The stories of Australia’s craft beer capital will come to life in a new Sunshine Coast podcast that is sure to wet the whistle of anyone who loves an amber drop.
In Pursuit of Hoppiness is a new podcast celebrating the people behind the pint in the Coast’s brewing scene.
If the walls of the 21 breweries of the region could talk, you’d hear stories about experimental home brews, burning ambition and, above all, good beer.
Today, these stories are revealed in the In Pursuit of Hoppiness podcast.
The series, speaking with 16 independent craft brewers, was produced by Visit Sunshine Coast in partnership with Southern Cross Austereo and is hosted by local news anchor Paul Taylor.
Launching the series is one of Australia’s most awarded breweries: Moffat Beach Brewing Co.
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Speaking with owner and brewer Matt Wilson, the first episode covers everything from experimenting with home brewing in the garage to whether you spit craft beer out like wine when you’re doing a tasting (spoiler, you don’t).
“There was nowhere to get a beer at Moffat Beach at that stage and that was our sort of light bulb moment,” said Wilson, whose craft beer journey started when he and his wife Sharynne bought a café in Moffat Beach in 2012.
“We put in craft beer … we wanted a point of difference and I enjoyed drinking it and I started brewing at home to educate myself on what it was I was actually selling.
“It overtook the garage and then it became a pretty big obsession and then Sharynne just said, ‘The beers are tasting pretty good. Maybe we look at putting a little brewery in the café’.”
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After three years of trial and error – including some batches that even Wilson admitted tasted like ‘paint stripper’ – they found their stride.
Today, Moffat Beach Brewing Co has been honoured as Australia’s Champion Medium Brewery and Champion Queensland Brewery at the 2022 Independent Brewers Association (IBA) awards – just one of the many success stories to come out of the local craft beer scene.
Other Coast accolades include Your Mates Brewing Co’s Larry Pale Ale being voted third favourite beer in Australia in the 2021 GABS Hottest 100 Craft Beers, and Brouhaha Brewery’s ever-popular Strawberry and Rhubarb Sour taking home the Champion Trophy in the Fruit and Funk category at the 2022 IBAs.
Visit Sunshine Coast head of marketing Kelly Ryan said the podcast was the latest initiative being rolled out as part of the Australia’s Craft Beer Capital initiative.
“With more breweries per capita than any state or territory in Australia, the Sunshine Coast is officially Australia’s craft beer capital,” she said.
“With this, we saw an opportunity to come together and market the Sunshine Coast as a craft beer destination.
“Since the launch in December 2021, we have released craft beer maps, rolled out national campaigns, partnered with Beervana in New Zealand and created a dedicated landing page on visitsunshinecoast.com celebrating our craft beer scene.
“The In Pursuit of Hoppiness podcast is all about sharing the stories of the people behind the pint, getting to hear from the brewers themselves on what makes our craft beer so good.
“Throughout the series, you’ll hear about sustainability, how brewers are working with local producers to go paddock to pint, incredible tales of triumph, trial and error and unwavering passion.
“But what struck me most when listening to the podcast was the warmth and friendliness of the craft beer community we have here.
“We all support one another, and that’s what makes Australia’s craft beer capital so special.”
In Pursuit of Hoppiness includes a bonus five-episode spin-off series speaking with various distillers from the Sunshine Coast.
To listen to In Pursuit of Hoppiness, head to the Visit Sunshine Coast website.
It is also available to stream through most podcast apps including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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