Crowd-funding as a way to invest in Breweries, Distilleries and Wineries

Ok… the five weeks that Broo Ltd has been in suspension from trading on the ASX has not really taught me much of a lesson about investing in small craft breweries and the like, and I am still keen to try it if the right opportunity comes up. A friend of mine knows the owners …

What happened to all the old-fashioned pubs?

Almost three decades ago, a close friend of mine did a road trip up to Mildura with one principal goal in mind – to visit the Mildura Working Man’s Club and see the longest bar in the world. Well… I was in Mildura last weekend and I did visit the Club, although I was well …

If the Socceroos miss the World Cup I for one will be happy

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/from-kings-of-oceania-to-asian-minnows-behind-the-socceroos-decline-20220606-p5arb9.html Given that I vehemently dislike soccer and consider Australian Rules Football to be a vastly superior sport, I will feel it my patriotic duty to rejoice when the Socceroos fail to make the World Cup. The only smart decision that they could make, which might drum up support here in Australia, is for them …

Mildura Art Gallery Goes Woke

In 1944, wealthy local newspaper owner RF Elliot left his large art collection to the Mildura council, on the provision that they came up with a building to serve as an art gallery to display his collection. I know this because yesterday, having an idle hour after visiting the Sunraysia Cellar Door, I decided to …

Broo’s Mildura Micro Brewery Closed

So… I’ve come up to Mildura for a few days and have just ventured out of my hotel in search of dinner. Given that I’m in town, I thought I’d pop into the Mildura Brewery, which is owned by Broo, whom I’ve been writing about on this blog recently. A sign on the door says …

Broo, Craft Breweries and Beer Generally

About a decade ago, my best friend invited me along to one of his family functions, at which event his rather bogan brother-in-law totally surprised me. It turns out that this bloke is quite the connoisseur when it comes to craft beer, and was in the habit of visiting many micro breweries around suburban Melbourne …

Bye Bye Bernie: But Matthew Guy is not off the hook….

The Hon Bernie Finn MLC, my longstanding upper house state Liberal MP, got expelled this week from the state parliamentary Liberal Party. Ostensibly, his recent social media utterances about potential US Supreme Court developments on the issue of reversing long standing case law (Roe Vs Wade) on abortion were the last straw for the state …

Wither The Liberal Party?

I love the nuance of the English language, the only language I really feel comfortable writing in. I can speak Italian well enough, and I can struggle along to mostly comprehend (and occasionally actually enjoy) some limited Latin (written of course), but English is the only language in which I feel confident to fully express …

Democracy Sausage Sizzle Fizzle

Whilst I am habitually much more interested in politics than the average person (the average person currently needs to significantly lift their game in order to preserve our democracy), I recently decided very reluctantly after weighing up many salient concerns that my obligations for civic duty towards our democracy would be better served by me …

Top Gun 2 – Why Bother Now?

You won’t see any F-14 Tomcats on static display outside US Naval Bases or in aviation museums. It is a shame as they were beautiful planes to watch flying, as evidenced in that 1986 classic movie Top Gun. That is because, after they were all retired, they were shredded into very small pieces of scrap, …