Online Beer - I have been featured!

To start a new week, here is a quick shout-out of thanks and a recommendation to jump on board with The Crafty Pint!

Driven by beer writer and freelance journalist, James Smith, The Crafty Pint is dedicated to and supporting the Australian craft beer scene. It provides an information hub and a comprehensive (well...it's still a work in progress) directory of the local craft beer industry, covering breweries, beer bars and shops and more. Currently focused on Victoria, James hopes the website will eventually cover all of Australia...which will be a massive task and the site is barely 3 months old at the moment.

The Crafty Pint fills a serious gap that I had encountered on the Internet for local beer information, especially in regards to who is brewing what and where to get it. Combined with its clean, straightforward, flashless structure and very regular updates...I just love it! The website is an excellent example of how to do a modern website well, keeping it interactive without being a mess of useless animations or click-once-but-never-again bandwidth sucking features.

Seeing myself as a rather small player in the blogosphere, I was surprised but appreciative to be approached for a Crafty Pint feature on beer bloggers. (And yes, I was a big fan of The Crafty Pint well before this personal connection to it.)

So, for some of my thoughts on this blog and the local beer industry, check out: http://craftypint.com/features/post/blog-of-the-month-beer-bar-band/

James, aka "Crafty" regularly contributes beer articles to The AGE newspaper's Epicure lift-out (published on Tuesdays), as well as other bits and pieces throughout The AGE and Sunday AGE.

Crafty talks a punter through The Crafty Pint website during the Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase...or is he just filling time with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance?

And whilst I'm pimping beer websites, I fully recommend beer lovers bookmark - or add to your RSS feed - Australian Brews News: http://www.brewsnews.com.au/

I started contributing to Brews News last month, hence I am clearly biased in recommending it. However, I truly believe that it is a valuable resource for anyone seeking news and views about Australia's beer scene.

Established and managed by Matt Kirkegaard, Brews News is driven by a passion for beer and writing about beer, seeking to encourage robust discussion about beer, as well as remaining free of commercial influences.

Where The Crafty Pint is the directory and information hub for Australian craft beer, Brews News provides in depth features covering all aspects of beer and brewing.

All in all, both sites are excellent ways to learn more and keep up-to-date with good beer.

If you know of any other quality websites providing unique, insightful and regular information and resources about Australian beer, please let me know. I am always keen to learn more about what is happening across the beer industry in my hunt for better beer. Cheers!