From Video Games To Beer To Hot Sauce & Beyond

"We shifted the needle so hard in so many ways.”

If you can point me in the direction of anyone in Australia who ticks more of the stereotypical “craft beer guy” boxes than Ryan Davidson, I’m all ears.

He went from a nerd making video games to a nerd making beer in the garage of fellow video-gaming-beer-nerd-mate Fil Kemp, and now that he’s no longer part of the brewery they founded, Little Bang Brewing, he’s making hot sauces– well, “condiments for a post-condiment world” – with a psychedelic aesthetic. That he sports a hearty, if greying, beard goes without saying.

The Little Bang story pretty much encapsulates the modern craft beer era too. After starting out making beers they loved but couldn’t find elsewhere – typically with daft names and labels featuring equal parts social commentary and silly humour – the founders (with their wives both working in the business) expanded once, then again, sold to a larger business(a pub group rather than another brewing company), and now watch their baby’s evolution from the outside.

With the passage of time allowing fresh perspective, it gives us the chance to go deep into what it was like being inside a brewery as craft beer exploded – the highs and the lows – as well as the emotions and mental toll that comes with going from brewery owner to employee to beer-buying punter.

As anyone who knows Ryan will expect, it’s a chat laced with humour and flights of fantasy, but also one full of hard-earned and heartfelt insight too.

With our producer making his way back from the States this week, the intro was recorded early so doesn’t address the ATO’s latest announcements on exciseor the impending closureof cult Melbourne beer bar Benchwarmer. But Will and James do discuss Bright’s taphouse expansions, a feature on the beauty of barrel-aged beers, the forthcoming tenth anniversary of unique brewing co-op Hopsters, and the imminent unveiling of The Beer Championships finalists.

• 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
• 12:02 – Get a free Packpal sample
• 13:06 – Crafted Festival Brewer EOI
• 13:54 – Ryan Davidson Part 1
• 48:42 – Bintani Brewery Booster: Designing Lagers
• 52:17 – Ryan Davidson Part 2

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