The cavalcade of deliciousness that is the Ballarat Beer Festival is back for 2021 – and isn't that just a wonderful prospect?

On February 20, you'll be able to head to the city's North Gardens, set up a picnic blanket by the lake or in the shade of a tree, and work your way through your pick of more than 150 beers and ciders, dozens of regional wines, a fleet of food trucks, and the cascading sound of live music from a long lineup of Aussie bands. 

The year’s event – aka "The Garden Edition" – will also take in beer education classes, blind tastings, trivia games, the legendary brewers' sack race, and plenty more to keep you entertained.

And, because staying out past 9pm should never again be taken for granted, they're following up the regular festival with the Ballarat Funk'N'Fest, a recovery session of sorts where you can hang in the gardens and chill out to a funk, soul & R&B soundtrack. UPDATE: FUNK'N'FEST HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS AROUND SINGING AND DANCING.

In order to keep with the COVIDSafe rules, the festival is running over two sessions: midday to 4pm and 5pm to 9pm, although there'll also be a very limited number of all-day tickets available. FYI: it's also a cashless event.

For all ticket sales and info, head here.

Crafty Cabal Bonus

With beer festivals up and running again, it means we're able to start lining up giveaways for members of The Crafty Pint's beer club, The Crafty Cabal.

We've got double passes up for grabs – and the winners can choose which session they'd like to attend. There's two ways to get hold of them:

• THESE HAVE NOW BEEN ISSUED

You can read more about our relaunched beer club here and here. And, if you run an Aussie brewery or venue, you might like to check out this competition we're running too.