Hey all! Are you addicted to buying beer? Do you lament the hours between bottleshop visits, and miss the endorphin rush of a newly-purchased, hopefully delicious, and much sought-after beer? Do you have an inbox cluttered with mail from all the breweries you subscribe to? Are you me? Now, I'm only one man and I can't visit every bottleshop, 'though Lord knows I try. Therefore, wouldn't it be cool to have a list curated by experts who know their beer, know their local bottleshops, and who get the same glazed-over look from their wives when they begin to talk beer? Wouldn't it be good to have that list in an easy-to-access, always-open location, like BA, so that when you're travelling you can easily see what bottleshops are worth a visit? Shouldn't we create that list now? The answer to all the questions above is, naturally, yes, so I thought it would be cool to start a thread listing everyone's go-to bottleshops. They could be any city or town, as long as they're located in the greatest country in the world: Australia! There's no need to review in depth - that's what the place reviews on BA are for - if you see something you like here, head over to the place listings for more detail. So, let's get this list started! I present to you my Top 5 bottleshops to visit if you're ever in the Geelong/Melbourne region. Purvis Beer, Richmond, Victoria: a great selection of local and international beers, but severely let down by its lack of refrigeration. Carwyn Cellars, Thornbury, Victoria: a smaller range than Purvis (though still bloody good), but much of what is there is refrigerated. There's an exceptional taplist in the attached bar, too! Beer 360, Richmond, Victoria. I literally found two bottles of Westvletern XII randomly placed in the fridge just to see if anyone knew what they were (I did!). Do I need to say anything more? Chas Coles Cellarbrations, Geelong, Victoria: a large range of local craft beer, mostly refrigerated, and right beside GMHBA Stadium if you're down that way watching the Cats. Nardi's Cellarbrations, Highton (Geelong), Victoria. The Cellarbrations chain seems to do a good job letting their franchisees maintain a great range of local, independent breweries, and like the store above, this one is no exception. I have come across Cantillon in this store... So, next time you're in or near any of the suburbs outlined above, you have no excuse. Buy beer! Please add your own local recommendations in the thread! Cheers!
Hi, cool idea. I live in Brisbane cbd and the best bottleshop is Malt Traders in Market Street. Connected to Malt Bar, which is a good bar just up the road, Malt Traders has an extensive and always changing range of craft and international beers. You can sit and drink a beer or purchase and race home. Now possible to sit outside and enjoy the street scape and people watch. A surprising mention is Fresco supermarket in Albert Street which has a growing range of Korean craft beer and Asian lagers.
That is surprising! Are the Japanese beers the full malt ones only, or do they also carry those weird half-beer things that the Japanese brew? I used to travel to Brisbane quite a bit for work and would stay on Ann St in the CBD near Central Station and there was a random, dingy little bottleshop under the station attached (I think) to the Grand Central Hotel that had a craft section that punched far above its weight from the look of the shop from the outside. Cheers!
Hi Az, second issue first, that bottleshop is now closed or under renovation, not sure which. It was called Grand Central Cellars and then 270 Cellars at one time and more recently something else that I can't recall. Agree it had a good craft beer selection and it is missed! Hopefully it might reopen. The craft beers from Fresco are mainly Korean as far as I can tell, although they have asian mainstreams like Asahi, Taiwan lager (with various fruit flavours - yuk) and Yusu and various others you would know. Two craft beers that I have tried that impressed are Amazing Brewing Co Jin Lager (almost amber ale colored, lots of flavour) and Squeeze Brewery Malpyo London Porter (on the light side for a porter but good flavour and very active as poured). Hope you get a chance to check out Malt Traders and/or Malt Bar, I don't think you will be disappointed!
A new Sessions bottleshop opened next to a favorite Thai restaurant I go to on the Burwood Highway in Vermont South and the store manager carries some eclectic beers I don't normally see in bottleshops. The first time I went in he had some Deschutes beers, and seems to have a nice rotating stock of local and interstate brews not normally seen (by me) around the area. Also, the bottleshop on the ground level down from The Forager's Drop (Whitehorse Road/Maroonda Highway in Mitcham Victoria) always has a good selection. Can't think of the name of it, and the door to the stairs leading up to Forager's Drop blocks part of the doorway to the bottleshop when it is open, but it's worth a browse.
Been quite busy the last few months with buying a house and moving and paying an ever-increasing mortgage payment, so my beering has taken a back seat for a time. Last weekend I was putting around Point Cook and found a little place called 'Hopheads'. Only had one beer but liked their selection of cans on the shelf, and took home a few good ones. This week I found they had another location in Altona that was a stroll from the train station so headed there for a Sunday lunch. Very impressed with the selection on hand and the dozen taps! I think it will be my new favorite place, though I do miss Foragers Drop. Beer in the glass is a Hop Nation Melbourne Fog.
Brisbane based and for me it’s “Craft” at their 3 locations in Red Hill, Coorparoo and Indooroopilly. Great beer selection (the Belgian selection at Red Hill is usually very strong) and the wine selection is outstanding too. All the staff are genuine specialists/experts in the respective fields of alcohol as well. …. admit to being mildly biased…. My partner works there …. But I stand by my recommendation
I made regular runs down Waterworks Road from The Gap to Craft Red Hill for years when I lived up there (2011-2019)! Always an excellent selection, and would get growler fills there as well. Good to hear they are still going strong!
I agree, Hopheads is a quality bottleshop and a great option if you're in the growing Point Cook/Altona region of Melbourne. I like that the Point Cook location is unassuming in line with its surroundings and seems to offer quite the laid-back, chill atmosphere. My only knock is that they don't update their Untappd listings (or at least didn't back then) when their beers are out of stock, and I once drove there all the way from Geelong only to find the beer they supposedly had in stock was months ago sold out. Lesson learned there... Cheers!
I used their webstore when I checked and ordered some beers. It is updated with stock so lets you know right away if it isn't available. It made it easy really as after I ordered and paid, they let me know they were ready to pick up the next day.
