Radio Brews News

This week on Beer is a Conversation, Pete and Matt are joined by Michael Bannenberg. Banners, as he’s better known, spent 28 years working with advertising agency George Patterson developing campaigns for many well known Carlton United Brewery brands during that time. He’s also a bit of a collector of brewery memorabilia and has compiled over 160 unique beer posters in his new book Australia’s Bee...

This week on Brews News Week Matt flies solo but discusses the news of the week with the people making news. First up, he chats with Anton Szpitalak from Tribe Brewing about Tribe’s  announcement this week that it has signed an agreement to brew Pabst Blue Ribbon. Anton and his family formed Brewpack in 2012 when they acquired the assets of collapsed contractor Australian Independent Brewers. Late...

This week on Beer is a Conversation, Matt chats to Larry Meagher, Regional Sales Manager for food flavouring business, Amoretti. One of the promises that craft beer hold out is more flavour than the beers Australians have traditionally consumed and brewers have been in an arms race to push the boundaries of what malt, water, hops and yeast can lend to their beers. We have also seen a variety of ad...

This Good Brews Week Pete and Matt are joined by Pia Poynton, beer writer and Business Development Manager at Nowhereman Brewing Co. They discuss the news of the week, including: Barrow Boys Falls while West City Rises Us versus Them  Is Canarchy a Duck

This week on Beer is a Conversation we meet Bill Savage from Goose Island. Bill came to brewing having taught himself to make mead while studying classical language and literature at college. He went on to make wine and mead professionally, before joining Goose Island in 2013. He is now Lead Brewer in the Goose Island Barrel Aging Program. This conversation coincides with the launch of Goose Islan...

This week on Good Brews Week, Matt and Pete chow down on a few Dagwood dogs while discussing the news of the week from the Ekka in Brisbane. This weeks top stories are: Stone and Wood settle trademark dispute case and announce plans for Brisbane venue Mornington Peninsula Brewery joins Tribe Great Northern Brewing raises $1 million for farmers  

This week on Beer is a Conversation Matt is joined by Diarmaid O’Mordha, Quality & Sustainability Manager at Endeavour Drinks Group, the business that runs Dan Murphy’s and BWS. These retailers hold an interesting place in the Australian drinks world. On the one hand they are held up as giants shading out small independent bottleshops and skewing the shape of the drinks landscape. On the other, th...

This week Matt and Pete are in Brisbane for the Ekka. They discuss what the vibe is like at Queensland's royal show and news of the week including: Gage Roads kicks goal in nib Stadium Newstead Brewing Co partners with Surf Life Saving Qld

This week for Beer is a Conversation, we are joined by Chris Sidwa. Chris is probably best known as co-founder of Sydney’s Batch Brewing. We caught up with Chris and his partner Andrew Fineran late last year during our swing through the breweries of Sydney’s inner west. This time we chat with Chris about his new book, Brew a Batch: A beginner’s guide to home-brewed beer. As a beginners guide to ge...

This week on Good Brews Week Matt and Pete discuss the news of the week, including: AB InBev buys online retailer BoozeBud Lion buys NZ’s Harrington’s What’s the true cost of a keg of beer?

In the third and final Brews News Live, from BrewCon 2018, our special guest is Jason Perrault, CEO and head breeder at the Select Botanicals Group, part of Yakima Chief Hopunion. This week we do something a little different and turn the microphones over to Balter Brewing's Scott Hargraves and Van Dieman Brewing's Will Tatchell to host the conversation they wanted to listen to. It’s riveting liste...

This weeks Beer is a Conversation is with Lachy Crothers, head brewer at Brisbane’s Ballistic Brewing. Regular listeners will know that freshness has been recurring topic on the podcast channel and so when Ballistic released a beer with a ‘Dead by’ date, our interest was immediately piqued. The Sleep When You’re Dead range, is a series of one-off hop-driven limited releases which are launched with...

This week on Good Brews Week we welcome Pete back from the US and get his take on what's happening in the home of craft beer.   We also discuss the news of the week including: Beer features big at Regional Flavours Trade mark squatters could cost brewers Coopers Pale Ale in cans Lagunitas drops ABV of IPA in UK

In the second episode of Brews News Live, from BrewCon 2018, Matt speaks with Dick Cantwell.  Dick co-founded Elysian Brewing Company in 1996, where he served as head brewer until its sale to Anheuser-Busch in 2015. During his tenure, Elysian was named Large Brewpub of the Year three times at the Great American Beer Festival® (1999, 2003 and 2004), and in 2004, he received the BA's Russell Schehre...

This week on Beer is a Conversation, Matt catches up with Grant Wearin, who together with his wife Jaz, launched Modus Operandi almost exactly 4 years ago. From the very start, Modus has had a major effect on the beer market with the brewery winning a swag of trophies, including being named Champion Small Brewery at the then Craft Beer Industry Association awards, within months of opening. They we...

In this special Brews News Live, recorded at BrewCon 2018, Matt Kirkegaard chats with New Belgium co-founder Kim Jordan Since it’s beginnings 1991, Kim has been instrumental in developing a business and a culture that has driven one of the most respected craft breweries in America. This chat covers New Belgium’s early days, whether a business could start the same way today and still grow to the sc...

This week on Beer is a Conversation Matt Kirkegaard has a long over due chat with brewer Michael Capaldo. In a career spanning more than a decade Michael has gone from working as a packaging assistant with Little Creatures to a production brewing role with Gage Roads while completing a Graduate Diploma of Brewing through Edith Cowan University. He then took the reins as head brewer for Sydney Brew...

This week on Good Brews Week Matt is playing the role of Pete Mitcham who is overseas. He is joined by Zoe Ottaway from Totem Marketing and Steve 'Hendo' Henderson from Rockstar Brewer to discuss the beer news of the week. This week sees us discuss: ABAC and the fine line brewers walk between fun marketing and marketng to children London has called Lion and it has bought Fourpure Lion returns Swan...

Part 3 of this weeks chat with Teri Fahrendorf is all about her latest passion, malt. She believes malt will be next big trend and shares her thoughts on where Australia is headed in terms of flavour.  Matt was lucky enough to have the chance to chat with Pink Boots founder, Teri Fahrendorf recently at BrewCon. Teri’s background as a brewer is of considerable experience and the beginnings of the P...

Part 2 of this weeks chat with Teri Fahrendorf covers the story of Pink Boots and how its creation was somewhat of an accident.  Matt was lucky enough to have the chance to chat with Pink Boots founder, Teri Fahrendorf recently at BrewCon. Teri’s background as a brewer is of considerable experience and the beginnings of the Pink Boots Society is a must hear story. The conversation was so engaging...

Strap yourselves in for Beer is a Conversation this week, you’re in for a ride. Matt was lucky enough to chat with Pink Boots founder, Teri Fahrendorf recently at BrewCon. Teri’s background as a brewer is of considerable experience and the beginnings of the Pink Boots Society is a must hear story. The conversation was so engaging and interesting that Matt and Teri ended up chatting for almost two...

This week on Good Brews Week we temporarily farewell Pete who will be overseas for a few weeks, and discuss: BrewCon 2018 and the Indies Joe White puts signature on craft malt Experienceit drops Beaverton

This week on Beer is a Conversation Matt Kirkegaard is joined by Anton Szpitalak from Tribe Breweries. Anton was talked into taking over the former Australian Independent Breweries business which he rebranded as Brewpack and turned around its fortunes. From contract brewing he has expanded into his own branded product in the shape of Stockade, and recently opened a brewery / barrel room in Marrick...

This week's episode was recorded at BrewCon 2018 and we were lucky to catch up in person with, now regular guest, Zoe Ottaway. We chat about the evolution of BrewCon from its early days at the Melbourne Lithuanian Club to the expansive event in Sydney this year. We discuss Brut IPAs and Matt's suggestion that it represents a blurring of ideas of 'craft' and 'industrial' Consumer feedback and perce...

This week’s Beer is a Conversation guest is Belgin Kose, Regional General Manager, Asia Pacific for Cargill, owners of Joe White Maltings. Belgin has held this role for 18 months and over that time she has been driving a project that is being launched this week at BrewCon: Signature Malt. This initiative will see Joe White maltings assess malt coming in from every region after harvest and with the...