By Andy Young
The winners of the second annual Time Out Melbourne Pub Awards have been revealed. The announcement took place at Beer Deluxe in Federation Square, which is the official hub for Good Beer Week, which is running until Sunday.
The Last Jar, on Elizabeth Street in Melbourne's CBD, was named Pub of the Year, and also took home the Best Pub Food award.
In total 10 awards were up for grabs, with nine being judged by Time Out's panel of judges, while the People's Choice Award was voted on by Time Out readers.
Time Out Melbourne Pubs Editor, Fred Siggins, said: "The pubs of Melbourne are as integral to our culture as good coffee, bad weather and AFL. The best among them support live music, good food, craft beer and a positive drinking culture. It's a real pleasure to have the opportunity to recognise such an important part of what makes Melbourne awesome."
Other winners included the Marquis of Lorne, which won the Pub Revival award, Beer DeLuxe, which was the People's Choice and The Local Taphouse, which took home the Best Beer List award.
The Local Taphouse has venues in both Melbourne and Sydney and Steve Jeffares, co-founder of both, told Beer & Brewer that he was "absolutely thrilled" to have won the award. He added: "There are so many fantastic venues around now that specialise in beer so it's pretty cool to still be recognised in such company."
Jeffares also had some advice for venues in terms of creating an award-winning beer list.
"We rotate through about 450 beers through our taps each year but, regardless of whether you have a few taps or dozens, or whether you rotate through different beers or don't, it's important to have a list with a variety of styles that range from the easier drinking beers to the more complex," Jeffares said.
"There is so much more beer to choose from than when we first opened in 2008, and venues should be selective about what they sell and not get something just because it is new or has a great name or story. With so much choice, I also feel we (the industry) all need to get better at helping consumers navigate through it all with better cues and information. If we don't, they are likely to be more risk averse and wary of trying new beer experiences.
"And bigger isn't necessarily better. Venues should only enough beers on tap and in bottles that they can turn over in a reasonable timeframe (and depending on style). We started out with 70-90 bottle beers but these days have only about 25, although we rotate them often."
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