"All these things, from branding to product, come back to your identity."

After a few weeks spent exploring the annals of The Crafty Pint Podcast, we return to our regular programming this week, as Clint Weaver joins us the studio.

Clint has spent close to a decade running Pocketbeagles, a graphic design business that focuses on making craft beer (and other beverages) look better. If you've looked at or enjoyed beers from the likes of CoConspirators, Brewmanity, Bright Brewery or One Drop, you'll be familiar with his work.

Ever up for a laugh, Clint hosted a "Fun-eral" for Pocketbeagles at CoConspirators last weekend to mark the redesign and evolution of his business. Ahead of the gathering, Will Ziebell caught up with the designer to chat about the decision, as well as Clint's love of craft beer and his early work on Froth Magazine.

Beyond his own history with the booze world, we examine how graphic design has changed over the last decade in beer, recent trends, and Clint's advice for brewers when it comes to branding and thinking about who they are.

Ahead of the chat, Will and James talk through the past week or so in the beer world, including the sad news that Sobremesa are calling it a day and Black Hops' second voluntary administration in two years. We also cover Blackflag's expansion into Bundaberg, the Australian International Spirits Awards, TWØBAYS' trophy success in New Zealand, and Dunsborough's new – kinda – brewery.

Start of segments:

• 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
• 18:30 – A Deal From Price Screen & Digital
• 19:31 – Clint Weaver Part 1
• 44:47 – Free Samples From Packpal
• 45:53 – Clint Weaver Part 2

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.

“I'm still passionate about what I do, I still love what I do, and I still think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world.”

In the last Another Round episode of The Crafty Pint Podcast, in which we’re rerunning some of our favourite shows from the past two years while various team members are overseas, we figured why not head overseas here too.

What’s more, given it’s winter in Australia and plenty of people are seeking out sunnier climes, why not make our destination Bali? To be precise, we're off to the home of Sam Füss – the award-winning brewer who swapped Australia for the Indonesia island province in 2022.

Her main reason for making the change was to set up Beaches Brewing Bali; we joined her in late 2024 with the brewery up and running. Sam takes us inside the experience of getting Beaches off the ground, training locals with no prior experience, and educating people who've never encountered craft beer before, while reflecting on one of the most colourful careers of any brewer in the modern era.

With our podcast producer departing Melbourne to visit family in the States on Tuesday, we recorded our review of the week in beer earlier than usual, which means there’s no discussion of the sad news that Sobremesa have decided to call it a day, nor of Black Hops entering voluntary administration for a second time, 28 months after first going through the process.

What James and Will do cover is the success of the inaugural Australian NZIPA Challenge last weekend, judging at the first Beer Championships, Reckless Brewing’s ambitious plans for IPA Day, a new offering for brewers from Mogwai Labs, ticket sales opening for Blobfish 2026, our updated listing for Bendigo’s Cambrian Hotel, and this week’s celebration of dark beers on the Inner West Ale Trail.

We're back running fresh interviews from next week, and hope you've enjoyed these trips down Memory Lane.

• 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
• 13:26 – Brewery Boosters ft Bintani
• 17:17 – Sam Füss Part 1
• 40:49 – Maximising Taproom Revenue ft GoTab
• 46:55 – Sam Füss Part 2

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.

“I can kind of do whatever I want and two or three weeks later send the beer out and see what happens.”

In the third of our Another Round episodes, in which we dip into the 100-plus past shows of The Crafty Pint Podcast throughout July while various team members are overseas, we return to our chat with Rhys Lopez, founder of one-man-band Evil Mega Corp.

He takes us into the thinking behind his unique operation, one that allows him to explore any avenue that piques his interest, and move more nimbly than pretty much any brewing operation on the planet. We also delve into the pre-EMC – and pre-beer – career of one of the most loquacious and thought-provoking characters in the industry.

This week’s intro sees James rejoin Will as he prepares to fly back from the UK, with the former recapping his brushes with the beer and whisky worlds in England and Scotland.

It’s been something of a back-loaded week in terms of articles on Crafty, with news of Six String’s return from administration landing as we were chatting, and articles on Malt Donkey’s “Fine Ales” and Shapeshifter’s exciting plans for Adelaide Central Market potentially not landing on the site until after this episode enters the ether.

We also look ahead to this weekend’s NZIPA Challenge at Rocky Ridge and upcoming events we’re involved with at Bracket Brewing in Marrickville and CoConspirators in Brunswick.

• 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
• 18:17 – Special Deal from Price Screen & Digital (use code PINT)
• 19:18 – Rhys Lopez Part 1
• 43:59 – Industry Insights with American Canning Machines
• 45:06 – Rhys Lopez Part 2

To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.