Visit most fine dining establishments in Australia and beer seems an afterthought: exquisite food, wine list as long as your arm – and a choice of six commercial lagers. So be thankful for North Melbourne’s Courthouse Hotel, one of very few high quality restaurants in Australia with a dedication to great beer.

Since taking over this inner suburban boozer then conservatively described as “colourful” and “lively” back in 2001, Scott Thomas has turned it into a destination for those who appreciate the finer things in life. Chef Julian Hills runs a kitchen specialising in refined, modern European cuisine that earned the restaurant its first Chef Hat in The Age Good Food Guide in 2008, while the beer and wine lists in the elegant, dark wood public bar are deserving of any epicure’s attention.

Scott, who had worked in London prior to moving to Melbourne where he was surrounded by quality, traditional beers, made the decision from the off to replace the tired, commercial brews on every tap with the best local and imported beers he could find. Today, that effort has been rewarded with a reputation that ensures Australian craft brewers are keen to be seen at the Courthouse and willing to supply kegs of their rarer releases.

Its reputation among beer folk – it has acted as beer and offal specialist Chris Badenoch’s unofficial office – has been enhanced by regular beer dinners, featuring the likes of Mountain Goat, Bridge Road and the Yarra Valley’s breweries. Pairing superb food with the best beers Australia has to offer has given the venue a new string to its bow and helped raise the bar in terms of beer and food matching.

With an ever-growing bottled beer list and grand plans for the back bar – plus family-friendly Sunday lunches as of April 2011 – it’s a venue for all occasions for the beer lover.