If every dog has its day then this Saturday is sure to be the doggiest of them all as it’s officially National Hot Dog Day. That in itself isn’t something to get especially excited about in the beer world but when the Forest Lodge Hotel is serving them up alongside a Tap Takeover from BrewCult it’s worth paying attention to – you’ll be doing well to find another venue on the planet serving up meat & buns & balsamic porter.
No less American in exuberance will be the launch of a new Black Rye IPA from Nomad. For a second year running they’ve teamed up with a brewer from California’s iconic Stone Brewing, this year’s So-Cal-Iente having been brewed with Steve Wagner when he was over for Good Beer Week 2016 and backs up the Air-Rye-Evil made with the hop master Mitch Steele in 2015. The new beer gets launched Saturday in Brookvale amidst a feast of AUS/US relations.
Another new release well worth investigating is that of an entire brewery as Hop Nation sheds its cloak of mystery when its winemaking founders reveal their new brewing foray in Footscray. In a stage of similar brewery newness, Stomping Ground is nearing the end of its knock-off Friday series which let you check out the inside of the Collingwood brewery before its official opening [Crafty Cabal members can look out for a pre-opening Stomping Ground event in the coming weeks].
Multiple days of beery significance conspire to converge upon us in quick time as the Belgian National Day, International Beer Day and IPA Day all fall in quick succession. For things of a particularly Belgian bent you could get to the Belgian Beer Cafe promptly for the remnants of their tribute to the European greats featuring several local brewers, or else to Boatrocker who are serving their own creations alongside some genuine legends.
On the non-Belgian international beer front, Beer DeLuxe is giving drinkers a chance to win beer every day for a year, The Good Beer Company is serving up karma kegs at its three Sydney venues, Bitter Phew is turning Japanese, Grain Bar in Sydney has teamed up with 4 Pines and a new US hop supplier on an exclusive West Coast IPA and Murray’s will wind up its eight beer American Beer Month on IPA Day too. The Victorians at The Terminus will be keeping it local for IPA day when they pit ten brewers against each other to determine who brews the best IPA in the state.
Onto a brewery known for just about every style of beer except IPA, the grandest weekend of the year at Red Hill is about to take place as brewer/founder Dave Golding reveals the extent of his Secret Stash. Also opening up their home is Mountain Goat which has invited in the former Goat brewer now at Fury & Son, plus Exit Brewing, plus BrewCult for a rare weekend opening. Another open home takes place in Geelong when Little Creatures’ transforms into a Winter Wonderland featuring ice-skating, fire dancers, a snow-filled laneway, ice sculpting and plenty more in a family-friendly vibe.
One that you’ll definitely want to call the babysitters in for, however, is a posh dinner at Altair based around beer from Edge brewing or, for that matter, the Long Lunch at The Sackville when Moo Brew and Moorilla Wines strut their stuff, drink for drink, course for course. If you’re the type that prefers to get their hands dirty in the kitchen, you can join Paul Mercurio for a live cooking demonstration, dinner and plenty of beer at BentSpoke in Canberra.
Looking ever so slightly ahead to festival goodness, the Ballarat Winterlude Beer Festival is nigh upon us, Bendigo On The Hop is catching up fast, the program for Sydney Craft Beer Week has been announced and it’s not quite too late to book a trip over the ditch to the beast that is Beervana.
If that all sounds too much and you want to keep things local, stop in at East of Eveything on the last day of July where, for their fourth birthday, they’re serving up free beer to say thanks for being awesome.
