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Year In Beer 2024: New South Wales
326 Plays3 days ago
Our final podcast episode before Christmas touches down in New South Wales for a look back at the Year In Beer there in the company of a trio of guests.
First up we have Nemesia Dale-Cully – better known as Meesh to most. She's enjoyed a number of roles in the local beer world, first in Adelaide before moving from running Shapeshifter's venue to take over the hospitality side of things at Wildflower, and is also involved in Pink Boots Society Australia.
Joining her for a chat with Will and James is another of our Sydney-based writers. We brought Benny onto the show as guest host a few weeks ago, and now it's a chance to meet Jason Treuen. As well as writing for The Crafty Pint, he's part of the team that brought the Inner West Ale Trail to life and a keen homebrewer.
From there, we head north to chat to Nick McDonald, co-founder of Bucketty's Brewing, one of the many breweries that call the Northern Beaches home and as bluntly honest a guest as we've had on the show to date.
Across the two conversations, we cover everything from the challenges of running small breweries in 2024 and renewed interest in beer tourism to the importance of community and the theatre of pouring beer. We also discuss trends, the standout breweries, beers and events of the past 12 months, and Jason's banana hefeweizen IPA...
At the start of the show, given it's in our standard Thursday slot, we also go over the news of the previous week, with a focus on the IBA's announcement that there will be no BrewCon or Indies awards in 2025 as well as WA's one-man Evil Mega Corp.
Start of guest segments:
- 10:42 – Jason Treuen & Nemesia Dale-Cully
- 39:42 – Nick McDonald
The Crafty Pint’s 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au.
Relevant links:
- The Crafty Pint’s Year In Beer 2024
- Wildflower & Mountain Culture launch Village
- Inner West Ale Trail Launches
- Bucketty's Brewing
- No BrewCon or Indies in 2025
- Evil Mega Corp's No-Scale Ambition
To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact [email protected].
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Transcript
Podcast Launch Reflections
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Crafty Pint podcast. I'm Will. I'm James and we're we've almost made it Will. Yes. maybe It's the end of the year. Yes, yes,
Scheduling Changes for Next Year
00:00:13
Speaker
absolutely. Five five months in from launching the podcast, episode 23 or 24 going out today. I lose track already. um But yes, have have you survived intact?
00:00:23
Speaker
I have, I have. I kind of wish we weren't doing it again next year, but we'll be fine. Yeah, maybe it's not two a week. Yeah, like we have been doing two around out of the year. But yeah, we'll get
Industry News: Brewcon and Indies 2025
00:00:33
Speaker
to the today's state rep from New South Wales shortly. But first, I guess this is our final chance to discuss the previous week's news before we slow down for sort of over new year. Yeah. So we also have some pretty big news from the Independent Brewers Association today that you picked up on.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, just out. I'm sure a few people will have seen it. So unfortunately, next year, 2025, no Brucon and no Indies as well, um which is sad. I guess it's gotten to this point in the year and there hasn't really been an announcement. So people might have
Financial Struggles in Brewing
00:01:03
Speaker
potentially had a bit of an inkling, but you can read the story on the site. But obviously, as we've covered a lot, it's a tough time in the industry.
00:01:11
Speaker
And money
Insights from IBA's Kylie
00:01:12
Speaker
is very tight at the moment. It's very difficult to run events as well. Well, we spoke to Kylie, the CEO of the IBA and s Sabrina Kunz a few weeks ago on the um the podcast, and they they talked about the challenges they've been facing, membership down, having to cut the team. Maybe that was the sort of the yeah the the preparing of the ground or whatever, and went into you know, with us in terms of what was coming. But I guess, you know, there was no brew con this year. Instead, they sort of supported or became, and you know, became part of the WA Beer and Brewers Conference.
00:01:41
Speaker
been brewing conference and ran the indies over there um i guess i was still expecting or hoping that the indies would would go ahead even if there was no brew con i mean they managed to put the indies out even online during during the covid years but i guess there was you know job seeker and things like that around them to keep the industry industry propped up so i think that that that's you know gonna be a real shame for um for the industry but you know it entries were down last year and i guess they're probably figuring that maybe they're not going to increase much next year and yeah also their team shrunk the person who normally runs events for them is is no longer there. So
Hopes for 2026 and Future Events
00:02:14
Speaker
understandable but um yeah I mean it's a shame nonetheless but fingers crossed 2026 will be back firing they'll be back firing on all cylinders. Yeah importantly they've said that they'll use this time to sort of rework them and and rethink them to some degree so i hopefully we'll see them
00:02:27
Speaker
back maybe in a different format but sort of better than ever yeah in 2026. Yeah and um they are I guess sort of offering sort of a partial solution in that they've partnered with and the Australian International Beer Awards as well.
00:02:41
Speaker
Yeah, so there's two brand new trophies, Champion Independent Australian Beer, Champion Independent Australian Brewery. I feel like I may have added some extra words in there, but but you get the gist. It will be celebrating independent beer yeah and independent Australian breweries in a way that the Abers hasn't done specifically in the past. yeah And I guess potentially someone could win a champion, large or medium or small Australian brewery and the independent trophy as well. So, you know, best of luck to the IBA
Highlighting the High Country Hop
00:03:09
Speaker
and sort of refilling the coffers next year and and, you know, being in a stronger position for 2026 and onwards. um I guess the other event they're involved in, which we're very excited about as well as the High Country Hop. And they're going to be, I guess, presenting the symposium again, which we helped present over the last few years.
00:03:24
Speaker
yeah Yeah, always. We've talked about it a few times on the podcast already. Can't wait for that. It's it's a great event. And I think with no brew con, it probably will really anchor the first part of the year. if you So if you could make it to Beechworth and you're in the industry, it's a really good chance. i I felt like the industry numbers have increased and people have almost come from further afield in the last couple of years. So it would be great to see a lot of people descend on Beechworth. It's a beautiful town.
Evil Megacorp: A Unique Beer Venture
00:03:50
Speaker
So it's well worth the travel. and there's a really good musical line up the following day as well. Exactly, yeah. you know If you're going to handle one day of you know technical stuff, there's some good tunes to look forward to the following day. um I guess in the in the world of small, independent brewing, another store we ran this week, you don't really get any smaller than Evil Megacorp or Evil Megacorporation to give it its full name. This was something that, so a guy called Rhys Lopez, who many in the beer industry will know, he was the head brewer other side for for quite some time.
00:04:21
Speaker
He's one of the most interesting and entertaining characters in the beer industry with the most fantastic hair. Just a very, very very very smart, very colourful character. So he's he's been working on this for some time for a number of years. yeah When we finished recording our WA year in beer episode,
00:04:40
Speaker
about an hour or so later Guy Southern sent me a message going, damn it, I'm meant to talk about Evil Megacourt as he launches brewery earlier in the year. Essentially, it's a one-man operation. He plans to keep it a one-man operation, making sort of beers, I guess, that no one else or very few people are making anymore and not doing anything normal. And his intention is to keep it as a one-man operation the entire time. So he's like, there's been imperial gazettes and all this kind of stuff.
00:05:07
Speaker
and funded on a subscription model as well so people can sort of he gets the money for the beer potentially before he sold it yeah and and you know the small number of gigs he does sell will go to venues that i think he can rely on paying him on time as well so so it's a really uh exciting, I think, interesting business model for these times. And I think, you know, there's political reasons for him doing his sort of views on the economy and the world. If you ever sit down with him, you can have the most fantastic, fascinating, deep and tangential conversation, about I guess, about the history of civilisation. So there's those reasons, but I think also he just, that was part of it. Like, I don't want to be having to chase someone five times for invoices and that kind of stuff. i want to
00:05:45
Speaker
have a business that I can you know handle and and that is you know is yeah isn't not having to get involved in that sort of things. I think guy whether
Future Plans and Audience Engagement
00:05:53
Speaker
it was guilt or whether he's just wanting to make up what once he'd realised he'd forgotten to do that he's you know working at Copper and I because we know from that and working you know what it's like working in retail before Christmas still made the time to go and see Reece and put the article out there so you can we'll put that in the show notes but yes great read and if you are interested in you know funky interesting out there beers from a guy who makes great beer and then yeah check out Evil Megacourt Like and subscribe, just like you should for this podcast. I got that in early. Well, I reckon we still draw one at the end, just in case. um And in terms of sort of looking ahead beyond that, so we've still got a few more stories to run this week. I guess there'll be, you know, we'll be publishing as and when, if there's any breaking news, you know, we'll cover that, if there's any new beers come out, what have you. But I guess from this weekend onwards, things will will slow down. Yeah, so the podcast schedule, we've got two more episodes to come. yes We're going to record the intros now so um Matt can handle them and we can all sort of take a bit of a break, which is great. And then we won't have any new podcast episodes until January 16. More or less back to our regular scheduling then, but excitingly in a bit of
00:06:57
Speaker
news we haven't really shared yet and some breaking news is we will be doing a gabs live stream so ah we we'll give way more details of that early next year but essentially that's for the hottest 100 countdown we'll be doing yeah live video crosses the full shebang when when the
Preview: Year in Beer 2024 Episode
00:07:13
Speaker
countdown takes place which should be pretty exciting and if we hadn't sort of given matt enough of a heart attack having gone from six months ago us not having no idea what we're doing yeah to now doing two a week we're now going to make him do like a three hour live feed with us so It should be fun or completely terrifying or a bit of both. Yeah we'll find out next year won't we. um So before we again before we get into the wrap just a couple of thank you's obviously to Matt Offman who's really held our hand through this process a lot. um Taught us a lot about technology. that And hasn't left yet. Yeah yeah true. right side joe yeah Technology we don't really understand yet as well but he's helped us understand it to a degree. Just check how I'm recording it.
00:07:52
Speaker
um Yeah and also to everyone who's been listening and yeah and liking and subscribing or watching wherever you get it and yeah and we've had some pretty amazing guests this year and I'm sure we'll have plenty more next year so yeah and if anyone I guess has any feedback hit us up at the podcast at craftypint.com if there's any guests you'd like to see And I think you love about the show, any new ideas you have, whatever, we're all ears. Just don't tell tell us to do more episodes because we can't do that. Yeah, for sure, unless you want to give us a lot of money. um ah So yeahre moving on, we have our final pre-Christmas Year in Beer 2024 episode in New South Wales.
00:08:28
Speaker
So first up, we're chatting with Nimesha Dale Cully, who's better known as Meesh by many in the industry. She's head of hospitality at Wildflower and also has written for us before, really embedded in the local industry and the yeah South Australian industry as well, which is where she's from. And ah we're also joined on that chat with Jason Truin, who's another one of our contributors. He's been writing for us a lot this year. So you would have seen his name on the site and um he's been involved in revitalising the Inner West Ale Trail.
00:08:57
Speaker
Yeah, which I think has been doing a great job of seeing a lot of posts from the inner West Ale trail pop up. It seems to be, yeah. It's a very fun social account. I assume he's doing all that. I'm really enjoying seeing what cafe's brewers like and things like that. It's a good way to do it. It's definitely broadened out well beyond just the beer.
00:09:13
Speaker
Yeah, so we have a chat with them sort of reflecting, I guess, on what they've been up to over the course of the year. It's been a pretty fascinating year for Wildflower, the partnership with Mountain Culture, introducing the coal service, all that kind of stuff. And then we head up to the Northern Beaches. I figure if you're going to talk to someone in the inner west these days, you have to talk to someone in the Northern Beaches. So we headed to one of the, I guess, the longest established, which isn't saying a great deal of that, I guess, of the new wave of Northern Beaches breweries, yeah so Nick McDonald, the co-founder of Buckety's. I think we can say his conversation is very honest, yes very open, um and I hope he doesn't get into any trouble. Yes, absolutely. He's a he's a very straight talker, Nick. ah You might hear a bit of his um his baby crying in the background. i so yeah there We had a few technical issues with the mic, so he took the mic off. He has a one-year-old, so um hello, Sadie.
00:10:04
Speaker
if you do here in the background, but it's a family owned business. Exactly. So if you can't have your family involved, you know, this close to Christmas, then, you know, when can you? This is what Indie Beer is all about. Yes. So yeah, don't forget to like and subscribe again and enjoy the chat. Cheers. Cheers.
00:10:24
Speaker
We hope you're enjoying this edition of our Year in Beer series presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in Australian liquid yeast. We all know lagers are back in a big way and the right yeast can make a huge difference. Check out Mogwai's extensive classic lager yeast collection at MogwaiLabs.com.au welcome to the show how you going yeah good thank you Excellent. Now, I guess before we kick into this and our sort of review of the year and beer in New South Wales, it might be great to get a bit of a positive history for listeners and I guess the handful of viewers we have um as to your collection and sort of history within beer. Maybe Misha, if you want to start us off. I know in the the short, relatively short period of time, I've known you've had a whole bunch of roles um in various parts of the beer world.
00:11:12
Speaker
Yeah, I have found myself in in um in quite a few places over the last few years. um At the moment, I'm Head of Hospitality at Wildflower in Merrickville. I'm going to go along the land in Sydney. um I also have a role with the Pink Roads Board, which I'm not currently active in because of like personal life requirements. But that is something that I hope to return to that I feel really strongly about. um I've done some writing for you. Obviously, I've done some writing for beer and broiler.
00:11:41
Speaker
um I also used to run Shapeshifter Brewing um in Finland in South Australia and ah worked for Pirate Life for quite a time before that. It's like a pretty short synopsis, I guess. Excellent. And Jason? Yeah, I'm... a Well, as you guys know, I'm the New South Wales writer for Crafty Pine along with Benny here. And yeah, I've always loved to be, I've always loved writing. I used to freelance for Rolling Stone and Sydney Morning Herald back in the day, um mostly about music. And then I got into home brewing in COVID. I really loved it. I really loved the craft part of it, being hands on. Even though my first IPA turned into a banana heft somehow, I think I burnt the hell out of the yeast. um It was a good banana heft actually.
00:12:28
Speaker
But it wasn't meant to be, but despite that, it kept going and studied TAFE last year, um brewing, um which was awesome. And then, yeah, I've been running for Crafty Point for a year now. And this year landed like a dream job as pretty much two IC of the Inner West Ale Trail project, um promoting the 18 breweries in the, you know, inner Sydney, um building the sites and socials and are working with me here as well.
00:12:53
Speaker
Yeah. You know, the socials have been looking great. The poster, the series you've been doing for the inner West L trails. So yeah, good stuff. Yeah. It makes me want to move there. Amish, do you want to tell us a little bit about how 2024 has looked for for you and also Wildflower? It's obviously been a big year for the brewery. Absolutely. Yeah. Look, I mean, just sit back and be reflective. I was like, well, it's been, it's been a, it's been a big year. Um, like I was like,
00:13:20
Speaker
It has been tough, I think, as it has been for everyone in the industry, which is not overarchingly what it's been, but I think it'd be remiss not to lack. acknowledge that it's tough for everyone and um despite you know maybe what it looks from the outside doesn't mean that we haven't we haven't had our like tough discussions and decisions and all of those things um but I think we took the opportunity at the start of the year to like sit down and really refocus in on like on like who we are and and what we're doing and what is important to us um in a big session with the whole team which was like really really valuable um and I think that set us
00:13:57
Speaker
sale in like a positive way. um Obviously we, I mean the most exciting thing for me personally is my five Luca Faucets. Humble Brag, Humble Brag.
00:14:09
Speaker
ah which ah a arrived in February I think and that was in the in the work up to the launch of um Village, our co-branded taproom with Mountain Culture um which has been a really fun opportunity actually to like play with some different styles of beer um and represent some different products and like see our customer base broaden somewhat or see like people interact with that really nicely like people in this really natural progression of I'll have a beautiful delicious mixed culture beer and then I'll have an IPA and then maybe I'll have two more mixed culture beers and then actually I feel like a lager and the Rustic Lager program has been really fun as well as I like a collaboration between the two breweries um and we also like personally as impactful to me like brought our kitchen offering in-house this year um and so working with Colin Wood who um runs Gold Street Dairy which is our little micro-cheesery we have on site
00:15:08
Speaker
um He's been writing this beautiful menu, so being able to offer like really beautiful food that's really well suited to what our offer is and feels really personal to us has been like a personal victory for me, I think. um What else did I write down? ah ah it's ah court Of course, as you would know, you were like, make some notes, and I've written paragraphs.
00:15:31
Speaker
a But I think being really... um reminded of our community has been has been really lovely and really meaningful to me because that is so much of what the brand is I think um ah and heaps of fun events like we've done a bunch of really fun pop-ups and um hosted you know we hosted a beautiful wedding and um yeah I think we've done done a lot but and I'm excited to kind of see what we can achieve in 2025 Well, I have to have to mention the cult service as well, because I think that's probably one of the main reasons that Will wants to move to Maryville, is yeah having seen those lovely wooden you know carry trays. And I mean, what what was who where did the idea come come from? Who's sort of driven there? Well, a lot of the ideas are just born from a man to a fit in a room being like, should we do this thing? Yeah, fuck yeah, we should. I didn't check if I was allowed to swear. Where are we?
00:16:31
Speaker
The Kolsch was born, I mean that was to the Rustic Largo program, that's the the third in the series, so collab between us and Mountain Culture. And then we were like, well if we're having Kolsch, we need Kolsch glassware, right? And then really hard to find stained glasses in Australia, like no one has them. The ones they sent me from our glass company, I was like, this is a vase, it's not a glass. um But luckily, Mountain Culture had some. They are 300 mil, they're not 200, so they're not like 100% correct, but they're close enough. And then we were like, well,
00:17:01
Speaker
Obviously, we've got to try and do culture service, right? And it was something that um in the States, in having conversations with people in the States in um in May when we went over for the Flystone Walking Invitational, it's happening over there a bit. People are like kind of excited about it. And so, um yeah, we hatched a harebrained scheme to do culture service in Topher.
00:17:19
Speaker
went to some deceased estate to collect things as he does, um because if anyone knows him, they'll know he's like a bow bird for old and probably normally broken things. um And he found this handy little, I think it was a toolbox actually, um and he re and he repainted it and wired the handle. And so yeah, that's my crayons for doing cold service.
00:17:40
Speaker
um And you know, it's been, as I was mentioning before, it's been a bit of a sad uptake. So, Will, if you want to come to Sydney and just sit there and let me put heaps of beer in front of you, I would love to do that. Fantastic. But I guess it sort of ties into something that we've talked about earlier in the year and written about is the sort of, I guess both the side pour taps and the Colch service. It's like bringing a bit of theatre around beer as well. Yeah. ah Maybe you just walk around with them anyway, whether whether anyone's drinking them just to sort of show off, but it does show off. Yeah. And the you know, the hand pool, the English style ales coming back, you know, it sort of adds to that feeling like you're not just going for a drink somewhere, which you never do at Wildflower anyway, but, you know, adding another layer to that, I think.
00:18:19
Speaker
Absolutely, I think for me also it's like an education thing because I know that I know that we all know how steeped in like history and and culture and ritual and beer is and how different and diverse it can look and how specific it is to so many communities across the world but for a lot of people in the general public or a lot of people maybe in Australia particularly they don't kind of um have that connection to it in the same way you would if you were like a European and you knew about lager or whatever. So i it's an opportunity for me to just um info dump basically on any poor customer who happens to ask me a question on the wrong day. um But that's part of continuing to be excited, right? Particularly if you've been in the industry for for a while, like tying into that, like being real nerds is what Topher and I always talk about is what what's what's the next way we can be a real nerd about it and really elevate
00:19:11
Speaker
yeah service and theatre and provide something really unique and really exciting. And then Mish also does a ah really great check cut, don't you Mish, with the I reckon I have thought about 600, yeah. I've probably explained it doubly as many times, I assume. Yeah, it's one of those things, it's like, it's the espresso martini of the beer world, like once one person in the venue sees one, everyone wants one. And I think that my team are like, Mish, we hate you so much, why did you do this to us?
00:19:44
Speaker
but you know obviously go like I call it a two story beer, but it always catches eyes whenever you get one. It's great. Yeah. but But the way that your eyes sort of glazed over with this sort of dreamy look, Jason, clearly it's worth it. You know, you could see you're sort of misting over thinking for your last one and maybe your next one. Yeah. I need to get back in there actually. It has been a while. but yeah Jason, and what about for you? How's it felt? Obviously, yeah, the the sort of revival or the rain renewal of the Inner West Trail has been a big, big part of your year. Yeah, it's been huge. It's been huge and like so fun. And I guess, um you know, it's really been a part of a bigger trend that we've seen in New South Wales and probably nationally as well is just that um these ale trails being put on the map officially um with government support behind it. So there's
00:20:31
Speaker
and the Inner West Owl Trail, um which covers six suburbs in inner Sydney. um And then there's also the Brookvale Trail in Sydney's north, which is expanding, I think they're up to eight or nine now. And then there's also the very excellently named Brew Castle Brewery Trail, which is the Newcastle's one as well. So um obviously, and I think you guys have talked about it before, trails and pub calls aren't necessarily new. I think with the Inner West Owl Trail, it used to be like a paper map you know, early on. um i didn't know even I didn't even know there was one. I'd just get Google Maps out and just, you know, follow that. It's kind of anecdotal, but it's what's great is that to see these breweries, I think, like joining as collectives kind of more officially and then the state governments and council really getting behind them and supporting them and recognizing them um and, you know, dealing out cash and grants to really promote and bolster these, um you know, trials of tourist destinations like
00:21:28
Speaker
you know Historically, I think you know wine areas have been so well promoted, you know ah both interstate and you know globally, and it's great that these trails are getting similar recognition. I think it's an element of you know breweries coming back together and sort of working in a more collegiate nature. I think there has been some thinking over the last couple of years As things get tough, people can maybe sort of, those, the cracks can start to appear in the in the craft beer community, but these seem to be ways and so of suburban collectives seem to be a way of bringing that back together a little bit as well, which is, you know, someone we'd like to see. Yeah, I think it's also like, um and especially for the Inner West Owl Trail, I can't speak for the others, but it's been really about pro promoteting promoting the whole experience as well. um Like obviously beer is at its heart, you know, they're breweries.
00:22:15
Speaker
um But it's really about unique venues, very different venues, you know, so you could go to Wildflower and then pop down the road to Kix or something and they really have their own very, very strong, you know um you know, personalities and the ways of doing things. um There's also, you know, real focus now on great food. It's not just, you know, dude food, um you know, family friendly spaces, dog friendly spaces and community spirit as well and art and, um you know, and even more events like You know, there's so many events now on ah on a nightly basis, which is amazing. And and anything sort of outside your yeah stomping ground of Inner West that sort of caught your eye this year, Jason? No, no, I do go outside the Inner West sometimes. I think um the big thing for me, and it's I guess it's a national thing too, is the big trend I've seen is just craft brands releasing um less crafty, more mainstream um beers, particularly lagers.
00:23:13
Speaker
ah you know, with very different packaging and lower price points, ABVs, lower carbs, um and hoppiness than their usual products. So we had Mountain Culture in February, they released their APL, their Aussie Pale Lager, which was low carb, with very different packaging as well to their normal kind of very colourful artistic hands, you know, obviously deliberately. And then I think it was a month later, Young Henry's released their classic range, um which went straight to BWS and Dan Murphy's. And that's got a low-carb crisp lager, a premium lager, and then a classic XPA. And then even here in um
00:23:51
Speaker
In Sydney, I saw ah Frenchies, you know, um which is in South Sydney, um which is really known for their high-end European lagers and styles. They did a Frenchies Dry, which was low-carb and lower ABV as well. So I guess it's kind of, I see it as kind of a that craft continuation of the um craft in a cerveza that we kind of blew up last year as well. um and really targeting that other 90% of the market that don't drink craft beer, um you know, the twoies and great northern crowd. um And it's so it's a really smart move, I guess, um to, you know, get into that area.
00:24:29
Speaker
So Meesh, and what about you, any trends or or just big standout moments from the year for you outside of Wildflower? quite Quite genuinely and organically, like the Inner West Ale Trail to me, when I thought about things that had happened this year that were exciting, like that that is that is a big one to see that revitalized and all the like all the hard work that Jackie and Jason are doing, which is like phenomenal. And I ah love Crafty that you spoke to lot community and how community is and really important in hard times. And I think like that's so that's so true.
00:24:58
Speaker
um So that was exciting. I mean, it was exciting to see Sydney Beer Week make a comeback as well after seven years. um you know that That shows that there's still um community and people who are excited about excited about beer, which was great. um I think for me, Slow Lane is probably one of the breweries in Sydney that I find really impressive. like I really love to see people doing these like older world styles that like aren't really very cool or trendy, but like to see people making them makes me really excited.
00:25:27
Speaker
um And they're really lovely people. The Taffer is so lovely. That's definitely, definitely a highlight. I think some of the lagers coming out of One Drop, Nick, obviously amazing brewer, amazing person, really good at making really good lagers. Also really good at making really stupid beers. People love that too.
00:25:44
Speaker
so you know um yeah i think that that's always been a highlight. I think Nick has the highest hit rate of, you know, you pick up a beer, you read the label and you're like, this is just going to be the worst thing I've ever had. And then you're just like, damn it. Like, I actually enjoyed that. It's always good. Every part of my beer wanted to not like this beer, but somehow it does what it says on the tin and I enjoyed it. And it's like, you bastard. Yeah. Yeah, I know. What a man.
00:26:17
Speaker
What about yourself Jason? i Any sort of stand stand out sort of beers or breweries whether they're new or sort of established breweries having having a great year? yeah Yeah I mean I guess this year we saw you know Chuck and Sons open so obviously the Chuck is Chuck Hahn he's kind of you know a legend of the industry the Hahn behind Super Dry and Premium and Ice and all those ones. um So really they've opened a really lovely space in St Peter's lots um you know lots of great rooms a really great food truck out on the kind of terrace there and really good classic beers as well um which is great and I think that along with Future the opener year ago that's now four in St Peter's as well so they've got their own little mini trail going on which is great along with Willy's and Rickworks which is at the top there near the station. um
00:27:06
Speaker
Yeah, we had Pickle Monkey open as well. um So that's right in the heart of Merrickville, not too far from Wildflower, but across from Mixtape and Source and around the corner from Grifter. And then we had, ah interestingly, Willie the Boatman bought by the UK group ah Powder Monkey. So the inner west now has two pea monkeys within a couple of k's of each other. So it's a real um zoo in that sense. You don't want to get them mixed up.
00:27:33
Speaker
Um, so that's been quite interesting. Um, and then we've also seen, um, I guess mountain culture, you know, just obviously they expanded and now co-share with wildflower at village. Um, but they've also opened, um, you know, they've taken over, uh, atomic space in red fern. And I think they turned it over really quickly, like in two months or something. So that.
00:27:54
Speaker
They're no longer in the mountains, like they're really rolling down the mountain. It's quite an overall mountain culture, so to speak. they coming around Coming around the mountain? I think you'll have to pull venues now, and they've got a few pop-ups as well. So I guess that's it what you also expect from a really successful brand that's kind of topped Gabs in the last two years as well. And and just just a moment for that marketing campaign for Gabs this year, the Castle video. So they were on scene night. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pat, as the lawyer, is the most brilliant piece of content I've watched on the internet in a really long time. Yeah, they've gone with a very different approach this year, not one I expect them to. I was kind of assuming it would be great trilogies or something after last year's sequels, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I i just i thought it's so brilliant. It's so them, too. It's so like true to their brand. I just... Yeah, it's excellent. good
00:28:44
Speaker
yeah has there Has there been much sort of focus on ah felons moving moving into Manly from from Brisbane? yeah I guess, you know, focus sort of on the local breweries, either popping up or grime, but I guess it'd be a bit like Rocky Ridge opening in Brunswick, just around the corner from Will earlier in the year, having a bigger interstate brewery come into Sydney.
00:29:05
Speaker
ah Yeah, I mean, um it's a great spot, Manly Wharf um there. I haven't been there yet, sadly. Manly is its own little country, but I will definitely make it over there soon. um The idea of drinking, drinking lots of beers and then cutting a ferry all the way home is ah a bit daunting, but I will. um Yes, and it's ah yeah it's a great spot. It's really exciting. um And, you know, only one suburb away from Brookvale and their trail as well. So that area is really booming, which is great to see. um I also have to give a shout out to Seeker Brewing. I'm a really big fan ah them and what they're doing at the moment and i
00:29:38
Speaker
love love love their idea of um the Art of Flight series which is you don't know is you know 200 the cans which are 250 mils instead of massive you know tall boys that are 440. They feel so good in your hand like something about the size of them and the weight it's it's wonderful to to pick them up I reckon. and Yeah it reminds me of being in the plane back in the uh the 90s or something. I think they're the modern day hand grenade you know like yeah modern day little bvs And I Yeah, actually on that I meant to mention like barrel shepherd as well looking further afield from Sydney um I haven't like had the opportunity to make it down there yet, but seeing some of there be obviously there Obviously, it's a solid bit appeals to me But like I drank a barrel fermented culture the other day like how many brews you know? I mean Oh, that's sick. So exciting
00:30:26
Speaker
And just on those so something that's come up a couple of times in yeah this series end-of-year series is um you know the challenges of being a barrel-aged mixed culture brewery in a time when people are, you know when so I guess, so many breweries um dedicating some of their time to you know low car like lower-cost beers and people are spending less money.
00:30:47
Speaker
yeah you know you would be right on the you know the the coalface for that niche is that something you've noticed or is as wildflower got such a sort of great sort of captured audience that you've been able to sort of you know not not notice too much I mean, i'm not i'm not gonna i'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie to you, it's definitely something that we've noticed. like Obviously, discretionary spending is pulling back and that's hurting everyone. And yeah, some people's option is to create something that might mean that people might use that money that they're using with an ah independent brand rather than a major brand, which I think is really good and really valuable because if everyone could buy
00:31:22
Speaker
a full pack of classic classic crisps instead of great northern like that would that would be a really great thing um but uh yeah it has i think for us um possibly wholesale is is the place where we where we've seen uh a bit of ah a bit of a slowdown we're fairly lucky in our space um like on Brompton street that we have like a really as i mentioned before like community we have a really strong um like body of people who come and you know I would say I know probably 70% of people who work walk through the door if not by name by face like and and they are so loyal to to us and and our product and our space that like we've seen that continue. um I think
00:32:09
Speaker
ah The having like the the merger with mountain culture has been really beneficial in that way of bringing different people in and exposing different people to our to our product um because we have been kind of purposely pretty tucked away down the side back of Brompton Street for like a long time um which has been kind of nice but um it it it is in these times yeah you do kind of need more exposure. um So I don't know if that really answers your question, but um we're we're lucky. We're lucky to have people who really really believe in us and really continue to prioritise spending money on our product um and and that is really... lovelyly
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah, outside of breweries, I guess more the the the venue scene. like ah I've always found sort of Sydney's even within the sort of the beer venues craft beer. It's a bit of a different beast, say down here in Melbourne, off often a lot of the craft beer venues are one, ah you you know, it's one or two venues out of a bigger chain. And, you know, it's a bit of a different sort of setup. how How's that going? Is there still good support for for independent craft beer within Sydney's venues? is You know, I know that was a big drive for Sydney Beer Week to try and sort of put some more of that focus there. but you how's How's that looking? um yeah i um Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't know figures and numbers, obviously, but I still think there's a really strong presence. What I've noticed is a kind of little mini trend as well is, um you know, brewery is probably doing um more venue, like venue collaborations and like making a big, big noise about it, which is awesome. So, you know, not just making
00:33:44
Speaker
you know, um beer for them and then they they rebrand it. But um like Grifter here has in like the last couple of months has done quite a few beers collaborations with venues, um which has been awesome, you know, with like, um and that gets sold at the venue. And then about a month later, they put it on that taproom as well. And that's just, you know, really about supporting, I guess pubs and bars that are also doing it really tough and really exciting to see that there's lots more beers coming out. um And I guess it educates the grift of fans, you know, about venues as well. Like there's a few I didn't know about um that I'll definitely want to check out because that's where the bees premiering now. So that's exciting. I think that's something they do really well. Like they're such a community brand and they so always have New South Wales like so unlocked because they've put all their
00:34:32
Speaker
not like all their time and effort into building those fostering those relationships and actually backing them and I think that's like incredibly valuable where like so many brands are just like how can I get my beer into as many places as possible in distribution and which is one way of doing it but I always have really respected that about Grifter I think is like they're really tied to New South Wales and particularly like the inner west which is lovely. Young Henry's same. same yeah Great, and looking ahead, I mean, what what are you sort of hoping to see or have planned for 2025?
00:35:05
Speaker
Um, I'm excited to see Bracket open their doors. That's what I was going to say. That's what I was going to say. Mike's going to curse me for saying that because i ah I know, I know how many hours that man has been spending there in the last few months, ah but it it it is really close and it is happening. and I think for Maripubla, that's really exciting. For me personally, in my knock offs, that's really exciting. Um, uh, so that was kind of the first one that, that came, uh, to, to me.
00:35:35
Speaker
Personally, I'm also really excited to go to Western Australia in January and drink heaps of really good beer down in the southwest of Western Australia. And finally meet some wonderful people who I've not actually met before. I've been friends with on the internet for a long time. A long time? Excuse me. Excellent. um In terms of as a brand or as a business, um I'm really excited for utilizing our nice event space that Topa's just created a lot more. So if anyone watching wants to have a birthday or get married or throw a party, hit me up.
00:36:12
Speaker
And just seeing what we can do with that, we already have ideas in the works for supply or producer series, so being able to profile some of the really amazing winemakers or fruit growers or honey producers perhaps that we work with.
00:36:27
Speaker
um well not honey, honey harvesters, they're not the producers, the bees. um gather is And also just to be like, I'll be celebrating three years at Wildflower in March, which is crazy, um but really exciting. Excellent. Well, happy birthday for when it rolls around.
00:36:49
Speaker
Jason. Yeah so and I was going to say Bracket as well so apparently it's January so um yeah I'm really really excited about that. I know you're excited Will as well. um So it's great to welcome them on to the Inner West Ale Trail as well. I think as well like I'd love to expand, i'm maybe this is too much, but um the Ale Trail like there are some, because we're we're bound by the council definition of Inner West um through the state government grant,
00:37:15
Speaker
you know, there's some that just some excellent breweries like that just sit outside that I'd love to include personally as well. um You know, like Yulie's, you know, Two Harves isn't far away, Akasha's down the road as well. um Yeah, and then what I guess next year, what's really exciting is just venues kind of expanding their offering as well. We've already said like there's ones like Mixtape that have got a they got a grant for live music, which is really exciting. um They're pretty much like a live music den now doing free gigs.
00:37:44
Speaker
Um, and hopefully some more venues and breweries can take that up as well. Um, which is really, really exciting. Um, and then you're going to try and brew another cracking, uh, banana half, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, banana half IPA it's, it's what 2025 needs actually. I'll see if a mountain culture on it. Um,
00:38:08
Speaker
Yeah, so um yeah, maybe get back to home brewing. I've been so busy writing about everyone else's great beers that I haven't had time to brew my own bad ones. So um yeah, that would that would be nice. a This is just what the world needs, more bad Jason brews. Well, I won some awards, but that's another story.
00:38:28
Speaker
and i um Yes, so um yeah, maybe getting back to home rowing as well. which would be now well well we're We're planning a trip up ah your way, hopefully February time. it's A trip to New South Wales is ah long overdue, so hopefully we'll see you in person and put a couple of events on while we're up there as well. Yeah, that'll be unreal. Very cool. Well, Mich and Jason, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Cheers.
00:38:55
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:39:42
Speaker
Nick, obviously we wanted to have you on because you're from Buckety's and that's in the heart of the beer scene of Brookvale, but tell us how the years looked. Yeah, it's been all right. Like it's been definitely down last year. We're noticing people are still coming out and not spending as much and obviously everything's more expensive. So we've sort of seen our margins go from this to that, um which has been hard. We're lucky though that we do most of our trade over the bar. So most of our stuff's retail. We did like this past 12 months for us would really make the decision to move away from wholesale as well. It's just, it's just too hard.
00:40:19
Speaker
um But as far as like the broader Brookvale scene, like it's been it's been pretty healthy. like We've created a collective amongst a bunch of the breweries. You're wearing one of the shirts there, James, Freshman. Oh yeah, I thought Brooky represent. yeah Yeah, I appreciate that. There's seven breweries distilleries that have joined forces and we've create this non-for-profit. We've got a big grant from the New South Wales government to put on events. So we've been doing, yeah, working together, which has been a lot of fun. So that's been great, like to have that craft beer collegiality coming back. So yeah. I was interested to hear that there was some government support for that was one of the things we touched upon in the um national trends or national picture article about, you know, this return of our trails and assuming that, you know, I guess that is a way that
00:41:05
Speaker
rather than go as an individual business to the government, for example, you can go as a group. I know the trail got some support as well. Also, do you reckon that's something you would have been able to fund if it hadn't been for the fact you got this support to get it off the ground? No.
00:41:20
Speaker
No, we would like we did last year, we did sorry, this year, February this year, we did a thing called rookie fest where we did a big event and got everyone together. And I think majority of us had our biggest ever day that day. So that sort of got everyone excited. So we did that without funding. And then, yeah, the government, I mean, we had to apply through it, go through a whole process and go to workshops and lots of stuff. but Yeah, having had that success and then going to government and then giving us the funds to to leverage that success has been great. We wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise. Everyone sort of got their ass hanging out as it is, let alone without the funding. so And in terms of the venue, just Baccadis itself, like obviously, yeah, have a focus on your own events. And yeah I see the pictures on weekends. It's looking pretty busy in the brew pub. Has that really continued across the year?
00:42:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's down a bit on last year. um What we're noticing though is like a reduction in spend. So like we've got a capacity, I'll give you an example, we've got a capacity of 200 people. And before when we would have 200 people in there, like the bar would be rammed, you know, we'd be like pouring as quickly as we could. Whereas if we get 200 people in there now, the bars often sparse and you know, the the take at the end of the night, so maybe 20% down on what it was before, even though we've got the same number of people in there.
00:42:38
Speaker
So that's that's been a little bit frustrating to so see that because you can't, like, what do you do about that? You can't discount because then, you know, no further ahead, you're just ending up, you know, spinning balls. You have to have staff standing over them at their table going, drink up, come on, I'm thirsty.
00:42:57
Speaker
Exactly. So yeah, it's been it's been weird, actually. I mean, we've only been doing this for four years or almost four years. And we've just seen up until this year, it's just gone growth, growth, growth, growth, growth. And, you know, we thought we were king shit there for a while. And now things have changed. And it's like,
00:43:16
Speaker
that what do you do? There's nothing you can do. You can put on an event, but if people aren't willing to spend money on your product, then it's sort of, yeah, it's strange. I guess as long as you're keeping people coming through the door and that's not dropping off, you've just got to wait till people feel confident to spend a bit more money, I guess. Like if they weren't coming, if you're 20% down in people through the door, I guess that would be more concerning. But if people are still coming and if Brookvale still, you know, getting, getting that foot traffic and that patronage, then fingers crossed, it's more tied to, you know. Yeah. like hurry I mean, that's what, like I talked to other people in the hospitality game and like, you know, it's cyclical and it goes up and down and all that sort of stuff. And I guess, I guess that's true. I hope that's true. You want the cycle to go to spin a bit quicker. I guess so. But also in my mind, I'm like,
00:44:05
Speaker
ah People are really going to start spending $18 for a pint. Like, is that you're going to go out? like I mean, I guess that's true. I guess this is what happens in economic cycles. But just my mind baffles at that thought. Yeah. Is this why you were running for a role in as a politician locally? So you can try and you could try and work work on the inside and try and bring down the the you know the global global economic system.
00:44:31
Speaker
I know. I mean, that was a bit of a very random one. the The mayor of the Northern Beach has actually contacted me two months out from the election and asked me to go on the ticket. And I didn't really understand why, but essentially in council elections, long story short, you need to have three candidates in a party in order to get your number above the line. You know, when you vote, you get it. And if you're not above the line, then you don't have much of a chance. so She hit me up because I have a little bit of a profile around than on the beaches. Well, we'll get him in and then people will recognize him and then vote for us. But I was the third candidate, so I had virtually no chance of getting in. They needed a 75% vote to get in. did you help Did you help your other candidates make it in though?
00:45:15
Speaker
Yeah, I do. I did like a team player. There you go. yeah yeah you You suffered so that you could take the glory. That's right. exactly Exactly. And speaking of your team player side, anything else in ah New South Wales, like who what are other people doing that's exciting you or even breweries or beers you've had, anything like that? Yeah, it's um Brookfowl's been good. like you know We've got a couple of new ones that have opened up in the last 12 months. um and yeah People are making some real really interesting beers. I'm trying to think off the top of my head. I can't. I just drink so much of our beer. That's a good sign though. yeah I'm a little bit insular for an insular when it comes to my beer palate at the moment.
00:45:59
Speaker
um But I'll tell you what, there's at one of our former brewers, guy named Dan, he's opened up a brewery called Half Pace Brewing. Yeah. And he's actually using the kit that we, that I bought from China back before we were a brewery. Like I went on to Alibaba and bought a piece of shit from China and he, and it was a nightmare, but he's like quite industrious. So he sliced it up and got it working. And he brews a few beers out of Heng Tend distillery.
00:46:29
Speaker
And they're really good. And they are Brewer's beers. Like he makes what he wants to make. Like I went up there and he had like a wild ale, which I love, those sort of beers. And you don't sing around very often. Yeah. So I'd say that's something that's kind of like, I think one of the beaches needs maybe a little bit. So, yeah you know, real artists and beers. So yeah. On a local scene, that's something that really surprised me and delighted me. And also the fact that he, he was born here in Buckenden. And he made your Ali Barbecue work as well. Yeah.
00:46:59
Speaker
yeah Yeah, that was a lesson. And do you have any idea why this, you know, the Brookvale scene has worked as it has? You know, every, I guess from a distance we see word that another brewery's opening. It's like, oh, when's it gonna get hit too many? But it sounds like, you know, people, it is working. I guess that the collective is gonna help. Yeah. But is there some sort of secret to it? Is it because you are sort of far enough away from the rest, you know, I guess the other major areas of Sydney that it's stopping people having to travel, for example?
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah it's a little it's a little golden patch because there's no residential around so you should get away with a lot as far as noise and you know people and traffic and all that sort of stuff. um And we're all really close and it's all flat, walkable. You know, from where we are, there's six breweries within a couple of hundred meters. So yeah had to be able to bounce around, it's it's pretty cool. And it's also still and still that shitty industrial, you know, like there's still be car with no bumpers and it's got that real
00:48:01
Speaker
grungy, organic feeling to it, um which you can't get into the newer industrial areas. Like Marikville's obviously got it in some of those inner west areas, but yeah, so it's kind of a, it's close to enough people that there's a good catchment, but it's far enough from houses in order to be able to, like we did live music till midnight sometimes. I mean, we've never had a noise complaint and yeah, it's, it's a, it's a little pocket of magic, I reckon.
00:48:27
Speaker
Nice, so there there's the pool there's the pull quote for the for the real, the little pocket of magic. And in terms of, I mean, you you've talked about the challenges of this year, you know, I wish, I guess, a pretty common place for much of the industry. But from a bucketty's point of view, or from a, you know, Nick's point of view, any any sort of real highlights, standout moments that of the past 12 months?
00:48:46
Speaker
Yeah, like we, the story around the wholesale stuff, I guess would be particularly for the audience listening to this. That's been the biggest revelation, I guess. On the start of the year, we employed a semi full-time, which I guess would be part-time, if you say that. Salesperson, actually my sister-in-law, and she went out there and like pounded the pavement and made a lot of relationships and got a lot of people excited about buying our VR.
00:49:16
Speaker
And we did all right for a little bit, but it was such a hard slog. And then you're chasing money and people wouldn't pay. And after about six months, it was just like, what are we doing here? like is It's so much effort to make so little money. And just on the scale that we're at, it's different if you're kind of that medium size where you get the economies of scale and there's automation and you got delivery drivers and It's just, it's not worth it. And actually Pete from Wayward gave me some advice a couple of years ago, which is always stuck in my head, that if your brewer can't chuck a case of beer in your car and drive it to the spot on his way home, then you shouldn't be doing wholesale. So that's kind of the mantra that we've taken now. So if people want to stock our beers and they contact us, then we'll do it. yeah um But as far as I'm trying to get a tap, there's a restaurant in freshwater, which is just down the road from us.
00:50:11
Speaker
We know the guys are really friendly and I won't name it, but they've got 10 taps and they've got a bunch of, you know, West breweries and they've stocked us a couple of times and they're full of cool people. They're like, we need our beer in here because they're the kind of customers that we want to sell to like the cool cats, you know, and you want to get in with that segment. You don't necessarily want the dad rockers. You want the sort of the craft beer drinkers in the late twenties, early thirties and that that's this restaurant.
00:50:39
Speaker
So I basically said, I bet you our XPA will outsell the XPA that you have on tap at the moment. I will give you two kegs. And I bet you, we'll have a gentleman's agreement that if it works, then you'll give us a shot. And they wouldn't even take our beer for free. And it's not bad beer. They would not even take our beer for free because they had like a tap contract. They had a certain lead origin. All this kind of like, I was like, if we can't even give our beer away to a restaurant that's just down the road that know us,
00:51:09
Speaker
Like this is a pointless exercise. So what we've sort of realized is we need to just lean into the whole retail element, sell the beer direct, support the independent bottle shops that support us. So we like we don't stop in the Dan Murphy's or any of the big stuff we we just do independent bottle shops. So it gives them a bit of a point of difference too.
00:51:28
Speaker
yeah Yeah, and it probably ties into that. You're talking about the the local brewer's collegiality as well. It's like, who's with us, you know what I mean? You can understand maybe some businesses in a tough time, hospital businesses looking for maybe easier solutions. You know, yeah yeah you can maybe understand if they're up against the wall or whatever, but at the same time, maybe there is that thing going, right, who's in the same, it who believes, who are the true believers, like getting back to almost that grassroots kind of thing from where this industry came?
00:51:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ah so And looking ahead, anything that you're excited for next year, whether on a bucket-y scale, Brookvale scale, international scale, anything? People spending 20% more money. and i think We're going to have a crack at ah another venue. So it's sort of like it's in the works at the moment. So you've seen that a little bit.
00:52:16
Speaker
You know, you can see Mountain Culture popping up with a whole bunch of different places and there's ah <unk> a bunch of breweries that are realizing that this is the way forward, doing hospitality on them. Because our brand is fairly heavily tied to the hospitality, you know, people come to the experience. The beer is good and some people come for the beer, but most people come because they want to enjoy themselves.
00:52:39
Speaker
Yeah. So it's sort of leaning into that a little bit more, um, and trying to get that retail much because we still, we've got capacity in the brewery. Like we can do an extra 50,000 liters probably a year, but right now we can't sell it. And are you ever going to open a place back in Buckety or is that a plan? No, we are. So we, man, it's been. and nightmare. um We put a DA in in March last this year um to put a long story short, we tried to get it approved in Buckety, got rejected because of zoning issues, because you couldn't have an industrial use, which is a brewery in a rural zoning. You could have an agricultural produce industry, which you could debate whether or not a brewery is that.
00:53:28
Speaker
And this zoning, this but our land is such that you can have a cellar door, you can have a pipe, you can have a function center, and you you can grow all the stuff to make the beer, and you can sell the beer, you just can't turn it into beer on the property. So I got rejected on that stupid technicality. That was a few years ago. but So we've had another crack. So we put it in as a restaurant with ancillary brewing. And it's been in, yeah, for a really long time. But what's crazy is that since we put the DA in,
00:53:56
Speaker
zoning has now changed again so the restaurant use is no longer permitted but because we've got a D.A.M. it's still okay, but if it gets rejected, then that that's it. so has it been Has it been rezoned to industrial so you can put a brewery in? No, it's been rezoned to residential without the ability to put a restaurant in. It's totally screwed. The annoying thing is that they changed that because we wrapped up in the Hunter Valley Cessnock zoning, and there's too many hospitality venues in Pecolbin and around the wineries.
00:54:31
Speaker
because we've got the same zoning so they're like you know what these are you too we're not going to allow for hospitality businesses anymore so we got caught up in this whole thing and now we're um going up against members of the community community that really really don't want us there the majority of them do so the majority of them are giving us support but i'm getting like articles written in the local paper or about me being like a koala killer and it's just like like just making stuff up and Yeah, it's kind of it's it's it's wild. wow yeah there's someone they like We got rid of them once. They're down in the northern beaches now. Let's just let's just keep them down there. Yeah, they totally. yeah that like The comments I get is always great for you down in Brookvale, but just stay out of Buckety. That's the stuff. It's probably only 10 or 12 people, but very, very vocal people. and you know When you moved to Buckety, you just got serenity. A lot of them probably got a bit of time on their hands. and
00:55:29
Speaker
I'm sure they're not bad people if anyone's listening. It's part of that. It doesn't or so that they say is but I think it'll be really good for the area like to be honest it's Buckingham's not that far from Sydney. It's on the trail through to the Hunter Valley. There's nothing there, nothing. It's 20, 25 minutes either way from our door to get a coffee or a beer or whatever. You seem like the sort of person that enjoys a challenge. So I'm sure you've, you know, you get your teeth into it. I've come so far now, James, like I have to, I have to see this through. Like my wife is like, why are we doing this? Let's just stop. You're like, look at the name of our brewery. That's right.
00:56:10
Speaker
That's right. I think Will, you actually wrote an article that I thought was so funny, something about Brookfowl and breweries that are named by suburbs other than Brookfowl. yes like It's like five or six of us named after suburbs that we are not even in. yeah yeah Well, it's it's a state of mind, I guess, as as your ah logo says, it's just Brookfowl is a state of mind. Yeah, that's it. All right, Nick, thank you so much for joining us. Sweet, no worries. Cheers mate.
00:56:44
Speaker
The Crafty Pints Year in Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit MogwaiLabs.com.au. That's M-O-G-W-A-I-L-A-B-S.com.au.
00:57:04
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 and can stay up to date on future podcast episodes via our socials.
00:57:18
Speaker
We wouldn't be able to produce the podcast or the website, events, or festivals we run without the support of the beer industry, whether that's suppliers, bars, breweries, or bottle shops. If you'd like to support the show or partner with The Crafty Pine in other ways, please reach out to Craig via 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 club for beer lovers, The Crafty Cabal. Visit craftycabal.com for more. And until next time, drink good beer.