Veteran drinks industry executive Nick Boots returns to the Drinks Adventures podcast, having just taken on a new challenge as CEO of Gold Coast, Queensland-based brewery Black Hops Brewing.

This follows a 12-month stint consulting with craft breweries in Australia and New Zealand under the company name The Business Of Beer, prior to which he was general manager of Stone & Wood Brewing Company.

Nick took the reigns at Black Hops shortly after the company emerged from voluntary administration with a new ownership structure.

It seemed timely to catch up for a chat about recent challenges in the brewing industry, and his plans to rebuild the Black Hops business.

In this opening episode of Season 19 we meet Alex Munch, co-founder of Denmark’s Stauning Whisky.

Stauning was founded in 2005 by nine friends with diverse career backgrounds, none of them related to the drinks industry.

But what they didn’t know ultimately took them down a path of craft whisky production that was quite distinctive and on trend; showcasing locally grown barley and rye that they floor malt in-house at the distillery.

Coming up, Alex explains how the endorsement of Denmark’s famed Noma restaurant helped catapult the brand onto the international stage.

And we discuss the landmark investment from Diageo-backed Distill Ventures, which enabled Stauning to scale up operations while steadfastly maintaining the traditional production methods that have come to define its house style.

In this episode we meet Derek Charge, who is CEO of Hellyers Road Distillery in Tasmania.

Hellyers Road was founded in 1997 by a group of dairy farmers who decided to diversify their business into the production of whisky.

At the time of this episode going to air, the company is in the final stages of an equity crowdfunding campaign that has already generated almost $3.5 million worth of investment.

I've never known much about Hellyers Road beyond what I've heard anecdotally from people.

So, this juncture seemed like the perfect opportunity to catch up with Derek and satisfy my curiosity about a significant player in Australian whisky that up until now, has flown a little bit under the radar.

In this episode, we meet Richard Jeffares, founder of the gluten-free brewery Two Bays, which recently won a gold medal for its Session Ale at the World Beer Cup.

The World Beer Cup is often referred to as ‘The Olympics Of Beer’. It's held in America every two years and unlike most of the other drinks competitions around, there is only one gold, silver and bronze medal awarded in each beer category.

It's frightfully difficult to win a medal, especially for breweries on the other side of the world, which naturally face logistical challenges getting their beer in front of the judges in peak condition.

As such, there's only been a handful of Australian breweries that have ever won medals in the World Beer Cup, with 9300 beers entered this year from 2060 breweries in 50 countries.

Two Bays founder Richard Jeffares and head brewer Kristian Martin were in Las Vegas to collect the award.

And when I caught up with Richard on his return to Australia, it was also a chance to hear about other developments at the company, which continues to impress with its mastery of beers made from a base of millet, buckwheat and rice.

We're joined this episode by Rod Berry of Amber Lane, a whisky distillery based in the Yarramalong Valley, north of Sydney.

Rod’s longstanding enthusiasm for whisky gradually evolved into an obsession while working in his previous career as a lawyer.

Ultimately, Rod joined forces with friend and fellow whisky enthusiast Phil Townsend to set up the Amber Lane distillery on Phil’s property in the Central Coast hinterland.

Since leaving the legal pro behind, Rod has been fine-tuning his craft, inspired by his passion for sherried Scotch whiskies, and applying some maturation techniques that are more commonly utilised in the production of cognac.  

Already with an impressive array of gold medals to its name, Amber Lane has developed a reputation for quality, which Rod believes is crucial for craft spirits producers to be able to prosper in the current competitive and economic landscape.  

In this episode we return to Beechworth in High Country Victoria, after having Ben Kraus from Bridge Road Brewers on the show last year.

This time we’re joined by chef Michael Ryan from the highly acclaimed Beechworth restaurant, Provenance, to discuss Beechworth Bitters Company, his side project dedicated to amaro and cocktail bitters.

A few years ago I brought you an episode about Italian amari, produced in partnership with The Italian Cultural Institute.

This episode puts an Australian angle on this lesser known spirits category, as Michael explains how he created his own library of extracts from roots, leaves, flowers and bark, and blended them into this distinctive range of bitters that speak clearly of their Beechworth provenance.

Ihana Wine is a boutique wine brand launched by Finnish Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas in partnership with sixth generation McLaren Vale wine company Oliver’s Taranga.

A ten-time race winner currently driving for the Kick Sauber F1 team, Valtteri shares with us his longstanding passion for wine, and specifically South Australian shiraz, which has been crystallised through his relationship with South Australian Tiffany Cromwell, the professional cyclist.

Listen in as Valtteri opens up about the blending process, collaborating with Oliver’s Taranga winemaker Corrina Wright, and how he balances his interests in wine, coffee and gin with the demands of the F1 season.

We find out what he thinks of the DR3 wines created by Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, who we had on the show in early 2023.

Later on this episode I talk again with Corrina who gives her perspective on one of the more unlikely celebrity wine partnerships that I’ve been able to share with you on the Drinks Adventures podcast.

We're joined this episode by the founders of Sydney’s newest craft brewery, Chuck & Son’s Brewing Company.

And yes, we’re talking about Chuck Hahn, who is sensationally making a return to the brewing industry in partnership with his son Scott.

Chuck notched up 50 years in the brewing industry in 2021, which we celebrated on this podcast with this special documentary episode.

I naively thought that would be a footnote to his incredible brewing career. But it turns out Chuck has unfinished business.

Together with Scott, the next chapter begins May 2024 at a new brewery in St Peters in the inner west.

However, it is of course an exceedingly difficult market to launch a new brewery, even if you’re Chuck Hahn.

We’ll address some of those challenges later on in this interview with Chuck and Scott.

Rollo Crittenden is general manager, winemaker and vineyard manager of Crittenden Wines in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula region.

Mornington Peninsula is synonymous with premium quality pinot noir and chardonnay, and Crittenden certainly excels at making wine from those varieties.

But when it comes to differentiating the winery from its peers, Rollo has an ace up his sleeve.

Since 2011, Crittenden has been making a rare Australian example of the white wines made from savagnin grapes that are unique to the Jura region of France.

Known as ‘vin jaune’ wines in Jura, they’re aged for years in barrel under a layer of flor yeast, similar to how fino sherry wines are made in Spain.

And the results are quite extraordinary, as I experienced myself late last year when Rollo presented a retrospective comprising six vintages of Crittenden’s Cri De Couer savagnin wines.

Coming up, you’ll hear how this project has evolved from an accident into one of the most celebrated wines on the contemporary Australian scene.

NB: This interview was recorded following the event late in 2023, right before I took an extended break from the podcast. Keep that in mind when we reference the upcoming pipeline of releases during this interview.

The Australian Distillers Association is the peak body for the 700 craft distillers that are now spread across the country, up from just 40 a decade ago.

I work pretty closely with the ADA and its chief executive Paul McLeay in my day job as media & communications manager of Spirits & Cocktails Australia.

In this bonus episode, Paul and I catch up for a quick chat about the ADA Conference coming up in Brisbane on April 28 to 30, 2024, which is the association’s 20th anniversary year.

I know quite a few of you are in the distilling industry, so Paul and I will hope to see you there.

Since we were already sitting down for a chat, I took the opportunity to ask Paul about the latest global accolades for Australian distillers at the World Whiskies Awards, and how his members are coping in the challenging economic environment.

Register for the ADA Conference here.

Last year I reported on the worrying spate of insolvencies in the drinks industry, particularly among craft brewers.

And things have gotten even worse so far in 2024. Dave Padden of Sydney’s Akasha Brewing was pretty open with us last year on the show about the difficulties his business was confronting.

Sadly, Akasha last week became the latest brewery to enter voluntary administration.

In this episode I’m joined by Dale Meddings, joint CEO of Bintani, Australia’s leading supplier of ingredients to the brewing and distilling industries, and a long-term sponsor of the podcast.

Coming up, Dale shares with us the impact this brewing industry turmoil has been having on his business, and we get a health check on the emerging craft spirits sector.

Dale reveals what are some of the hottest ingredients currently on the market that will shape the drinks of the future.

And you’ll hear why, in spite of everything that’s going on, he is still optimistic about the future of independent brewing in Australia.

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