On its opening weekend, the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival took over the rather spectacular grounds of Melbourne’s Como House. It was the site for the 2013 Put Victoria on Your Table Artisan Market. For the event, the organisers filled every courtyard, lawn, walkway, shed, outhouse and garden with stalls displaying the best the state has to offer. From artisan cheese and bread to wine, fish and beer, for two days the grounds became the location for much sundrenched, laid back sampling and grazing.
Following on from our involvement in the Liquid Lounge Beer Masterclasses in 2012, The Crafty Pint was invited to do a spot of hosting on the Main Stage, which happened to be where the breweries who were taking part were serving up their beer. We joined stage host Clare Burder, the woman behind the Humble Tumbler, for a handful of sessions interviewing brewers and cider makers and – best of all – inviting Ceridwin from Milawa Cheese to join us for a spot of beer and cheese matching.
It gave us the opportunity to introduce the likes of Two Birds Brewing, Cavalier Brewing, Tooborac Hotel & Brewery, Golden Axe Cider, Red Duck and Grand Ridge to a new audience while showcasing beers from some of the others on show, including Bridge Road’s Aurora Borealis collaboration, to folks who would never have encountered such a beer. Also there were White Rabbit, Red Hill and Prickly Moses.
With those in attendance there to sample quality produce in myriad forms, their minds seemed open to trying new beer experiences; there were none of those blanket “I don’t like beer” declarations one comes to expect. It seems that among enlightened foodies there is a growing awareness that craft beer exists and is worthy of the same consideration and appreciation as the wines, cheeses, chocolates and so on displayed elsewhere in the grounds.
Hopefully we managed to impart some knowledge, or at least encouraged people to delve a little further into the beer world; certainly there was huge enthusiasm among the crowd to sample the beer and cheese matches we lined up. What’s more, the three audience members we brought up on the Saturday afternoon to sample beers with us – beers that included a Belgian Vanilla Porter, a high alcohol honey braggot and the aforementioned Aurora Borealis – all genuinely appreciated what those beers had to offer.
As for the event itself, it’s amazing to think Melbourne Food & Wine had never held such an event there before. The concept and location seem made for each other, even if the glorious weather throughout the weekend played its part too. Hopefully, the photos below capture a little of the mood.
