Like everything else associated with Australian craft beer in 2011 – brewhouses, beers, sales, The Crafty Pint’s waistline – the Fed Square Victorian Microbreweries Showcase is growing bigger than ever. The final lineup for next week’s event has just been confirmed, with the organisers having to cap the number of breweries and brewing companies exhibiting at 26. It doesn’t seem that long ago that there were only a dozen or so stands and plenty of room to wander; these days it’s sellout crowds and queues for every beer. As Leonard Cohen would say: “Hallelujah!”
This time, as well as packing all manner of beery goodness into the Atrium, the neighbouring Beer DeLuxe terrace will become a cider garden for the two days. And before you craft beer purists get all antsy about them muscling in on our territory, you don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to and, when it’s done properly, there’s as much tradition and artisanship in cider-making as you could wish for!
So, the list of exhibitors…
2 Brothers
Arctic Fox Brewing
Bellarine Brewing Company
Boatrocker Brewing Company
Bridge Road
Bright Brewery
Buckley’s Brewery
Cavalier Brewing (Trying to find out a little about them for you…)
Coldstream
Holgate
Kooinda
Matilda Bay
Mildura
Mornington Peninsula Brewery
Mountain Goat
O'Brien Brewing
Otway Estate
Southern Bay Brewing Co
Sweetwater Brewery
3 Ravens
Three Troupers
True South
Tooborac Hotel & Brewery
White Rabbit
Of the above, 2 Brothers, Arctic Fox, True South, White Rabbit and Coldstream will also have ciders in the Cider Garden, alongside those from Napoleone & Co and Rebello Wines.
There will undoubtedly be a few specials and surprises around. We’ve learnt that Bridge Road will have a final keg of its Big Red Rocket – a Muscat barrel-aged Imperial Red – along for the ride, while True South will be launching the new batch of its seasonal Red Truck and Otway Estate has some of its blueberry hefeweizen on offer. Some of these may have to be asked for rather than offered – and we’ll let you know when we hear of more. Such as Bright’s Raspberry Lambic and a trial batch of an IPA from Sweetwater, based all the way up in Mount Beauty.
Other than that, we’re delighted to announce that, once again, we’ve got a pair of tickets to give away in this week’s newsletter. Make sure you’re signed up for it here and that you read it when it lands on Friday as we’ll be drawing the winner at midnight on Saturday to make sure you’ve got time to buy a ticket if you miss out. Speaking of which, advance tickets are available from Ticketmaster for $25 plus booking fee, which gets you 20 x 60ml tastings and a small food dish. The last couple have sold out so don’t dally! You can also take advantage of an offer where you can buy your ticket and a copy of the Beer Lovers Guide to Australia, rrp $34.95, for $40.
The Showcase runs from 4.30pm to 8pm next Wednesday and Thursday. There’s also this taking place on the Thursday so leave the car at home!
