The Ten Best Things to Do at Sydney Craft Beer Week 2015

So many beers to sample, so little time. If you don’t know too much about craft beers, this is where you’ll want to be. Brewers like Doctors Orders and Pirate Life will be in store offering tastings of their best beers and you can have a chat to them about the amber liquid of the gods.

Trust Young Henrys to come up with an afternoon of beer, music and brewery-related sports. Come along and watch some of your favourite brewers try to best each other at the brewers olympics. There’s a bonus – all the competing breweries will have a tap pouring as well. Clear out your Saturday, grab a pint of your favourite beer and watch the shenanigans.

The thought of craft beers provided by Lord Nelson Brewery and modern medieval food by Gilroys is enough to make us drool. The kitchen will be dishing up age-old recipes with a modern spin to complement the beer.

Sydney Craft Beer Week is a staple in our annual social calendar, and we can’t think of any other way to start it off than with a huge opening gala. Some of the nation’s most exciting brewers are bringing the best of their beers to the shindig. There, they will be joined by burgers, commemorative glasses and weird music. If it’s anything like last year’s party, it will be a night of good vibes and great company.

If you want to make your friends and co-workers jealous (or be the coolest person in any given room), go to Beer Meat Axe. You’ll be able to tell them you “had some Willie The Boatman and Young Henrys, some slow cooked meat, did some axe throwing. Just the usual Friday arvo stuff.” You know you want to say that.

Sit yourself down at a table in the middle of the brewery and enjoy ridiculous amounts of pig, lamb shoulder and beer can chicken all washed down with some of the Rocks’ own range. It’s Medieval enough with tankards of beer and spit-roasted animals. You might as well dress the part. Now is the time to dig out your medieval clothes and party like its 1299.

It’s not a stretch to say that the beer industry is male-dominated. It’s also not a stretch to say that the words ‘beer’ and ‘high tea’ don’t usually appear next to each other. Here’s where it all comes together though: a ladies only beer high tea. Spend the afternoon chatting with some of the women in the industry over nine courses paired with some of Australia’s best craft beers.

If you think a Craft Beerlympics sounds lame, you’re very wrong. Picture events like a tableless ping pong rally, a paper plane distance competition and an egg and spoon and beer race. Now picture it again except all the competitors have to be holding a schooner at all times. It just got a lot funnier didn’t it? If viewing isn’t your thing, join in a game of Beer Wheel of Death and reminisce on your uni days.

We’re not saying you should drink in the morning, but doesn’t beers with breakfast sound like a fun idea? It’s brunch with a twist – eight breweries are bringing their beers to Rocks Brewing for you to sample along with a six course breakfast. Yes you heard right. Bring us all the beers, all the bacon and all the eggs. (We hope) Our bodies are ready.

Feral Brewing Co. is back in town with a 22-tap takeover at the Union Hotel. Don’t pretend you’re not excited. If you think it’s almost impossible to get a hold of some of their beers, this is the event you want to be at. Every Feral beer brewed in the last 12 months is making an appearance. Bring your friends, share some cheap jugs, line your stomachs with plenty of pork and enjoy a great start to the weekend.