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EP 24 - Hop Harvest Fest Part 2

• David A. Lennon • Season 2 • Episode 24

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Part two of the Hop Harvest Fest crawl sees Boyd Robson back on the Inner West Ale Trail, tackling the final five breweries of Sydney’s freshest beer festival. With higher ABVs, bigger crowds, and a few curveballs (including a sold-out festival beer), this episode dives deeper into the culture, community, and chaos of chasing fresh hop beers across Sydney.

From tiny taprooms punching above their weight to 8.4% double IPAs that test the legs, this is the full Sunday session experience—complete with locals, brewers, and a well-earned final beer at Young Henrys. 

  • Fresh Hop Chaos (and Big ABVs):
    Kicking off with a 7% IPA before ramping up to Bracket’s 8.4% double IPA, this is not your average Sunday session. 
  • Inside Kicks Brewing:
    A deep dive into West Coast pilsners, small batch brewing advantages, and how a 70 person venue handled overwhelming festival demand. 
  • Local Perspective – Ryan (Beers & Bobs):
    What it’s like living in the Inner West beer bubble, Scottish beer culture comparisons, and why proximity can make you take great beer for granted. 
  • Craft vs Independent Beer Debate:
    A key mindset shift in why “independent beer” might resonate more than “craft beer” for Aussie drinkers. 
  • Festival Reality Check:
    Sold-out beers, missing XPA kegs at Grifter, and how popularity exceeded expectations within days. 
  • Final Stop:
    Wrapping at Young Henrys with Jason from the Inner West Ale Trail—discussing turnout, community vibes, and what made this year a roaring success. 

Breweries 

This is the episode that captures what makes Sydney’s beer scene tick -community, experimentation, and a bit of organised chaos. It’s equal parts pub crawl, cultural deep dive, and love letter to independent beer.

Episode produced by: WHEN Studios
Follow: @WHEN.Studios,

Insta: @chatontap

Tiktok: @chat.on.tap

YouTube: @ontapchat

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Host: David A. Lennon – @davidalennon
Website: chatontap.com


SPEAKER_05

Welcome back to Chatham Tap, the podcast about pubs and the people in them. I am David Lennon and this is part two of the Inner West Ale Trails Hop Harvest Fest for 2026. We're joined by Boyd Robson from Beers with Boyd Oak. Cheers, mate, you've had this beer. I haven't. Hot a sip, it's great. If this is the first time that you have uh dropped in, uh what we are doing today is that this beer festival um has the freshest hops. They're straight from farm into the brewery and uh and made for this festival. So they get picked in March, they're brewed and available for a week in April. Now we did four of these on Friday, and we're gonna try and knock over the last five on Sunday. So this is part two. Um if you haven't heard part one, maybe go back and check that out first. But um, as always, you can get in touch, hello at chatontap.com. And I say that because uh Craig did so last week. He sent us an email saying, you know, loving the content, and I'm gonna because he heard the interview, he came down and did the festival, and then when Wa Walk did, he was like, Oh David, I'm here. So nice to meet you, Craig. Thanks so much for um for dropping by and it was it's good to listen, uh good to meet the uh the listeners. So if you are out there, please do email and check in and say hi because um we like to know who's consuming the content. But I'm gonna try this beer for the first time. I haven't had it in the city. Danconia IPA. Do you want to talk through what the beer is for me while I take it?

SPEAKER_03

So uh they've got here on your little um passports, uh brewed with 50 kilograms of fresh galaxy hops, giving punchy passion fruit, juicy peach, and a tangy citrus, then dry hopped with crush and strata hops, 7% ABB. I know, that is a big start, not a 7%.

SPEAKER_05

Um it is called the Danconia Fresh Hop IPA, and I mean that is dank. Yeah, yeah. If you like your beers dank, that is yeah. Um very fresh. 7% starting with a scum look that's gonna be today. Could be a bigger bit of a mission.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I feel like we might be crawling to the line to get to Young Henry.

SPEAKER_03

Because one of them we've got to get to is an 8.0% off. Yeah, yeah. Bracket brewings, 8.4%.

SPEAKER_05

So And that um yeah with the with the itinerary I've set out, that's our middle beer.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, right, okay. That's our intermission. You think we'd want to end there, but we'll need to end a young Henry's uh so we can get you a t-shirt. Yes.

SPEAKER_05

And uh hey, it'll keep it interesting. Yeah, that's right. Um, all right, so yep, sit back, relax, grab yourself a drink, and come along for part two of the Hop Harbour's fest for 2026. Okay, so we're on stop two today, which is actually stop what are we at? Stop six? Stop six, yes. Alright, we're at Kicks Brewing. I'm here with Cam and uh the beer today. Cam, can you tell us all about what beer we have?

SPEAKER_00

This is a West Coast Pilsner, single hopped with Ella, which we actually haven't used in this brewery before, but this is part of like a long lineage of single hopped West Coast pills that we've done. And it's a style that we've absolutely fallen in love with. So we've hopped, yeah, a bunch of West Coast bills with Strata and Nelson and a lot of kind of hops that we really love. But this time around we've got our hands in some Ella and thought we'd just do a fresh-hop version of it.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I mean lovely. I mean, Pilster has been something that I probably only in the last year have got back into, and then this sort of this little spur off to West Coast Pilster.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, we we love our lagers, we love our West Coast IPAs, and this is this amazing marriage in between. Yeah. So yeah, we we love this style, and so part of the thinking behind this fresh shop beer was to force a whole bunch of people to drink West Coast Pilsners at our venue and hopefully come away also loving it.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, well you've you've got me in, definitely. Um tell us about how's the festival been going for you guys? This is what, day three now?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's been bonkers, yeah, completely nuts, like definitely significantly bigger than the last couple of years. Wow. I mean it's always been a fun festival, but yeah, yesterday we were rammed. Okay. Uh we were hustling hard. But good vibes, good music. I heard I heard good good people. I heard the boss had to like race off a plane to come in help.

SPEAKER_05

Is that true?

SPEAKER_00

If we hadn't got back from Japan in time, we would have been in trouble because we have no spare employees. Like it's the two owners and me and one of my mates, and that is it. Alright. So yeah, there's no redundancy.

SPEAKER_05

Well, for the YouTube um viewers, do a pan of how big this brewery is, Void, who's on the camera for us today. Um, to explain what are we talking? We're probably talking it's about 15 by 15, the space, and you've got about the same again outside.

SPEAKER_00

Yep, it's pretty small venue, 70 person capacity, the brew house is really small, yeah. Our tanks are really small, uh, but you know, like it's the advantage of that is we can throw a lot of ingredients at things and be pretty nimble. And in the smaller tanks, we can brew almost anything and know we're gonna be able to sell through it. So you can you don't you don't have to rely on beers that you're not gonna sell, you can just brew stuff that you think is interesting or fun or whatever.

SPEAKER_05

And then so what did the space look like lines-wise? Because it's not like it's a huge space for a line.

SPEAKER_00

I heard the lines were yeah, no, I mean it's yeah, they were out the door. Everything kind of falls apart a bit when we're at capacity. Uh, but people are cool, man. Like people were patient, they understood that we were going as fast as we could, so yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I think I think that's part of the experience of the pilgrimage, right? It's like we all know that we're in here, we're all gonna get our beer, eventually, everyone will make way for each other.

SPEAKER_00

But also just the craft beer scene in particular, like just in general, like our clientele is a good mix of locals and hard out craft beer nerds, and we just never have problems in this venue. You know, everyone's cool. Yeah, it's it's a it's a fun place to work.

SPEAKER_05

Let's get deep then. What's the craft beer scene mean to you?

SPEAKER_00

Oh hoppy, high ABV beers. Yeah, I mean I drink everything, but yeah, like what really sold me on craft beer is like the the hobby stuff, and particularly kind of drier beers. Yeah. Like even like our hazy's not to finish, uh, we don't want them to be sweet, we want the base beer to be relatively dry, and then the hops bring the the kind of fruit character and the perception of sweetness. Yeah. Um, so yeah, just beers that like it's like the first time I drank sake, I was like, what the hell is this? Like I didn't know how to even comprehend it, didn't know how to discuss it. And it's kind of a bit the same with really good high-quality craft beer. You're just like, oh man, this is just a whole new thing. So that's what's exciting about it is you know, particularly here with Brenn, like consistently brewing like really high grade uh beer in a variety of styles, and it's exciting. And then you get to taste it also, also like the hoppy stuff really changes over time, and so you you're tasting it from in the fermenters, putting it on tap, and then all the way through its life cycle, which is typically only a couple of months, but yeah, it changes consistently, so it's it's pretty fun. So we have to do a lot of QA, yeah, make sure the beer's still tasting good. Alright, that's part of my job. Quality assurance, yeah. Quality assurance, just make sure. So I gotta check in with this shit on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_05

Hey, what about the the people you've met through craft beer for these? But like it seems like this, the Inner West Aletra is a pretty tight community amongst brewers and hospital staff.

SPEAKER_00

We we get on really well with a lot of the the other like staff at the other breweries, um, but then yeah, just getting to know a lot about regulars really well. Because you know, I spend more time with them than my family. And have you had a chance to try any of the other beers yet? Only brackets uh hazy double. Right. So I popped into it. That's how busy you've been. Popped into bracket on my way home last night, and it's tasting awesome. Right.

SPEAKER_05

And will you get some time over the rest of the week to try and get the others? You've got to see. You've got to go see the family.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I actually I tried Futures one out of the tank a couple weeks ago as well, and that's like, I mean, that they they make really nice tank uh West Coast style beers, so that was that was awesome as well. So yeah, I might just have I might just have a hit list of uh yeah, a handful that I want to try, but yeah, I mean Future and Bracket, they're they're our boys. Yeah, no, yeah, they're they're very much on the same page as us.

SPEAKER_05

Awesome. Well, Cam, thank you so much. Make sure everyone can see your name tag in case they need to know your name. And uh it's spelled.

SPEAKER_00

It's a weird spelling.

SPEAKER_05

Weird for Cam, yeah, really well, speed for Ted. Nice to meet you. You too. Thanks for the beer, it's delicious. Yeah, no popping. And cheers to the brewer. Come by. Come by. Okay, we are up to I need to count these. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. We're up to stop seven now. Yeah. I get confused because stop um stop this feels like stop three because it's day two, but it's stop seven.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, and it's stop twelve for me because I've already done them and come back round. So I'm definitely lost.

SPEAKER_05

Okay. Yeah. This lovely Scottish voice you can hear is my my friend Ryan, um, who's from the Instagram page, Beers and Bobs. Uh, you'll hear as I'm trying this um uh the E Bracket SideQuest double IPA for the first time, which is that now this is the harshest one of the two.

SPEAKER_04

This is the strongest one. So this is 8.4%. The next one was 7%. So 8.4% could be argued to be a bit of a night ender.

unknown

Woo!

SPEAKER_04

I'm I'm thinking by that reaction you might agree, eh?

SPEAKER_05

Um yeah, I mean it's loaded with 60k of um Vic Secret hops, uh passion fruit, mango, bright citrus, subtle pine. Yeah, I'm kind of getting all of that, but I'm mostly just getting like yeah, it is it's huge.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and I'm no brewer, but I've heard that the 60 kilos of the hops is absolutely bananas. Yeah, I know what that means. So they've gone in really hard, and I think it's yeah, like a big decision. I don't think it's cheap to do that.

SPEAKER_05

Looks a little bit like orange juice.

SPEAKER_04

Now you've gone something else, but I've gone something else, which uh I call it lighter, but it's 6.4% still. This is the analog, the Picherine Cha and in the IPA, but yeah, it's delicious. George.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I'll try that one. Oh, yeah, we'll cheese first. Cheers. I don't know what we're supposed to do. Yeah, cheers.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, you can have that one again because I know you said just before you're like, Yeah, I can't really remember. But that's not because I was drunk or anything, that's because I'd uh got a bad memory.

SPEAKER_05

No, I was having yeah, no, but you did uh you try you basically knocked all of these off bar one on Friday.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, all but kicks. Um, so we managed to get around to Young Henry's for nine o'clock just as it was closing, but we came from here to Young Henry's, yeah. So young Henry's was also a wee bit of a blur. So I might I wouldn't mind going back and trying there as well, especially because after the 8.4er, um yeah. Well, this is what do you think though? It's really punchy, isn't it? It's like a real nectary mango or some sort of fresh like fruit taste, eh?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it is like as fruity as all get up, it's punchy. Um I think I think that's one of the ones that you like it it definitely tastes like an 8.4%. Like we started with the um, I know you enjoyed it. The we started today with Bonian future, yes. Yes, yeah, and that was 70%. That was the next best one. That didn't taste like 7%.

SPEAKER_04

That was dangerous. It was so fresh that one. I loved that one. And I can see why maybe it was a wee bit too dank for some people, like dank hence the name, but I loved it. And I thought that's a great way of using hawks because you've really over not overused them, but you know what I mean? You've emphasized the use of them. So I thought that was delicious.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So you uh become the what would be you be, you would be the third person from the Chuck's tasting panel who has joined me. Ah, I feel uh privileged that I'm not the last. Sorry, Max. Uh to Max. Even um, even uh even CeC made it ahead of you. So it actually makes you the kind of the fourth or the fifth, I suppose, fourth, because he was on the pod in. But she's now part of the tasting panel. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, um it does feel like the last few episodes have just been me getting my mates on. Yeah, I can because I run the podcast, I can do it. I want. Look where we are now. So exactly. Um it's been really great to get to know you over the journey through through beer, but but this is your local hood. Like you all these breweries on this uh on the track aisle trial are basically your locals in a sense, right?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, absolutely. I think I'm about a 20-minute walk from this one, so maybe 15-10 minute walk from other ones, and I definitely take it for granted. I was literally just saying that in the last place. Yeah, because it's so close, I can go like a couple of few weeks without going to one. I'm like, oh hugger, I've probably missed out on three different beers that would have loved. So it's yeah, so I've almost in a way live too close to them, if you know what I mean. Like it's not a destination, it's just a oh yeah, yeah, we can walk down there.

SPEAKER_05

I mean I've done the same thing. I I live, um, my apartment building overlooks a KFC, and so like if if the wind is blowing, you know, to the east, I can smell that chicken. Yeah, um, but I find I don't have that much KFC because I'm almost trying to resist it all the time. Because I know it's there, I can have it anytime, but I'm like, any time isn't every day. Yeah, correct. Is that what you feel about the view?

SPEAKER_04

Absolutely. Like, but I go a lot to like my local uh pub, and that's about a 15 to 20 minute walk, and I'm so pleased about that because it's just too far away that I just roll in, roll out the bed into it, but it's close enough that I can easily walk there. So it's that perfect mix of yeah, I'm not you know, I'm not gonna take the piss too much or too often. Well, what hang on, tell us that that pub is is it Sydney? Sydney Park Hotel, yeah. Now nobody go there, it's a terrible pub. They've just opened a rooftop tier, it's horrendous. Don't go because it's gonna get so busy and I'm not gonna get a seat in the bar anymore. No, it's absolutely brilliant. Joe gets aside the way they've done that place is superb. I'd highly recommend anyone going after.

SPEAKER_05

Okay. Great, because I mean I I feel like I I told I say this about pubs and the people in them. I spend all my time in breweries.

SPEAKER_04

But this is the beauty of the inner west and the breweries here, because obviously they're like tap houses or tap rooms or whatever. This is essentially a pub, really. Yeah, I think. Whereas traditionally, breweries would just be a brewery with a couple of trestle tables at the side that you could sit and taste the beers at. This and the way kicks and chucks and stuff like that, they are set up really nicely that even if you don't drink beer, you're still happy to go and sit in that. Yeah, yeah. So I think it's that kind of mix, and I think it's a good yeah, like coming from Scotland, I was back there, and then now the brewery scene's starting to get bigger there. And some of them are like this, you know, they make a big effort, some of them are still just a couple of trestle tables, and they're great beer and stuff, but you can see the difference. There's not a brewery like I think most people think that experience was, where it's just you know.

SPEAKER_05

Well, yeah, it's I mean, you see, like, you know, chucks and hobsters and whatnot are doing quiz nights and quiz and beers, or they'll do uh whatever the case may be, like kind of traditional pub activities, if you call it. Um you've just said something that makes I'm kind of interested in now to just spur off. Um what's the Scottish beer scene like been like in your lifetime and as has it transitioned?

SPEAKER_04

It's an interesting one because I've been here in Australia for about 14 years, and I go back to Scotland once a year for two weeks or something like this. But when I left, there was just you know a few beers that you would get, and it would be the equivalent of a Carlton Dry, we call it like tenants, yeah, or Carlin or whatever. And there were other ones, but those were to be the 95% of beers you go to in Guinness. Yeah. Now I go back, it's a fucking rainbow of different beer like labels and stuff everywhere. Kind of like if if I don't know, you show this sort of thing, there's just hundreds of different beers, and it's really growing. But I would still say, and from speaking to some of the brewers back there, it's still sort of five years odd behind Australia, so it's still going on that trajectory. Like the equivalent of the Marrickville St. Peter's area is called Leaf in Edinburgh, and I think there's four or five breweries kind of walking distance. Yep, so it's just and they're some of the beers there are superb, like really, really good. Um there's one. Oh, I can't remember the name of it. Oh, anyway, but yeah, there's one in particular, really, really good stuff. So it's going there and it's getting there, and I think it's it's gonna get to where hopefully Sydney and stuff is, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_05

We'll see. Are they are they sort of doing the craft beers we would expect that we've seen in Australia or say like the um the US market? Uh or are they kind of are they leaning into the kind of ale and sort of northern European English style?

SPEAKER_04

There's a lot more ales and stuff and a lot less hazy's and things. So I think here, don't know if you'd agree, hazy's are quite a strong sort of contingent connection. This exact um venue is is famous for it. Yeah, yeah, they're fantastic hazes. Um so there'll be a few there, but yeah, there'd be a lot of ales, like proper cask ales and stuff like that. Because obviously the weather and the temperatures lend itself to be able to do that because you can't you don't really put them in a tap in a like the cool room and the same, and it they're tap different. I don't know the whole thing, someone else can tell me, but it's different, but it works there and because it's colder and stuff, so they're fantastic, but yeah, so it is a bit different, but there is obviously this are old favourites here, have got loads of laggers, and you'll get pilsners, and I think there's a lot of like uh European influence, obviously, like the German ones and stuff as well.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, well, Ryan, thank you so much for dropping by. Now I want to get you on the pod again. As I like kind of just sort of move into the territory of just sitting down and having a beer with someone, which I love doing with you when there's not a camera and a microphone. Um, I'd love to get you on for another episode. We'll have a beer, we can talk more beer, we can maybe go further into the Scotch stuff, but I'd love to hear about your your pass and cut page. Your giggy and the link. Your threads, yeah. I should have worn it. If I'd known I would have worn a more expensive, fancier one. Well, what's this? Okay, okay, this so this is I I had you'd say, like, I very much try to make this podcast first for the people who are sitting in their car or we're in the headphones and they're running, so they're listening to us. Um, but I said this it, this, these, this part one and two would be the perfect time to come in as a as a YouTube watcher. Even if you just come watch this one episode. Yeah, yeah. For those people, show us the shirt you're wearing because it it sings to men. It's yeah, it's a record.

SPEAKER_04

From I think it's 1997. No, it would have been on a giant tag, I think, which for us vintage nerds know that's a thing. But other people I wouldn't expect to, because you have got a life.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, but okay, talk to me in terms that I know. That shirt you're wearing, which looks like you've just dragged out a shirt that you haven't given up from childhood, yeah what would you sell that for?

SPEAKER_04

Um I actually I haven't priced this one, but maybe like because I try to be competitive with my pricing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like 250, something like that. 200, 250. That is wild. Yeah, this isn't, yeah, this isn't a special one either. Like it's nice, and I love the fade and the wear. Whereas other people would put it in the bin, but I like it like this. Yeah. Not for everyone. That's why I'm not gonna win any uh men's fashion awards or anything like that. But that's fashion's on the field at the races. Ah, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_05

I don't get allowed into the races. Just like this. On the um on Friday, you're wearing an Aussie Osborne shirt, which I think you said I was. And it was one of two. Like you had another one you're gonna sell, and you reckon you'd get 200 US for it? Yeah, yeah, be about that. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Okay, I reckon. Um maybe a bit more, I'm not sure. Maybe about that, yeah. Alright, we're gonna have another beer down the track, and we're gonna talk about that because I think every I think it's just such a random topic.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it's funny when it's it's like any niche, it's like the beer niche. Yeah, when you get into it and you start talking about the different hop types and the different you know styles of beer, it's just second nature to you. And it's with like t-shirts with me, but someone who's new to it, they're like, you're a bloody idiot. And I'm like, yeah, I agree. Like, why am I wasting all this money on something that's old and worn and well no, you're not wasting money, you're investing money because it's yeah, that's that's if you do it right.

SPEAKER_05

It seems to be there seems to be a return.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Laura, if you're watching, did you hear that?

SPEAKER_05

Where is that my money that I spent into the beer thing is just returned in hangover?

SPEAKER_04

Well, I mean it keeps you warm in the winter, the extra layers of fat as well. That's what I tell myself at least.

SPEAKER_05

So different, differ different in uh yeah, hold on. Alright, well I reckon this 8.4% double, what is it, SideQuest double IPA at bracket has um. Oh, it's doing something. So yeah, we're still got two more stuff. We've gotta go to Grifter Grifter next. Uh but theirs is only 4.3, theirs is the lowest. And then we've got to finish at Young Henry. So I think we're on track. Bordo has just come back. Um, drop into the how are we?

SPEAKER_03

How's that going for you? Oh mate, it's uh I think it's better to have when the sun goes down. That's not to say I'm not enjoying it, it's just like, holy shit, here we go.

SPEAKER_04

You wouldn't have ten of them, eh? Alright, we're on to Grifter.

SPEAKER_03

Alright. Um, second last stop. Uh Boido, cheers. Yeah, mate, cheers. I was just saying, like, if this it felt like we had so many to go, and then you blink, and there's one stop left. Yeah. And it's kind of sad. Very sad. Because it's so much fun and I don't want it to end.

SPEAKER_05

The saddest part for me is that I've spent the last week on holidays and I'm back at work tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03

Um, that is one of the worst feelings on that Sunday before work after NFL.

SPEAKER_05

So uh our second last stop is Grifter, and we were supposed to be having the frosty fresh wet hop XBA, but drama, they have run out. It's gone that well that they're they're out. So I should also say, like, so we we did part one on a Friday, uh, the Friday, the first Friday of the festival. This is part two, which is the Sunday. It'll be you know, it's gonna be week and a half before you're hearing this, but um on day two, they ran out of shirts. So um so Jason from the NOS Ale Tro has had to like, they've had to scramble back, and young Henry's already kind of doing the distribution of the shirts, they've had to go, right, let's just get everyone's numbers, we're gonna get some printed. So everyone's gonna get their shirt, but um it just shows that this festival has been unbelievably.

SPEAKER_03

And on that, like when I was down at the bar here in Grifter um with Jason just before, talking to the guy behind the bar, he said that the Grifter Brewell or I don't know, whoever, was saying to Jason, we might put the keg for this festival on early just so we can sell it, but they didn't, and they still run out on two or three. Like they were worried that they might not sell it, so maybe put it on early, and they didn't, and it still ran out. The festival's got like under six days left, like But that's that is going to show how big it's been in the first weekend. They didn't plan for how big it's going to be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So Grifter ran out of beer in three days. So they've still given us the um the passport stamp. Yeah. Uh for a beer that unfortunately we will never get to try. Uh, which was gonna be the like the reprieve. It was a 4.3% XPA, everything else has been so heavy. Um, so instead they just said, hey, look, we'll give you their regular XPA, which is what you got. I got that. Thoughts on?

SPEAKER_03

I've never had it and it's great, yeah. Especially, I think it's straight from the brewery, so it of course it's gonna be amazing. Um, I like my Bolter XPA. If you're gonna compare a Volture XPA from a pub to this, this is ten times better. Um, but again, we're straight from the brewery. Um, it's always gonna be amazing. But yeah, I can't fault it.

SPEAKER_05

Well, I was able to choose something different when I went the West Coast Pilsner, which fell on brand for today because it stopped. That's what I would have wanted. Yeah, stop two of today, which was stop six. Uh at Kix, we had that West Coast um Pilstner. Uh anyway, if you want to try it, go for it. Oh yeah, mate. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_03

Straight out of the glass. Yeah, I mean, I could I could sit here and just drink ten more of them. Especially in these like old school style schooner glasses.

SPEAKER_05

So you were saying last week in part one, uh, you were saying you've been jumping into your crafties. How have you found the festival? Talk us through your experience.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's like totally like um it's gonna be it's it's like I'm catching my craft beer bug through this festival. Yeah, yeah. Like coming to the breweries, like prior to meeting you, I'd only ever been to Young Henry's. Um, so you're welcome. Yeah. Now I've ticked off I don't know how many breweries now I've done in the NOS, maybe 10, 8, I don't know, but every time you go to one, you're like, I need to come back. Yeah. Like we only come for one beer, and you've got to move on, and it's like, holy shit, I need a whole afternoon there. So um, yeah, it's kind of like I need a lot of afternoons free to go to have a spend a whole afternoon at that brewery. Um, and same thing, you walk in to try the beer they got for the festival and you see the menu, and you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, like I want this fresh hop harvest beer, but but what's that IPA? What's that style? Like, what else you got going on? And we have to leave?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So it's just ignited this like, oh, I need to spend a lot more time in the inner western kind of flame.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and so you um you've been doing, if anyone hasn't ever seen your channel, you'll be able to see almost this kind of crossover today because you've been at all the same venues uh today. Have you have you had much feedback from the regular listeners that have watched you drink macro lagers over the years as you're just starting to tell people about craft?

SPEAKER_03

Oh like I've had a few a few people like comment on videos in the you know past year and people message me on Instagram, you've got to try this different craft beer, that different craft beer. I think I'm gonna have like a lot of listeners that are just straight up cart and draft Rush's men that are gonna be like, uh, what are you doing? But I've got a l lot of um, sorry, like view viewers and listeners are like, oh finally. Yeah, yeah, we're doing something different. Finally, you're going into craft beer. Um, so yeah, it's a weird thing of like, you can't please everyone. This is my journey. Yeah, you're either coming along uh or you're not.

SPEAKER_05

Well, I mean, I I I think you've been a big supporter of being like, hey, we're we're Australian, we should drink Australian beer and whatever. And so um, this is an opportunity to drink actual Australian beer. Yeah, yeah. And that's maybe what you could say to those those folks that there's some bloody good lagers and filters.

SPEAKER_03

Definitely, and and I was talking to Jason before about it. With um the owner of Mixtape said to me something very like pivotal in my beer journey career. Um, I was calling it craft beer, and he said, call it independent beer. And it just switched my mindset of craft beer is a bit like wanky and pretentious. Independent beer is we're supporting Australians. And when you say it like that, yeah, I'm drinking independent beer, and it's like yeah, because craft beer doesn't.

SPEAKER_05

Craft beer, I've always knew it as a bit wanky. Yeah, unless it's the like sours and the big dank IPAs or whatever, but but you can have an independent, like I'm having an independent pill store right now, which is right up your scale.

SPEAKER_03

We were at Kix and we had the West Coast pills and one of the best pills I've ever had in my life. And I'm a straight-up Largo guy, so it's like don't call it craft beer, call it independent beer.

SPEAKER_05

That is insightful. Uh, but it has been great to do this um this pub crawl with you. Just so fun. I mean, I when when you were on the um when you were on the podcast, I called you the king of the beer crawl. And so it's great to go on another beer crawl with you.

SPEAKER_03

Appreciate it, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_05

Um all right, well, we've got one more to go. One more. One more. Young Henry's. And I think we'll check in with uh we'll check in with Jason from the Inner West Ale Trail to just round it out.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, yes, get him back on.

SPEAKER_05

As the pizza comes, alright, we need to go because there's a pizza coming. Thank you, mate. Thank you. Last venue. I've ticked off every every stamp on my passport. I have the young Henry's uh the wet hop. As I've learned it. It's very good, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02

The brewers call it wet hop, but it was like the fresh what we went with fresh hops, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean wet hop does sound a bit weird to us, but I guess that's their more of a brewing technique. Sure. So yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Well, I've got the wet hop, we're at the last stop, we're finishing it off. I'm back with Jason. That's the voice you can hear. Um, Jason, who you would have heard uh in uh two episodes ago, who is uh does the media for Inner West Aletrail. Um, how's the festival been?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, unreal, unreal. I think this is my 15th stop on a nine brewery tour. So I've done a few double, like quality control is important, so tried a lot of them on Friday night and back on Sunday. Quality is still very good. We have run our t-shirts already, like uh two days into an eight-day festival. But everyone that is gonna do the tour and get all their stamps will still get a t-shirt, we'll make sure of that.

SPEAKER_05

So I keep hearing from brewers that like quality assurance seems to be like the most popular job and the most common job in a brewery.

SPEAKER_02

That yeah, totally. You gotta you gotta check every couple of hours, I think, basically. Uh, but no, it's good. It's been great, been a really awesome turnout. Um, it's been really great to meet people along the way as well. Like, you know, they say it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, and it's been a real journey. It's been lovely to meet people at all the stops, and you know, um, yeah, just and then re-meet them a couple of stops down the track as well.

SPEAKER_05

So I know you won't be able to do this because you have to look after 16 breweries across the trail and and nine for the event. But have you had a favourite, or if you would have, you know, yes, but I can't tell you here, I'll tell you later.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. I don't want the children. It's not even my child, it's not even my 16 children, or it's my 16 bosses, yeah. So uh yeah, to get to get angry, but we'll have a private chat and compare notes for sure. Oh yeah. But in saying that, I don't know what's been your favourite.

SPEAKER_05

Uh well, I mean, I'm allowed to be a little bit unbiased. Um I uh it was a struggle between, and they're two different different styles. Uh the dark, uh the dark IPA or the uh the dark IPA mixtape. IPA at mixtape, yeah, yeah. And the West Coast Hill snart at Pilk. Delicious, yeah. Both very, very so sorry to everyone else, but the thing is I haven't had a bad beer this whole time. Like I can shout out like futures danconia. It's dank a like this is awesome.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, um how good is it getting your like all your stamps? It feels like we're back in school and we're getting a good mark.

SPEAKER_05

I know, it's like it's like orienteering.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay. You could use that for next time, maybe. Wow, yeah. I might just wait. That that's the peak of my career. Yeah, that was Orient Beering. It's a compass and a beer, that's all you need, right? And there's the uh plane as well. Yeah, yeah, we're back for yourself. The final salute, there's plane for the NOS, yeah. Indeed, cheers, man. It's been cheers, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

It's been great.

SPEAKER_02

Thanks for having us, and thanks for coming on the tour, of course.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it was my my first one. Okay, sorry, just quickly before you leave. There is chatter that I need you to kind of put the work in. Oh. But I'd like to go on the road trip next year to go pick up the hops. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I'd like to do that road trip. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'm sure they need a designated driver when they have a lot of beers before and after. Oh, I wasn't planning on driving. Ah, right, okay. Well, we'll see. We'll see, we'll see. So apparently the uh the fumes from the hops get pretty uh hazy actually on the way back, so just keep the windows down, I think. For sure. We'll see what we can do, that'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_05

Chase from the Inner West Out Trail, thank you so much for this. Also, well done to you on such a great event. Oh, cheers. Because he is the man behind this event.

SPEAKER_02

It's been great to organise and great for so many people to enjoy it. It's been lovely to see.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. So this has been a great two part first time I've done a two-part. Um and I feel honoured. Thanks so much uh for tuning in and do all the usual things. Follow, like, subscribe, blah blah blah blah. And uh also if you I mean if you just want to get in touch, like Craig, Craig emailed us. Oh, yes, hello at chatontap.com. Um he emailed us saying, you know, hey, I listen to the channel, really love it. And then because of the interview with you, he dropped in on the um oh right, and we just ran into each other. Oh, you got to meet him. Yeah, he introduced himself, he was halfway through. Yeah, I'm sure Craig has either finished it or um is requiring assistance.

SPEAKER_02

Besties for life. Besties for life, besties for life. Oh yeah, I got I got some emails saying people had run the whole festival in an hour, uh, which is not the way I do it. I try to avoid running for an hour anywhere. Um, I like to save in my beers, but yeah, salute to those that do it in an hour. And they said they would have done it for under an hour, but the lines were a bit long at a couple of places. Very popular festival. There you go.

SPEAKER_05

Uh well, thank you. Thank you for tuning in, thank you for listening, and uh, I'll see you next week for a trick.

SPEAKER_02

See you guys.