Radio Brews News

This week we catch up with Chris Herring from Mount Tamborine's Beard & Brau brewery. We chat about the brewery and its origins and then about their new beer that promises to be gluten reduced despite being made with malted barley. The beer is possible due to the use of a brewing enzyme, Brewers Clarex. The enzyme has been used for some time to reduce chill haze in beer and has tended to be used by larger breweries with such enzymes often being seen as the antithesis of 'craft' brewing. We chat with Chris abouy the beer, their decision to use the enzyme and whether this makes their beer any less crafty...whatever that means. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voice mail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. Download the audio or subscribe below.

This week our planned guest, Aine O'Hora from Ireland's Boyne Brewhouse, was forced to cancel at  the last minute so Pete and Matt this week's episode sees Matt and Pete discussing the news of the day: CUB's increasing focus on heritage brands, Rob Ruminski's article arguing craft brewers need to complain less and market better and also whether Lion's beautiful truths campaign glosses over some inconvenient ones...and whether it matters anyway. Spoiler alert: As you would expect, Matt thinks it does and mounts the soapbox; Pete couldn't care. Let us know what you think. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voice mail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. Download the audio or subscribe below. [adrotate banner="12"]

After their unplanned hiatus, Pete and Matt are back, this week chatting with the guys behind beer-powered fundraiser Brewmanity and also the team at Sydney's Batch Brewing. Retired footballer David Neitz and teamed up with Melbourne beer identity Barney Matthews to create Brewmanity and see what would happen if you imagined that a portion of every beer we ever drank contributed to doing some good in the world… We also speak with Andrew Fineran and Chris Sidwa, the boys behind Sydney's Batch Brewing. We talk about their philosphy, the local market and why sometimes drinking beers from jam jars is a necessary evil...but good glass is always better.  Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voice mail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. Download the audio or subscribe below. [adrotate banner="12"]

This week we catch up with Ben Kooyman, one of the founders of Endeavour Vintage Beer Co. As usual, it's a wide ranging chat talking about the origins of the brewery and musings about labelling, vintage beer, retailing and plenty of other things going on in the beer world at the moment. We also talk about their beers too. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voice mail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. Download the audio or subscribe below.  

This week we catch up once again with influential beer historian Martyn Cornell from the blog Zythophile. We last caught up with Martyn back in 2011 when he had set a cat amongst the pigeons correcting some errors in the Oxford Companion to Beer. Martyn has a new book out, Strange Tales of Ale, which gives the true account of a wide variety of beer stories, such as the Great Porter Explosion at the Meux Brewery and whether the ploughman's lunch was really just the creation of cheese marketers. Martyn is a knowledgeable and engaging guest, and his books are highly recommended. You can buy them - and help him out with higher commissions - by buying them through is Amazon shop here. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voice mail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. Download the audio or subscribe below.  

This week we take a look at the latest crowd-funding campaign, this time to pay for a new venues taps and also speak with brewer Scott Hargrave about his soon-to-open Gold Coast brewery. Adelaide bar-in-development NOLA has taken to crowd-funding site Pozible to raise funds to pay for the taps in their venue. In their words: "We want to give people the opportunity to help us stick it up the big guys. We want the people to help us support the Australian craft beer market by allowing us to provide a venue free from constraints." We chat with Managing Director Oliver Brown to find out more about the campaign and discuss whether crowd-funding for things such as taps is appropriate or whether it should be seen as the cost of doing business. You can find out more about the Tipping for Taps Pozible campaign here: www.pozible.com/project/199047 Then we catch up with Scott Hargrave, head brewer  of the soon-to-open Balter Brewing, possibly more famous at the moment for its shark-punching co-owner Mick Fannning, but we

This week we catch up with Denita Wawn, Chief Executive Officer of the Brewers Association and also Mazen Hajjar, co-founder of Melbourne's Hawkers Beer. Our chat with Denita is very wide ranging and discusses the role of the Brewers Association, which represents the large breweries of Australia and New Zealand in their legislative and regulatory affairs. We end up looking at the association's role in assisting to fund the recently launched Tasmanian Brewery Trail. We also chat with Mazen Hajjar to discuss his background founding a brewery in Lebanon and his very forthright views on the local craft beer market. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voicemail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. Download the audio or subscribe below.

This week we catch up with Denita Wawn, Chief Executive Officer of the Brewers Association and also Mazen Hajar, co-founder of Melbourne's Hawkers Beer. Our chat with Denita is very wide ranging and discusses the role of the Brewers Association, which represents the large breweries of Australia and New Zealand in their legislative and regulatory affairs. We end up looking at the association's role in assisting to fund the recently launched Tasmanian Brewery Trail. We also chat with Mazen Hajar to discuss his background founding a brewery in Lebanon and his very forthright views on the local craft beer market. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voicemail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh.

This week we catch up with Owen 'OJ' Johnston from Hop Products Australia and David Golding from Red Hill Brewery. Owen talks us through the Australian and international hop trends following the release of the annual Barth Report. The report has been published annually, with few exceptions, since 1877 and provides a fascinating insight into the annual hop production and trends. David joins us to talk about ten years of Red Hill Brewery, how they started, their inspiration, trials and tribulations as well as the 10 beers he is brewing to mark the anniversary...one of which may be inspired by you. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voicemail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh.  

Two more great chats again this week for your weekend listening pleasure. This week we chat with Bobby Henry, brewer at contract-brewing-soon-to-be-brewery-owning Quiet Deeds and Doug and Gabi Michael from boutique maltster, Gladfield Malt. Bobby has a very frank chat about the evolution of the Quiet Deeds brand and their plans to open their own brewery, while Doug & Gabi discuss their transition from barley growers to maltsters, while teaching us about good malt on the way. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voicemail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh.  

This week is a study in contrasts as we catch up with Michael, Jack and Red from South Australia's Pirate Life Brewing, makers of unashamedly hoppy beers. We also catch up with Anthony Clem, Quality Brewer at Brisbane's XXXX Brewery to find out all about the new Pale Ale being released today under the XXXX Gold label. Don't forget to send us your feedback, or leave a voicemail by calling (07) 3040 1508, that we'll play on our next show. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. ___________________________________________________________________

This week we catch up with Ben Kraus from Beechworth's Bridge Road Brewers, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Ben is always passionate and forthright, especially on the subject of provenance, and shares his thoughts on the changes he has seen in the small brewing industry over the decade since he started brewing is his dad's shed until the present, where he now employs 25 staff. This week we also introduce some new.  With the great feedback we get  via email, Twitter, Facebook and the comments we decided we really wanted to hear from you...and now we can. If you want to leave us a question or a comment you can. Just call and leave the message on 07 3040 1508. We'll play it next episode. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. ___________________________________________________________________  

In a bumper, but Prof-less, episode Matt catches up with Toohey's Brewery Director Mark Toomey to learn all about the new Toohey's Darling Pale Ale. Sections of social media have delighted in sneering at the media release describing the beer as 'unchallenging' but we learn from Mark that the beer is all malt, uses a blend of Galaxy, Willamette and Amarillo hops and the Tooheys ale yeast. It may be subtle - restrained even -  but with Little Creatures' broadened distribution for Furphy and other launches planned in the near future it does give an indication as to where Lion sees the beer market going. But first we catch up with 'Gen Y' nutritionist Rosie Mansfield and chat Dry July. Rosie says Dry July can help develop a more balanced attitude to drinking and kick start healthier habits for life, and while we're for beer we're also all for the message of moderation. We then chat with James Hird, the current Good Food Sommelier of the Year. Hird caused quote a bit of controversy on Brews News this week when

This week Matt and Pete actually catch up over a beer - well actually a morning cup of coffee - and chat with publican Josh Collins from Black Bunny Kitchen on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Black Bunny Kitchen has established itself as a beacon for beer adventurers in a part of Australia that has proved a hard nut to crack for craft beer. We find out what Josh has been doing and get some insights into how he's made beer work in his venue. But first we catch up with Peter Collins from Hawthorn Brewing Company which recently took out the title of Supreme Champion Brewer at the UK-based International Beer Challenge.Off the back of their success they have announced a deal to export beer to Great Britain and France. We ask Peter about labelling and also the ins-and-outs of exporting beer. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh.  

This week we meet BentSpoke's Richard Watkins to celebrate his brewery's first birthday and hear his thoughts on the small brewing industry gained over twenty years. We then catch up with brewing educator and consultant Vincent Costanzo from Costanzo Brewing Consultants to learn about some of the issues affecting beer quality that anyone thinking of becoming a brewer should be considering.If you want to know more about Vince's courses, you can find a listing here. Finally we catch up with James Smith, the man behind The Crafty Pint and the Festival Director of Good Beer Week to hear how things went at this year's festival - one of the world's great beer weeks. James also discusses his decision to step back from his role as festival director. We also announce the winners of our Steve Hindy and Adam Ferrier book giveaways. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. ___________________________________________________________________ Radio Brews News

A cracking show this week in which we caught up with Brooklyn Brewery co-founder, Steve Hindy, and talk about the strength of craft and the challenges it faces. The interview follows some of the themes Steve discussed in hisopening keynote at the recent CBIA Craft Brewers Conference. We also meet consumer psychologist and regular panellist on the Gruen Series, Adam Ferrier. Amongst many thank, Adam says that if you tell yourself that all that matters about the beer that you drink is the flavour and not the brand, then you’re kidding yourself. Yes, that means you too. Adam Ferrier This week we have prizes, offering both a signed copy of Steve Hindy’s latest book The Craft Beer Revolution: How a band of microbreweries is transforming the world’s favourite drink and also a copy of Adam Ferrier’s book The Advertising Effect: How to Change Behaviour. Details of how to win are contained in the show. Winners will be announced in the next podcast. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham a

We're in the throes of Good Beer Week in Melbourne, but in the interests of keeping it regular we managed to catch up with Australian International Beer Awards chief judge Warren Pawsey, who ends the discussion about what Session IPAs really are.  We chat to newly crowned Beer Writer of the Year, Luke Robertson, and we hear from Co-chief GABS man Steve Jeffares how the first session of GABS went and whether you've left your run to late if you don't have tickets already. Radio Brews News is hosted by Matt Kirkegaard and Pete Mitcham and is produced by Lachie Mackintosh. ___________________________________________________________________ Radio Brews News is proudly supported by and also by

This week, a year on from the ACCC’s Byron Bay intervention, we speak with the Chair of the ACCC, Rod Simms, about the ACCC’s role and function and the steps they are taking to ensure that what you see on the label is a true reflection of what’s behind the beer. Apologies for the audio quality with this interview. It was a great chat down a terrible phone line. But first, we speak with Tim Wills from Premier Stainless. As the craft beer industry in Australia expands so too does the demand for quality stainless equipment. The recent demise of Core Brewing Concepts hurt a number of brewers – so what should you look for when you order a brewery? Should you pay in full? What are the Australian standards? Tim Wills joins the program with a primer into stainless steel. During the interview Tim mentions a sample quote for a stainless system, you can download that here. You can also download the Premier Stainless brochure, with pricing here. Premier has been a previous sponsor of the Australian Brews News but this w

This week we chat with Jamie Cook who, while these days better known as a founder of Stone & Wood Brewery, has many years of experience working for Australia's two largest brewing companies as well as as a marketing consultant. Jamie is one of our favourite industry watchers and while the conversation inevitably comes back to Stone & Wood's approach to business, the conversation looks at issues of craft, provenance, beer bubbles and the future of beer. (We had teed up this interview some weeks ago for this to run today, and it is a coincidence the brewery features in our feed several times today.) The interview kicks off looking at the new English United Craft Brewers group's proposed definition of 'craft beer', which currently reads: A craft brewer is: Authentic: Brews all beer at original gravity. Owns and operates a craft brewer based (HQ) in UK Honest: The place where the beer is brewed is clearly listed on the label of the beer. All ingredients are clearly listed on the label of the beer. All the beer

This week Radio Brews News interviews Micah Rees from Core Brewing Concepts. Two weeks ago website The Crafty Pint published a story titled Brewer Beware, outlining issues that a number of brewers have had with a brewing equipment supplier, Core Brewing. This followed a warning posted on social media by one of the brewers affected. We initially intended to run this podcast featuring interviews with a number of the affected brewers, together with this interview with Micah Rees.  However, as we spoke with the brewers, the story was rapidly developing as more affected brewers came to light. In light of that we have decided to run this interview alone and will follow up with brewers in later episodes. Needless to say, versions of key events are disputed. ___________________________________________________________________ Radio Brews News is proudly supported by and also by