Fortitude Music Hall Is Hosting Its First Beer Festival — and It's All About Independent Brewers

Sipping beers, standing under giant chandeliers: at the first-ever brew festival set to be held at Fortitude Music Hall, that's firmly on the agenda. The brainchild of the Range Brewing crew, this one-day event will fill the eye-catching Valley Mall venue with independent brewers for an ale of a great and boozy time — and yes, given the location, you'll be knocking back your yeasty beverages to a soundtrack.

Creating the new event — which has been dubbed Juicy — Range duo Gerard Martin and Matt McIver have taken inspiration from all-inclusive brew fests overseas. "Matt and I experienced the all-inclusive beer festival model while we were travelling overseas and we knew we had to bring the concept home to Brissie. To also be the first beer festival held at the beautiful Fortitude Music Hall? It's a beer lover's dream," explains Martin.

So, you'll buy your ticket, get your glass and start sipping your way through all the brews on offer — without needing to worry about paying for drinks as you go. Served up in 100-millilitre tasters, there'll be more 40 specialty beers poured by 20 independent brewers. Doing the honours: Range, naturally, as well as everyone from Banks, Garage Project and Sea Legs to Wildflower, Hop Nation and Mountain Culture, with Juicy spanning not only tipples from Brisbane breweries, but also from the rest of Australia and New Zealand as well.

Hitting the decks to soundtrack all that drinking are Sampology and Winston Surfshirt, as well Quivr DJs. Again, it's all happening in the exact right place for it.

And to line your stomach between brews, there'll be an oyster and stout bar at The Outpost upstairs, pop-up stalls from Brissie restaurants such as Kid Curry, and also the winning combination that is steak and frites.

Joining Brisbane's fast-growing lineup of food and booze festivals popping up this autumn and winter — alongside Pinot Palooza, Regional Flavours, Paniyiri and Indie Spirits Tasting, just to name a few — Juicy will run two sessions: an afternoon slot from 12–4pm and an evening one from 6–10pm.

Juicy Beer Festival takes place on Saturday, July 9. For more information or to buy tickets from 9am on Thursday, April 14, head to the fest's website.

Top image: Sam Charlton.