Well, this is fun! We’ve been a little busy here at Crafty Towers for the past couple of days and it seems we’re far from alone. Monday night saw the launch of The People’s Pint at Temple Brewery & Brasserie, with Leo Hede, the inventor of the Double Hoptendre from Brisbane, guest of honour at the brewery as the richly malty, spicy and earthy beer was poured for the first time. A worthy addition to Temple’s already impressive roster (even if it’s only brewed this once) it is a beer to conjure memories of warm British pubs – ideal for the current Melbourne weather.
It wasn’t the only launch at Temple that night; ElbowSkin debuted their new craft beer song (and brought their original one out of hibernation) while Steve Grossman from Sierra Nevada announced to a packed house that they were the international partner for the Temple / Good Beer Week scholarship. Full details of how to apply will be announced after Good Beer Week but, in essence, one young Aussie brewer will be sent all expenses paid to work at Sierra Nevada for two weeks with a work program tailored to their particular interests – nice work if you can get it!
Monday was a busy night around Melbourne. Not only did it see the “Pub Crawl of Doom” head to several of the Pint of Origin venues (or POO pubs as they’ve been tagged on Twitter) but Hendo unveiled five IPAs inspired by the Prickly Moses Raconteur at a packed Royal Standard Hotel, the Station Hotel treated 120 guests to a Best of Europe dinner, 85 home brewers mingled with brewing stars at the Great Britain, the Local Bottle Store & Provisions was fit to burst for its sold out Beer & Cheese Experience, Brad Rogers from Stone & Wood held court at Transport, there was no space at the Matilda Bay Beer & Food Masterclass or at the beer cocktail masterclass at the Black Pearl while Cavalier kicked off a week long showcase at the Woodlands Hotel with two new beer releases. Half a dozen sold out beer events on a Monday night…
Tuesday started early as we collected a cameraman to film the Masterclass of Champions at Hargreaves Hill (pictured above – better pics to come when we’ve retrieved our camera…). We’ll report back in more detail later, but let’s just say it seems the nine months of preparation was worth it. In Simon and Glenn from Hargreaves Hill, Brendan and Denise from Moylan’s and Kjetil from Ní¸gne í we had five very passionate, articulate and different characters entertaining guests on a day of talks, tank samplings, brewhouse tours, Q&As, an incredible Eastern European-themed feast (complete with the brewery filled with the sounds of gypsy punk and epic folk songs) and, of course, the first Good Beer Week brew. Kjetil and Denise were still debating the hopping regime while the brew was bubbling away (they had 16kg of Aussie hops to play with, including the as-yet-unreleased Victoria’s Secret); the beer will be a very dark one at around 8.7 percent ABV that should have huge pineapple aromas. And it seems there may be more than one brew – there is talk of all three breweries brewing it again at their own places on the same day and releasing it into their native markets. Thanks to all three breweries, but also to Hop Products Australia and Cryer Malt for the ingredients, The 36 Collective for the incredible feast of “Fish. Meat. Cheese.” and to Beers by the Bay for helping with set up.
As the day progressed, we received word that the NSW Beergustation Dinner at the Rainbow Hotel and the Colonial Beer Dinner at The Botanical had sold out, the Wayside Inn had reached 100 guests for its Beer Lovers Nite (and added a fifth beer and dish to celebrate), the Ale Stars crowd as going to be the biggest in Taphouse history, Dinner with Chuck had only four tickets left, both Beer & Chocolate sessions at Sabroso had sold out, good beer had made the cover of the paper on the Mornington Peninsula, and the hosts of the Evening with Cantillon (long sold out) were adding more beers to the lineup. That we were able to pop into Beer DeLuxe to find every tap turned over to an array of incredible Italian craft beers was merely the icing on the cake.
The first Good Beer Week was a happy accident that took off and exceeded all expectations; already this second one is making it look like a mere blip on the beer landscape. Thanks to everyone involved in running events, the bloggers and photographers covering them and especially to those of you who are turning out in such huge numbers. When Mikkel from Mikkeller was in Melbourne in March, his parting words to The Crafty Pint were to “Be loud!” and we’re certainly doing that. With events in cocktail bars and high class restaurants selling out, beer is succeeding in new places and it’s a wonderful thing to see.
Anyway, time to get ready for another lunchtime feast…
BEST OF THE WEB
A write up on The People’s Pint.
One on Raconteur: Reloaded
The Beer & Cider Sorbet Masterclass by Poppet’s Window
And Time Out’s take on Lageritas, Hopsmopolitans and Amberettos.
Green Fields on Facebook: “what an absolutley farkn awesome day at Good Beer Week masterclass of champions. lunch with kjetl from Nogne o, a real hero – inspiring, creative, passionate, knowledgeable, humble and an amazing brewer, food by The 36 collective not only great food and great pairings but really intelligent systems and logistics. The crew from Moylan’s Brewing are friendly, very smart brewers and know a thing or two about bourbon and rye too. Beer DeLuxe has a bunch of new, fresh italian stuff from Birra del Borgo and others and they’re right on – oyster stout, xxx ipa, spiced ale and in lost count after that. finally home smashing minh xuong roast pork and Hargreaves Hill Brewing Company abbey dubbel. thanks The Crafty Pint, Miro Bellini, Boatrocker Brewery and everyone one else. i love good beer week :)”
@Happiest_Hour: Struggling out of bed, I hate @GoodBeerWeek, but by 2pm I’m wondering “why not good beer month?”
@samthebrewer: Why am I awake at this hour in the mornin?? Mmm… Possibly cause #goodbeerweek properly starts for me today!! YAY!! See you'all soon. BEER
@mattbrick1: Even on my way home from an event I can’t get away from the awesomeness of @GoodBeerWeek http://yfrog.com/nv8nngmj
@greasylightbulb: Loving the small things about #goodbeerweek popped to a bottle store and get given unlimited cheese & mountain goat beer by the brewer :–)
@shark4chipdrink: That’s it. Had such a good evening @Wayside__Inn for @GoodBeerWeek I am planning to go back ASAP! Really worth while.
@6foot6brewer: needs 2 invest in a portable iPhone charger! Can’t keep up with the daily texting tweeting finding directions in #Melbourne 4 @GoodBeerWeek
@AustinDoherty: I’ve had a good idea @Wayside__Inn they should rename it #GreatBeerWeek
@beergirlbites: â@williamdelmont: The pulled pork is pullin' me off! @wayside__inn @tomdelmontâ this. is. @GoodBeerWeek.
@Garage_Project: #1 Rated Beer of the @gabsfestival AND #1 Checked In on @untappd was Gunnamatta – huge CONGRATS to @yeastieboys !! #gabs2012
@polarouse: Following @GoodBeerWeek may have been a mistake. I’m getting progressively more depressed that I couldn’t be there in Melbourne this year.
@WHMYcraftbeer: @GoodBeerWeek Not since 1987 when Scott married Charlene on Neighbours has Australia seen a bigger union. Masterclass of Champions today!
@matthewtaylor76: @Station__Hotel Another superb evening – brilliant food matched perfectly with outstanding beers #goodbeerweek #footscrayrocks
@Andrew_Bullen: What a night! Taste buds are going to need a day off to recover from Trappist beers and sumptuous Waygu steak. #goodbeerweek
@The_0ther_Dave: So great to see all these innovative beertails at black pearl comp tonight. Awesome ideas. @GoodBeerWeek is in full force
