Episode Details

The craft beer era has given rise to thousands of stories, but none like that of Moon Dog.

Founders Karl van Buuren and brothers Josh and Jake Uljans announced themselves to an unsuspecting beer world in the manner of a custard pie to the face – well before custard pie beers were a thing – and have never stopped evolving and innovating. Neither have they lost focus on keeping two words – "delicious" and "fun" – at the heart of everything they do. 

After a few years of ever more outrageous releases, they opened their first venue in Abbotsford on the site of their first brewery (and schoolmates Josh and Karl's home for 14 months) before introducing a core range, growing fast, and taking over neighbouring buildings in Abbotsford as they became available.

Arguably just as outrageous as their early beers was what came in 2019: Moon Dog World, a vast venue in Preston that saw them convert a warehouse into a tropical paradise complete with waterfall, lagoon and Wall of Warnie.

Since then, they've embraced the arrival of hard seltzers in Australia, with Fizzer becoming one of the biggest brands in the country, and explored other avenues within the world of RTDs, while expanding their portfolio of megavenues. Indeed, the last of these was the main reason we sat down with Josh and Karl this week.

We joined them at Doglands, a 1200-capacity venue on the concourse of Marvel Stadium that was set to welcome people headed to Travis Scott's show later that night. It arrives hot on the heels of Moon Dog Wild West in the former Franco Cozzo building in Footscray, and just weeks (they hope) before they open in Frankston.

Our chat covers Moon Dog's evolution from craft brewer to multi-beverage producer and entertainment provider, the challenges and benefits of running vast venues, the importance of remaining true to yourself and your brand – whatever you end up doing, building and retaining great teams, and having fun along the way.

The conversation with them begins at 10:20.

Prior to that, we discuss stories from the week just gone, including the heartwarming tale of the changing of the guard at the Sunshine Coast's oldest brewery, where the owners' youngest daughter has taken up the reins, and the launch of a new Beer Cocktails series on The Crafty Pint.

You'll find links relevant to the show here:

A Curran Affair: Sunshine Coast's Oldest Brewery Passes To The Next Generation: https://craftypint.com/news/3602/a-curran-affair-sunshine-coasts-oldest-brewery-passes-to-the-next-generation

Beer Cocktails with Matt at Melville: https://craftypint.com/news/3604/beer-cocktails-with-matt-at-melville-simcoe-smash

Spangled Drongo Brewery: https://craftypint.com/brewery/865/spangled-drongo-brewery 

Bearhug Pallet Wraps: https://craftypint.com/business/1428/bearhug-pallet-wraps 

Be A Pint Of Origin Venue In 2025: https://craftypint.com/news/3591/be-a-pint-of-origin-host-venue-in-2025

The Gin Drinker's Toolkit Launch: https://craftypint.com/event/13493/gin-drinkers-toolkit-book-launch--gin-party--milton-common

Our breaking story on Moon Dog's plans for Docklands: https://craftypint.com/news/3219/marvel-ous-moon-dog-to-open-vast-docklands-brewpub   

Building Moon Dog's World: https://craftypint.com/news/2198/building-moon-dogs-world

Sun Tap Decals: https://www.suntapdecals.com.au/ 

To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.