Your guide to Good Beer Week 2017

image courtesy of balter brewing company

words by ben stephens

Hello, Melbourne. Hope you’re well. Look I’ll get straight down to it.

From May 12 to 21 the festival of festivals will take over the city once again.

A celebration of the finest mixture of hops, barley and water known to the human race.

Welcome to Good Beer Week 2017.

With nine days of hopped up festivities about to take over Melbourne, we have undertaken some deep research to come up with five events that you do not want to miss this Good Beer Week:

Pint of Origin
A Tasmanian, New South Wale’er, Queenslander and a Yank walk into a Victorian pub and take a seat at a table with a South and West Australian. Then the New Zealand native walks in talking about how great his beer is because the water is better over the other side of the ditch. What happens next is utter confusion. With all these lo-cals represented at Good Beer Week and in an effort to not leave you perplexed, you’ll find Pint of Origin your handy way to navigate the festival. With each state/country taking over a certain pub, you’ll be able to tell a MooBrew from a Little Creatures with your eyes closed. Check out the full list HERE

Tins of Glory
This might be the greatest sporting event of Good Beer Week 2017. It’s just like the only sport worth watching during the Winter Olympics, Curling… Albeit, a little different. Welcome to Tins of Glory, the world tinnie hurling championships by the team at Balter Brewery. Teams of two will try their best to slide a Balter tinnie down a six-meter board, aiming to land their tinnie in the pleasure zone. Team spots are limited, however the spectator spots are not.

Good Burger Week
Like the babushka doll that is Good Beer Week, comes the smaller (read: major) celebration of the week-long festivities. Welcome to Good Burger Week at Rockwell and Sons. Seven of the best burgers that you’ve never tasted, being paired with beers that you’ve apparently never heard of. So with so much uncertainty, shortlist this one, it’ll be worth it.

Cut, Contrast and Complement
When it comes to wine, the art of food pairing is something that separates us from the animals. This three hop rated beer school event will impart the knowledge of how to beer-pair your next dinner party and let the wine have a night off. The team at Boatrocker Brewing Co. will walk you through how to pair a filthy Stilton with a malty ale.

The Stone & Wood Experience
Without stopping, the Northern NSW paradise that is Byron Bay is 1,638.40kms from the heart of Melbourne… or 16hrs and 59 sweet minutes. So if you haven’t been there recently, the team from Stone & Wood are coming to recreate that Byron vibe at the Great Northern Hotel (the one in Carlton, not Byron). Pop by to play a couple of games of cornhole, chat about barley and taste some pilot batches that haven’t yet been released. It’ll be a chilled, classic Byron Bay night, just in Carlton.

It only happens once a year, you’d be silly to miss out on any of the good stuff. Check out the full lineup of events HERE

Melbourne’s Good Beer Week is on from May 12 – 21, all over this fine city.