The Ten Best Things to Do at Good Beer Week 2017

Neighbouring CBD bars Section 8 and Ferdydurke have teamed up with New York’s Brooklyn Brewery for Good Beer Week’s free Brooklyn Block Party. From 2pm on Saturday, May 20, Tattersalls Lane will be pulsing with the sounds of local and international musicians, including New York turntablist Total Eclipse and Melbourne hip-hop/soul collective ESESE. There’ll be BBQ by Brass Knuckles and plenty of beer, including Brooklyn Brewery brews you’ll rarely find in Australia. There’ll even be barbers dishing out $5 cuts from up on Ferdydurke’s balcony.

The boss bitches of the local beer scene are taking over the taps of Collingwood’s Fox Hotel. One of the absolute standouts on this year’s Good Beer Week program, Girl Power will feature cold ones from some of Victoria’s best female brewers, including the ladies from Beer Diva and Two Birds Brewing. There’ll also be an all-women music lineup featuring Monique Brumby, DJ Blaberunner, Little Wise and Emma Wall and the Urban Folk. It all goes down from 2pm on Sunday, May 14, and, like the best things in life, entry is 100 percent free.

As Good Beer Week offerings go, they don’t get much more glamorous than this one-off big ticket dinner at high-end speakeasy Eau de Vie. Presented in partnership with the Stockade Brewing Company, this five-course degustation on Wednesday, May 17 will feature food specially matched to Eau de Vie cocktails incorporating Stockade Beers. Expect creative taste combinations and a little bit of theatre.

At $175 per person the event certainly isn’t cheap, so if your significant other owes you a favour it might be time to cash it in.

Beer and ramen. Look, we really shouldn’t have to work all that hard to get you on board with this one. A standout culinary option on the Good Beer Week program this year, this five-course dinner at Shizuku Ramen in Abbotsford won’t just feature beers by the beloved brewers from nearby Moon Dog. It’ll also feature beer as an ingredient in the actual ramen itself. The miso beer ramen is reportedly the star of the night, although you can be damn sure we’ll be trying each and every one.

Get fancy with canapés and matching frothies at Good Beer Week‘s Hopped High Tea. Hosted by The Metropolitan Hotel, this decadent affair will feature an array of delectable treats, including fried chicken ribs with jalapeño mayo, cocktail sandwiches with blue swimmer crab, chilli fried prawns with lime and mint, and chocolate and cardamom tarts with pecan toffee shards. The team from Mountain Goat will take care of the drinks, which will include a number of beer cocktails. Of course, it wouldn’t be high tea without freshly baked scones, served here with Imperial Stout cream and lashings of blackberry jam.

Are you looking for an opportunity to battle with your friends, but lack the stamina for a high octane game of lawn bowls? In the answer is yes, sedentary friend, we’ve got a Good Beer Week suggestion that we reckon will be right up your alley. Kaiju! Beer is teaming up with CBD Japanese restaurant Izakaya Chuji for an evening of board games, beers and delicious Japanese food. From Risk to Settlers of Catan, there’ll be games of every persuasion, and, of course, you’re more than welcome to bring your own. No flipping the board in a drunken rage if you lose though.

Take in the scenery and work up a proper thirst at Red Hill Brewery’s annual Ride with the Brewer. Riders will be split into through groups based on skill level before embarking on a fully guided cycling tour of the picturesque Red Hill region. Afterwards you can cool down with beers and lunch back at the brewery. Not a bad way to spend your Sunday, and a lovely low-key outing for the final day of Good Beer Week 2017.

Beer nerds and coffee snobs can both get something out of this special tasting at Preston brewery Tallboy & Moose. The fittingly named Beerspresso pairs local roasters with local brewers, resulting in eight unique coffee-infused beers. Red Bean, Maker Fine Coffee and Rumble Coffee Roasters are among those providing the beans, while the booze will come courtesy of the likes of 3 Ravens, Westside Aleworks and 7 cent. Your ticket entitles you to a taster of each coffee, followed by a 130ml sample of each beer.

Lawn bowls is one of those games — a bit like table tennis or Guitar Hero — that you always think you’re better at when you’re a little bit drunk. It’s highly unlikely that you actually are, but the important thing is that it feels like it. Taking place at the Flemington and KensiBowlighngton Bowling Club, this high-rolling affair will see brewers from Funk Estate, Blue Elephant Cider, Riverside Brewing Co. and more captain teams of thirsty punters in a cut-throat bowls tournament (note: it will not be remotely cut-throat). Your ticket entitles you to a pair of beverages, plus one of a number of tasty burgers. For those who aren’t quite as competitively-minded, there’ll also be free barefoot bowls all day.

Collingwood’s The Craft & Co. is kicking it old-school with Australia’s first beer made in a clay amphora. Inspired by techniques that date back to the Bronze Age, the experimental brew has been fermenting for quite some time now, and will be unveiled as part of a five-course feast on Monday, May 15. The team from The Craft & Co will be on hand to explain the brewing process, and to show off a number of other bespoke beers made just for the occasion.