Upcoming Events

Brewmanity have spent years using good beer to do good deeds, with the brewing company created to raise much-needed funds to fight Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Their launch in 2015 came about as Melbourne Demons captain David Neitz watched his old coach, Neale Daniher, battle the disease.

This year, that mission has got that much better thanks to the arrival of their long-planned brewery. 

And what a venue it is, with the South Melbourne brewery a multi-level space featuring a beer hall, rooftop beer garden and dozens of taps. 

Since the doors opened, head brewer Tim Miller has been hard at work filling those many taps and Brewmanity are eager to welcome our beer-loving Crafty Cabal members in to sample them on May 1.

Kicking off at 6pm, we'll dive straight into the brewhouse (not literally) to enjoy some unreleased beers straight from the tank before heading upstairs to chat with founders David Neitz and Jamie Fox about the brewery's story to date and their plans for the venue. The evening event will roll straight into trivia too so if you want to test your knowledge, plan ahead and hit the books (and book a table for 7pm to be safe).

Tickets cost just $10pp which includes all beer tastings and, due to how tight the brewery floor is, spaces are limited. 

One of the first Crafty Cabal events we ran in Sydney was at Wildflower.

Back then, in June 2017, the Marrickville brewers and blenders hadn't even opened to the public, inviting us along for a preview tasting.

Much has happened since, with Wildflower becoming one of the country's most respected and lauded breweries, exploring new techniques and ingredients, and forging relationships around the world.

So you can guarantee there will be plenty to talk about when we return on April 4, 2024, for an evening of beer, cheese and chat. 

It will be a chance to learn more about their blossoming relationship with Mountain Culture, whose beers now pour at Wildflower's home and with whom Topher and team have commenced a new lager program, as well as the latest evolution of this pioneering operation and Goldstreet Dairy, a micro-cheesery situated next door.

Tickets cost just $25pp, which gets you:

• Two Wildflower beers
• The new Mountain Culture / Wildflower Mirror Image collab
• A Mountain Culture beer
• A serve of cheese

The event runs from 6.30pm to 8pm, with places strictly limited.

Holgate Brewhouse mark 25 years of beers later this year, and they're filling 2024 with heaps of limited beer releases: some old recipes reborn, some new, some collabs with past brewers.

They'll be showcasing five of them at The Fox in Collingwood on March 22 at the Like It's '99 Party (they released their first beers in 1999).

The event also features a happy hour, Pop Culture Trivia and giveaways including a weekend stay at Holgate in Woodend.

What's more, if you're a Cabal member, you'll get a bonus pot of your choosing!

Watts River Brewing are the very definition of a hidden gem, brewing a range of delightful beers at their home in the Yarra Valley.

In 2023, they released a series of beers inspired by Belgium that we included in our Best Of Beer roundup for Victoria – and they're doing it again in 2024.

They're offering Cabal members a chance to taste this year's vintage first at Audacious Monk Cellars in Preston from 2pm on the afternoon of April 20.

The beers will be paired with a cheese and charcuterie platter from the Yarra Valley as the team takes you through their story, their fondness for such styles, and anything else you'd like to know.

Tickets cost just $25pp for all beers and matched foods presented at the event.

Are you eager to learn about terpenes and find out why they're making their way into your beer?

The Crafty Pint and Wolf of the Willows are hosting an esteemed panel at the Cherry Tree Hotel on February 28, where they will unpack how brewers use terpenes, their connection to hops and cannabis, and what's going on in this area in the USA. 

You'll also get to enjoy some of Wolf's terpene beers, with full details of the event here. 

Better yet, as a Crafty Cabal member, you can secure tickets for the special, half-priced rate of $10+BF.

Watts River Brewing are the very definition of a hidden gem.

Even though they brew their beers in the popular Yarra Valley town of Healesville, their humble, laid-back approach means you tend to have to find them rather than them coming to find you.

They brew a range of delightful beers, from a tight core range to plenty of barrel-aged beers and those that celebrate their love of all beers Belgian.

In 2023, they released a series of beers inspired by Belgium that we included in our Best Of Beer roundup for Victoria – and they're doing it again in 2024.

When they're ready, they'll be showcasing them at an event for Cabal members at Audacious Monk Cellars in Preston on the afternoon of April 20.

We're still finessing details and will put tickets on sale once everything is locked in, but if this sounds like your jam, you can register your interest and we'll flick you an email as soon as tickets go on sale.

Bridge Road Brewers have long been advocates for the Aussie hops grown in their part of the world: the Victorian High Country.

For many years now, they been celebrating hop harvest with a festival in their hometown of Beechworth, which now features a technical symposium for the beer industry too.

The High Country Hop returns to Beechworth's Historic Precinct Reserve on March 23, 2024, featuring brewers, local winemakers, distillers and an inspired musical lineup.

Local brewers will be joined by some stars of the craft beer game both nationally and internationally, with a selection of wholesome eats on offer too.

Tickets cost $75pp but we've got some to give away to Crafty Cabal members.

New Zealand is home to a mighty fine beer scene, and if you're keen to discover and taste what it's all about, there's a tour taking place in March and April 2024 that will be right up your alley.

The Ultimate Craft Beer Tour Of New Zealand is curated and hosted by avowed craft beer lover and travel manager Bryce Read: a ten-day exclusive taking in visits to the likes of Liberty, Hallertau, 8 Wired, Sawmill, Brewaucracy, Bootleg, Croucher, North End, Double Vision, and Garage Project before rocking up to Nelson Marchfest at the height of hop harvest.

Along the way, as well as the beers, tours, and insight from brewers, there are inclusive lunches, beer dinners, a tour of Nelson's famed hop region, tastings and activities that step outside beer – axe-hurling, anyone?

You can read more about it here – and Cabal members can save $250 if they book before December 15, 2023.

To take advantage of the discount, just make sure you let Bryce know you're an active Cabal member, providing your membership number, at the time you make the booking.

Late last year, Hawkers founder Mazen Hajjar invited us to bring Cabal members to his Reservoir brewery for a journey back in time through their library of barrel-aged beers.

It was such a hit, he promised to do it again, so that's what we'll be doing on December 15.

Kicking off at 6.30pm, he'll guide attendees through a dozen big beers, mostly drawn from this year's series of barrel-aged releases. There will be a flight of barleywines, a flight of off-kilter releases, and imperial stouts too.

We'll put on cheese platters as who doesn't love big beers paired with delicious cheeses?

There's just 30 spots available so we're only opening the event to members. If there are any spaces left nearer the time, we'll allow members to buy tickets for guests.

Tickets cost $70pp, which includes all beer tastings and accompanying cheeses.

Molly Rose are one of the breweries looking to change perceptions around beer, especially the way it is viewed in relation to food and dining.

We've started exploring its place alongside great food in The Matchmakers series, and now they're looking to showcase just how well food and beer pair with the unique Smile, Enjoy! festival.

Taking place at their Collingwood brewery venue on November 12, they've invited five of their brewing mates – Loophole (SA), Range (QLD), Bruny Island (TAS), Noodledoof and Black Arts (both VIC) – to put forward two beers. Each brewer's beers will then be paired with a delicious dish.

There's more info on the event here – and if it sounds like your jam you can save $20 on tickets as a member of The Crafty Cabal.

The Bract Programme from NZ Hops is one of the ways they bring new hop varieties to market.

They send the most promising of their experimental varieties to select breweries around the world and invite them to use them as they see fit. The beers provide them with feedback on which hops to bring to market.

If you'd like to sample some of their latest great green hopes, New Hop Drop is the place to be as Moon Dog gather the Bract Programme beers from ten Aussie and Kiwi breweries in the one place.

It's on November 18 and you can read all about it here.

We've got $78 Primo passes to give away to Cabal members, which get holders tasters of all ten beers, plus three 100ml serves of event-exclusive NZ beers, priority access to a masterclass, a Moon Dog branded Birrateque glass, a Superdelic or It’s All Hazy Baby baseball cap, and an NZ Hops sticker pack.

Well, it's taken us rather longer than hoped to get this all lined but we're ready to roll!

As you may well know, Beer Fontaine are one of the most fascinating recent arrivals on the Australian beer scene and, after rather more delays than they'd have liked, are soon to open their stylish taproom.

When it opens, it will make the Sydney suburb of Botany home to three of the best breweries to have opened in the past half decade.

Before the grand opening arrives, you can get up close with the team, taste their beers, and hear all about their story and influences when founder Marshall Harrington joins The Crafty Pint's founder James Smith at iconic craft beer venue Bitter Phew on the evening of October 19. As well as sharing his story, guests will get to enjoy:

• A Beer Fontaine beer on arrival
• Guided tastings of four of Marshall's favourite Fontaine beers
• Cheese and chocolate pairings with two of those beers

We're setting up in the downstairs bar for a 6.30pm start so we have the space exclusively to ourselves, before moving upstairs after the main event.

Tickets cost $45pp with a special price of just $30pp for Crafty Cabal members and their mates.

Beer Fontaine is one of the most fascinating newer breweries in Australia, completing a trio of breweries based in Botany that make the Sydney 'burb one with an incredibly high density of great beer.

To find out more about their story, beers and future plans, we've invited them to join us for an evening at one of the country's pioneering good beer venues, Bitter Phew.

We're still working out the finer details of the format for the evening, but given it's taken about two months to find a date that works for everyone we thought we'd flag it up now.

It will take place on the evening of October 19 and we'll be back with more info and ticket sales ASAP.

For now, if you're keen, you can register your interest here and we'll shoot you an email as soon as tickets go on sale.

Cheers!

SALES CLOSED

It's been rather longer between Cabal events in WA than planned this year, but then again it's been one heck of a weird year and we're damn certain this has been worth the wait!

On September 20, we're delighted to have one of the country's leading beer experts and most respected judges joining us at The Dutch Trading Co (DTC) to deliver a delicious* double-header.

Clare Clouting (pictured on the right presenting a trophy at this year's Indies awards on the Gold Coast) has spent more than two decades working in the food and beverage industries here and overseas, including nearly seven years at Gage Roads.

Since leaving there, she's founded Athena Quality, through which she assists businesses in all things quality and innovation-related, while also training women as beer judges via the Pink Boots Society and much more besides.

Alongside The Crafty Pint's senior writer Will Ziebell (in Perth to judge at the WA Good Food Guide Beer of the Year) and our WA writer Guy Southern, Clare will provide attendees with:

• an introduction to sensory analysis via an Off Flavour Training session usually only given to industry professionals, featuring five common beer / brewing faults; and
• a guide to beer judging via some very different beer styles

The event kicks off at 6.30pm with a welcome beer from the taps in the main bar before the main session in the back room.

Tickets cost $50pp, which includes the welcome beer, all samples in Clare's session, and basic nibbles of the sort you'd have while in formal beer judging – ie nothing to hamper your sensory skills**!

But... Cabal members and their mates can enjoy a special price of just $30pp.

NB Just the Off Flavour Training element costs USD$55 when given to people doing the Cicerone course in the US.

A traditional German festival with a Sri Lankan twist? Yes, please!

The first-ever Oktoberfest at Two Rupees Brewing is taking place on September 16 and they'd love for you to be there. 

You can read all about it here – and as a Crafty Cabal member get tickets for $35 instead of $50.

Tickets include a limited edition beer glass filled with beer, plus a pretzel to snack on. Members can still claim a $10 tasting paddle while there too.

We've always aimed to educate as well as entertain and enlighten at The Crafty Pint, and it's something we often do via our beer club events.

Now, after a great evening with the sensory guru at Stomping Ground exploring off flavours in beer, we're planning something similar for September 20 in Perth.

Senior writer Will Ziebell will be over judging at the WA Beer of the Year awards, and will be joined by beer expert Clare Clouting (pictured), formerly at Gage Roads before launching Athena Solutions, for an evening exploring beer quality and how to assess beer flavours and aromas.

WA-based Crafty Pint writer Guy Southern will also be there in a co-hosting role when the event takes place at The Dutch Trading Co in Vic Park.

We're still locking in final details, including ticket price, but figured we'd get the word out early!

If you're keen to hear from us as soon as tickets are available, you can register via the button here. Otherwise, we'll be back with more info soon!

Bonehead and Sobremesa operate under the one roof, brew on the same kit, yet have wonderfully contrasting approaches to beer.

The former are very much of the modern craft beer world, punching out a wide array of styles with names and labels shot through with humour; the latter take inspiration from slower traditions of old world brewers.

Arguably most important, however, is that they do what they do very well. Which makes this Cabal event rather exciting.

They've invited us to join them for a special bottle share evening at which guests will get to sit with members of the breweries in small groups enjoying a selection of their barrel-aged beers with cheese platters, before signing off with a vertical tasting of the two vintages of Distraction Belgian Strong Ale.

As they put it, it's a chance to "talk all things barrel-aged and fermented." 

Guests will receive a pot of Bonehead core range beer on arrival while mixing and mingling before breaking out into tables of ten to go through four beers produced by the two breweries that have made their way to your glass via the barrel.

The event is on the evening of August 17, kicking off at 6.30pm, with tickets costing $50pp, which includes all the beers mentioned above plus cheese platters.

Lindsay Astarita oversees all things sensory and quality related at Stomping Ground, and the brewery's ongoing success at beer awards tell you she's part of a team that knows what it's doing.

She's also one of the lead figures in the country's Cicerone training program, and has been kind enough to offer her time and knowledge to Crafty Cabal members.

On June 29, Lindsay will host 20 guests for an Off Flavour session exploring six common faults in beer, so attendees head home with their ability to assess beers enhanced.

Not only that, but head brewer Ashur Hall will then take guests on a brewery tour and serve up tasters of some of their favourite Stomping Ground beers, with an area of the Collingwood brewpub reserved for guests who want to stay on afterwards.

The ticket price is a mere $20pp so with just 20 spots available you'd best get in quick!

It all kicks off at 5.30pm.

For their May Beer Geek Out session, Working Title are going big on barrels, with no less than 12 barrel beers on the lineup plus sensory kits and samples from the barrels for full geekery.

You can read all about it here – and save 10% on the $60 tickets as a member of The Crafty Cabal.