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Welcome Back For 2025
420 Plays20 days ago
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 craig@craftypint.com.
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Transcript
New Year Kickoff
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to the Crafty Point podcast. Yes, we're back for 2025. And as you may have noticed, we're not actually back in the same place yet, not in the studio. It's a little bit
Holiday Brewery Adventures
00:00:15
Speaker
scattered around the country. um But Will, what have you not to since so we recorded our last show before Christmas? Oh, well, just the usual Christmas kind of stuff. I wish I had some exciting sort of beer visits or anything like that to talk about. But my um sort of holiday period has very much been visiting breweries in Brunswick.
00:00:34
Speaker
which is kind of what I'd do most of the year anyway. I haven't really changed that much, but it's nice to go to them when they're a little bit quieter as well and hubs and things like that. Whereas Melbourne still feels a little bit quiet at the moment. So it's one of my favorite times to be in the city.
00:00:50
Speaker
And um obviously you've been sort of traveling for the two of us, James, in terms of where you've been. Yeah, doing my best. um Yeah, we were down on the Bellarine Peninsula over Christmas and New Year. So I did our best to support local breweries down there. There was a fair bit of Blackmans went through our fridge and a ah case of Posso's IPA from Bell's Beach may have disappeared at some point but um after me I've been um drinking a fair bit of hiatus non-out Pacific ale being the you know very sensible middle-aged man I am over the holidays.
Bush Camping and Brewery Access
00:01:21
Speaker
um But now we're actually um sort of just upstream from a place called Nethercutt Halls um in the very sort of far south of New South Wales um and we're sort of bush camping here so
00:01:33
Speaker
hence why I've got the river behind me, but even here I've been able to visit Ryfield Hopps is less than an hour away. um They've got their biggest crop ever coming in this year, Touchwood. um So things are looking pretty good for their beautiful part of the world where they are. um According to Frogs Hollow, which we did a story on not long ago, an off-grid brewery um well near Frogs Hollow, i met those guys at the weekend, um had some beards out long stocking. I think it's just sort of it's For me, it's just a reminder that kind of wherever you go in Australia now, it's actually pretty easy. You know, within chances are within half an hour an hour, you can find a brewery or a beer business. And in fact, on our way back to Melbourne, ah before this show goes out, we're going to spend a couple of days with um Chris and Gav and their family from Sailor's Grove and check out Junetown. um So, yeah, it's kind of been a nice sort of break from work, but at the same time, wherever we've gone, we've been able to sort of you know keep in touch with the ever-growing local beer scene, which has been pretty cool.
00:02:26
Speaker
Yeah, particularly their breweries, you wouldn't say, you know, unless you visit them, which is the best part about it. I think you can travel and just always a couple more.
Melbourne Pub Poker Walk
00:02:36
Speaker
there was a couple more not far from here that we're hoping to get to but you know you don't go bush camping to do a lot of driving and go and sit inside breweries really um but yeah so nice it's been yes been good looking forward to getting back to Melbourne and yeah as soon as we get back um we're taking part in the catfish's uh 2025 pub poker walk which is their sort of walking um collecting cards around various Fitzroy Collingwood venues
00:02:58
Speaker
um Picking up poker cards as you go. and But this year they've had they've tagged on a um QI beer edition and our podcast producer, Matt Hoffman, is the MC. And they've decided that I'm worthy of being one of the panelists. So um alongside, I think it's Dave from ah Mountain Culture of Beer Co. and Maggie from Co. Conspirators. So if anyone's free on Saturday the 18th, I should say. um And around Melbourne, come and see us at the Catfish.
00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's after that. The poco is one of the greatest things you can do as well. If you get a group of people together, it's a really fun, fun way to explore the inner north. The only thing you need to know is you have to cheat to have any chance of winning. Have to cheat a lot. Like do not even try to go into it without thinking about cheating. I cheated last time I played. I thought I cheated heaps, but turns out.
00:03:44
Speaker
you really need to cheat to get anywhere in that game. You were too much of an amateur, you were too honest, too kind. um And so fit later on in the show, we we're going to have a bit of a chat about the the news that's sort of broken since the start of the year. um And also some of the other stuff we've got coming up over the coming months, like we've got a pretty full on few weeks and months ahead as a Crafty Point team. um But aside from that, we'll be sort of, I guess, housekeeping on the, I guess, how we're putting our information out into the world as of 2025.
Social Media Shift from Twitter
00:04:13
Speaker
Yeah, so a bit of a different show, no guests or anything like that. Obviously, we just really wanted to sort of welcome everyone to the year and for the podcast ahead. um Just a couple of things. Twitter, we're we're sort of done with that. If you usually follow us on Twitter, I don't think you probably still will at the moment because there's not really anyone ah being very active on there anymore in in the beer space. Anyway, there wasn't, but ah Blue Sky, which is, um Twitter like, I guess you could say. twitter right Yeah, um we we have been posting on that and it's a it's a good little fun sort of Australian craft beer community over there at the moment. So if you want to get on board, now's the time to do it. And yeah, we will be treating that a bit more like we have
00:04:55
Speaker
Twitter and the um crafty pint very dormant tick tock as well. We've actually been posting ah Videos from the podcast on it for a little while and it's going pretty well for us I know for a lot of people tick tock still a sort of scary and medium for younger people, but I think it's a really good way to show some behind the scenes stuff. We're just using it as a sort of podcast platform at the moment, but I'd love to use it a bit more to um do really short format interviews with people. I think that's a really fun way to cut across things and and to get the word out and to show behind the scenes things and things like that. Yeah. I know, know these sort of forms of social media. Sometimes people just think they're dumb.
00:05:38
Speaker
I think they've got a purpose and and they are a way to tell stories. So as long as they're a platform to tell stories, I'm always going to be pretty interested in them. Yeah, for sure. So yes, you'll find us across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Blue Sky would be the main ones, LinkedIn for more sort of business focus posts, I guess. um And obviously the the podcast on all the podcast platforms. so I guess that's the queue for your first of the year, Will.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yes, don't forget to like and subscribe. I still don't fully know what that means, but make sure you do it. but Exactly. And so at next week's show, we'll be back to a more normal format with an interview we recorded late last year on the road um'm in South Australia.
Regular Format Return
00:06:20
Speaker
Um, but yeah, after the break, we'll come back for a chat about the, what news we've covered so far this year. And then the the second part of the show, we'll be chatting with Craig, uh, who you've, you've seen on the the podcast before in the Queensland year in beer. And also, uh, puts together a lot of our ads and just have a chat about some of the, um, other new projects and yeah, exciting things we've got coming up over the coming weeks. So, um, see you after the break. Yes.
00:06:51
Speaker
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00:07:35
Speaker
Eligibility criteria applies. Some or all of this training is delivered with Victorian and Commonwealth Government funding, RTO 3077.
Industry Challenges and Closures
00:07:47
Speaker
And so we're back with the news of the recent times and obviously big story to sort of almost kick off the year with Kaiju going into voluntary administration.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah. And it it comes almost a year today after Wayward um went into VA as well. um You kind of hope, I guess you sort of ah end each year going, okay, hopefully we'll go in for a bit of a break now from any more bad news. And then two years in a row, we've started with, you know, that sort of bit of a.
00:08:14
Speaker
bit of a yeah yeah you know punch to the gut for for people in the beer industry. But um yeah, you you spoke to Callum the other day um when the when the news broke. So what do they have to say? Well, I mean, the driving factor in this is definitely the ATO ah debt um that they tried to put forward a repayment plan for and hadn't um been able to come to that.
00:08:34
Speaker
and um Calum did say that he's optimistic about Kaiju's future. They have had a good number of months. Obviously, when you look at a lot of these breweries though, they are potentially of a similar type of size in terms of, and also being production led. A lot of beer going through the major retailers. So I think there are common factors in these breweries that um a lot of them have been hit to it when they're of a certain size. Yeah. I think if you sort of draw up a list of the sort of the factors that would lead, you know, in terms of size, timing of expansion, you know, you where, where, where your balance of wholesale to retail, all that kind of thing, you know, it's cause you would have ticked a lot of those boxes. Um, and they wouldn't be one of those ones, you know, if we're honest that, you know, we would would' have been, when we'd have had conversation with the team going, you know,
00:09:25
Speaker
I hope those guys are okay because they just seem to be ah ah like a lot of the other businesses that had gone down obviously. And they've got their retail arm now with, um you know, the pizza, Cantina. um But I guess that probably opened quite close to the time that people stopped going out and spending money as well. So, um yeah, unfortunately, I guess, you know, we've seen, um I guess, similar sort of reaction to the to your story online, you know, from from sort of, it's certainly led to that familiar debate that we perhaps haven't seen Uh, for a little while. Yeah. I kind of think almost these stories have become a bit like a Rorschach test where people sort of bring a lot towards them. People aren't really engaging maybe with Kaiju situation anymore. It's just for some people, this is awful for suppliers. Some people saying, you know, they're just wiping a debt to us, the taxpayers that this shouldn't even be legal. A lot more people going in there.
00:10:19
Speaker
uh more concerned about kaiju situation and things like that and it's sort of almost i think it's unfortunate that no one's or fewer and fewer people seem interested in looking at these vas as being distinct from one another at certain times they're not yeah all alike i don't think it's fed pain as that and obviously I've contributed to it because I wrote a piece last year about how some breweries that have failed have failed because they're bad businesses potentially. I just, it's unfortunate that there's a, yeah, I don't know, maybe a lack of nuance in this, but maybe at the same time that's just social media and that's just the world we live in.
00:10:54
Speaker
maybe it's got nothing to do with beer industry. I don't know how much any of this really matters. It's just, yeah, it does get you a bit down when you're like, are you just going to comment the same thing to every single yeah story? Because there will be more, I think, and there will be more in five years. Like it's ah it's a business practice. yeah It's happening all the time in different parts of the economy. And, in you know, it happened before COVID as well. There were VAs five years ago in the beer industry. It's just, um,
00:11:22
Speaker
We're sort of in this time now where I think people are coming to it with a a lot of um anger and a lot of thoughts about it and and some real solid views.
00:11:33
Speaker
And I think it's sort of interesting as well, you know, with the timing, sort of just before this happened, that Callum, I guess more with his um IBA chair hat on than and one of the co-founders of Kaiju was on ah the TV news and Harold Sun talking about, I guess, the ongoing challenge of the face of the industry. And I guess if you look back to a number of our year in beer podcast episodes, while, you know, we tried to focus on people who had really interesting or, you know, positive or upbeat sort of years, there was still, you know,
00:12:02
Speaker
a through line of people were going, yes, it's tough. I was thinking, particularly Nick from Buckley's was very open and honest about the challenges is and the price, you know, the the way, the level of the price of beer might reach. um And I think Callum was, you know, on there talking about, certainly for Victorian brewers, the the cost of the container deposit scheme is going up again for breweries and also the exercise. Yeah.
00:12:23
Speaker
same time as XRIs. And it's just sort of, I think, you know, um I guess it's just a reminder as we start this new year that hopefully it won't be as bad as the previous one, that, you know, these challenges are very real. um And, you know, um yeah, it's it's going to be something to keep an eye on again over the coming 12 months, I guess, while we wait for the the the wider economy to, you know, for things to change on that front.
00:12:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, again, I think even in a great economy, breweries will close. um Like, that that's going to be the reality of the world we live in. we um There's a couple of good articles I'll link to in the show notes, um one of them in Vine pair about how, um talking about how You can't expect things to just always open and never close anymore. this isn't That was an unusual thing for craft beer to experience. yeah yeah Just because it's now places are closing, it doesn't mean craft beer is dead or anything like that. It just means that it's looking a lot more like other parts of the economy yeah and it can't buck economic trends anymore because that's just not how our industries work.
00:13:28
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no, well, best of luck to Callum and Nat and the rest of the team at Kaiju for navigating the next few weeks, which will be pretty stressful for them. And, you know, hopefully coming out with a solution that works for all concerns. I guess on a lighter note, the story we kicked off this year, we sort of held back thinking it was a a good one to start the year when everyone's mindset is around. and but Most of those mountains are probably around. I probably overindulged a bit over the holidays. I get a bit of exc exercise done there. The Aussie beer milers who have their their main national event coming up this Saturday in ah Clifton Hill. um yeah so ah it aussie bear miles oh yeah
Beer and Running National Event
00:14:04
Speaker
The mile thing is is ah is a global sport, I guess, that involves ah running around a track four times. and
00:14:12
Speaker
the start of each one chugging chugging a beer um so it but does seem to there's quite the structure there like the guy who who but one of the guys who featured the story who's the Australian reigning Australian champion has competed overseas in this and I think there's quite a few former professional athletes take take part in it.
00:14:30
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's it's not um it's not easy. I know some people enjoy doing it and don't don't get seriously as others, but it's a it's a serious it's a serious event. um And it's not like you just need to be good at running. You sort of need to factor in how you're drinking the beer and things like that. um Making sure you don't, they have a wonderful term, is it? um Reversal. Yeah, make sure you avoid any reversals and things like that because it's a reality when you're drinking a lot of liquid and then well i think drinking four beers in five minutes is a challenge in itself and that that's the the best time that the reigning australian champ has done for chugging four beers and running four laps of a track so yes that was a bit of fun and then i guess the other story that uh you've put together ah as well um since the start it was actually won i guess more or less the end of last year but i guess missed out in us trying to record a million podcasts in ah in a month
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, Cupid's Estate.
Cupitt's Estate 10th Anniversary
00:15:29
Speaker
So the the sort of Cupid's Estate itself has been around for a bit longer, but the brewery side of the business is celebrating 10 years. Liam is a really, always an interesting mind to chat to. So um we asked him to sort of talk about it and yeah read the article because he had some very deep thoughts in there, I thought. i as As maybe the kids would say, he likes thinking deep and Wally Cupid as well. and Liam asked Wally to be a part of it. He's more of a winemaker within the business, but he he started the brewery and was yeah sort of initial head grower before. It's not too far up the coast from where I am now. And if anyone does head down to that sort of Sapphire coast region, the dangerous aisles are pretty close by. It's not too far to the Shoalhaven region with Joves Bay. um
00:16:16
Speaker
Flaming Galah, but yeah, their pubis estates brewery in Ulladulla in the winery is that beautiful like bucolic rolling hills. There's a lovely restaurant looking out over there with the bar. um Yeah, so yeah, they celebrated 10 years end of last year. I have to say like last year must have been the most densely populated year of 10th anniversaries. but I think just sort of shows you sort of, you know, we're getting into that period where 10 years ago things were really accelerating and growing fast all over the country.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think that, um, 20 sort of 10 to 2015, we'll definitely look back as a real sort of fire starter of, um, he's kicking into gear. Um, before things got as intense as they, they did get maybe in the lead up to COVID, but, um, that was when a lot of people, um, really put their business plan into practice.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah. And um take a break, surely. And after the break, we're chatting about our hosting of the Gabz 100 countdown this year. um And also another um upcoming sort of fun, I guess promotion, but celebration of the good things happening in in the beer industry. But prior to that, we've as I said, and in the intro to this, we've got a fair bit of stuff coming up. So after the campus things, we got the Gabz 100 countdown on January the 25th.
00:17:32
Speaker
Then in early March, you're off to Hobart for the IBD conference where we're media partners. um So we'll be looking to to put down some shows while while while we're over there. And then you get back and have about enough time to probably, you know, empty your suitcase, wash stuff, and then off to the high country hop.
00:17:51
Speaker
Yeah, well, there's a couple of weekends in between, but I'll... One of which is Golden Plains Music Festival, though, so... Yeah, see, I always run into
Upcoming Events and Collaborations
00:18:01
Speaker
it. we Well, we both always run into a lot of the yeah Victorian beer industry there, so we won't need much introduction, fact but it's always a great time. And then, yeah, High Country Hop, we're excited to be partnering with them.
00:18:13
Speaker
again um and on the technical symposium and also on the the music and the fun ah throughout the Saturday as well. Yeah, yeah for sure. Excellent. So next week's show will be a return to normal. um You and I will hopefully be back in in the studio for for our parts of that. um yeah After the next break, we'll join in Craig Williams up on the Sunshine Coast. from a I'll be in a different part of this ah bush camp where I'd plan to record the whole show before we I learned the hard way that satellite Wi-Fi doesn't like tall trees. um and But you know, you live, you learn. I'll know that for when we hit the road again later in the year. Great.
00:19:03
Speaker
G'day team, it's Craig here from The Crafty Pine and I am stoked to be welcoming Brendan Flanagan, the chair convention chair of IBD Asia Pacific 2025, one of the world's largest and most renowned brewing and distilling distilling conferences.
00:19:20
Speaker
We've obviously seen a lot of events come and go and and sort of facing difficulties over this time, particularly the announcement with Brucon and the Indies ah not happening in 2025. IBD is the absolute event that you should get to. So Brendan's here to tell us all about it. Brendan, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, Craig. Pleasure to be here.
00:19:40
Speaker
Fantastic, mate. Now, you are not only the the convention chair, you're also the head of manufacturing at Cascade Brewing Co. down in Hobart. And whilst the IBD convention does focus both on brewing and distilling, I really want to get your insights on the brewing side of it.
00:19:56
Speaker
um Obviously, we have ah a lot of, as I mentioned, a lot of events in Australia that are not happening this year. ah If I was a brewer in Australia, whether I'm a a newbie kind of just starting out or quite advanced in my career, um I guess what what should I look look forward to? What should I expect at IBD, Asia Pacific?
00:20:16
Speaker
Yeah, so there's a number of layers to that, Craig. there's um In the ah convention itself, there's quite a number of presentations from industry leaders. um And the technical quality of these presentations is second to none, obviously peer reviewed before being accepted.
00:20:34
Speaker
um As well as the presentations, posters and tours, there will also be exhibitors um at the actual convention as well. So quite a number of industry exhibitors available to interact with, catch up with and hear about any new developments and everything ranging from hops to engineering controls. Yeah, wow. So the whole world of of kind of brewing expertise coming to Tasmania. Exactly right.
00:21:02
Speaker
So Brendan, you yourself, you've been in the brewing and distilling game for for your entire career for a long time now. you I guess what what are the kind of standout panels, discussions, topics and and courses, I suppose, that you're particularly interested in learning more about at IBD?
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah, I've had this conference um looking at the presenters. There's a lot of present presenters on things like beer, flavor stability, new yeast strains, and some innovative dry hopping techniques and procedures which have caught my eye. um But I'll certainly be doing my best to attend those.
00:21:39
Speaker
Yep. Fantastic. And mate, tell me about the, obviously the networking side of it is ah is a big plus for any one of these events, bringing brewers and peers together from around the country. What's going on in and around the conference?
00:21:53
Speaker
Yeah, so there's a huge social aspect to this conference, as in many conferences in the past. um On the Monday night, there's a ah ah welcome event that Cascade will be hosting at the Cascade Brewery Bar and Gardens. And then Tuesday night, we have what's referred to as the Industry Night, which we're calling the Fiesta Night in March. um And that's sponsored by Ecolab. And then on Thursday, we have the um the dinner for the end of the convention and that's sponsored
Conference Opportunities and Networking
00:22:23
Speaker
by Fermentus. So lots of opportunities for brewers to meet um colleagues from past and present and as well as those major events there typically tends to be some um drinks at the end of each day during the convention.
00:22:39
Speaker
It's one of the best parts about these events in my book and a great way for people to connect, build their networks and learn from peers and so on. Now you mentioned I think ah that there are still a few sponsorship opportunities still available. Do you want to tell me a bit more about that? Yeah, so we still have a couple of um gold and silver opportunities for people if they want to jump on the website and have a look. A lot of the major sponsorships have been signed up and closed out. um But again, based on the number of people that are going to be attending this event, it's a great opportunity to get your message across to um people that are very interested in whatever you're offering.
00:23:16
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. Well, there you have it, guys, the IBD Asia Pacific 2025 conference, the 38th edition of the event coming to Hobart from the 3rd to the 7th of March. Registrations are still available at www.ibd2025.com.au. Brendan, thank you so much for joining us and that we look forward to seeing you in Hobart. My pleasure, Greg. Cheers.
00:23:46
Speaker
Great, welcome to the Crafty Point Podcast. Well, thank you, Will. Thank you, James. Thanks for having me. It's great to be here. Always a pleasure, gentlemen. How's things been since we last saw you for the Queensland, part of the Queensland ah Year in Beer? but We've been up to up trying anything fun drinking any delicious beers? What an insightful podcast series that was, guys. Just um great to hear voices from all around the country and kind of recapping. And, and you know, I think for everyone, it probably brought it home that You know, we've all had a pretty average year in 2024. I think we're all looking forward to 2025 and the sentiment seems to be shared across the country. But um no, I'm good. I have had a little break over the Christmas New Year's period, drank some some tasty beers. I've been getting into the barrel age stuff lately, which is which is nice. There's some really good stuff.
00:24:35
Speaker
coming out of Queensland on that front. And yeah, keen to get back into 2025. Let's bring it. Let's go. Excellent. And any delicious beers or fun beer experiences over the holidays? I had a nice one. I do a bit of work with Black Flag. This is a subtle plug, but they have a barrel aged whisky beer called Thor's Hammer, which was pretty, pretty damn tasty. um I know the guys at Slipstream just brought out, I haven't tried it yet, but I'm hoping to try it later today.
00:25:03
Speaker
It's called gold, I think it's their first wild owl. Yeah, first wild owl. Looking forward to trying that. And I'm quite partial to the the felons range of ah barrel age stuff as well. You can get yeah a little bit of that in some of the better bottle shops up here on the coast. so So that's what you session drink when you're having a, you know, Barbie down, picking it down the beach on the Sunshine Coast. Very sherry. So you you kind of, um there's a few folks up here who are that way inclined to you know share a bottle or two when we get together. So it's a good excuse to, you know, sit by the pool and
00:25:37
Speaker
And enjoying moderation, James, as we always do. Exactly, exactly. Well, um I guess one of the main reasons we get on for a chat today, looking at to the year ahead, is the Gabs live countdown and that that we're doing on February, sorry, January the 25th. Now, obviously, you've been involved in Gabs in many ways over the years. And I guess people who might not know, it do you want us to explain your involvement with Gabs before we sort of launch into the hottest 100 plans?
00:26:02
Speaker
Yeah, Gabs, it was the best of times. It was the worst of times. i No, it was ah kind of my, I guess, entree into craft beer. um I was the event director of Gabs Festival and the hottest 100 kind of by extension for about five years.
00:26:21
Speaker
And, ah you know, amazing experience working on that event and and bringing people together for a beer and a really fun um venue or a bunch of venues. And The Hottest 100, I've been yeah very intimately involved in that for that time as well. so It's kind of come full circle now working with you guys and we're very excited to be the official countdown podcast, video podcast for the Gab's
Live Podcast Event for Gab's Hottest 100
00:26:49
Speaker
Hottest 100 this year. I know um our kind of predecessor Bruce News had done it in the past but we're bringing I think we one video to the equation which will be kind of fun and
00:27:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think I think it'll be a ah really good day. You know, it's still whatever you think of the gabs hottest 100 it is literally the biggest day in craft beer in Australia, it gets people that you just wouldn't even imagine talking about craft beer. um You know, as ah as a way to illustrate that I do.
00:27:21
Speaker
I like to, you know, get behind the bar and talk to customers and and so on. And I met a guy the other day who seemed like he was, you know, pretty new to craft beer. And I asked him, you know, what does he normally like to drink? And he mentioned mountain culture. He said, ah yeah I don't know if you've heard of this brewery, Mountain Culture. they um They do this amazing beer, I think it's Status Something, really, really good. And you know, they've won the Gabs Hottest 100 like two years in a row now. And I thought, really? That's incredible. Fantastic. i But yeah, I think it's great. It's gonna be fun to be involved in this fight. Yeah, no, well, I guess from a crafty perspective, we've been involved with you when running the festival, you know, as the sort of media coordinate and then
00:28:01
Speaker
with the hottest 100 me and you going back and forward on the on the phone and email you know as the poll was due to come out a few years ago. so yeah it it does yeah but Coming together closer and closer every time.
00:28:15
Speaker
ah Those 3am chats, James, when we'd be trading stats and and spreadsheets and trying to break down the all the the climbers and fallers and yeah, hopefully we've um but we've we've got someone else on the case on that front though this time, don't we James? or Yeah, so yeah, Daniel Riddle will be helping out with us there. and he's He's compiled an amazing database of stats and information on Gabs horizontal over the years. So hopefully there are many moments like Will and I have had a few occasions in the past where we're, you know, getting to the point here and realize we've miscounted something for our infographic or whatever on the day. So hopefully this time around, there's enough, you know, enough people feeding information in that it's going to be a beautiful, seamless, hilarious, insightful, delightful day. And Will i'm wearing a cowboy hat.
00:29:02
Speaker
Yeah, well, I regret putting that on for the promo photo because now I'm going to have to wear a hat for a very long time in potentially quite a warm studio. So we'll see how how long I fare with that. But Craig, in terms of the day, what can people expect? So watch it on YouTube, obviously.
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah so you want to head to the Crafty Point YouTube channel which I think is you know head to YouTube and I think it's like at the Crafty Point podcast. You definitely want to subscribe because that way you'll get the kind of notifications and that sort of thing. We'll be coming in I think at about 2.45 so that's Melbourne Sydney time or or whatever the time is in your state um and I think that's probably from about the top 30 so we'll let the the kind of bulk of it go through and and then we'll jump in at the pointy end and you know it's gonna be a lot of fun we're gonna have stats analysis banter we're gonna have live crosses to the different sort of countdown parties or um
00:29:58
Speaker
some of the winning brewers as well, or the the brewers that place pretty highly. um Well, I'm hoping we'll be able to talk to a bunch of listeners and get comments through YouTube as well. We'll be able to respond live to that sort of situation. um Yeah, and what we'll hopefully talk to a bunch of just average beer drinkers all around Australia, getting their insights on what they love about craft beer, what were their gateway beers, i what do they enjoy about, you know, i'm a good beer on a on a fun day. Yeah.
00:30:27
Speaker
Good stuff. Yeah, so yeah head to the Crafty Python YouTube page to subscribe to that. Otherwise, there'll be audio-only, re I guess, catch-up opportunities on the other platform platforms that we put out on. um But yeah, it should be a lot of fun. Should be, I guess, the next step up in having started the podcast six months ago and then going to to a week through December and now going, let's add a live one, ah you know, live streamed around the country as well. You got to stop doubting yourself, James, like this is it. We're on a mission. we're We're going from zero to hero. This is it. Yeah, yeah, sure. And I guess the only way to chat to you about Craig um is a new sort of, I guess, fun sort of promotional campaign we got running on Crafty Python this year in partnership with Rallings all about sort of celebrating the good stuff, the community aspect of what's going on in the beer industry.
00:31:18
Speaker
Yeah, I'm really excited about this one, James. So um again, I go back to Bruce News, but people might remember Rallings as the the main sponsor of of that podcast. And, you know, whilst they were known as the, what was it? The mobile billboard. um I think we it's time to bring Rallings into the crafty world. And we've come up with a really fun idea ah to wrap them around and and really One thing that I think, you know, my experience of working with different breweries and so on since I left Gabs and having worked with Rowling's on a number of occasions is just the fact that they're a ah small family kind of run business and they would always go that extra mile, that that above and beyond and really great customer service, really great at sort of building those relationships with the industry.
00:32:07
Speaker
um and when thinking about what we could do you know one thing i thought about was the fact that this industry is so collaborative and you know whilst it's it's growing and there's you know there's so many breweries um it does really still feel like a small village and we're all kind of we've got each other's backs so i i want this to be ah an opportunity for breweries to basically give a shout out or a nod to ah good beer citizens. So people who've done something, gone that extra mile, maybe it's the local bar tender that's kind of setting up a tap showcase of local beers, maybe it's the one breweries run out of ingredients and another one hops in to help them out, whatever it might be, but I'm calling it, wait for it, this is gonna become a thing. Have you done a rowlings?
00:32:57
Speaker
So it's going to become a thing, watch this space. But I think it's a really nice way to, I guess, give a little bit of recognition to all the amazing collaboration and the sense of community that we've
Community Campaign with Rallings
00:33:11
Speaker
got. Because if we don't cherish it, we might lose it. And I'd hate to see that. And is there any sort of parameters you envisage for who can nominate and what can be nominated? Or is it open to anyone within any sort of realm of the industry?
00:33:27
Speaker
ah This is the smallest personal one-on-one, you know? Yeah, absolutely. I reckon it's it's open to anything and, and i you know, even um some of the local breweries around here, there's there's often a lot of collaboration between the Sunshine Coast breweries ah to the point where, you know, someone's run out of the PACTEC clips and they'll have to get a ah ah ring around on on all the breweries to see who can ship in or whatever it might be. and you know a delivery vehicle breaks down, someone else jumps in with a ah helping hand. So whatever it might be, I think for us, it's just a great way to get a shout out on on the podcast. And you can win a prize as well. So the Railings team have wonderfully chipped in with you know a little gift voucher for both the the team that kind of nominates the the good deed and the the good deed nominee as well. so
00:34:17
Speaker
better than a kick in the teeth and and a very nice little um shout out and thank you to to good good beer people. Hey, and if someone's done a rallies, how do they do the actual shout out? What's the mechanism? Well, that's a great question and and one that I'm thrilled that you asked. If you want to nominate someone who you think or nominate yourself, whatever it might be, ah you just want to head to craftypint.com forward slash Rallings, R-A-L-I-N-G-S. There'll be a little form there. You just fill that in and wait for the magic to happen. we'll We'll be doing a segment, probably a few segments during the podcast kicking off around Feb and then we'll keep it going throughout the year. so what See what wonderful stuff comes up. Excellent. Hopefully not too many people are just nominating themselves. Hopefully it goes a bit wider than that and some people actually shout some others out.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's the spirit of it, you know, it's like I think anyone can nominate anyone. And I think it's it's just about the it's about the vibe as they as they say in the castle. Excellent. All right, Craig. Well, we'll see you in a couple of weeks for the gaps on this one hundred. Can't wait, guys. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing lots of viewers and listeners in the comments. And we'll we'll look forward to that hottest 100 countdown Saturday, 25th of Jan.
00:35:38
Speaker
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00:36:01
Speaker
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00:36:31
Speaker
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00:36:53
Speaker
The Crafty Pint Podcast is produced and edited by Matt Hoffman. You can get all your beer related news and reviews on the Crafty Pint website, craftypint.com. You can stay up to date on future podcast episodes via our socials.
00:37:07
Speaker
We wouldn't be able to produce the podcast or the website, events or festivals you'd like to support the show or partner with the Crafty Pine in other ways, please reach out to Craig by the details in the show notes. And if you're a beer lover who'd like to support what we do, you can join our exclusive