I was talking to my friend Steve a while back about Beer Cartel. Steve had recently moved to Sydney having grown up in the great New Zealand wine growing region Marlborough. Steve was unaware I had started a business based on craft beer, so I begun telling him about the business and the Beer Cartel beer club.

Steve had heard about wine clubs before but never a beer club, “why would someone join that? he asked, “isn’t a beer a beer?”… I love to get these moments, the chance to explain to someone entrenched in wine about the magic of beer – but where do I begin? Do I start telling Steve about the beauty of ales and taste of different lagers? Do I mention that the correct beer actually pairs with food better than wine? Do I talk to him about the vast range of flavours or the nuances of brewing that makes one beer so different  from another?

While I could do all of the above, I went for the never fail option and pulled from the fridge three very different but extraordinarily good boutique beers – a hefeweizen, an amber ale and a porter. Sharing the three beers between the two of us I let him take in the aromas, notice the difference in body and taste the amazing flavours. Steve is always very open to new things and as he tried these beers I could see the cogs turning in his head – these weren’t the same old beers he had experienced all his life at all.

While Steve did still need some more convincing I did manage to get him to sign up for a one month subscription to the Beer Cartel Beer Club. Not long after he received his first months supply and gave me a call “beer got delivered the other day” he said, “they were great, trouble is I liked them so much, I have already gone through them!”. And there it was, the moment I like best – when I have managed to convince another person of the joys of craft beer!”.

Click here for more information on the Beer Cartel Beer Club.

The start of summer is always a great time for beer festivals, after attending the Australian Hotel Beer Festival and the Bitter and Twisted festival we had another 2 on the agenda…. the inaugural Coogee Bay Hotel Beer Festival and the 2^nd annual Warners at the Bay Beer Festival. They were both on the same weekend so made for a brilliant degustation Saturday and Sunday!

The Coogee Bay Hotel Beer Festival had a range of international and domestic brews including Matilda Bay’s top notch Alpha and Fat Yak, and Bitch Brewing’s Bitch Beer, a 6% premium lager brewed out of Melbourne. The event was nicely complimented by a walking German Oompah band which kept the crowd entertained on a spectacularly warm November day.

That Saturday evening after the Coogee Bay Beer Festival we headed up to Newcastle for the Warners at the Bay Beer Festival. On our way up we got word that it had been sold out!! But with a bit of luck we managed to get some tickets the Sunday morning from the bottle shop – woohoo! There were over 500 beer enthusiasts who found their way to the indoor festival with more than 20 different breweries and distributors providing some fine golden, and not so golden, liquid from Australia, USA, Europe and NZ.

Some stand outs included the Rogue range imported from America by Innspire, New Zealand beer Mac’s (which are starting to make their mark after having been hugely successful with our mates across the Tasman) and the locally made range of beers from Mudgee Brewing.

5 Days til Christmas!

The last few weeks have been manic at Beer Cartel HQ with lots of packing up and dispatching Christmas orders. All parcels that were purchased prior to the 16^th Dec have been sent and should arrive prior to Christmas. If you want to send us a pic of the happy recipient with their beer gift we’d love to see them. Just send them into info@beercartel.com.au

We wish you all a happy and safe Christmas and New Year break.

Cheers,

Geoff and Rich