Radio Brews News

This week Pete Mitcham takes on not one, not two but three streams of beer consciousness as he catches up with the spiritual heads of Hawkers Beer and Liberty Brewing. Hawkers and Liberty have joined to brew Liberty beers here in Australia as well as hatching plots to brew more collaborative brews. Joe Wood from Liberty Brewing in Helensville, NZ was at Hawkers to launch the initiative and Pete ca...

In this week's news and discussion, Pete and Matt have a look at : The update to the Bintani court case The pending sale of Foghorn Brewhouse in Newcastle Little Creatures big influence on the beer scene and as a training ground for new brewers Pondered over how our invitation to catch up with good friend Greg Koch got lost in the mail

This week Matt speaks with Paul Baggio, managing director of a network of companies with interests in the craft brewing movement, including Craft & Co, Gypsy Brewing Company and equipment supplier FB*PROPAK. With his Italian heritage, background in wine-making and qualifications in business, Paul is very articulate about how the growth of craft brewing isn’t just about changes in beer and our tast...

This week in a busy week of beer news, Pete and Matt discuss: The Independent Brewers Association today announced a merger with Melbourne’s Good Beer Week. Lion adds, Coopers loses Brooklyn GABS spreads its wings further adding Brisbane to its schedule for 2019 Bintani and YCH in lawsuit Newstead shows how to manage a product recall

During the recent Sydney Beer Week we were fortunate to work with Kegstar to present this discussion panel looking at the future of beer festivals and beer events such as the very beer week we were attending. Events such as these were a great route to market for brewers in the early days of craft beer and also provided beer drinkers with a place to try all of the new and novel beers that were comi...

Word about a cashed-up brewery-in-planning featuring some celebrities and big sporting names started to drift around the industry a little over 18 months ago. This was followed up with news of some big drinks industry names and a 50-hectolitre BrauKon brewhouse. And as beer started to find its way into the market, contract brewed as many emphasised, and major sporting sponsorships, deals and partn...

This week on Brews News Week, Pete and Matt discuss the beers news of the week. Under the  microscope this week is: The US Brewers Association is again revisiting the definition of ‘craft’, with a view to changing the definition of independence. Some people say that “Craft beer” means anything Boston Beer wants it to. But non-beer products are becoming an increasing part of brewer’s portfolios. St...

The third and the final part of our conversation with Steve Jeffares and Guy Greenstone, founder of The Local Taphouse, GABS and the Hottest 100, amongst other things. We start this part finishing off finding out about the growth of GABS from the Local Taphouse to the Royal Exhibition Building. We then learn about the decision to open the Stomping Ground brewery and their key staff Ashur Hall and...

In part 2 we look at what beers Steve and Guy consider the most influential over the last 10 years, we look at the origins and the evolutions of the Hottest 100, what it means on the beer landscape, the early days of the Great Australian Beer Spectapular and how it morphed into the GABS festival, how that has morphed and grown and what they have learned along the way.

Ten years ago the Local Taphouse opened and quickly became a benchmark for what a great beer bar should be. Over the last 10 years founders Steve Jeffares and Guy Greenstone have continued to evolve and innovate and, in Hottest 100 and GABS, have created some of the biggest things on the craft beer calendar. They have also had a few misses and over the next 90 minutes you will hear them discuss th...

This week on Brews News Week, Pete and Matt keep it under the Cook limit as they discuss: The volume of jobs open to brewers at the moment How gas shortages are a potentially causing issues for brewers A creative way brewers are keeping track of their cool Twists, turns and triumphs for Nail brewing We also hear from brewer Brendan O'Sullivan in defence of NEIPAs and you can hear the podcast he re...

This week Pete and Matt catch up with US beer writer, John Holl. John is a an award-winning journalist and currently the senior editor of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine and the co-host of the award-winning Steal This Beer podcast. John has also served as editor of All About Beer Magazine, which folded this week. John has a new book out called Drink Beer, Think Beer: Getting to the Bottom of Every P...

Welcome to Radio Brews News revisited. Regular listeners will know that up until a year ago Brews News Week and Beer is a Conversation were one show, and if you wanted to listen to an old interview you'd have to wade through the news of that week. So now we're republishing the best of those interviews as their own podcast. This week you'll hear from a 2014 conversation with John Holl who also feat...

This Brews News Week, Pete and Matt discuss what happened in the beer world including: The Independent Brewers Association has launched guidelines to assist brewers with labelling.  A Twitter exchange between a State Government backbencher and Opposition Leader has prompted a new campaign to showcase local beer across WA. While last year’s launch of Heineken 3 promised beer drinkers they could “Ha...

This week on Beer is a Conversation, Pete and Matt catch up with Feral Brewing founder, Brendan Varis. It’s been 12 months since Brendan announced that he had sold his brewery to Coca Cola, and 10 years since he first brewed Hop Hog and so we have plenty to talk about. We discuss what has changed since the sale, how much the beer scene has changed since he unleashed Hop Hog on the market and it tu...

Pete catches up with Matt live from Townsville to discuss the beer news of the week such as: The ten years of Hop Hog and how much the industry has changed over that time Confusion over a proposed $5-million assistance initiative for independent brewers Can you get nothing without adding something? The mystery of brewing Heineken 0.0 and where does the extra sugar come from? We also follow up from...

This week, due to a combination of a horrific donut related tongue biting incident and and errant mail server, we did not have a Beer is a Conversation guest but we did have an abundance of listener emails, so this week our conversation is with you, the listener. Matt & Pete go through some great letters and discuss the topics that are raised and go down a few rabbit holes along the way. Enjoy the...

This week on Brews News Week we welcome Pete back after a break and talk about the news of the week, including: Bintani announces a partial sale to US supplier Rahr. Lion announces job cuts, blames craft beer. Broo loses another $4-million, but confident. We also wish Kerry Claydon well as she treks to Everest basecamp to raise funds for MND & Me. You can donate here.   And also our Letter of the...

This week on Brews News Week Matt is joined by marketing expert Zoe Ottaway from Totem Marketing to discuss the beer news and events of the week.   This week we discuss Brisbane's Beeries Awards and especially Kerry Claydon and Chicks With Ales winning the Gold Beerie for Community Contribution, but we also discuss what industry's responsibility is when it comes to projecting a positive image for...

This week on Beer is a Conversation we have a chat with one of the great characters of the Australian brewing industry, Tom Delmont. We have had Tom on the show before about how he became brand ambassador for Mountain Goat, introduced the man who would become The Crafty Pint to Australian beer and founded Fixation Brewing. We recorded this episode the day before Fixation’s Melbourne home, The Incu...

This week's Beer is a Conversation is with Hargreaves Hill’s Simon Walkenhorst. We last chatted with Simon when Pete caught up with him to discuss the new look for the brewery, and this time we chat about a whole new branding line they have released, Beatnik Beer. Today, Matt was interested to try and understand why a successful and respected brewery would look to create a whole new brand for the...

There was really only one story to discuss in a rough week for Australian craft beer and we were very fortunate to be joined by marketing consultant and Pink Boots Australia Vice President, Zoe Ottaway, for her very thoughtful analysis on the Black Hops beer issue, the brewery's response, Pink Boots Society's reaction and what it means for the beer community. The last few days have been rapidly ev...

This breaking news episode features a chat with Richard Kelsey from Beer Cartel in which we take a deeper dive into the 2018 Australian Craft Beer Survey that was released today. In an industry that is starved of information about itself and it’s consumers, the Beer Cartel survey has become one of the most highly referenced information sources amongst the industry and in the media. Given its relev...

This week on Beer is a Conversation we discuss beer tourism. Tap rooms have become an important part of small brewery business plans as tourism increasingly becomes a major draw card. The first part of the conversation is with Chris Holen, Head Chef at Baked Alaska restaurant in Astoria Oregon. Chris tells the story of how food and beer have been instrumental in changing the fortunes of the small...

This week on Brews News Week, Matt & Pete discuss the beer stories of the week including: Cryer Malt launches Border Malt Sydney Beer Week 2018 program announced Fixation opens Melbourne taproom The discussion on our Facebook page about this article. Hawker's takes out international honours, again.