You can tell it’s a nerdy one when it starts with a diagram rather than a photo
I’m going to try and convince you that this an interesting graph. It charts the relative performance, at last year’s Australian International Beer Awards, of all the beers that were entered twice; once in keg, and again packaged. This year’s judging is currently underway in Melbourne, so the process is on my mind, and this is a rare opportunity to test a common belief that breweries more able to sacrifice a whole keg are at an advantage.1 Short answer: only a little, if at all.
Closeup of Peter Krøyer’s ‘Interior of a Tavern’ (1886)
I’m hosting the May 2025 edition of The Session,2 and I’d like to take us out of the ‘real world’ for a moment to share the beers and pubs in art and fiction that have grabbed our attention, whether they were sublime, surprising, moving, amusing, somehow significant, or symbolic of something — or awkward and out of place, if you like. Gather your thoughts, or keep an eye out over the next few weeks, and let’s enjoy them together at the end of the month.
ABAC v. Hop Nation, as perceived by craft beer nerds
Launched at Australia’s biggest beer festival and allegedly the first local commercial hazy IPA, Hop Nation’s ‘Jedi Juice’ had a strong following. In 2019, many of its fans were outraged when, after a complaint, the alcohol advertising regulator ruled it in breach of standards, prompting the brewery to slightly change its branding — though they still often reference the saga. So, for May The Fourth, let’s look back.
Disclaimer-disclaimer: I do not approve of their message
Excise tax might be the hot-button issue in Australian beer at the moment. It’s quickly mentioned whenever troubles with the industry (such as brewery closures) are discussed, and has become an election issue with parties in and out of government making various promises of reform or relief. Sadly, the ‘debate’ is undermined by half-truths and misinformation. I want to push back against that, focusing on a particular widely-shared clip by Queensland’s Blackflag Brewing.
I’ve worked in the beer industry for nearly two decades. I met a huge proportion of my friends through it. I write this. It is a significant part of my identity. And it’s not an easy time for beer, right now. But it makes me extremely uncomfortable when people — in the business, or the wider subculture — call for direct, targeted support from government. I want to try and explain why, with help from a simple piece of moral philosophy nicely illustrated by, of all things, an episode of Bluey.
Not quite “free to a good home” — but just a few dollars
For the April edition of The Session, we’re asked where we find the greatest value in beer. I think overall I want choice, because I believe in context and the many moods of beer — in a given moment, I might be anywhere on spectrum from risk aversion to adventurousness, or from frugality to go on then, which isn’t quite the same thing. When breweries, retailers and venues push too hard on price-per-unit narrowly defined, that puts a thumb on the scale, distorting my deliberations and eroding other senses of the value of beer.
The Washington Monument in 2277 — at least according to Fallout 3
Ever since reading an excellent travelogue through, and review of, all the bars in The Witcher 3,3 I’ve been taking better notes about the beer I find when I play games. It’s the same impulse that leads me to document the relevant clues in the crossword; where and how beer shows up can tell us something about its place in the wider culture. And since moving to Washington D.C., I’ve had occasional flashbacks to the Fallout games4 — the first one I played is set here, so let’s start with that and then compare and contrast a few others.
‘Independent’ remains the adjective of choice in promoting and organising the many Australian breweries that might otherwise be grouped under ‘craft’ or (in earlier times) ‘micro’. But companies who persist in waving it around as they take part in the recent string of mergers, consolidations, and various other entanglements are straining the word to breaking point. It’s too much like someone insisting “being single is really important to me, that’s why I married another bachelor!”
I’ve honestly forgotten how I first heard of Human Robot. It might’ve been one of those rare cases of Instagram, like the proverbial stopped clock, recommending something I genuinely was interested in. I love their whole vibe — the name,5 the lager focus, the aesthetic — but didn’t actually remember they were in Philadelphia until I checked the map of where we’d be staying when we were visiting for the weekend,6 and saw them right nearby. So within minutes of arriving in town, I was there with a heavy glass mug of Tmavy in hand and a big grin on my face.
In the brief for the latest round of The Session, Matt Curtis calls for a piece of critical writing about beer or pubs. I feel like that’s what I usually do around here, but I’m going to take his invitation to focus on a particular aspect of bar culture — something that I think very few venues get right, which is both a problem in itself and a handy metaphor for other issues worth fixing. Please, bartenders of the world, I beg you: do not build an unbroken barricade of barstools.
