It’s time to grab your diaries, hand in your holiday request forms at work and start planning for the return of what Moylan’s founder Brendan Moylan this year described as “the best, most professional and most diverse” beer week he’d been to in his life. Yes, Good Beer Week returns to Melbourne and Victoria for its third installment from May 18 to 26. If you attended the first two, you’ll know what to expect. If you’ve yet to dip your toes into the biggest and broadest celebration of good beer in Australia, then there’s really no excuse for missing out a third time.
Today’s media release from the Good Beer Week Team is in full below. In addition to that, we can tell you that they’ll be looking for even more creative ideas, more ways of getting great beer into newcomers' hands and events that take beer into new environments. When Collingwood’s Fox Hotel can entice almost 200 people to take part in a beer-themed Scavenger Hunt on a bitingly cold Thursday night, it’s clear that off-the-wall ideas promoted well, as the hunt was, are capable of capturing people’s attention.
Other successful events this year included an Apprentice-style event for home brewers at the Courthouse Hotel, a beer cocktail masterclass at Black Pearl, a real ale “Cask Off” at Holgate in Woodend and a beer and cider sorbet making masterclass at St Peter’s in Melbourne’s CBD, all of which suggest the only limit is the imagination of those keen to hold events.
Good Beer Week will be developing the successful Pint of Origin concept that saw breweries from SA, NSW, WA, Tassie and Queensland take over the taps of five Melbourne venues and is also encouraging more regional venues to take part, especially given the sellout success of many of this year’s regional events and the inroads craft beer is making in the likes of Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong. Among the not-for-profit festival’s stated goals are promoting and encouraging the appreciation of Good Beer to a wider audience and supporting local and regional producers of Good Beer, so get on board, Victoria!
Submissions for Good Beer Week 2013 will open in September and will close well before the end of the year. This earlier timeframe is both in response to feedback from venues and also to give the Good Beer Week team time to ensure the best possible program is ready well in advance. So if you’re thinking of taking part, get your thinking caps on now. We know some of you were already planning for 2013 during this year’s festival…
MEDIA RELEASE: GOOD BEER WEEK 2013 – GRAB YOUR DIARIES
Following another hugely successful Good Beer Week, the festival organisers are delighted to announce the dates for 2013. The third Good Beer Week will run from May 18 to 26. As before, it will feature a dazzling array of events celebrating the diverse world of good beer at venues across Melbourne and Victoria.
Event submissions will open in September, so if you intend to take part in the most eagerly anticipated beer event of 2013 then please start giving some thought to your events now – if you haven’t already.
The Good Beer Week Team has already made progress in its planning for next year’s festival and is grateful for the feedback received from punters and venues. An impressive 91 per cent of punters declared their festival experience to be outstanding or excellent while 89 per cent rated the events they attended just as highly.
Every single person who replied said they would recommend attending the festival to others in 2013. Similarly, 100 per cent of venues that filled in Good Beer Week feedback forms said they would be taking part in 2013.
As in 2011, the majority of ticketed events sold out, while a number of the venues that hosted week long showcases, such as the Pint of Origin state by state tap takeover series, reported an increase on their normal takings in excess of 50 per cent. Media coverage was widespread, taking in extensive print and online features, previews and reviews as well as television and radio appearances.
Looking ahead, we have taken on board the excellent suggestions we have received for future improvements, many of which we were already working on, and look forward to delivering an even better festival in 2013.
See you in May!
