The program for Australia's biggest ever beer week goes live online at 9am AEST tomorrow (March 13). The 2015 Good Beer Week program features 250 events at 180 venues across Melbourne at Victoria at which punters will be able to choose from hundreds of beers and rub shoulders with brewers from all over Australia as well as New Zealand, Japan, Europe, the Middle East, the UK, the USA and, quite possibly, other places too.
Anyone planning to attend the fifth Good Beer Week will be able to browse the program and purchase tickets online via the festival website, with many events expected to sell out on the first weekend as in previous years.
The first chance to get your hands on a physical copy of the program will be at this weekend's Gala Showcase at Fitzroy Town Hall. Already the Friday and Saturday evening sessions are sold out and there were only 30 tickets left for the Saturday afternoon session at time of writing. Online sales will close at 8pm AEST this evening in preparation for the full program going live.
While the 2015 festival program is the biggest yet for Good Beer Week, it actually represents the smallest increase in the number events year on year since it launched in 2011. The festival organisers were keen to consolidate after four years of rapid expansion to ensure they are delivering a program worthy of the praise it has received from leading brewers here and overseas.
Within the program is a diverse mix of old favourites – some returning for the fifth year in a row – and exciting new events at venues making their Good Beer Week debut. They range from an incredible array of degustations at some of Victoria's best restaurants to jazz, rock and doom metal gigs, from ghost tours to live brews, from the "other" craft events to punk parties, arcade gaming and much more besides.
Of course, The Crafty Pint's pocket of Good Beer Week, the Pint of Origin, returns for a fourth year with nine excellent Melbourne pubs playing host to the six Aussie states plus the USA, Europe and New Zealand for the week. We're also bringing a fun and approachable version of our Blind Tastings to the week alongside a legend of the local beer scene.
The week also features many of the beer world's key annual events. The Australian International Beer Awards will host their judging the week beforehand and their Awards Dinner on the Thursday (don't forget to enter the Crafty Pint-sponsored Media Award, beer writers, bloggers, podcasters). GABS will once again close out the week with an expected 12,000 people attending the five sessions at the Royal Exhibition Building. The third Australian Craft Brewers Conference will be the biggest and most ambitious yet. And TimeOut Melbourne is moving its Pub Awards to run during Good Beer Week too.
Print programs will be distributed to all participating Metro Melbourne venues over the coming days and will make their way to regional and outer suburban venues after that.
In the meantime, put a reminder in your diary for 9am tomorrow to jump online at goodbeerweek.com.au and book your spots ready for when the festival returns for its fifth birthday from May 16 to 24.
