Bringing beer to/from Australia & New Zealand (+Recommendations?)

Discussion in 'Australia' started by VladTepes, Jul 14, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. VladTepes

    VladTepes Initiate (0) Oct 18, 2012 Finland

    Hello Australia & New Zealand!

    I planing to spend a month (January) in Australia and New Zealand. Maybe three weeks in Australia and a week in New Zealand.

    I wonder is there any limits how much you can bring beer to/from Australia & New Zealand? And are there some customs duty etc?

    Also, if you want let me know some recommendations I would appreciate it. I have already read quite much though. Can be related or not related to beer.
     
  2. joecast

    joecast Initiate (0) Jun 30, 2003 Australia

    Check the link...

    http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Ente/Duty-Free-concessions

    No recommendations from me, youve done your research, you know what you like, and it really depends on what region/city youll be in. Distribution (especially with regards to rare or highly sought after beer) is not very reliable in Australia.
    Happy hunting and enjoy!!
     
  3. VladTepes

    VladTepes Initiate (0) Oct 18, 2012 Finland

    Thanks for the link.

    Melbourne-Sydney-Cairns.

    I think I am mostly interested in Australian beers. And yes, I sure enjoy!
     
  4. Dredgy

    Dredgy Initiate (0) Jun 1, 2016 Australia

    Hi Vlad, Australia's a great a country to visit, and beer-wise it's quite full of awesome stuff that's not always easy to find - distribution in such a large country is difficult. Most of your good beer-related tourism will be in Melbourne and to a lesser extent, Sydney.

    In Melbourne, I recommend the Mountain Goat Brewery. It's just a warehouse that's open one or two nights a week for pizza and beer. Nothing fancy, but their beers are palatable and interesting, especially the brewery-only beers. Mountain Goat "Rare Breed" beers are always good to try and can be found in bottleshops around Melbourne and Sydney. Mountain Goat is an independent subsidiary of Asahi, so if you're a puritan, it might not be considered craft beer for you, but the acquisition was very recent and hasn't had any effect (yet).

    While Mountain Goat is a safe bet there are loads more breweries to try. Cavalier Brewing & Killer Sprocket are two of my favourite Melbourne breweries - Cavalier Brown Ale, Killer Sprocket "Bandit" (Peated Pale Ale/Rauch) and Killer Sprocket Juniper Pale ale are some of my faves though can be divisive! True South is also exceptionally good but not as widely available (never actually seen it for sale outside of the Brewery). Hit up "The Alehouse Project" in Brunswick to try a few good Australian brews on tap, but I don't know many other places to go out in Melbourne. "Faux" craft beers such as Matilda Bay (Fat Yak, Little Creatures) were decent in their time and are worth trying, but there are too many better products now.

    I would also recommend trying as much cider as you can in Melbourne - Flying Brick makes the nicest cider I've ever tried, and Endless is also a nice cidery from Victoria. Once you head any further north from Sydney this stuff will be a lot harder to find. The stuff from South Australia - namely "The Hills" Pear Cider is also exceptional. Temple Brewing also does a decent and sessionable IPA that might be worth a try (and a good summer ale). Oh, and Prickly Moses have some good options and is a lovely to spot to visit, but is a couple of hours out of Melbourne. If there's a particular rare beer you want to try, you're more likely to find it in Melbourne than anywhere else.

    Moving up to Sydney, I know a lot less about the beer scene here. Ekim makes some experimental stuff that's not that great and you can't drink in the CBD late at night (which is the only time I ever want to go out for a drink when in Sydney). "The Local Taphouse" is an alright spot to go to but I wasn't that impressed with selection when I went.

    Cairns is harder to judge since I haven't been there in a couple of years. There will be somewhere that serves decent craft beer I'm sure of it, but damned if I know where it is. Just choose a pub near the esplanade and see what they've got. There are few Queensland Breweries, and even fewer of them officially distribute as Far North as Cairns, but you should be able to find stuff from "Burleigh Brewing" which is above average.

    Are you flying or driving from Sydney to Cairns? If you're driving, then you'll get to see a lot more - there are bars in Brisbane/Gold Coast that have wide selection and between Gympie and Rockhampton you'll be able to find Baffle Beer which is IMO one of the best breweries in Australia at the moment. But they are still in infancy. If you're driving, PM me and I'll give you the name and address of my restaurant in Central Queensland as well as the beer list if you want to stop by.

    TL;DR:

    The two breweries you have to try are both Western Australian, but widely distributed: Feral and Nail. Nail Oatmeal Stout is spectacular, as is their Red ale. Feral has everything from Smoked Porter to Black IPA to wheat beer and they're nearly all worth trying. Matso's from WA also has a selection of fruit beer if you're into that sort of thing, but they're pretty mediocre (though brewery itself is awesome to visit if you're ever in Broome).

    Macro beer in Australia is actually pretty varied state-to-state. It's worth trying once. Victoria Bitter will dominate in Melbourne and is available universally in Sydney as well, but much less prevalent (though still relatively common) in Queensland. Toohey's, Carlton and Hahn in NSW are all largely forgettable - but Toohey's Old (dark ale) is almost good and would be the best of Australian macros. XXXX Gold and Great Northern represent Queensland, with Great Northern being Cairn's based. XXXX is aggressively mediocre, whereas Great Northern is just awful, but will be inescapable in Cairns.

    Wine in Australia is cheap and high quality, so definitely drink some of that here too!

    So that's a wayyy longer post then I meant to make and I'm not sure it contains any useful information, but you might be able to find something.
     
  5. Narkee

    Narkee Initiate (0) Jun 20, 2013 Australia

    I would put Boatrocker on the must see list too
     
    fdm_2k and spicelab like this.
  6. smithflipper

    smithflipper Initiate (0) Jun 12, 2007 Australia

    Melbourne recommendations;

    Bottleshops; Blackhearts and Sparrows (multiple locations), Slowbeer, Carwyn Cellars, McCoppins (multiple locations), Purvis Beer.

    Breweries you can visit; Temple, Moon Dog, Mountain Goat, Bad Shepherd, 2 Brothers, Boatrocker, 3 Ravens (maybe, not sure if theyre open still) Stomping Ground. A bit further afield Mornington Peninsula Brewery, Blackmans Brewery, Hargreaves Hill.

    Bars: The Alehouse Project, The Great Northern Hotel, The Local Taphouse, Foresters Hall, Catfish, The Junction Beer Hall, The Windsor Alehouse, Freddy Wimpoles, The Terminus, The Royston, The Gertrude, The Fitzroy Pinnacle.

    When you're in town feel free to shoot me a message if you'd like some more specific locations.
     
    fdm_2k likes this.
  7. mulder1010

    mulder1010 Initiate (0) Aug 29, 2008 Australia

    Will put this into perspective.
    If you want good bars, go to Melbourne. If you want good beer, go to Sydney or Adelaide.
    Cider is crap and avoid at all costs. Why bother?
    Want IPA's? Ignore the malt bombs out of Vic and drink Pirate Life, Akasha, Feral and Modus Operandi.
    Want DIPA's?? Drink Pirate Life and call it a day.
    Green Beacon in Queensland makes good beers. So does Fortitude
    If you want to pay top dollar for a beer come to Sydney.
    Sydney as a whole has better beer but Melbourne has a better culture. Adelaide is making the best beer overall however.
    Carwyn Cellars might be the best place to visit on the whole trip for beer.
    Underrated city is Newcastle in NSW and Canberra in ACT. More craft than you want for a smaller city.
     
  8. smithflipper

    smithflipper Initiate (0) Jun 12, 2007 Australia

    I'd disagree with a fair amount of that. If you don't want malt bombs in Melbourne you can drink Bad Shepherd NWIPA, or Wolf of the Willows IPA or Exit. If you want doubles, Mornington usually has one available. If you want weirder stuff, Boatrocker and La Sirene have you covered. Not to make this a pissing contest, Modus make good beers as do Pirate Life (both of which are available in all 3 cities), and Melbourne has breweries making beer as good also.
     
    Narkee likes this.
  9. Dredgy

    Dredgy Initiate (0) Jun 1, 2016 Australia

    A Sydney vs Melbourne argument always ends well :wink:

    I would vehemently disagree about the cider - I don't think there is a single category of alcohol I would dismiss with "why bother" - everything's worth trying. But this is a beer forum, so perhaps it was deserved :stuck_out_tongue:

    Would also recommend Fortitude as a great Queensland brewery, but you are unlikely to actually find it anywhere north of the Sunshine Coast. If you stop in Brisbane though, it's available at a lot of restaurants and I know the Emporium bottle shop in Fortitude Valley sells it.
     
    smithflipper likes this.
  10. MrKennedy

    MrKennedy Pooh-Bah (1,814) Dec 29, 2006 Australia
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Have you ever had Malort?
     
  11. Dredgy

    Dredgy Initiate (0) Jun 1, 2016 Australia

    Yes, I t is one of the things I would most recommend trying because it is very unique and varies a lot from brand to brand. I find most basks/malorts to be very enjoyable so dismissing the style because some of them are extremely bitter or overpowering is a mistake (or this could be why you Like them, as it is in my case!)

    My rule for any single product is: if you don't like it, try it 4 more times. Then try more brands to infinity! I went through 11 black IPAs before I found one I liked, and now I've got 3-4. Some of which are my favourite beers.
     
    danieelol likes this.
  12. sinkas

    sinkas Initiate (0) Jul 9, 2008 Australia

    If going to Western Australia,
    beers to taste: ,Feral, Nail, Cheeky monkey, Eagle Bay, Beaten track, In8Brewers, Artisan Brewing
    Tourist trap: breweries to visit:
    Eagle bay, and cheeky monkey

    local to Perth: Little creatures, and Feral and Homestead

    Bars: The Dutch Trading Co,and Petition,


    I'm heading to Finland in Dec,, so I can mule some beer for you to help delineate your tastes if you so desire
     
  13. sinkas

    sinkas Initiate (0) Jul 9, 2008 Australia

    sorry just saw the itinery
     
  14. MrKennedy

    MrKennedy Pooh-Bah (1,814) Dec 29, 2006 Australia
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Good to know, i'm yet to find one that i like
     
  15. VladTepes

    VladTepes Initiate (0) Oct 18, 2012 Finland

    Thanks to all of you!

    That sounds really nice! I assume you stay in Helsinki?
     
  16. sinkas

    sinkas Initiate (0) Jul 9, 2008 Australia

    Helsiniki,
    Rovaniemi, Ranua then helsinkini, Tallin,helsinki and out
     
  17. Brent212

    Brent212 Pundit (890) Jan 13, 2014 California
    Trader

    Sorry to hijack, but I'm visiting Sydney currently. where would I find this Pirate Life and/or Modus Operandi? Any good bottle shop recommendations in The Rocks area? Thanks!
     
  18. scmorgan

    scmorgan Initiate (0) Apr 5, 2005 Australia

    The Aussie Hotel has a take away fridge, who knows how fresh for most. Best tap range is around the road to my pub, Harts Pub. Lord Nelson is close by for great house made draft. Frankies Pizza just down on Hunter Street is just a loose hoedown of craft beer and metal.

    Best ways to get to Breweries is via Daves Brewery tours. Usually gets to 5 breweries and/or a few good pubs. Stand up chaps too
     
    Brent212 likes this.
  19. Brent212

    Brent212 Pundit (890) Jan 13, 2014 California
    Trader

    awesome, thanks for the tips. Harts is pretty great. Frankies sounds right up my alley
     
  20. scmorgan

    scmorgan Initiate (0) Apr 5, 2005 Australia

    House band on Mondays at Frankish kick it ...
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.