James Smith is the founder of Australia’s leading beer publication, The Crafty Pint, and creator of the Pint of Origin festival. James launched The Crafty Pint in 2010, he was part of the team that founded Good Beer Week, becoming Festival Director for its first five years when it became acknowledged as one of the best beer weeks in the world. Pint of Origin, meanwhile, returns for its 13th year from May 9 to 18, offering the chance to explore the world of craft beer across 23 of Melbourne’s best pubs, bars, and breweries.
Here’s Smith with the inside word.
Give us the rundown on what Pint of Origin is and how it came to be.
It’s pretty simple: a bunch of venues with a focus on craft beer turn over their taps to beers and brewers from a particular state, country or region of the world for 10 days. People who love beer and trying new experiences drop into those that take their fancy whenever they feel like it. Other than a handful of ticketed events, it’s free to attend with the only cost being what you spend on drinks and food.
That said, it’s evolved a fair way from its debut as part of Good Beer Week in 2012, when it was six venues all showcasing Aussie beers. Last year, we estimated 55,000 pints were sold over the 10 days. This year, we’ve got 23 host venues with more than 200 breweries located on four continents sending beers here, plus a Boilermaker Hub at Whisky and Alement and, for the first time, a Beer Cocktail Hub at Captain Melville.
What’s more, the pubs, bars and bottle shops that take part go to great lengths to make the festival about more than tapping heaps of beers you’ll never otherwise see in Melbourne, or in some cases Australia. There’s degustations, masterclasses, beer and lolly pairing, some form of beer and skittles involving large blocks of ice and cans on the bar at Heartbreaker, a beer version of QI – you get the idea.
As for the initial idea, I was Good Beer Week festival director at the time and, following the event’s debut in 2011 was trying to find a way to make it easy for brewers all over Australia to take part in 2012. Pint of Origin meant all they had to do was send a keg to their venue to be able to share in the fun. For some reason, it just went off and now it’s outlived Good Beer Week.
The festival has been running 13 years now; what do you think has made it a success?
I think the simplicity of the concept certainly helps, but we believe it’s unique too. There are plenty of festivals showcasing beers from various places, and other walking beer festivals, but nothing quite like this.
The fact there’s no tickets probably plays a part, the enthusiasm and creativity of host venues does too, and I think the way we’re essentially elevating the good old pub crawl into something special, while introducing attendees to venues they’ve never visited before, taps into the core of what “going out” is all about. Adding passports that allow people to collect stamps at every venue, earning bonus drinks and entering prize draws as they go, puts an extra layer of fun on the crawl aspect too.
Punters have embraced it as well: there are groups that get together every year, often in fancy dress, sometimes on bikes, sometimes running between venues, and many have forged amazing friendships not just with each other but with the venue staff too.
In short, it probably encapsulates the community aspect of hospitality, combined with an element of exploration and trying new experiences.
What has changed in the events landscape since Pint of Origin’s early years?
Initially, Good Beer Week and Pint of Origin were part of a handful of major beer events across the country that inspired many more to follow suit. Obviously, events of recent years from the pandemic onwards have seen many of these events disappear or shrink or evolve into something else, but that’s reflected throughout food, drinks and the arts.
Right now, with so many people having little in the way of disposable income, it’s harder than ever to get people to buy tickets, yet there’s some amazing smaller, niche events in the beer space that are thriving, from the long-running Bendigo On The Hop to specialist festivals like Obsidian (in Ballarat – all dark beers) or Blobfish, run by Hop Nation, that’s all about wild and funky beers.
I’m sure once the economy bounces back, there will be beer venues and breweries aiming to get back to more educational and beer-focused events, while biding their time with staples like trivia, comedy and live music in the meantime.
Is there any other special sauce to what you do?
Honestly, from within the team running the festival, hard work and a stubborn determination to prioritise giving the beer community something glorious to look forward to every May over the business’s finances and my sleep.
Any regrets?
Not having a commercial bone in my body? Especially when there actually was sponsorship money around.
What about the big lessons learned?
Lesson one: going to the pub – or a few pubs – with mates to try new and delicious things is good for the soul, and thus pubs are good for society and, along with the grassroots brewing industry, need to be supported before they’re driven into the ground by worsening financial realities. Do we really want a world of identikit pubs and hotels owned by the same two or three groups on the one hand and TAB barns on the other?
Lesson two: the simplest ideas are often the best.
Lesson three: me and all the Pint of Origin host venues are gluttons for punishment. (But see Lesson one.)
What’s been the key to successfully growing Pint of Origin?
Creating it at the right time as a key element of what, at the time, was one of the biggest and best beer events in the world.
Belief in the concept and what it means to so many people on both sides of the bar.
The creativity and inspiring ideas both venues and brewers bring to the party every year.
And an at-times unhealthy work ethic and determination to make it the best it can possibly be every year, despite next-to-zero resources and limited support from outside The Crafty Pint team and the host venues.
Events of this scale can take time to build equity in the eating and drinking landscape. Do you have any advice for any operators who are starting out?
Ensure the concept is a good one that’s easily understandable, has a point of difference, and has a potential audience.
As with any startup event or small business, be prepared to put in the hours, expect things you never imagined would go wrong to need fixing on a regular basis, and surround yourself with good people.
Ideally, you’d do your research into similar operations and speak to people with experience in the field. This wasn’t really possible for us at Good Beer Week as nothing had been done like that in beer here, and the craft beer scene was still in its fledgling years, but there’s plenty of people in all walks of the beer industry now with years of experience under their belts.
Who do you look to in Victoria for inspiration? Which venues, events and people set the bar for you?
In the early days of Good Beer Week, we looked outside beer at the Melbourne festivals we thought did things best, typically in the music or arts space. Whether by design or accident we ended up with a pretty MFWF-esque format, but one key aim was to never look like a beer festival, just a cool festival you’d want to check out.
With Pint of Origin, a lot of decisions are left up to the venues in terms of how they want to present themselves. Personally, I love everything Aunty stands for through Meredith and Golden Plains, and hope that Pint of Origin presents itself as a good citizen.
Best case scenario, how do you want people to think about what you do?
I want them to know that I really care.
Pint of Origin 2025 is about to kick off, and is all ready to roll; how can people get involved in the next one?
If we’re talking about this year’s event, then head to pintoforigin.com, grab a digital passport, gather some friends, agree your plan of attack, head out and have a great time with delicious beers in wonderful venues!
If talking about 2026 and from a venue perspective: keep an eye out for venue applications opening in October.
Pint of Origin runs 9-18 May, pintoforigin.com; craftypint.com