The New South Wales craft beer scene has been bubbling away furiously in recent times and it’s finally spilling over into neighbouring Victoria for Good Beer Week 2013. It means that, this week, Melbourne is experiencing its biggest invasion of NSW craft beer since, well… possibly ever.
Not wanting to turn up to a party empty-handed, brewers from across the state – from Nowra to Byron, Sydney to Wagga – have been brewing up a storm: a mixture of old favourites, rising stars and brand spanking new brews. Many brewers are making the trip south to partake in the revelry, appearing at events right across the week; hosting, presenting, brewing, chewing, PoOing and closing out GBW with a grandstand rock and roll finish.
The permanent home for a NSW beer fix is the Rainbow Hotel, which is the official NSW Pint of Origin venue. It’s pouring beers that seldom – if ever – appear in Victoria so get in while the getting’s good. Brewers will be popping in and out all week, particularly for the degustation tonight (May 21) and an informal Meet the Brewer session from 6pm on Wednesday. Social media will keep you up to date with the rest of the comings and goings – including what beers have been tapped and where – but the following is a general guide as to where some of the state’s finest will be appearing…
Coming all the way from Parramatta is "Dangerous" Dave Padden of Riverside Brewery. He’s got the weighty task of representing Sydney in the NSW/VIC brewing smackdown, having brewed the BondIPA with TimeOut Sydney to compete with the Melbourne version brewed by Cavalier. Both those beers will be on at The Terminus all week where your votes decide the winner. Then there’s the intriguing prospect of the super secret beer brewed with the hosts of the Hair of the Dog Breakfast, for which we’ve been able to squeeze absolutely zero details – lucky tickets holders to the long-sold-out event will get the first taste of that one. Two of Riverside’s other heavy hitters – the 44 Amber Ale and 77 IPA – will be featuring at the NSW PoO.
Tim Thomas from HopDog BeerWorks will be set loose around town, at the Brewers & Chewers event pouring his new Massive Otter ESB and at The Spotted Mallard to launch the collaboration with Black Dog Brewing. That one’s called Red Menace and is a barrel fermented Imperial brown sugar red ale. Obviously.
Fellow south coasters Illawarra Brewing Company had a fruitful trip to Melbourne this time last year when their Koelsch took the trophy for Best in Class at the AIBA. Understandably they’re keen to come back for more and their beers will be featuring at Brewers & Chewers, Beergustation at The Rainbow and NSW PoO. Illawarra’s Shaun Blissett also hinted that "Brownish Bomber is in town somewhere". Manly’s 4 Pines will be bringing their latest Keller Door releases – the Winter Tide series consisting of an Amber Mosaic, Oatmeal Porter and a Belgian Dubbel – to The Rainbow, while they’re also partaking in the Beer Mimics Food event on Wednesday.
In the newer brewers department, the Grifter Brewing Company have sent their new baby, Marnie’s Majority IPA, to the Terminus which Matt King (one third of the Grifter brewing trio) says is "good timing as it’s personally my favourite special batch we’ve done". Fellow Sydneysider Wayward Brewing is also at The Terminus, pouring Keller Instinct and India Red Ale as part of the New Brews. Erina’s Six String Brewing are also making their first trip to Melbourne, appearing at The Rainbow and PoO dinner with their veeeery Dark Red IPA.
After appearing at just about every event at GBW 2012, Darren "Doc" Robinson from Doctor’s Order’s Brewing is back for another go. You can catch him and his Iron Lung at the Micro Beer Club on Wednesday and the Hair of the Dog Breakfast for which he’s brewed a special "Morning After Pill". Fittingly for a breakfast event, he reckons the beer "looks a little like Guava juice".
Matt Hogan from William Bull will be appearing over at The Rainbow for the Meet the Brewer session along with two beers – a limited release IPA and a White Ale – and this is the only place in Melbourne they’ll be available. From the same (general) neck of the woods, Craig Wealands from Thirsty Crow will be bringing the seldom seen Vanilla Milk Stout and 26 Fifty Summer Ale, while a mythical keg of the 10.3 per cent Imperial Long Black Stout, Road 2 Ruin is also rumoured.
Murray’s only exclusive event of the week takes place at The Park Hotel in Werribee where they’re putting on a five course degustation featuring beers like Punk Monk and Seasons In The Abyss that you can’t usually get anywhere except at the brewery. After the Melbourne launch of the new Stone & Wood Stone Beer at The Gathering on Saturday (where thirsty punters drank every available keg of S&W beer dry), the crew are giving you another chance to get it on tap at The Rainbow and the festival hub at The Terminus.
The rock n roll circus that is Young Henrys will be hitting town midweek, with all their core range appearing at various venues across the week including The Rainbow, Odyssey in Geelong and The Terminus. They’ve also got the honour of closing out Good Beer Week 2013 with a bang, releasing three beers brewed with rock bands Front End Loader, My Dynamite and Hell City. That’s happening at Cherry Bar on Sunday and it might get loud.
And if that’s not enough, nearly 20 percent of the 92 beers brewed for the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular are coming come from NSW with most brewers roaming around through the different sessions. All of that means this Good Beer Week there’s no excuse for all the craft-lovin’ Victorians not to try a little something from north of the border.
