A grand occasion requires a grand beer. And what could be better suited to the purpose than a Grand Cru?
Said occasion is indeed the launch of the 2016 Grand Cru, a beer created by the team at Geelong's White Rabbit brewery in conjunction with their near neighbours at Provenance Wines. The beer is an unblended sour red ale that's been fermented on Shiraz grapes and aged entirely in ex-wine barrels.
The beer will get its first outing at the brewery, with the brewers and winemakers – and hopefully you – at a four course Vines and Hop Bines dinner. The idea is to showcase the interconnected worlds of brewing and winemaking while sampling a beer and a wine with each course and plenty of complementary food (think Teddywidder with oysters, duck breast and Pinot Noir, and so on).
Tickets are $79 and can be purchased here (the link also has the full menu and matching drinks).
Only 600 bottles of the beer have been packaged so if you can't make it to the dinner you'll have to get to the brewery pretty smartly to grab one, or try your luck on the MoCu website.
