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The Year In Beer 2025 - New South Wales
253 Plays15 hours ago
“I’d love to see craft beer become a little bit more approachable.”
We turn our focus to New South Wales as we hit the midway point in The Year In Beer 2025 series.
Crafty Pint contributor and one of the key players in the Inner West Ale Trail, Jason Treuen, kicks things off. As well as discussing the role trails and tourism can play in the local beer world, we cover diversification, rightsizing, openings, closings, mergers and more.
From there, we head to the north of the state for a chat with Bec Read of Curious Craft to hear who’s been impressing there in what's been another roller-coaster year. Bec also shares her fears for the future of larger beer festivals, notes on changing tastes, and a desire for craft – or indie – beer to tell its story better.
Our final guests are Sunday Road Brewing founder Brad Walker and head brewer Mick O’Rance, who’ve enjoyed another awards-flecked 12 months. They’re in the middle of a significant expansion and upgrade to their brewery and venue in The Shire ahead of the brewery’s tenth anniversary in 2026.
In the middle of the show, we hear from Beer30 with some more tips for brewers, while there’s still time to get nominations in for our final Bluestone Yeast Brewery of the Month and Have You Done A Rallings? celebration of good beer citizens of 2025.
Start of segments:- 2:01 – Jason Treuen
- 24:12 – Beer30
- 29:04 – Bec Read
- 37:12 – Brad Walker & Mick O’Rance
To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.
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Transcript
Introduction to Year in Beer 2025
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the New South Wales edition of the Year in Beer 2025, podcast series in which the Crafty Pint team and guests from around the country cast our eyes over the Year in Beer across Australia.
Sydney Beer Scene: Trends and Changes
00:00:16
Speaker
First up, Will and I are joined by Jason Truan, one of our Sydney-based writers, who's also very heavily involved in the Inner West Ale Trail. We chat about various things around the Sydney beer scene and further further afield, openings, closures, trends, that kind of thing.
00:00:29
Speaker
Then we head to the north of the state where Will has a chat with Beck Reed from Curious Craft. She doesn't just reflect on her year in beer, but also what's been going up on the north in the north of the state in 2025. Then we're back
Success Stories and Future Plans
00:00:41
Speaker
to Sydney. We catch up with Brad and Mick from Sunday Road Brewing. They've had another great year, picked up more trophies along the way, and they have some grand plans for 2026.
00:00:49
Speaker
And also in the middle of the show, we'll hear again from the team at Beer 30 with some more tips for brewers. So plenty to get through. We're at the midway point now of the Year in Beer 2025 series. So see you after the break.
00:01:02
Speaker
Cheers.
00:01:05
Speaker
Entries for the Royal Queensland Beer Awards, supported by King Street and the Star Brisbane, are now open. And there are plenty of reasons to get involved. But don't take my word for it. Let's hear from reigning champion beer brewer, Gavin Croft of Slipstream Brewing, on why they enter the competition.
00:01:22
Speaker
Well we enter the Royal Queensland Beer Awards every year. yeah We have since the reintroduction of the the competition and it you know has some really good benefits, you know one one of which is benchmarking your beers against your peers. you know Obviously we're quite competitive by nature too so we're we're looking to win.
00:01:39
Speaker
Hopefully you know the the quality of the beers that we're making stands up well enough that we can do that. So if you've got a thirst to prove your beers are the best in town, be sure to enter the Royal Queensland Beer Awards today at rqa.com.au.
00:01:55
Speaker
Even better, submit nine beers and get 10% off all additional entries.
Inner West Ale Trail: A Year in Review
00:02:02
Speaker
Jason, thank you for joining James and I. Hey, how you going guys? Great to be here.
00:02:07
Speaker
Great to have you. And do you want to tell us a little bit about 2025 for yourself and your work in the Inner West of Sydney? Yeah, yeah, it's been huge. um Yeah, so I've been flat chat the Inner West Altra. We launched last October, so we've had a full year this year. um It's been really awesome and the reception has been great as well. we've done ah We did a big Hop Harvest Festival. we did a country festival in the Inner West as well. We've just released new merch, which is exciting, and we got our street signs up.
00:02:37
Speaker
um So we used to have like qr code, like decals kind of on the ground, but they deteriorated after a few years. So now we have bright orange, very 80s orange street signs up and that... are that I put together planning that. I spent months on Google Street View, zooming around the inner west looking for poles. Actually, that sounds a bit weird, but you know looking for street poles and trying to find trying to find the appropriate ones, you know like ones that didn't have stop signs. I learned a lot about traffic control, which is a new skill, I guess, for this year.
00:03:13
Speaker
nice why if it It feels watching from afar or at least via via your socials and the Inner West Ale Trail socials that like the Inner West Ale Trail almost becoming the one that others can look at for inspiration. like Having the street signs is such a cool thing on such a different level. um but you know and i I guess is that partly because you've got a bit of a dedicated team? you know You're not alone doing the socials and the and the online stuff, are you?
00:03:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's just me kind of running it day to day, but you know collaborating with the 15 breweries, um you know which are for content opportunities, um Yeah, and I think, you know, we got a huge head start ah boost last year with two grants from the the state government, which really, you know, um let us hit the ground running. And then we've had a bit of funding and, you know, selling merch and stuff like that brings in revenue to keep me on as well. um But yeah, it's been lots of fun. And I think one of our big focuses has just been on being much more than just beer as well, like really you know, family friendly, dog friendly, event friendly, just a real kind of all round experience. And we're seeing that in the crowd as well, getting really diverse, um you know, ah demographics through, which is really, really
Brewery Openings and Closures: A Sydney Story
00:04:27
Speaker
exciting. for And we try to reflect that on socials. Yeah.
00:04:31
Speaker
and um And you've got another um opening coming soon as well. Someone else adding themselves to the trail. Yeah, so ah Heaps Normal. So Heaps Normal, they they um which is really exciting. i um I'd have to ask you guys, I think that's the first non-Auk brand to open a brewery in Australia, is that right? It'd be the second, but it will be the only one when it opens because Soba opened and sadly has closed on the Gold Coast since then.
00:04:56
Speaker
so yeah yeah so um it's been a long time coming but they opened uh they had like a launch day and i think they're just doing functions at the moment but they opened their health club which is on brompton street in marrickville uh right next to wildflower and poor tom's gin distillery so it's quite a party street which is funny because it's probably one of the smallest streets in marrickville and now it's got the the biggest party cul-de-sac there is and that's a really great venue um everyone asks me uh that but they do do mid-strength beers as well like from guests you know guest breweries and they do uh full strength ones as well but there's a stage in there it's a really big space great fit out um yeah really really exciting um to have them on so we'll be adding them to the t-shirts early next year i think when they're open to the public
00:05:38
Speaker
And I guess you've got to take, unfortunately, Wayward off potentially, or they might not have made it because there was that big closure early in the year and everything going on with Powder Monkey as well. Yeah, yeah. So it's been interesting. I mean, just going back to the street signs, because it it took a while with council back and forth, et cetera. um and We actually had it almost all ready. And then we got the news that but both Wayward was shutting down and and White Bay as well. So we had to take the street signs. You know, we had to kind of,
00:06:06
Speaker
changed that project very, very quickly as well. So, yeah, there's been plenty of musical chairs like in New South Wales at the moment, especially in Sydney. You know, you look at you look at White Bay, they had a really big relaunch back in the late 2024 with the Sydney Swans, you know. um They were sold ah you know, the SCG, et cetera, and then they got bought by Hawkers who then closed down the White Bay Tap Room. Sydney Brewery has now moved into that Roselle spot as well. And then Wayward, merged with Akasha, then got bought by Powder Monkey, who also owned Willy the Boatman and Southern Highland Brewing, and then shut down the Wayward Taproom, which was quite emotional. I think they they were coming up to 10 years. So I think they had about two or three different parties. They pretty much partied for a month, I guess, as a
The Evolving Taproom Experience
00:06:55
Speaker
farewell. And yeah, so that was quite emotional. I think there wass lots of people came out and because it was one of the you know the formative breweries, craft breweries, you know, in um
00:07:06
Speaker
and And it played a really important role, I guess, for a lot of Sydney's siders finding craft beer. Does your budget within the Inner West Ale Trail stretch to a a good thick marker pen so you can go around, and you know, and cross out and put the new brewery signs on whenever there's a merger or an acquisition? that Yeah, that is tricky, actually. Once they went up, because then, you know, we found out Heaps Normal was moving. Sorry, not moving. They, not moving. They just opened, they're definitely not moving, but they are they're opening. So we have a lot of signs that have like three or four different breweries on it. So they're gonna be the harder ones. Like you can put up a single sign, that's easy. But yeah, there's a few of those, maybe stickers or you know maybe just a whiteboard. Asterix, delete as appropriate.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Scan this QR code for updates. But, um you know, I think the great news is we've probably had more breweries open or expansions than than closures in, you know, Sydney and New South Wales this year. yeah Well, it was exciting at the start of the year, I guess, to have Bracket, you know, reopen um in Marrickville, on the edge of Marrickville, having had to move out of Alexandria as well. I guess they've been a very welcome addition, I'm assuming, to the to your local scene.
00:08:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I'm very happy that they're there. And I think, yeah, they love being part of the, you know, the AL trail and just getting that foot traffic and, um you know, joining that part of the community as well, which is really, really good. um You know, and we've also, Northside, we've seen, you know, some good growth and expansion as well. Like Felons have just added a barrel room on their wharf, which is pretty impressive with 700 people capacity. And Buckethees has just opened a second venue with Chalkies as well.
00:08:40
Speaker
Along with the, you know, the Brookvale trail just keeps going from strength to strength. You know, I think they got a grant last year as well and just what they're doing. You know, i did they did an Oktoberfest weekend, which was awesome. They just did a live music weekend as well, which had huge crowds with like people surfing on surfboards and crowd crowd diving and Yeah, looked pretty exciting. So I didn't get up there, but yeah, it's pretty cool what they're doing. Yeah, it was interesting with the Buckethead second venue Chalkies as well. Another example of breweries that I guess look into a open extra venues to pour beer through, but also diversifying as well because, you know massive screens for the sport in there, pool tables, think there's a dartboards as well. Like it's very much a sports hall, but with independent local beer.
00:09:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And I think we're seeing that across the board and that's really exciting as well. There's like really a, I'm seeing a real strong focus on a fuller taproom experience going beyond beer.
00:09:36
Speaker
um You know, there's a a big focus on good food, strong wine lists. You know it's not just red or white anymore. You know, and diverse, like really diverse events pulling in different crowds. Like um this year I've seen everything from like singles nights at Hawks. um What were you doing there, Jason?
00:09:52
Speaker
they were getting a lot more girls than guys and had to put a special call out for to get, I think the men were too shy to turn up. So, um you know, to everything for like Chuck and Sons is doing parent groups on Fridays and they did Pilates and Pints Day. I think, I think they call it Faux and Floam. Faux,
00:10:10
Speaker
so can't say foam and flow. I was going, well, I suggested downward grog, but apparently that they didn't, they went into that. And then, you know, like the Brookie Fest earlier this year, they had chili eating and dash on dog racing and, you know, to everything like down South seeker are doing salsa nights. So it's really good. And we're kind of, I guess just seeing tap rooms really become bigger event spaces and, you know, the community halls, I guess, rather than just a place to go get the latest IPA, which is also a great reason to go, but the more reasons, the merrier, I think. Yeah. Well, um but one of the guests we've got on later in the show um is team team Mick and Brad from Sunday Road. um And they're midway through expanding their taproom as well to enhance their, I guess, the experience of visiting there as well. So it is happening across the board. What about on the venue side of things? um Maybe a chance to talk about si the second sort of rebooted Sydney Beer Week. You said that was a bit of a step up this year because I know in the first year they did Sydney Beer Week. you know, they sort of said no brewery hosted events. We want it all to be about venues and trying to sort of reboot, I guess, support for indie brewers and craft beer within venues. Because I have noticed with Sydney, like some of the, I guess, formerly iconic sort of craft beer venues, like the Royal Albert Hotel is now just pouring, it's pretty much tap contract, you know, and that used to be the place to go. so how, you know, how you, how's your feeling about sort of the venue scene and that sort of support for local beer?
00:11:36
Speaker
Yeah, so Sydney Beer Week, I think it's going, um getting, you know, really
Reviving Sydney Beer Week
00:11:40
Speaker
building some momentum, which is good. um You know, there's so many events this year, um you know, and my only gripe, I guess, is that there's so many in one week. so I go to about two and then I need a bit of a break. So, um but yeah, it was great to see the the breweries involved. Like one I went to, which was really cool and it's great that they've done it, is a pro-am kind of, competition with home brewers that pair, you know, really respected breweries with, um, homebrew winners. Uh, and then we all got together on, on Sweeney, uh, Sweeney's rooftop, um, and then picked a winner as well. So just kind of involving the industry, you know, at the top end and also the kind of more aspiring end as well, which is good. Um, venue wise it's, yeah, I mean, I still get sad when ah I'll go to an everyday pub and there's probably, you know, only one,
00:12:26
Speaker
independent craft beer at the end of the line on the end the end of the taps and you've got nine, you know, nine from the the major macro suppliers, unfortunately. um So hopefully there's some room to change or they can break those contact ah tap contracts open, I think, because it's just, yeah, it's ah it's a bit sad at the other end.
00:12:47
Speaker
And James, there's been some pretty exciting stuff outside
Regional Brews: Newcastle and Beyond
00:12:50
Speaker
of the city as well. Later on, we'll hear from Beck from Curious Craft about what's going on in the Northern Rivers, but you've been having a bit back and forth with the legendary Corey Crooks about his venue that might make it into 2025. Not quite going to make it into 2025 if I was in touch with him yesterday. So if you don't know Corey, he's a bit of a legend on the Newcastle beer scene. He used to be the Albion when that ah So turned ah fully into craft a few years ago, not so much anymore. Then open grain store, which I guess is one of the best you know beer venues anywhere in the country.
00:13:22
Speaker
He took over the Cross Keys in Newcastle Tyres Hill, ah maybe a couple of years ago now. He's been working on renovating that, turning into another beautiful um you know craft beer, but I guess broader offering than that for a long time. He had hoped to have it open in November. Then December a latest update from yesterday was probably early January. um So we won't quite make it in, but that'll be you know exciting news for people in Newcastle. um They had Crafted Festival was back there again this year.
00:13:49
Speaker
um i was chatting to Neil, who does a bit of writing for us from the New East scene. um And he was saying, so Good Folk Brewing is sort of and the same owners as a venue group there as well. They've opened and yet another venue there. So I think that that's sort of almost like the biggest player in the sort of the the craft beer scene is that good folk brewing, they've got their beer on a lot of their own venues as well. So that's becoming almost like the ah the dominant force in in Newcastle in in terms of craft beer and the Hospo side of things for craft beer. um And aside from that, I guess so within that same region, i guess the bigger news would have been Sixth String moving into their new home on the Central Coast. They've been in their place they existing place for more than a decade. They've moved into bigger place now.
00:14:33
Speaker
More capacity, more space for live music. Yet another small brewery sporting live music, which is always great to see.
Back to Roots: Inner West and South Coast Developments
00:14:40
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And one of the places we called in, we loved, which is almost Victoria, was Tokemole Brewing. It's great to see them open. I ah was talking to Matt over a number of years, one of the co-founders. that he He was, yeah, it it took a lot longer than I thought it would, but ah it's finally open. It's great to go to a regional brewery like that in a small town where they're, you know, pretty unapologetically craft focused. You're talking hazy IPAs, bigger beers, mid-strengths as well and small stuff, but just a real broad spectrum of a tap line-up.
00:15:10
Speaker
Yeah, when we called through on the way to Grainstock, it was you know it was West Coast Pilsner, Red IPA, Hazy IPA. like there was yeah yeah It wasn't too much of a compromise and yeah beautifully done venue. So it's yeah knows it's always good to see in you know this current period that people are still getting into the game constantly.
00:15:28
Speaker
you know trying it a new place and from what they were saying going really well as well. you know that They opened, you know I guess, not in the busiest time of the year where you're not going to get too many people traveling through. And yet they said the locals have really got behind it, which is great to hear.
00:15:41
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And it's ah sort of, it's still one of those things of this year, isn't it? With like breweries sort of working out where they are and where they sit in the market, like Source pulled back out of wholesale a little bit more recently. Batch, I think, have um had a renewed focus probably on who they were in the very first days of just a lot of really interesting beers. But probably, i don't know, Jason, you probably aren't, I know you're closer to the inner west, but you probably don't see them outside of it or anything like that as well. Like they they're really, their roots seem really deep again.
00:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I think I'm talking to some venues in the lead up to our chat. They're just, yeah, they're kind of some of happily downsized, I think, or they call it right sizing, which I thought was a really good term. And, you know, obviously I think that that expanded a lot before, tried different things, aren distribution, and then realized that, um Sadly, it might not be worth paying a rep full time to you know fight for the shelf space or tap space, that the mega tap space that's kind of out there. So yeah, just through this refocus, I guess, on their own tap room and um
00:16:41
Speaker
yeah um you know and the and and sales there. so um Which you know maybe in combination with the you know the strength of the trails rising as well means you can do that as well. yeah um Become more of a hospice kind of venue experience as as well.
00:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, well, I was talking of trails and tap house as opposed to tap room. Just in in recent weeks, Nigel Ayling, who launched the South Coast Ale Trail to celebrate all the breweries and beers, I guess, um ah along the coast south of Sydney, right down to the border. He's just opened a South Coast tap house in Marimbula to celebrate you know the breweries and and beers from that range. i I think with a few guests as well. He's a big fan of slow lane brewing. So I believe he's... Looking to always have some slow laying beers on there as well. um But that seems be going well.
00:17:28
Speaker
Looking down there, you know mentioned Seeker before, Kicking Goals, the Wollongong Brewers have come come together to form this association to, I guess, fight their cause. um I love the Browley Brewhouse story like that started um just a you know few families decided to bring something to this tiny little coastal town. They then then very late last year took over Camel Rock Brewhouse as well and rebranded that. And you know they've they've been making some great beers as well. So it does seem to be a pretty, um you know, healthy scene down that way as well, um where you know which is also home to Ryefield Hops, who are getting a lot of love from around around the beer industry.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. We've also seen, um I think there's that there's now the Outer West Ale Trail as well. So that's around Penrith and around those suburbs. I think it's unofficial at the moment, but who knows, hopefully they'll come through and, you know, can get a government grant as well to really put that on the map. So it's exciting.
00:18:20
Speaker
And I know, you know, we mentioned Ryefield there. i know, Jason, you weren't able to make it this year to Grainstock. Will, you did a story a while ago about Ryefield, Mogwai East, based in Wollongong, and and Voyager Malt, who are behind Grainstock, coming together to celebrate sort of the Indy supplier story, um which seemed to be something we're seeing, you know, more people trying to tell the story of ingredients and tell the story of local outside of just beer and brewing.
Environmental and Marketing Innovations
00:18:45
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's it's been a trend over some years. Like, there's that part of it. But traditionally, I think ingredients, growers and suppliers haven't been that good at telling their story. And maybe they've relied on breweries as well. But I think we've seen a general trend of um any kind of grower, rather large or small, sort of trying to really shout about their story and in new south wales it is a really positive story because you do have these different but not too different uh ingredient supplies between mogwai ryefield and voyager that can do all these things together a lot of people are just using their ingredients it's not like a small number of breweries that just want ingredients from those three suppliers because that that's who they are you know so they can talk about being a new south wales brand
00:19:30
Speaker
Yeah, and they just see um you know not just hops stealing the limelight, you know what i mean? And malt and yeast kind of getting their you know, getting some attention too, because ah often it's all just about the hops. but Yeah.
00:19:41
Speaker
And i guess on that sustainability front, um Grifter brought a lot of attention to the world of silos, which might not seem like the sexiest thing in the world, but, you know, they're very good from a, I guess, environmental perspective and efficiency a perspective, a cost perspective for breweries. And if if you do it like they've done it and Running With Thieves have done it in WA and Wolf of the Willows have done it in Victoria, a kind of a good marketing opportunity as well.
00:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's unreal actually. um And yeah, that was when ah I got to, you know, write the story talking to both Wolf of the Willows and and Grifter about their silo giant 30-ton tinnies, which, um yeah, it looks looks amazing, especially when it's lit up over lights, under lights. And, um you know, it's it's right next to ah a pub called Vic on the Park here, which is owned by the Maribel Group, like this huge hospitality group and it's kind of the branding is tilted at their beer garden so there's this huge towering tinny they also they also sell grifter there so it's amazing marketing both ways I guess you know to launch they had a competition that the first person that could spot up from a plane and take a photo you know got a prize which is great but then it just comes with all the sustainability benefits as well and there's so many like talking um to the guys in that that article everything from packaging to
00:20:57
Speaker
you know less you know, less chance of OHS injuries and then just being able to buy it bulk, malt in bulk and more consistently as well. So it's always coming from the same batch. so Yeah.
00:21:10
Speaker
And there's been a bit of an award success for a number of New South Wales brewery this breweries this year. um Filter went away from the Australian International Beer Awards with, i think it was four trophies, including a couple of couple of um big ones. Champion Indy and Champion, was it small or medium? I forget, that was a few months ago. yeah media Champion medium. um Kicking goals there. Reckless just seemed to keep picking up one or two trophies everywhere they go. and Sunday Row took out the top prize at Sydney Royals. So it's there definitely plenty of ah depth
Trends in Beer Styles: Low-ABV and Sours
00:21:40
Speaker
in quality, would seem. And obviously on the on the the people's choice front mountain culture, you know, going three for three in the Gabs hottest 100. And surely they're going to go four for four, i they're not doing promotion for their status quo this time around. Yeah, I can't see anyone stopping them.
00:21:57
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe Coopers, we'll see. who are they going to bring in into top pack Pat Cummins, though, after an Ashes 5-0 whitewash? Anything else you sort of picked up from the ear, So we have seen the continued growth of low-arc beers as well. So you know Hawks came out, they've expanded their half series with a half-Pacific filter. I've done an XPA Lite, which is 2%, and ah Young Henry's have come out with their 3.5% version of New Towner as well. so And then you know that combined with heaps normal opening in Sydney as a public venue, yeah, you can see that definitely as ah as a trend that's probably here to stay giving people are drinking less um and maybe with a bit bit more health consciousness as well.
00:22:45
Speaker
And then on the flip side of that, you know, we we hear from people around the country that things like, you know, sours have maybe dropped away a little bit, certainly big imperial sours, smoothie sours, but not one drop. They say that they still fly off the shelf, any any bottle shop they land in around the country. what one yeah They seem them to ah really be owning.
00:23:05
Speaker
Well, yeah I guess got a great reputation for selling any any kind of thing, but really owning that space and people just willing to you know take and any anything that comes out from them and you know give it a go. Yeah, they are they are the the mad professors of sours, aren't they? So, I mean, they had huge success. I think the Gab's Hottest 100, they came in 10th with Wee Jammin', which is a very intense fruit and sour. So that's pretty amazing to land in the top 10 with such an unusual, unique beer. But yeah, Nick and his team are just awesome, I think. And they've just built up that reputation um for huge big beers that feature 35 different fruits and 27 strains of lactose. And they make it taste really, really good.
00:23:50
Speaker
Wonderful. Always a lot going on in New South Wales. When I started thinking about this, i was like, oh, what what's been happening? But there's been quite more openings than i sort of realized, I think. It has been a massive year to the state. So Jason, thank you so much for joining us.
00:24:05
Speaker
Cheers, guys. Great to be there. Merry Christmas.
Introducing Craft University
00:24:13
Speaker
Hey, guys. Beer30 by The Fifth Ingredient is one of the world's leading brewery management software systems used every day by thousands of brewers across the globe. They've now launched their k Craft University, which aims to help you level up your business knowledge. I'm here with Aaron Gawd, Beer30's VP, Sales and Marketing, to find out more. Aaron, are you doing?
00:24:35
Speaker
Doing excellent, Craig. Thanks for having me on. Mate, um it's always a pleasure to have you on. Mate, tell me what's going on here. What led Beer30 to start a a university program? What's going on?
00:24:48
Speaker
Well, it really came out of the fact that Beer 30 and The Fifth Ingredient Self were born out of the beer industry. We aren't approaching this as people from the outside. We have over 180 years of experience actually working in and running breweries, myself included, across the company. so a healthy beer industry isn't just something that we're passionate about and something that we're invested in personally. It's you know good business for us as well. you know If a brewery shuts down, that's nobody's customer. That doesn't help anyone. So if we're able to really...
00:25:19
Speaker
provide some of the tools and the support and the knowledge well outside of just beer 30 well outside of just what we do as our day jobs and help make for a better healthier beer industry that benefits everyone yeah nice and um i guess is this a sort of a free program that you're offering to to customers how does that side work absolutely and it's not just for customers either one of the key things about craft university is it's open for everyone so it's an open source platform and You can sign up for for absolutely nothing. It's free. It goes right to your email. We have Google Drive with all of our previous content that we want people to use, want people to get benefit from, even if they're using one of our competitors' products. And we cover pretty much everything.
00:26:02
Speaker
you We're covering everything from AI to marketing to finance to non-beer beverages to brewing to how to deal with burnout and you know mental health issues within the workplace and trying to make this stuff that are actionable at any scale.
00:26:18
Speaker
We have customers that are as small as 100 hectoliters and as large as 130,000 hectoliters and pretty much everything in between. So we want these to be things that can grow with your business and be applicable to you no matter where in the world and no matter where in the industry you may be located.
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah, nice. talk Talk to me about that curriculum and and maybe a bit more detail. But i say i'm ah I'm a head brewer, I'm a small small brewery, as you said, the smaller size kind of what what would be the, you know, the the five key things or the couple of key things that I could take out of it?
00:26:51
Speaker
Absolutely. So every single month we release a webinar that's absolutely free and you can tune in live. We love to have questions, love to have interaction, but we do save those and send them out to everyone. We also do blog posts, not just from ourselves, but we also solicit expertise from across the industry, not just in Australia, not just in the States, but worldwide to make sure that we're getting other voices in there from people who are having to do this every day and who are working with breweries across a variety of different business models and challenges to make sure that you're getting all the information you need.
00:27:23
Speaker
We also provide free tools as well. We just provided a free tank utilization tools for people to be able to understand where their beer is at, when it's at, and play that tank Tetris just a little more effectively than they'd be able to do off of you know something they'd have to build themselves.
00:27:40
Speaker
Yeah, No worries. Oh, this sounds amazing, man. and love that you you're providing it with the whole industry as an open source. Aaron, how can people get started? What do what do they have to do?
00:27:51
Speaker
Absolutely. If you want to sign up for free, go to craftuniversity.beer. That's all it takes. Put your email right in there. You'll get the login information as well as information about everything coming up, as well as some of the things that we've been done doing in the past. So we'd love to have you. And if you ever have any suggestions on content, things that you'd like to see, we welcome that feedback.
00:28:13
Speaker
We want this to be a community and we want this to be something that's useful Not just the people who are thinking the way that we are or facing the challenges that we're seeing from our perspective, but the things that the most relevant to you at whatever scale, wherever you happen to be operating.
00:28:27
Speaker
Oh, nice one. well Well, there you go, guys. A free educational resource, Craft University from Beer30. And it's available right now at, what was that yeah URL? It was craftuniversity.beer.
00:28:41
Speaker
It couldn't be easier. Jump on there, start exploring. And if you're not already a Beer30 customer, definitely reach out to Aaron. You can email him at pintatthefifithingredient.com. That's the number five in there, thefifithingredient.com. Aaron, thank you so much, mate. We'll see you again soon.
00:28:59
Speaker
Thanks for having me.
Curious Craft: Reflections and Future Plans
00:29:05
Speaker
Bec, welcome to the Crafty Pine podcast. Thank you for joining me. Thank you, Will. It's great to be talking to the Crafty Pine again, to be fair. Yes, yes. We just featured a story on you a couple of months ago, so it's good to catch up again. And um yeah, I mean, reflecting on that, like how's 2025 felt for you?
00:29:25
Speaker
ah Business-wise, it's been ah it's been a rollercoaster year still. um i don't think I've actually had a steady year since I took the business over. But business-wise, look, craft interest is still there. ah Spend is difficult.
00:29:39
Speaker
Range management is difficult. Changing tastes and changing disposable income for people. Yeah. I don't think yeah anyone in craft beer would say it's it's a smooth ride at the minute. It's certainly not. Outside of that, we've got some great stuff happening around the shop with a Home Brew Club and getting to know some of the local brewers. So in those terms, it's it's actually it's been a really good year there. and you know ah I'd love people to be buying more craft beer, but you know it's been a good year.
00:30:10
Speaker
Yeah, great. Yeah, no, it's, um you know, craft beer drinkers, I think, have always been fickle, but you kind of hear that maybe they're more fickle now than ever. You can't really predict what what people want, who they're interested in all that kind of stuff, right?
00:30:23
Speaker
Definitely, definitely. Just when you think you've got your finger on the pulse of what people are drinking, we're discovering West Coast IPAs again I get as many West Coast in as I can. People stop drinking West Coast IPAs. It's tricky, but look, I'd have a varied beer taste. So yeah, I kind of understand.
00:30:43
Speaker
You get where they're coming from. Yeah, I do. I do. And the homebrewing side of the things that you run, you know, local homebrew club and and people are really engaging with that still.
00:30:55
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm actually sitting and we're talking before, i might be a bit echoey because That's actually my home brewery set up behind me. um I'm actually doing working on some beers today. so yeah, the the brew club's great because we've got ah local brewers that are keen to get involved, which is fantastic. It was something I was hopeful for but certainly wouldn't assume that brewers would be keen to get involved. So we've had ah Dom and Nick from Caldera Brewing join us. for a brew club and and talk to us about all things wild cultures and saisons. And we're about to do, or early next year, we've got the lads at Earth Brewing up at Cujan are going to run a brew comp for us. So that's really gaining some traction, which is great.
00:31:43
Speaker
Great. And I mean, that leads into, you know, next year and that that's some of what you'll be running, but anything else big on the agenda for 2026? ah Look, it's ah probably growing both because weirdly enough they were in tandem. So attracting home brewers attracts consumers of craft beer and and vice versa. So I'd really like to try and lean into that connection a little bit more in terms of a business point of view and a personal point of view. um I'd like to very much get back to my Cicerone training. It's something over the last few years with a lot going on. I haven't really had a lot of time to do ah So, yeah, I think it's just keep on keeping on and and ride this, yeah, ride the train as long as I can.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. And um what about, you know, what's your take on the local scene? You do have some really, Northern Rivers is some really exciting breweries, some newer kids. Obviously there's been, ah there was one big and then became much bigger, Brewery and Stonewood in the neighbourhood as well. Like what's your take on the local scene?
00:32:44
Speaker
ah Look, punching above its weight, definitely. ah So, you know, we've got two mates based in Lismore who managed to come back after the floods, which is incredible achievement to lose a brewery under that amount of water and come back. And, of course, we've got the likes of Seven Mile down the road, Common People Brewing down the road, and further afield, like I said, Cujun. We've got Spangledrongo in Moorlembar and Caldera.
00:33:09
Speaker
So local beer seems strong and and, you know, a couple of those have produced... um possibly i know there's another month and a bit to go but my beers of the year common people made a fantastic black IPA this year which I tried very hard not to stash all for myself because I love that style and I'd love for more people to drink black IPAs or Cascadian dark ales for the purists out there and Earth they made a brilliant American pale ale called High Country which is one of their limited series this year so Yeah, very much punching above their weight. I'd really love to see them. And they're doing really well in Queensland as well because of our proximity to the border.
00:33:51
Speaker
um Yeah, doing really, really well. and Yeah, I've always loved Seven Miles IPAs but never see them anywhere in Victoria. So it's awesome when I get to drink them. Oh, no, they're kind of, and you know, Maddie's West Coast is is, I tell people, is ah is the beer that turned my brain onto IPAs on West Coast. And I still think it's possibly one of, if not the best West Coast I've had.
00:34:15
Speaker
Comfortably, comfortably. And what about, do you have any sort of hopes for the near future in terms of beer or concerns? ah Look, um in some of the you know ah initial questions you had me think about before we sat down for the chat, yeah, there's, look, always we're going to be hopeful. We've got to be hopeful. Otherwise we can't, you know, can't be too negative. But, you know, ah I'm concerned for the future of beer events. We've got some great festivals on the circuit and you've only got to see what's happened with Gabs. Gabs Brisbane's not going to be happening next year. And you could already tell on attendance and size at Gabs Brisbane where that was potentially headed. And it's no criticism on organisers. It's getting people again to spend money, part with their hard earned and the cost to breweries, you know, it's not a cheap exercise. So um look,
00:35:09
Speaker
My theory is that we're going to get less and less beer festivals. I think the future of them is really small curated events. We had a food festival just on the weekend in Lismore and invited some of the local breweries around and and the appetite from the people that came into town was huge. So i think there's going to be a changing scene around what festivals go ahead. I'd love to see craft beer become a little bit more approachable in the market. I know how... ah in in terms of, i think there is still a stigma, you know, as from a retailer, it's been doing this for six years, the assumption of what craft beer is, whether we go away from calling it craft beer or lean more into that independent beer, because, you know, you still got people that just think it's fruit bombs, um that there's nothing else to offer in craft beer. So that's what my hope is from going forward, that we start seeing that change.
00:36:07
Speaker
whether it's welcoming who that's driven by, whether it's retailers and breweries and associations, I don't know, but that's one of my big hopes for the future for beer, independent beer. Yeah, it's definitely a tough one. There's still, for everyone who loves it, there's still just so many more people who, it's been around, I think, craft beer for so long that that they've kind of made their mind up, right, potentially. So it it does need that circuit breaker or something like that. absolutely Absolutely. And it's been great to see the rise of lagers. You know, I'm going through, there's a lager in there at the minute. i'm
00:36:39
Speaker
But again, communicating that to consumers that the kind of beer that you like to drink is actually made locally. and made exceptionally well. It's not just big, hazy, fruity beers, you know, as as some people just like to call them, fruit juice. Yeah.
00:36:56
Speaker
Cool. Okay, Bec. Well, thank you so much for joining us on this sort of whirlwind wrap of 2025. We'll have to get you on for a full episode in 2026. Yeah. Love to, Will. Thank you very much. Cheers. Thank you.
Sunday Road Brewing: Achievements and Aspirations
00:37:13
Speaker
Mick and Brad, welcome to the show. Thank you. Yeah. I guess first things first, keeping it nice and easy. i would say looking in from the outside, it's been a pretty big and successful 2025 for Sunday road. um How has it been?
00:37:29
Speaker
Yeah, look and look, you know, it's been a year of, um you know, and there's certainly lots going on in the industry, but for us, Sunday Road, it's, yeah, we've we've been able to celebrate a few successes this year. I think, you know, a highlight, you probably agree, Mick, was the the RAS, or the Royal Agricultural Society Awards, winning best beer in Australia for our Apres ski Bavarian Hef. That was i was a great pat on the back for, you know, the quality and consistency of beers that we're we're releasing. So, Yeah, we're pretty proud of that one, weren't we, Mick?
00:38:01
Speaker
Yeah, stoked. And, you know, it's a style that we both like, but we just know it's never been, you know, a massive hit in the Australian market. So it was good to brew ah a real classic styled Hef and have it really well received. So, yeah, really stoked with that. Many beer awards lately, so it was good to sort of put the toe back in the water and and get a big result.
00:38:22
Speaker
Yeah. And he gave us a chance to ah talk about an article around a few years ago when there was Whitbeers and Wheatbeers were picking up, you know, all the major awards, you know, the big trophies year in, year out. And we're like, but so why is no one drinking? though you know, there's, I know, there's a few brewers out there that love them. And there was a few came through.
00:38:39
Speaker
i came up my way probably as we were coming out of winter into spring. And when they're made well, they're such delicious beers. In fact, when I was up to grain stock that I might before it started, I was chatting you by their storage and he put a can of Aparee Ski straight in my hand because he wanted me to taste it. So, you know, there's there's certainly a lot of affection for those sort of beers out there, um if maybe not the the biggest market.
00:39:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's good. You know, it was nice having the opportunity at the tap room. And and then like you're saying, oh, wheat beers, I'm not sure. But every time after time, going to drink this beer and just go, oh, wow, that's just lovely. That really suits our climate. Or now we call it APRAE and it it is, you know, inspired by going skiing and stuff. It's such a great beer at any time of year, really. So, yeah, we've been really happy to be able to showcase it to people like you're saying.
00:39:29
Speaker
Well, I reckon there's a few brewers I could get together and maybe they could form some sort of super group or some of lobbying group or something like that, you know, to really push for the original hazy to get its, you know, dessert place the Australian drinking hazy.
00:39:43
Speaker
um but But you guys, you know, you're no strangers to trophies either. mean, you you've picked up a few other um gongs at the Australian International Beer Awards in the past. I mean, is there is there a, you know,
00:39:54
Speaker
secret sauce to what you're doing or is it just you Mick just being a wonderful brewer given given you a head by ah by Brad? Yeah, I think, you know, ah stuff like we like brewing some traditional styles and and that just comes down to, you know, good brewing practice and and yeah, I'm not really sure really like always try and put out the best beer every batch of beer that we brew here and yeah,
00:40:20
Speaker
yay Yeah, I think Mick's a really experienced brewer that knows his craft so well. And when you combine it with, we put a lot of thought into the beers too, you know, like it's not just, oh, let's do this. we We really do, you know and we we think about what we're releasing each time and and it's an age old thing, but we never put a beer out that we don't want to drink ourselves.
00:40:44
Speaker
um So, you know, there's always that passion behind and it's still to this day, you know, they're always excited to bring it out our latest creation and, you know, come canning and packaging day, we're still as excited as we were the first day we did it. So I think that that all helps, you know, the passion still there for sure.
00:41:01
Speaker
Yeah. And what about any other highlights for you guys over the year then? you know i guess some of our other limited releases you know we've had a few that have sold out in a matter of days you know just from and then the talk you know like we did what was um affogato stout you know it that thing just went bang and in three days it was all sold out it was just such a ah lovely beer you know it was um it's one of those things where everything just worked together and um But all all through, like I guess all the limiteds this year, you know like we've done a sort of um huge different variety in the beers we've done. Yeah, 100, we're actually at 101 now. So we've ticked over 100 different beers or new beers on Untappd all the time. So it feels like they're loading one or two new beers in there every month.
00:41:47
Speaker
yeah And yeah, we try and, you know, look for inspiration, what other people are doing and and what new styles are emerging. So yeah, Yeah, even that beer that Brad was talking about, the Affogato Stout, was quite funny. Our sales guy, Scott, came in on the Friday to grab a couple of cans for the beer fridge at home. And by lunchtime on Friday when we opened, we didn't have any left when he got in here. So he actually had to go to our local...
00:42:11
Speaker
independent crafty bottle shop and buy some stock back off hand to take home for his own, own fridge. Oh, you know, that's, that's what you want though, isn't it? Yeah. oh It's a great, we had a great laugh about it.
00:42:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's right. In terms of through the tap room, I know tap rooms are becoming so much more increasingly important for small breweries these days, you know, how have things been going on that front? Yeah. Yeah. Look, you know, um good is that is the short answer, you know, we're, we're really, we're,
00:42:40
Speaker
i don't know We've got a really great vibe there and people just keep coming. you know like and I think we put a lot of work into every week. it it is It's just week to week. we're always it's It's great. you know There's always something to talk about. so There's always a new reason to come in. but um Also, I just think you know the consistency of beers. I think what people are are telling us, they come in and you know, they always know they're going to get a good beer. And I think they're just appreciating it because, you know, money's tight. They want to make sure that they, you know, the money they do spend a beer they're really going to enjoy drinking. So that's been good. And, you know, it's always good having that feedback from our our locals. ah They're so loyal, you know, we we see, we've just built their friends now, you know, it's um it's great. And yeah, they're ah our best sort of feedback on on anything we do for sure.
00:43:27
Speaker
Yeah, great. And what about looking ahead, any sort of ground plans for 2026? Yeah, for the taproom, for sure. brad's that's Brad's project. So, yeah, we want to make it. Is this what you're going to explain to me about why you look like you're sat in some sort of wooden cage?
00:43:44
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. So, yeah, I'm sat in some cage because our offices aren't built yet so and we're all ah cramming into one tiny office. So, um yeah i'm staying away today for this but yeah look what we've got um yeah big big evolution of what we're doing there so it's it's been a long journey to do it but we're yeah we're evolving our tap room we've got two factories in the space we're in so we're we're we're building out into that so that's going to be a really you know great expansion for our for our production facility but also the tap room um there's some great um things going in there like the the
00:44:22
Speaker
poor like the service that we're doing, some really unique like check pours and things like that. And yeah, not some new offices as well, but nice space. And yeah, it just feels like we'll finally be out, even though like we celebrate 10 years next year, but we feel like we'll just finally be able to put ah the final coat of paint on our original tap room even, you know, just building out and finishing the whole
Community and Growth: A Vision for Breweries
00:44:46
Speaker
project. So that's that's going to be really exciting. So that's that's something we're all looking forward to.
00:44:52
Speaker
Well, all I can say to that is, my God, how time flies. I was thinking, oh, how for how long have you been around? is it about six years? But no, so you're hitting 10 next year. that's That's, you know, you're getting onto elder statesman sort of territory there, I think.
00:45:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's... um Oh, well, that's great to hear because I think, you know, we hear so much about the struggles of the industry, but I know there are a lot of breweries that are, you know, kicking kicking goals and and are going well. So, you know, I guess if you, you know, if your beers are selling out faster than your reps can even get their hands on them and you're having to double your the size of your space, then things are obviously looking pretty good.
00:45:27
Speaker
Oh, yeah, for sure. But we're not immune to, you know, what's going on in the um in the market either. So there there's certainly challenges out there. But, yeah, we're a pretty positive group. we You know, we we like to, you know, think like that. But, yeah, you know, we're we're in ah a nice position. So we're we're pretty grateful for that.
00:45:44
Speaker
Yeah. And in terms of, I guess, you know you talk about the challenges there, we don't need to sort of relitigate them. They're cut kind of everywhere you look. But, you know, if you looking ahead to 2026 or beyond, is there, you know, one thing you'd love to see, whether from a Sunday road perspective or or from a, you know, indie beer perspective, ah you you can have an answer each.
00:46:03
Speaker
yeah first Yeah, I'm so so excited for 2026. If we can get to the end of this year and move into next year you and have our front tap room open, you know like I just think the bar that's going to be in there will be an amazing experience for anyone that comes.
00:46:16
Speaker
um More tanks for me as well, so it gives me a bit more flexibility and freedom with brewing. um And I think the space will just be amazing with with the designs that we've seen so far. So... um yeah I think going forward, that's the real focus for a lot of breweries is focus on your own backyard and really look after, if you've got a brewery taproom, really sort of maximize the potential there.
00:46:39
Speaker
it's ah It's pretty tough out in the wholesale market trying to get your you beer on tap at a venue or get your beer in a fridge at a bottle shop. So if you can really maximize your back your own backyard and in your own taproom, I think that's a great point to focus on.
00:46:54
Speaker
And do you think you're still seeing new faces coming in from around you your own backyard? you know you i know it's tough at the minute, as you say, but do you think you know you and the other breweries in your part of Sydney are sort having success in reaching new people and and enticing them to come and try something new and try something local and try something you know family and and mates owned?
00:47:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think we probably a lot of our success is sort of slow grow organically. Like, so we've been a slow grow. We haven't sort of just gone trying to go berserk and flood the market. we've We've just sort of done what we've done here and just slowly got the word out. So yeah, I think there are still people that are still finding out about us that, you know, people that are in the inner West. they've got to come on holidays to come down yeah 10 15 k's down in the shire so um yeah i i still think we're finding new customers yeah yeah what about yourself brad if you could look ahead well sorry go on brad sorry no no i was just gonna say the answer that question i i love it right you know if i'm I live in in in the Sutherland Shire so and and I love it when people say, oh I haven't heard of you. It's great. It's like, you know, there are still people that don't know who we are. Look, yeah, it's great. There's there's also conversations with lots of people people do. But yeah, there's still heaps of opportunity even right in the Sutherland Shire for us, you know, for just very local drinkers.
00:48:16
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And and then if you had one thing you'd like to you know, see happen for for the beer industry, what might that be, Brad? I just hope that the consumer continues to support small independent brewers and and don't get lost in and just, you know, going back to what we we used to have as a a beer market. I just hope that they um they do continue to support that. I think it's a uniquely Australian thing to do. I really feel like that's something that we would get behind. So, yeah, I just hope that message stays strong that independent beer is... a really important part of our, our landscape now.
00:48:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I'd follow that too. Like I live down the coast a bit at the Illawarra and, you know, I try and get out every weekend and have a beer at one of my local independent breweries and, you know, just not everyone's floating along or cruising along. Some of them are doing it pretty tough. So, you know, just calling in and having a beer or a second beer, it can be a big difference to them, you know, like um just that local support.
00:49:16
Speaker
Huge. i was I was looking at your tan there, Mick, and when you said you lived down the Illawarra, I thought thought you about say, well, every weekend I get out for a surf for a few hours. But, you know, maybe you're doing that and then getting down to the local brewery.
00:49:27
Speaker
I'm dodgy knees, so I'm normally sort of cruising around on the push bike slowly. yeah it's not I think yeah it is important. I was i was out at a gig um last weekend and I said to mates I was taking on, they're not attached to the industry at all, but I want to take them along to see this band. And I was like let's make sure we go to the Catfish beforehand. It's their birthday. Let's go and spend some money there. And when it's done, we'll go down to the Mill, Bendigo Hotel, and put some money over the bar at the Mill. but Even if it's just, you know, six beers between the the two of us at each venue, just that little little bit helps, I think, you know. um and And just, I think, sometimes just showing your face and, you know getting in and having a chat to people behind the bar makes a big difference to people as well. now well ah Well, thank you so much for joining us. Best of luck with the the new build. I guess we'll be ah we line up a story for that in the new year when it's good to go. or but when it When is the the expected opening date for the new venue?
00:50:18
Speaker
At this point, I'm saying I'm talking in quarters because of how long it's taken. So Q1, Q2. Okay. But 2026? 100%. Yeah.
00:50:30
Speaker
Nice one. oh all All the best for that. and Enjoy your Christmas and New Year break as well if you're managing to get one. And we'll catch you in the new year, hopefully at the bar. Thanks, James. See you.
00:50:45
Speaker
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00:51:01
Speaker
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00:51:23
Speaker
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00:51:41
Speaker
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00:51:56
Speaker
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