The ‘Jedi Juice’ Saga

Two Lego Star Wars characters — General Grievous and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Episode II — in the foreground either side of a can of Hop Nation's Jedi Juice (which has a cartoon illustration of Princess Leia holding a blaster on it) beside a glass filled with hazy beer blurred in the background
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.

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An excise tax fact-check exercise

Screenshot from the end of a video by Blackflag Brewing. It's a simple white text on black background title card, meant to evoke the standard authorisation statement at the end of a political ad. Text reads: "This message has been approved by Blackflag Brewing, and probably every Aussie beer drink. PLEASE VOTE RESPONSIBLY."
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.

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Special to us, but not special

Screenshot from the cartoon Bluey, episode 'Library' (s02e30), depicting a car's rear-view mirror where Stripe (a blue heeler dog), driving, is having a conversation with his daughter Muffin (a grey and white heeler dog in a tiara), in a car seat behind him
There’s a lesson here, probably several

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.

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Interesting singles in your area — and other thoughts on ‘value’

A jumbled (but not messy) collection of beer cans, one or two each from various different local breweries, grouped together on a shelf with a cute handwritten sign stuck to it, reading "The Orphan Beer Project!"
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.

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Here, 252 years from now — and other unreal places I’ve had a beer

Screenshot from Fallout 3, showing a partially-destroyed Washington Momunment in the ruins of downtown D.C. and behind the reflecting pool, the sky is cloudy and the whole scene has an ominous green tinge, which was a much-criticised hallmark of the game's aesthetic
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 3,1 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 games2 — the first one I played is set here, so let’s start with that and then compare and contrast a few others.

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Independence — “…I do not think it means what you think it means”

A frame from The Princess Bride (1987) featuring Inigo (Mandy Patinkin), Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), and Fezzik (Andre the Giant) atop the Cliffs Of Insanity. Inigo is drawing attention to Vizzini's repeated incorrect use of the word "inconceivable!"
“You keep using that word…”

‘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!”

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Human Robot — twice, during forty-eight hours in Philadelphia

Neither human, nor robot. (But a very good dog.)

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,3 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,4 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.

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Ensuring admission to the bar

A view from behind the bar at Golding's Free Dive, looking down at the worn-down painted SERVICE AREA ONLY signage in blue paint on the edge of the wooden bar; behind it is a nice empty space for people to use
“Welcome. Have a seat. Anywhere but there.”

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.

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Churn — on life, death, and rebirth in (and around) Collingwood

A collage of the signage outside three recently-closed beer venues in Melbourne; Range Brewing's taproom, The Craft & Co., and Fixation's 'Incubator'. Each has simple greyscale styling of the building and lettering

(…of beer venues, I mean.) For the six years I lived in Melbourne I worked within a surprisingly-tight area; a two-kilometre circle centered somewhere in Collingwood, in the inner-North-East.5 That part of town saw a few high-profile closures in 2024, further datapoints for the general sense of doom that haunts the industry — but also some interesting (re-)openings, and given my proximity to it all I wanted to take a moment to sit with what’s happened and try to pin it down.

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99 clues about beer in the Times — a 2024 crossword survey

Screenshot of a section of the New York Times crossword, featuring the clue "Bar order that's dairy-free, despite the name" (answer: CREAMALE), among others
One of the better clues of the year

Since noticing a reference to modern hazy IPA in the New York Times crossword,6 and wondering what that “meant” in terms of beer’s currency in the popular culture, I’ve been keeping a tally of what else comes up. I recently realised I had a full calendar year worth of such records, and the urge to make a spreadsheet and go looking for patterns came on predictably strongly (for me) after that. The result: ninety-nine appearances, clumped around a few themes, with ale and ipa done to death, a few favoured brand names, some real clangers, and the occasional delight.

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Tastings and ramblings and whatnot