Australian beer, with the paperwork left in.
Radio Brews News tracks the Australian brewing trade from the inside, moving between weekly news panels and interviews with people close to breweries, venues, beer media, and funding. It is skeptical without being detached, especially when the conversation turns to independent beer, crowdfunding, category growth, and whether good stories can still pay for serious reporting.
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Radio Brews News is an industry-minded beer show with a journalist’s patience and a brewer’s tolerance for detail. It is not just beer chat. The show keeps returning to the commercial machinery behind Australian brewing: who is funding it, who is buying it, who is selling it, and who is left trying to tell the story properly. Recent episodes move through the Gabs Hottest 100 Craft Beers countdown, the history of The Local Taphouse poll, and the way a popularity list can still matter when independent breweries need attention. The tone is measured. The conversations can wander, but they usually wander toward a sharper question. What does it mean to grow beer as a category? How should independent beer talk about itself without narrowing the tent too far? When does crowdfunding help a brewery, and when does it leave small investors feeling powerless? Those are the kinds of tensions the show likes to sit with. Matt Kirkegaard brings the perspective of Australian Brews News, and the panel format gives space for Ian Watson, Sabrina Coons, Paul Daly, and others to push the discussion past easy slogans. The interview episodes widen the frame. Steve Jeffares explains how a simple customer poll grew into the Hottest 100. Jess Nugent brings the view of a beer lover sharing brewery culture through Instagram. Ed Jamieson talks about Little Creatures Pale Ale, hops, balance, and the return of craft lagers. Peter Filipovic offers a major-brewer perspective on Jetty Road and confidence in the market. Mark Hubbard sits with the awkward questions around equity crowdfunding and brewery promises that do not always land as hoped. The show is especially good when it refuses to separate romance from economics. It likes beer, clearly. It also knows liking beer does not pay for reporting, rescue struggling businesses, or explain why drinkers choose one category over another. That tension gives Radio Brews News its usefulness. It is warm enough for people who love the industry, and skeptical enough for people who have worked in it.
Made for: For listeners who follow craft beer as an industry, not just a drink: brewers, venue operators, suppliers, marketers, investors, and serious beer fans. It suits anyone who wants context on Australian brewing without having the business realities softened.
What sets it apart: The show blends trade reporting, panel judgment, and long-form interviews without sanding off the difficult bits. It is unusually willing to connect beer culture to media economics, category decline, independent brewing advocacy, and the real consequences of funding choices.
Radio Brews News focuses on the issues facing the Australian brewing business and discusses them with the people shaping the industry. Every Tuesday, hear an interview with a leader in the brewing industry and every Thursday, hear the Brews News team discuss the news of the week.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Radio Brews News makes the economics, ownership tensions and reporting pressures of Australian brewing unusually concrete.
Radio Brews News treats beer as a business with consequences, following the pressures behind brewery sales, industry promotion and independent ownership.
Beer talk gets its accounts checked here, with the celebration still cold in the glass.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Beer news, reporting labor, and the economics of keeping independent coverage alive.
Brews News Week #451 makes a clear case for the real cost of doing beer news well. With Matt Kirkegaard joined by brewer Ian Watson and Sabrina Coons of the Independent Brewers Association, it starts on the lighter note of the Hottest 100 before settling into the harder, more…
A live beer countdown that keeps indie brewery numbers at the center.
Radio Brews News uses Gab's Hottest 100 live countdown to frame a conversation with Jess Nugent, The Boozy Mama, while staying anchored on how independent breweries are holding up.
A blunt trade debate about lifting beer as a category and letting brands stand on their own.
Brews News Week #450, recorded on January 25, 2023, settles on a plain trade question: beer still has not found a clean path to growth, and blaming other businesses or rivals only slows that work down.
A brewing trade discussion turns a delayed announcement into a candid case for supporting industry journalism.
Brews News Week #451 begins with a delayed publication linked to an announcement, then settles into a frank discussion about the cost of doing industry reporting properly.
A focused Hottest 100 roundtable connects the poll results to Better Beer's momentum and Mighty Craft's unresolved pressures.
Episode 404 reframes Gab's Hottest 100 as more than a countdown. After the five-hour live broadcast, the hosts return with a tighter news roundtable, moving from Mountain Culture at number one, Bolter XBA at number two, and Crank Shaft at number three into what the result says…
Industrial LinkedIn signals, stress-tested for reality.
Bourbon talk with industry teeth.
Market signals for strategic decisions.
Hosts Sabrina Kunz and Matt Kirchgarth discuss the week's brewing news, starting with Lion's reversal on closing the James Boag's Visitor Centre after a million-dollar Tasmanian government grant.
An interview with Mark Hubbard about equity crowdfunding in the brewing industry, addressing investor concerns and industry trends.
An interview with Christopher Shepard of Beer Marketers' Insights discussing challenges and trends in the US and Australian brewing industries.
In episode 451 of Brews News Week, host Matt Kirkegaard announces his retirement from beer writing and the closure of Brews News after 20 years.
Brews News opens on the awkward bit.
A live countdown gets briefly personal.
Brews News Week #450 opens with the blunt question of why beer still lacks a clear path to growth.
Radio Brews News hosts Matt Kirkegaard, Ian Watson, and Sabrina Coons assess wet-weather trading, brewery insolvencies, and regulatory pressure in January 2023.
Radio Brews News interviews Matt Hepburn and Christen McGarry about Your Mates Brewing's first 10 years, from living together and homebrewing to operating a larger brewery.
An interview with Peter Filipovic about his purchase of Jetty Road Brewing and insights into the brewing industry.
An interview with Mark Hubbard about equity crowdfunding in the brewing industry, addressing investor concerns and industry trends.
An interview with Wayward Brewing's Peter Phillip about the economic challenges facing craft brewers and the launch of a recession ale.
An interview with Dave Padden from Akasha Brewing discussing the evolution and future of the Australian craft brewing industry.
An interview with Pat McInerney of Willie the Boatman brewery discussing the challenges and changes in the Australian craft brewing industry post-COVID.
This episode discusses the week's news in the Australian brewing industry, including the final report for Southern Bay Brewing's liquidation.