Sadhbh Warren

When it comes to beer, I wrote the book. Well, a chapter anyway - I recently wrote the 8 page chapter on Sydney’s best beers, numerous breweries and what to do when you're not drinking beer for the Ultimate Beer Guide (Aus and NZ). When I was a little girl I wanted to be a writer and write books about ponies. When I was in college I wanted to be a writer and drink beer. Now I am (technically) an adult I still want to be a writer. Beer and ponies are optional but encouraged. I’ve accepted writing involves a lot less ponies and beer and a lot more work than I had originally thought, but occasionally you get a dream assignment. If you flick to page 42 of the Ultimate Beer Guide , you’ll find my guide to brewing in Sydney. It took two months and far too many hangovers to research and write and I am looking forward to seeing if the ATO will accept receipts from pubs as tax-deductible. When I was writing this piece, I found 5 craft breweries I never knew about within 30 minutes ...

You may not know Chuck's name straight away but if you drink beer, there's a good chance his name is in your fridge right now.  Dr Charles "Chuck" Hahn has devoted over four decades in three countries to the task of brewing those best beers, crafting beers for some of the biggest names; Coors, Lion Nathan, Hahn, James Squire.  Armed with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an insatiable love of great food and beer, he cut his teeth at Coors in Colorado and Tooth in Sydney (forgive the pun, please) before founding the brewery that made him a household name - the Hahn Brewery.  When the rights to make and distribute that beer sold to Toohey and moved home, he changed the brewery's name to the Malt Shovel where, he says, they make beer they want to drink and "sell whatever is left over". Thankfully they don't manage to drink all of it, and there's enough James Squire (and their fascinating Mad Brewers' range) left for the rest of us. I got t...