All posts tagged: beer

THE EUROPEAN NIGHT MARKET RETURNS BIGGER THAN EVER WITH A NOD TO DISCO

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 After welcoming more than 20,000 visitors in 2018, The European Night Market returns to Madame Brussels Lane every Friday night this July with a 30% bigger footprint, more stalls than ever before, and neon-drenched entertainment.  Running every Friday 5pm – 10pm, the Euro disco inspired market will stamp your culinary passport with bites from Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Turkey and Greece, as well as looping performances from Tanya George and retro beats by Fleiss. Dating back to 1853, the infamous Oddfellows Hotel will reopen its doors for four weeks only to peddle custom-made Hot Toddies and Mulled Wine.  Taste buds will be transported to Europe’s hotspots – a stop to Italy with Café Babbo’s Nutella-stuffed doughnuts, crisp pastries from Eat Cannoli, panzerotti from Il Panzerotto Taste of Puglia and delicious riffs on the classics from Tiramisu Lift Me Up. Sweet French favourites will be served up by Pop Up Crepe, The Brulee Cart, and Degani, while Frencheese will sling bowls of oozing, melted raclette. The Eurotrip continues with German sausages smothered in cheese, sauerkraut …

Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular

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GABS (Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular) is returning to Melbourne in 2019. Renowned as one of the world’s leading beer festivals, GABS brings together the best breweries from Australia and New Zealand to rethink and celebrate the way we drink craft beer and cider. The event offers 170 unique craft beers and ciders that are made specifically for GABS. Although Vietnamese pho, donuts, wine, hemp, popcorn, and green ants (yes you read that right) aren’t the first thing you think of when you think great craft beers and ciders, they are just a few of the ingredients mixed into this years brews. With brewers teaming up with teahouses, gin distilleries and even an American BBQ Smokehouse, GABS 2019 is set to be a wild and tasty year. There will also be a vast range of activities on offer, including: – Little Creatures House Of Fun, where attendees can tackle vintage card games, crazy mini golf and hay bale bowling. – The Balta Tiñata, a giant beer can piniata that will have punters swinging for glory. – BentSpoke’s Roller Racing Derby, elevating your heart …

The Wine & Cheese Fest will return to Williamstown 

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The Wine and Cheese fest are back this year in the newly renovated Seaworks. Get ready to enjoy fine quality wine and cheese on Saturday 9thMarch as artisan food vendors will be showcasing their gourmet products, plus hot food and specialty arts & crafts stalls. From wheels of fine cheeses and savoury sauces, pickled preserves and home-style pastries, to smoked and cured meats, luscious desserts and a wide variety of craft beers, ciders and refreshments, the Wine & Cheese Fest will have something on offer for everyone’s taste buds. Wine masterclasses with top local vintners will be on offer including” Prosecco” with Dal Zotto Wines, “Sparkling & Cabernet Sauvignon” with Blue Pyrenees, and “Taste 100 years of Wines” with Mount Avoca winemaker, Matthew Barry in the VIP marquee. For the cheese enthusiasts, French cheesemaker Matthieu Megard from L’Artisan Cheese Organic and Gowen Irlen from Melbourne and Cheese will be offering delicious tips of the trade. Plus, the “Maestro of Mozzarella” and one of Australia’s best makers of Italian cheese, George Linguanti of That’s Amore Cheese, …

Melbourne’s most popular outdoor Beer Festival is here

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Get excited people, Melbourne BeerFest just got a whole lot better. We are thrilled to announce our much loved music, comedy and craft brew line-up is heading to Moonee Valley Racetrack this November! Now in its 10th year, BeerFest Australia is more than just a craft beer expo, it celebrates all the good things in life that are better with beer. Over 300 unique, exotic and small batch craft beers, ciders, cocktails and wines, hand crafted and perfectly complemented by Melbourne’s most decadent local street food. BeerFest offers Melburnians the chance to expand their knowledge from the very best in the industry. It is the ultimate one-on-one experience; offering an up close and personal look into each brewer’s individual signature style. There will be masterclasses, live demonstrations, as well as plenty of tastings. Brewers at BeerFest in Melbourne include: Southern Bay Brewing Fury and Son Brewing Company Brick Lane Brewing Co. Thunder Road Brewing Tin Shed Cider  Mr. Banks Brewing Co. Two Birds Brewing KAIJU Beer Hop Nation Bellarine Estate Burnley Brewing Entertainment BeerFest has …

Queen Victoria Market’s New Winter Beer Oasis

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A new winter beer oasis will pop up right in the heart of Melbourne at Queen Victoria Market every Saturday and Sunday from 4 August to 9 September 2018. Over six weekends, Central Beer District will celebrate Melburnians’ unstoppable obsession with craft beer. Lead by new independent brewery, Brick Lane Brewing Co, Central Beer District will gather a community of well-known microbreweries from across the city to bring a craft beer extravaganza to Melbourne’s favourite market. Weekly rotating guest breweries of Central Beer District & Brick Lane Brewing Co will include: Brewmanity, Hop Nation, Two Birds Brewing, Stomping Ground and Coldstream Brewery. Each brewer will feature their favourite beers, plus small runs of seasonal and experimental brews. Coldstream’s hot apple cider will be on the menu too. Beer lovers (and the beer curious) will have the opportunity to meet the brewers behind Melbourne’s best craft beers and discover their stories and passion for making great beer. More than just a place to savour the best brews, Central Beer District will also offer guests the chance …

GABS Beer, Cider & Food Fest 2018

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Tasmanian jam, toasted marshmallows, rhubarb, Skittles, ice cream, dates, yuzu, gin, Bertie Beetles and even snails, crickets and oysters. These are just some of the more unusual ingredients you’ll find amongst the many unique ‘Festival Beers & Ciders’ to be served for the first time at the 2018 edition of GABS Beer, Cider & Food Fest presented by Dan Murphy’s, along with more than 500 of the very best craft beers and ciders from around Australia and New Zealand. Renowned as one of the world’s leading beer festivals, GABS (otherwise known as the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular) brings together the best breweries from Australia and New Zealand for a non-stop celebration of craft beer and cider. Craig Williams, GABS Event Director, describes the festival as the perfect launching point for those keen to try something new in a fun and exciting way. “For us, GABS is about sharing our love of craft beer and cider with as many people as possible through an unforgettable experience. Great beer is about skill, passion, creativity and most of …

Oktoberfest in the Gardens

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This October, Oktoberfest in the Gardens will take over Melbourne’s Birrarung Marr for a giant, beer garden party.  Now in it’s sixth year, the party will feature two massive beer halls with a large selection of imported German beers, cider and wine, plus authentic German food stalls. Entertainment wise, there’ll be roving performers, sideshow alley, silent disco and an eclectic mix of entertainment and competitions across multiple stages throughout the afternoon and evening. Inspired by their love of the traditional Bavarian festival and great beer, Oktoberfest in the Gardens has sold out the past two years, and is already sold out on Saturday, with limited tickets left on Sunday. Rocktoberfest  are a Melbourne-based business selling Oktoberfest outfits. Started by two guys out of Melbourne who knew how difficult (and costly) it was to buy lederhosen for festivals, Rocktoberfest now offers Oktoberfest goers, costumes that won’t cost a fortune, which means more money to spend on beer! Their Lederhosen and dirndls are great value at less than $50 each. The competition closed 12pm, 6th October 2016. Winner was Sharon, …

Interview: Ze’ev Meltzer of Once Bitter

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Once Bitter is a story that begins years ago in boarding school. Ze’ev Meltzer showed a passion for beer but his school didn’t. So like a rebel without a cause, Ze’ev would sneak into the kitchen to work on secret beer experiments. Fast forward to years later, Ze’ev had fallen into the corporate world and was working in the finance sector, but he knew deep down it wasn’t for him. That’s why 3 years, he decided to chase his dreams again and quit his job to launch Collins Street Brewing Company and his flagship beer Once Bitter. With a philosophy of creating high quality flavourful craft beer that is thirst quenching, the beer is a celebration of our great city. We caught up with Ze’ev to talk about his beer and the inspiration behind it. Melbourne and Australia in general, have experienced a revolution in the beer market regarding to the availability and demand for local craft beer. In your opinion, what would you suggest was the catalyst for this change?   I think it’s …

Beer

Meet Legendary Brewmaster, Chuck Hahn

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This week, our We Know Melbourne writer, Nick Phillips sat down with legendary brewmaster Chuck Hahn ahead of The Swanston Hotel’s, For the Love of Beer event on September 15. I used to work on the production line at CUB’s Abbotsford brewery before it all became automated. The ‘old timers’ there would always sneak us a few bottles of beer before it went through the pasteuriser. In my memory it tasted much better than the unpasteurised beer.  Is my memory playing tricks on me or do you think pasteurising changes the taste? Fresh beer is best.   Properly managed, tunnel or flash pasteurisation should not be detrimental to final beer flavour.  However, if the beer contains too much oxygen due to improper processing, when it is heated up, it will become slightly oxidised with stale (almost papery) flavours. At Hahn Brewing Company, we pioneered the process called “cold sterile filtration”.  The beer was filtered through a sterile filter at cold temperatures in the final process to stabilise the beer.   However, a number of years ago, we went …

Melbourne breweries

5 Craft Beer Breweries to Visit This Spring

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The craft beer movement is in full swing in Melbourne (and surrounds). Today, there’s only the odd bar or pub that doesn’t have at least a couple of craft beers on tap. However, if you’re after the full craft beer experience we’d recommend a trip out to these craft breweries where you can down  a crafty pint and learn a thing or two about the brewing process. The Crafty Squire (James Squire Brewhouse) | 127 Russell St, Melbourne James Squire, a featured name is the craft beer world, have set up their own microbrewery within the Melbourne city center (the only one in the CBD), located in the iconic venue formally known as the Portland Hotel. Sample the much celebrated range of James Squire varieties (my personal favourite, The Chancer Golden Ale) and hand-crafted special ales brewed onsite. If you’re feeling peckish, try same true Australian delicacies including crocodile meatballs, emu koftas and chermoula roasted kangaroo. Mountain Goat Brewery | 80 North St, Richmond  From humble beginnings as a backyard project in the mid 90’s to now …