I had the great fortune to visit Australia recently to see our new friends Bintani who are now distributing our malt down under! My trip was in conjunction with the first annual Good Beer Week and it was a whirlwind tour of brewery open houses, beer dinners, award ceremonies, and general good feeling. One of the excellent events was an open house at the Bintani warehouse for 130 craft brewers from all over AU and NZ. Many good beers on tap and I was able to address the group to give a short overview on Briess as well as the state of the US craft beer market trends (bug beers, canning lines, growth, CDA’s, extreme beers, craft distilling, NANO’s). There were also several vendors set up with displays though I think the Briess display that Bintani set up was the most impressive (we’re the new kid on the block in AU). One of the other presenters for the open house was Tristin Miller who gave an inspirational chat on turning his life around in 2010 by running 52 marathons in 52 weeks, check out his incredible story on his website here. The craft brewing movement in AU/NZ is a few years behind the US but the energy level is incredible! Thanks again to Bintani for being wonderful hosts!!!
