One of Australia’s biggest craft beer festivals is gripping Sydney, with Cheers Fest due to wrap things up on the weekend.
With more events taking place this year than ever before, don’t be overwhelmed by choice, our friends at Beer & Brewer have picked out the most exciting events hitting the Harbour City before it ends.
Over 130 events are taking place across Greater Sydney during Sydney Beer Week, which ends on 4 November, and many of them are still to take place before the finale.
The Independent Brewers Association (IBA) will also have a stand at the Gala, where they’ll promote the Independence Seal to the crowd and profile some of NSW’s new and emerging indie brewers.
This year’s SBW even has an official beer, brewed especially for the festivities by Australian Brewery head brewer Dan Shaw in collaboration with the GM of SBW, Liam Pereira. Brewed with experimental hop HPA 016, ‘Table Beer’ delivers flavours of lemon peel and fresh mandarin. At 4.2% ABV, it’s an Australian rendition of a Grisette – similar to a Saison but slightly lighter, with a conspicuous yeast character and relatively hoppy notes.
Table Beer will be available in can at various events all around Sydney. It will also be pouring on tap at the Boilermaker Brunch at the Dove and Olive in Surry Hills (tickets still available at the time of writing).
If your thirst isn’t quite quenched, head on over to the Basement Brewhouse in Bankstown for Hops vs Sours, where each participating brewery will supply a keg of hop-centric beer and a keg of sour, with the battle continuing until the festival’s end.
Goose Island will also be teaming up with Fratelli Fresh for a night of specialty Goose beers paired with iconic Italian dishes at the Goose Island Beer Dinner (four course dinner for $60, tickets still available at the time of writing). Specialty Goose Island beers shipped from Chicago for the four events include Bourbon County Stout 2017, Cooper Project #2, Juliet 2016, Lolita 2016 and Halia 2016.
On Friday November 2, Wildflower will host popular Wellington brewery Garage Project at their cellar door in Marrickville, with both breweries serving a range of sour and barrel aged beers. You’ll find the full list of what’s pouring here.
The grand event comes to close with a weekend-long beer festival Cheers Fest, which will run from 3-4 November at Barangaroo Reserve and features over 200 beers from 43 independent breweries.
“We have been blown away by the number of awesome events that are being put on all across Greater Sydney for Sydney Beer Week 2018 by breweries from across Australia and around the world and our local hospitality industry – we believe Sydney still knows how to throw a good party and the effort put in by our event holders proves this,” SBW’s Ben Janeczko told Beer & Brewer.
“Sydney is the birthplace of beer in Australia and we encourage everyone to check out the program as there are events to suit everyone from the beer curious to our beloved beer nerds and those just looking for a good time with friends with quality beer and food flowing.”
Also, while the events we’ve listed above are a good start, we’ve only really scratched the surface – there’s plenty more to sink your teeth into.
“SBW is a unique opportunity to try something new, enjoy your favourite brews or simply celebrate our legendary and diverse beer industry so check out sydneybeerweek.com.au as some events are already sold out and others are selling fast,” Janeczko added.
All that’s left to do is figure out how you’re going to fit everything in.