Victoria’s summer of beer festivals continued at the weekend with the arrival of the inaugural Great Australian Beer Festival. Taking over much of the Geelong Racecourse, it brought together brewers and cider makers from across Victoria – and some from further afield – who between them poured more than 100 different beers and ciders for a crowd that exceeded expectations by climbing above the 4,000 mark.
As with the state’s other summer beer festivals, the weather gods were smiling, with temperatures in the low to mid 20s and not a drop of rain throughout. The site, which wound its way through various lawned, covered, indoor and tarmac areas, was heaving in parts by the early afternoon, with the masterclasses and education sessions particularly well attended.
Alongside the brewers from the local region, such as Little Creatures (who will be opening their Geelong production facility soon), Prickly Moses, Forrest, Southern Bay and Bellarine Brewing Company, was a wide array of other Victorian breweries, including Mountain Goat, Mildura, Mornington Peninsula Brewery and Cavalier. It was a pleasant surprise to see Murray’s, the New South Wales Brewery that is one of the country’s finest, also pouring beers on the day.
With pre-sales of family tickets relatively low, the entertainment for kids was reined in, making it more of a drinker’s festival than a family day out – one which, in keeping with craft beer events, passed without incident.
Festival organiser Kieran Blood said: “We were really happy with the turnout – just the right number for the location. When I went around to collect tokens from the breweries at the end, at least five said, ‘pencil us in for next year’. The rest all seemed very happy with sales. It was generally positive across the board.
“There are a few things that we need to fix, but mostly back of house. This is the first event on this scale that I’ve done – five times bigger than anything else – and we will hopefully be back there next year. Our breakdown of customers showed that 80-plus percent were from the Geelong region and that’s what we wanted to do. The mainstream haven’t really embraced craft beer here yet, but I had people from pubs saying that they realise now they haven’t got enough craft beer on tap.
“The brewers have been just amazing throughout, helping with cross promotion and everything. We will definitely be staying all Australian in the future and look to become even more boutique [in the beers and ciders we offer].”
Some pics from the day
