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From Biscoff beer to chef collabs: Seven events to froth over at Good Beer Week

Dani Valent
Dani Valent

Get ready to blow the froth off a few during Good Beer Week, which runs from May 20 to 27. This year’s festival theme is Find Your Way, with participants encouraged to explore Melbourne and regional Victoria through a roster of 70 beer trails, tap takeovers, taste tests and matched meals.

This enormous celebration of brewed beverages encompasses sub-festivals Pint of Origin, which brings almost 1000 beers from around the world to 20 Melbourne venues, and GABS (the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular), which takes over the Royal Exhibition Building between May 19 and 21. Here are some highlights worth a hearty “cheers”.

Biscoff Ice Cream Porter from Queensland’s Aether Brewing will be on tasting at GABS.
Biscoff Ice Cream Porter from Queensland’s Aether Brewing will be on tasting at GABS.Supplied

Biscoff Beer

Among the 120 new craft beers launched at GABS this year is a Biscoff Ice Cream Porter from Queensland’s Aether Brewing. The winter-friendly dark beer has roasted malt and vanilla notes with biscuity aromas. That might sound experimental, but there are plenty of beers at GABS that get even wilder. Look out for pizza beer, a sour gose with notes of tomato and oregano from local Frexi Brewing, and a dark lager flavoured with red frog lollies and fresh raspberries from Surf Coast specialists Blackman’s Brewing.

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Royal Exhibition Building, gabsfestival.com. May 19-21

Japan showcase

West Melbourne beer hall Benchwarmer has air-freighted kegs from Japan and matched up Japanese and Australian craft brewers for its Pint of Origin event. One international collaboration sees Sydney’s One Drop Brewing Co partnering with West Coast Brewing from Shizuoka to create a cold IPA. Benchwarmer head chef Kenny Chiu has crafted an autumn izakaya menu to suit the regional Japanese beers. Alfonsino sashimi will sit nicely with a brew from coastal Kessanuma, and wagyu tataki will partner beers from beef-focused Kobe.

345 Victoria Street, West Melbourne, benchwarmerbar.com.au. Until May 21

Nornie Bero (right) has collaborated with Stomping Ground and Blackhearts & Sparrows to make Mabu Mabu’s Wattleseed Stout, which will be launched on July 8.
Nornie Bero (right) has collaborated with Stomping Ground and Blackhearts & Sparrows to make Mabu Mabu’s Wattleseed Stout, which will be launched on July 8.Supplied
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Torres Strait on tap

Mabu Mabu chef Nornie Bero is heading to Stomping Ground in Collingwood to present a multi-course feast that connects with a creation story shared over the course of the evening. Diners will be the first to try a collaboration beer featuring wattleseed.

101 Gipps Street, Collingwood, goodbeerweek.com.au. May 23, 6.30pm

Chef collab

Top chef Rob Kabboord (ex-Quay, Chancery Lane) has a longstanding interest in beer and food matching. He’s taking his roaming pop-up restaurant The Floating Swine to recently hatted backstreet bar The Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, where each of five courses has been designed to partner with a different beer.

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3 Tenth Street, Hepburn Springs, goodbeerweek.com.au. May 23, 6.30pm

Scott McKinnon, owner-brewer at Wolf of the Willows, one of the stops on the bayside beer tour.
Scott McKinnon, owner-brewer at Wolf of the Willows, one of the stops on the bayside beer tour.Simon Schluter

Bayside beer crawl

There are 11 craft breweries in south-east Melbourne, and the Bayside Beer Belt BeerOlympic Tour will bus you between them. Choose one of three tour circuits, hop on and off for hoppy happiness, and enjoy trivia and games, such as shuffleboard and air hockey, along the way.

goodbeerweek.com.au. May 27, 11.30am-5.30pm

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Dani ValentDani Valent is a food writer and restaurant reviewer.

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