Having served his apprenticeship behind the bars of Venice Beach and upstate New York, Brad Merritt arrived in Victoria in 2004. A keen homebrewer who’d lived through the craft beer explosion in the US, he soon realised a similar change was underway in Australia so, in 2008, took the plunge and opened Oscar’s in Belgrave, becoming in an instant the only bar dedicated to Australian craft beer beyond Melbourne’s east.

With four of his five taps on rapid rotation through the best beers Victorian microbrewers have to offer (the other pours Old Speckled Hen imported from the UK) and a fridge crammed with many more, it’s now more than an beer oasis in the Dandenongs' desert – it has one of the best selections of good Aussie beer anywhere in the state.

Brad and wife Gypsy host live music several nights a week and the bar is often used for home brew competitions and other beer-related events. Opening a bar dedicated to non-mainstream beer in the heart of the Dandenongs was a big challenge to take on but as Oscar’s favoured brewers struggle to keep up with demand for more fresh kegs, appears to be one that’s been overcome with ease.