Craft Beer Week Brings Beer Passports, Beergustations and Beer High Teas

Craft beer fans, get those hops-loving palettes ready; Sydney Craft Beer Week (SCBW) is returning. Marking its fourth year of beer-fuelled frivolity, SCBW will find its way into over 40 Sydney venues from October 18 – 26 for the city's largest celebration of craft beer from Bourke Street Bakery to the Local Taphouse.

With a craft beer pub prawl (complete with beer passports), massive Carriageworks festival-within-a-festival, a wonderfully-named four-course 'beergustation', beer high teas, tap takeovers and an entire sitting of gourmet sausage/craft beer pairing, there's plenty to raise a glass to this year. And you won't need an app to let you know if you're drinking the real deal.

The nine-day festival is making a snuggly home of Sydney's craft breweries, pubs, eateries and galleries — with a few pop-up installations along the way. One of the biggest and most anticipated events of the program, Sip and Savour is a two-day beer festival within the wider SCBW lineup. Bringing over 250 craft beers and ciders to Carriageworks for October 25 – 26, Sip and Savour pairs your crispy libation with local gourmet food, homebrewing, live music and a swag of interactive seminars designed to have you appreciating, brewing and tasting like a craft connoisseur.

Now, about those beer passports. The so-called Craft (Pub) Crawl encourages seven days of beery exploration, with solid snaps awarded to hopping tasters at participating venues. Bragging rights abound with this one, as well as ideal tweeting conditions. Hopefully some of these winners are on offer this year.

Food pairing beer lovers will love two meatlover events from Byron Bay's Stone and Wood and Northern Beaches' Ekim Brewing Co. S&W are bringing back their celebrated, pork-happy event 'The Big Pig Out' (with four pigs and all four Stone and Wood varieties on tap. Then Ekim collaborate with The Welcome for the awkwardly-named '[It's a complete] Sausage-fest!' — with five types of gourmet sausage paired with the Northern Beaches' brewing team's catalogue.

Mega craft beer fan and SCBW director Joel Connolly sees the ever-developing festival as a quintessentially Sydney event. "Though we’ve grown faster than we ever imagined, we’re proud the event still has a local and relatable feel, giving everyone attending a sense of ownership of these locally produced craft beers," he says. "In a way, there is a definite form of community spirit and kinship built and celebrated during the festival, as we give craft beer a much deserved time to shine."

Kicking off with a big ol' launch party at Giant Dwarf on Friday, October 17, SCBW's opening night will see over 25 Australian and international craft breweries offering up their wares and competing for your continued sippage.

Sydney Craft Beer Week runs October 18 – 26. To check out the full program, visit www.sydneycraftbeerweek.com.