We’re joined this episode by Steve Jeffares, co-founder of The Local Taphouse and Stomping Ground Brewing Company in Melbourne, as well as GABS, the Great Australian Beer Spectapular festival. Steve’s new solo venture is Happy Camper, a community-focused venue in Glen Iris, Melbourne, in the site formerly occupied by Deeds Brewing, which ceased operations last year. As you’ll hear, it’s a deliberate step back from scale and spectacle — and a return to Steve’s roots in hospitality and curating great drinks experiences. Coming up, Steve talks us through what inspired the concept and how it reflects his evolving relationship with beer and hospitality. We also get into the changing landscape of Australia’s beer industry — from the early days of craft, to the maturing market we see today, and what he thinks the next generation of breweries will need to get right if they’re to survive and thrive.

In this episode, we welcome back Australian spirits writer and historian Luke McCarthy to discuss two new books he has published in 2025. The first is Forgotten Spirits: A History of the Distilling Industry in Victoria — a landmark publication commissioned by Spirits Victoria and supported by funding from the Victorian Government. This is the first time anyone has attempted a comprehensive historical account of distilling in Victoria. And what Luke uncovered is an industry far older and more dynamic than many of us would have assumed. Distilling in Victoria dates back to the 1830s, and by the early 1900s the state was producing spirits on a truly global scale, only for Federal Government policy decisions to ultimately bring the industry undone later that century. The second book is St Agnes Distillery: The First 100 Years 1925–2025. It celebrates the centenary of St Agnes – one of Australia’s most iconic spirit producers – which featured on this podcast back in 2022 when the company launched its new Camborne Single Malt Whisky. Through family archives, historic photographs and in-depth interviews, Luke chronicles how the Angove family built the St Agnes brandy house from the ground up in Renmark, South Australia – enduring fires, floods, economic upheaval, and even the existential threat of changing consumer tastes. It’s a pleasure to welcome Luke back to Drinks Adventures for a timely conversation that connects the past, present and future of Australian spirits.

We’re joined this episode by John Slattery, co-founder of Greenbanks Tasmanian Whisky Co. Greenbanks started production in late 2023 with Tasmania’s largest capacity still that is fully optimised for producing whisky of all styles. In fact, the capacity of the production still at Greenbanks exceeds the combined capacity of all other whisky distilleries on the island. This scale is designed to support Greenbanks’ goal of producing a Tasmanian whisky that can hit shelves at the globally competitive price of around $80 for a 700ml bottle. And this scale, combined with other efficiencies, means Greenbanks can offer accessibly priced contract production services to its fellow Tasmanian distillers, along with aspiring whisky brands. This is a special episode of Drinks Adventures, produced in partnership with Greenbanks. Coming up, you’ll hear from John how he, Hugh Roxburgh and Tim Salt came together to found the business. First up though, I wanted to find out a little bit more about how John originally found his way into the whisky industry.

We’re joined this episode by Charlie Echlin and Chico Rosa from Fielden Whisky of England, which has recently launched its range in Australia. Fielden began life in 2017 as The Oxford Artisan Distillery, a company focused predominately on white spirits that it distilled from scratch using historic grain varieties. But it also laid down for maturation small quantities of grain spirit that underpinned its relaunch as Fielden Whisky and relocation to Yorkshire with the target of having 30,000 casks under maturation by 2030. This is a special episode of Drinks Adventures, produced in partnership with Fielden Whisky. Coming up, you’ll hear about Fielden’s differentiated approach to English whisky, championing rye, first and foremost, and highlighting the benefits of regenerative farming, working exclusively with heritage grains that have been grown entirely without chemicals. Just like several other brands we’ve previously featured on this podcast – Starward, Westward and Stauning – Fielden Whisky received a minority investment from the Distil Ventures accelerator program. Spirits giant Diageo recently announced it would no longer fund Distil Ventures, so later on in this episode I ask Charlie and Chico what this means for their business. We get their thoughts on some of the recent economic malaise surrounding the whisky industry globally. And, even though they’re focused on making rye whisky, Charlie and Chico give their view on the definition of ‘single malt’ in the proposed English whisky geographical indication that has caused quite a bit of controversy in recent months.

We’re joined this episode by James Brindley and Anubha Sahasrabuddhe of brewer Lion Australia. After his previous 28-year stint with Lion finished in 2021, James surprised the industry when he announced his return as managing director in May 2024, under a somewhat unorthodox arrangement where he would share the leadership with Anubha. With a background in CPG – consumer packaged goods – Anubha held senior leadership roles at The Coca-Cola Company and Mars Wrigley across Asia Pacific and North America, prior to returning to Australia to join Lion in 2021. Anubha’s title now is chief growth and commercial officer, and coming up, we’ll hear a bit more about the unique co-leadership arrangement she has with James, which is just coming up to its 12-month anniversary. This is a special episode of Drinks Adventures produced in partnership with Lion’s Ultra Zero Carb range that has been rolled out across the Hahn, XXXX, Tooheys and Byron Bay Brewery brands. But the interview was also an opportunity for me to ask Anubha and James about some of the challenges and trends currently confronting the brewing industry, like the struggles of the craft beer sector, the rise of premix spirits, the future of the non-alcoholic segment and more.

One of the standout sessions at the recent Australian Distillers Association conference was presented by Dr Marlize Becker of the University of Queensland and Luke Farrelly of Canefields Distillery on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Luke is a fourth-generation cane farmer who wanted to carry on the family tradition and decided rum was the most logical vehicle for him to do so. But the discovery of ten different ‘heirloom’ sugarcane varieties growing on the family property led him down the path of exploring which of them would be able to provide the most distinctive flavour profiles. Enter Marlize, whose research over the last decade has focussed on understanding the flavour and aroma compounds in wine. Funded by a university grant, Marlize undertook a study of the sugar cane varieties growing on Luke’s farm that enabled the application of her wine expertise to assist Canefields. The initial results are exciting, offering the potential for Canefields to elevate its cane juice rums and bolster what is surely one of Australia’s most unique agritourism experiences.

We’re joined this episode by Steve Magarry and Jonny Croft of Sydney Rum Distillery, which has just unveiled its new home in the former Oak milk factory in Muswellbrook.   Now, that is of course a few hours north of Sydney, in the Upper Hunter Valley to be precise. In fact, the historic Oak site was most recently utilised as a winery. But the selection of the Oak factory follows an exhaustive search across Sydney for a site that could accommodate the company’s ambitious plans to create a globally scaled rum and brandy business. As you’ll hear in a moment, Sydney Rum Distillery is a holding company that in the first instance will produce bulk cane spirit and rum for export markets. But there are also plans to create its own brand portfolio in addition to Cargo Cult, the south pacific rum brand that Johnny founded in 2014. I caught up with Steve and Jonny at the distillery in Muswellbrook following a briefing and tour the company held for the local community, media and potential investors in March 2025.

Fred Siggins is a Melbourne-based spirits writer with more than 20 years of experience in the drinks and hospitality industries. He joins us to discuss what I think is a fairly momentous development. Halliday Wine Companion, the definitive guide to Australian wine for almost 40 years, is expanding its remit to include spirits. Launching in April 2025, Halliday Spirits offers comprehensive reviews and ratings of Australian-made and international spirits, aiming to elevate the industry with the same dedication to quality and insight that has defined Halliday's legacy in wine. Distillers will be assigned annual star ratings, based on scores achieved throughout the year, and the Halliday website, winecompanion.com.au, will host a directory of distillery profiles. Fred will be acting as lead taster, and joining him is gin expert Jess Clayfield, who has a profound understanding of Australian botanicals. Coming up, Fred explains why he thinks consumers are crying out for expert buying advice on spirits. You’ll hear which Australian spirits categories he’s most excited about, and he shares a few specific recommendations on the best value spirits currently on the market. Interested distillers can find out how to get involved here: https://winecompanion.com.au/spirits-submission-process

Welcome to a special news edition of Drinks Adventures as we unpack Lark Distilling’s half yearly results. This time last year, Lark Distilling CEO Satya Sharma joined us on the podcast for a full-length interview, which I strongly recommend you listen to if you haven’t already. Twelve months on and Lark appears to making strong progress against the priorities and objectives that Sash outlined in that episode. The ASX-listed company recently announced net sales of $7.2 million for the half year ended December 31, which was a 7% increase on the same time last year. The company reported an operating EBITDA loss of $1.2 million, but Sash – speaking in an investor webinar – said this was the result of an ongoing increase in marketing spend. The webinar also featured the unveiling of Lark's new Kurio Blended Malt Whisky and an update on its rebrand, which Sash signalled will be significant.

In this episode, veteran beer journalist Matt Kirkegaard returns to the Drinks Adventures podcast. Early in 2024, Matt surprised many people in the brewing industry when he announced a career change, having spent more than two decades as a beer writer and educator. This also meant the closure of Brews News, the beer industry publication and podcast that I edited between 2015 and 2018, prior to starting Drinks Adventures. And not only that, but Matt made a somewhat unusual tree change, taking a job in Roma, 500kms inland from Brisbane, where the country meets the outback. Twelve months on from this move, I wanted to check in on Matt, who was honoured – very appropriately I think – with the lifetime achievement award at The Indies beer awards last year. We talk about some of the ongoing challenges facing independent brewing, and why Matt remains optimistic that the sector’s best days are still ahead of it, if brewers can survive the current economic headwinds.

Renowned wine writer and champagne specialist Tyson Stelzer joins us in this opening episode of Season 20. Late in 2024, Tyson released the seventh edition of The Champagne Guide, which is 50 per cent bigger than the previous edition, featuring a record 1260 reviews spread across 880 pages adorned with Tyson’s beautiful photographs. The guide features a Hall of Honour ranking the best producers and the best champagnes of the year in all price points, as well as the best blanc de blancs, blanc de noirs and rosé champagnes. It's the world's most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to champagne, featuring the latest, freshest releases, all tasted recently by Tyson. And while champagne prices have really shot up in recent years, you’ll hear why Tyson believes champagne still offers far superior value when considered alongside the world’s other leading fine wine appellations. This interview was recorded late last year, so apologies for the delay in sharing it with you, but I think it’s a very worthy episode to officially kick off the podcast for 2025.

We last spoke with Chris Hatcher in May 2021, at which time he was still chief winemaker of the legendary Wolf Blass brand. Chris has since retired from Wolf Blass, but it’s not retirement as you or I would know it, because Chris has thrown himself into his own venture, Hatch Wines, which is what we’ll be discussing today. Chris has relished the opportunity to build his small, family-run brand from scratch. And unlike his corporate winemaking days, he is hands on at every stage of the process, from winemaking and blending, to marketing, showcasing and most importantly, selling the wines.  The result is a portfolio of premium shiraz and Riesling from some of South Australia’s most esteemed vineyards, and the wines have generated rave reviews from some of the country’s top critics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're joined this episode by Elizabeth McCall, master distiller of Woodford Reserve in Kentucky. Elizabeth was not really a whiskey enthusiast when she first joined parent company Brown-Forman in 2009 as a member of the research and development department. But she soon developed a taste for it, becoming a master taster in 2015, before being effectively anointed as successor to the legendary Chris Morris when she was appointed assistant master distiller in 2018. When Elizabeth took the reigns in early 2023, she became only the third master distiller in Woodford Reserve’s 28-year history. In this special episode of Drinks Adventures – produced in partnership with Woodford Reserve – we’ll hear about Elizabeth’s unique career pathway into whiskey, before getting in to the DNA of the Woodford Reserve brand. Woodford Reserve is the only distillery that makes all four types of American whiskey – bourbon, rye, malt and wheat – ­under the same brand name. We’ll explore those core range products, as well as the groundbreaking whiskies released as part of the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection, in this brilliant conversation with Elizabeth.

Haydon Morgan and Damien Ryan are the founders of First Light Brewing Co, a start-up in Wollongong, NSW. You may recall Haydon’s voice from the special documentary episode we did on Australian brewing legend Chuck Hahn a few years ago now. Haydon and Damien are both longstanding residents of the Illawarra region and they met each other while working at Lion, where they realised they had complementary skillsets for setting up a brewery of their own. Haydon finished up with Lion in 2023 as brewery manager for the craft beer division, and Damien, a drinks industry sales veteran, exited the business this year. With such an accomplished brewer at the helm, I had no doubt whatsoever that First Light will be putting out some superb beers. But I was interested to hear a bit more about their business model, given some of the challenges the beer industry is currently facing, as previously explored on the Drinks Adventures podcast throughout 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we meet Ian Schmidt and Vic Orlow, founders of South Australia’s Tin Shed Distilling, the company behind Iniquity Whisky and other brands. The original tin shed was in Adelaide’s inner west, adjacent to Ian’s other business manufacturing flagpoles, of all things. Ian has since exited the flagpole game to focus on whisky, and he and Vic have relocated their distillery to a different tin shed in the Adelaide Hills. There, they will soon be able to open their doors to the public for the very first time in the company’s history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we meet two of the founders of Queensland Rum Day, Matt Hobson of Cavu Distilling and Nil Desperandum Rum, and Duncan Littler of Bundaberg Rum. The second ever Queensland Rum Day is coming up this Saturday 2 November 2024, and this year brings with it a special collaborative rum showcasing liquid from four distilleries, two of which I’ve already mentioned – the others being Beenleigh and Kalki Moon. They’re calling themselves The Rum Consortium, and there are just 1920 bottles available of their 2024 Limited Edition Blend, which is the first ever time that stalwarts Bundaberg and Beenleigh have ever combined their spirits in the same bottle. I caught up with Matt and Duncan to find out about this historic rum release, the evolving rum industry in Queensland, and the significance of this new event that I expect we will be hearing much more about in years to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special episode of the show looking at the future of Australian wine, produced in partnership with Endeavour Drinks. First up, we meet Endeavour’s head of fine wine, Andrew Shedden, who sets out the challenges that the category is currently facing. In short, those of us who love wine are getting older, and we’re not buying as much as we did in the past. And younger consumers are choosing to drink beverages other than wine, which is facing tougher than ever competition from beer, spirits and premix. Andrew says it is incumbent on the wine industry to rethink its approach if it is to appeal to these younger consumers, and that means challenging the accepted conventions: everything from the liquid itself to packaging formats, labelling, branding, marketing and how we talk about wine. Also this episode I speak with a couple of producers who have done just that; Cam Marshall of Range Life Wines in Victoria, and Rod Micallef of Zonzo Estate in the Yarra Valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We welcome back to the show Daniel Motlop of Seven Seasons Spirits, who we previously met back in May 2021. Coming up, Daniel reveals that Seven Seasons has returned to majority family ownership following the demise of his former business partner and distributor, Mighty Craft. Mighty Craft backer Pure Asset Management has emerged as Daniel’s new business partner and together they have big ambitions for the brand that has showed so much promise with its innovative products showcasing Australian native ingredients, led of course by Green Ant Gin. We get an update on the Seven Seasons whisky that was developed by Daniel in collaboration with another previous podcast guest, Mighty Craft head distiller George Campbell, who has since returned to Islay to take up the job as distillery manager at Laphroaig. Seven Seasons has also announced a new distribution agreement with Amber Beverage Australia, so first up in this episode I spoke briefly with founder and CEO Patrick Borg about the latest addition to his portfolio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nelson Hernandez is master distiller at Venezuela’s Diplomatico Rum, where he has worked for an incredible 38 years. After studying mechanical engineering, Nelson initially worked in the oil industry before taking a job in 1986 as Maintenance and Project Manager at the Diplomatico distillery. Working alongside rum master Tito Cordero, Nelson learnt the craft of rum production the Diplomatico way, which means applying the highest quality standards at every step of the rum-making process from the sourcing of raw materials to the bottling.   As you heard at the top of the show, Nelson relishes the opportunity to convert whisky and cognac enthusiasts over to Diplomatico’s super premium rums led by its flagship Reserva Exclusiva blend, the perfect rum for sipping and elevating classic cocktails such as the Old Fashioned. The Diplomatico brand is ranked number one globally in the super premium rum segment and Reserva Exclusiva is currently having a bit of a moment here in Australia, growing 22 per cent year-on-year. So in this special episode of Drinks Adventures – produced with the support of Diplomatico – I sat down with Nelson to find out a little bit more about the brand’s Venezuelan provenance, and the production methodologies that set Diplomatico Rum apart from its peers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're joined this episode by James Bruce, who together with school friend Stafford Fox founded StrangeLove Beverage Co in Byron Bay, Australia, in 2012. StrangeLove is an unlikely story of entrepreneurialism that began with a single product –StrangeLove Organic Ginger Beer Energy Elixir – ‘a ginger beer so hot it was almost undrinkable’ that also contained functional ingredients like green tea and yerba mate. Over an at times tumultuous decade in which James and Stafford were continually running out of money, the StrangeLove offering evolved into a portfolio of adult soft drinks, mixers and mineral waters that proved so popular the business was ultimately acquired in 2022 by Asahi Beverages. This episode of Drinks Adventures was produced in partnership with StrangeLove, which has this year come on board as a sponsor of the show. So, I’m excited to share with you the StrangeLove origin story in this conversation with James, who reveals there is a new chapter on the horizon for the company involving its first ever foray into the arena of alcohol beverages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices