WA’s brewers are never shy when it comes to reminding their brethren in other states that theirs is the birthplace of the current wave of craft brewing in Australia. So while Good Beer Week in Melbourne might be the biggest yet to take place in the country, it started in the same year WA’s Beer Week turns nine. Featuring a series of beer-related events at venues throughout the state, it’s been running since 2002.
“I can’t remember who, but surprisingly a beer lover in Queensland sent me a letter about Beer Week in the US,” says John Stallwood, from Nail Brewing. “He suggested the idea and WABA has run WA Beer Week since.
“Craft beer is now getting heavy followers that want special craft beer events. After WA brewers recent trip to Melbourne for AIBA [Australian International Beer Awards] we were blown away by Good Beer Week. It was a inspiration to make 2011 WA Beer Week the best so far.”
This year’s event kicks off with the Awards Dinner for the Perth Royal Beer Show on June 18 and features the likes of beer dinners, the pouring of tweaked limited release beers at Little Creatures, open brewery days and tastings.
“The aim is to bring craft beer lovers and new beer lovers together to enjoy and learn about Australian craft beer,” says John. “Australians are poorly educated about beer and the more beer varieties people can try and learn about the better as there’s a lot more to beer than just Australian lager. There are over 30 microbreweries in WA alone and more than 120 in Australia. We want people to stop drinking lagers for a week and try the many different beers available.
A poster from the first ever WA Beer Week back in 2002
“A WABA slogan is: ‘Drink quality not quantity’. WA beer has had consistent top quality in about ten breweries for the past few years – some of the best in the world. It’s taken time but WA brewers are a good team and we have a good brewing education system at Edith Cowan University.”
WA Beer Week has a dedicated website where you can keep up to date with the latest events on the lineup. You can also follow the activities of the WA Brewers Association on Twitter. WA Beer Week runs from June 17 to 26. We’ll bring you the results from the Royal Perth Beer Show on Crafty as soon as they’re announced.
