:10 – Weekly News Part 1
 * 9:57 – Beer30: Your Mates
 * 11:00 – 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.

The Crafty Pint Podcast: Community Heroics | Sailing On | Festive Cheer

“If you don’t want to fail, then don’t do anything.”

We've swapped the somewhat risky task of recording our weekly news show from the stage at an awards night for the safe surrounds of our regular podcast studio this week – albeit still playing with the format a little.

In the first half of this week's show, Will and James look back on their experiences at Grainstock in the Riverina, as well as what may come from the event. They also discuss the articles to have hit the site since their return – articles full of insight, tips and lessons learned from the folks at two breweries at very different stages of their journeys: Stomping Ground and Black Match.

They also shout out some of the "friends of the show", as Will puts it, who received recognition at this year's Beer & Brewer Awards, taking place as part of the ongoing Sydney Beer Week.

After the break is a delightful bonus recorded at Grainstock. One of the guest speakers was Matthew Evans, better known as the Gourmet Farmer, who joined James and Luke McCarthy – editor of our sibling publication The Full Measure – for a chat about the ways in which both the brewing and distilling industries can better tell their stories, the story of their product's connection to land, and frog-friendly barley.  

Start of segments:

 * 0:18 – Stompo Street Fest 
 * 1:12 – Weekly News 
 * 12:04 –  The Beer Championships Winners 
 * 12:35 – Beer30 Insights
 * 13:21 – Matthew Evans

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

The Crafty Pint Podcast: Gourmet Grains | Lessons Learned

We’re back at Grainstock for another special edition of The Crafty Pint Podcast, featuring a lineup of guests offering a cross-section of the topics covered at the Voyager Craft Malt-curated industry gathering.

First up in the Lallemand-sponsored podcast studio at the Whitton Malt House is event founder Stu Whytcross, providing an update on all things Voyager, including their altered trajectory, international interest, maturing projects, and their excitement for a new malted rice product.

There’s more international flavour next, as Katelyn Grajewski, AKA That Malt Girl from the USA, drops in to share some insights from the world of US craft beer and malting, including how the industry there is trying to remind consumers of why the pint matters.

Back on home soil, we have Mark Brain and Matt Stitt from Broulee Brewhouse on the NSW South Coast. The brewpub in the coastal village has been punching above its weight since a few locals decided to give the area a community hub, focusing on the importance of creating an experience for everyone that visits.

Before we wrap up, Lallemand technical director Richard Chamberlin enters the host seat straight from his presentation for an update from the studio sponsors.

We’ll have more from Grainstock too, including a chat with Gourmet Farmer Matthew Evans on the next weekly news show and an in-depth interview with Jervis Bay Brewing co-founder Oisín Sweeney in the coming weeks.

Start of segments:
 * 0:00 – Intro
 * 3:43 – Thanks to Lallemand [https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en/australia-new-zealand/?market=australia-new-zealand]
 * 4:01 – Stu Whytcross, Voyager Craft Malt
 * 16:32 – Katelyn Grajewski, That Malt Girl
 * 35:12 – Beer30 Insights [https://craftypint.com/news/4258/the-5th-ingredient-launches-beer30-insights]
 * 35:57 – Mark Brain & Matt Stitt, Broulee Brewhouse [https://craftypint.com/brewery/broulee-brewhouse]

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

Episode 119: Behind The Scenes At Grainstock 2026

"It should feel fun, it should feel celebratory, we should all feel a part of it."

Welcome to a special edition of our Weekly News show, recorded onstage at The Beer Championships after the final trophies were handed out. We were joined by competition co-founder Jayne Lewis and Renn Blackman, part of a ten-strong contingent from the Torquay-based brewery who collected two trophies on the night.

You can read all about the winners and the night itself in the article [https://craftypint.com/news/4252/the-beer-championships-2026-winners] we published from Brunswick Town Hall as soon as the event was wrapped up.

Jayne reflects on the successes – and lessons learned – that she and fellow Beer Championship organisers Justin Fox and Cass Cochrane have taken from year one, as well as sharing their hopes and ambitions for 2027 and beyond.

As well as chatting about their latest awards triumph, we ask Renn what's helped Blackman's navigate the past 12 years so successfully, particularly following Black Hops' return [https://craftypint.com/news/4243/black-hops-bought-by-tribe] from a second spell of VA under new owners last week. With both Moon Dog [https://craftypint.com/news/4202/moon-dog-to-bring-the-wild-west-to-geelong] and now Stomping Ground [https://craftypint.com/news/4256/stomping-ground-confirm-go-ahead-for-geelong-venue] moving into Blackman's home region – the Melbourne operations are opening venues in Geelong – we find out what that might mean for his brewery and the city's beer scene, while also looking ahead to Sydney Beer Week [https://craftypint.com/event/14242/sydney-beer-week-2026], where once again the recently-refurbed Union Hotel in Newtown [https://craftypint.com/bar/union-hotel-newtown] will be a key venue.

Given the location and setup for this week's show – not only were people enjoying the post-awards drinks but we were "flash-mobbed" at one point – the sound is a little less perfect than we'd like. But we do like to test ourselves...

Start of segments:

 * 1:03 – Jayne Lewis
 * Hops In The Hills Festival
 * 16:32 – Stompo Street Fest
 * 17:21 – Renn Blackman

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

The Crafty Pint Podcast: The Beer Championships 2026 | Blackman's | Black Hops | Geelong Expansions

"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

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.