Headed to Melbourne

Try Crafty Pint. heaps of good info on Crafty Pint

Brewery: Boatrocker, Mountain Goat, Mornington Peninsula
Bottle shop: Slowbeer, Carwyn cellars
Beer: Pirate Life DIPA

 

I just got back yesterday from a couple of weeks in Australia. I definitely agree with mulder's recommendations. I would add Moondog to the list of breweries to visit, as the ambiance there is really great.

That Pirate Life DIPA was the best IPA I tried over there, followed shortly by the DIPA at Temple Brewery (on-premise sales only). Generally speaking, it was much, much harder to find big hoppy beers there. There are lots and lots of sub-5% "IPAs" around.

I also loved the Taco beer from Two Birds Brewing.

 

Agree with Mulder's reply but will add a little more. For beers I'd look out for stuff from Kaiju, Mornington Peninsula, Pirate Life, Modus Operandi, La Sirene, Boatrocker - all of whom in my opinion are fairly consistent and good. The next lot can make some great beers, but aren't for one reason or another quite as consistent - Two Birds, 7 Cent, Bridge Road Brewers, Brewcult, MoonDog, 3 Ravens - their recent double IPA was excellent, Wolf of The Willows, Holgate & Kooinda. I'm sure I've missed some, and there are new breweries opening fairly regularly.

There are plenty of good beer bars, just depends on where you are headed for a night out. I would also recommend Crafty Pint, and also the website Now Tapped to see who has what on.

 

If you know nothing about Aussie beer, start with the basics : Little Creatures Pale Ale, Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, Knappstein Lagger. The first two available in many good bars on tap or bottle, the third, a bit less often. Hop Hog should appeal to you if you like IPAs, but it's not that easy to find. I don't know many micro breweries, but Mountain Goat or 4Pines make good stuff (not all they make is good however...). More often than not, you'll find that a brewery in Australia makes one good beer, and that's it. The rest is average. For example, Matilda Bay has the Alpha Pale Ale. The rest is average. Australia isn't as bold as the US in terms of beers, it's often just cold and refreshing, and that shows with their best 2 APAs, little creatures and Stone & Wood, very fruity and nice in summer.

You won't be able to find as many good beer bars as in the US for sure, usually the design inside is great, the choice in beers, more limited.

To find beers, there's King & Godfree near Melbourne Uni which has an incredible selection of American, Australian and Kiwi beers. Try stuff from Epic Brewery from NZ. You get a 10 % discount for every pack of (mismatched) 6. It's an italian deli, the beers are in the back.

Careful, beer ain't cheap in Australia... Expect to pay double what you're used to in the states, triple sometimes.

For a big general retailer, go with Dan Murphy's (there's one at QV commercial centre in the CBD). Careful, there's a LOT of rubbish beers in Australia : avoid Carlton, Pure Blonde, VB, XXXX, Tooheys or Hahn. Basically anything you can buy by the case and that has a shiny logo is awful. The ones I've quoted are the equivalent of Bud or Coors.

 

also be careful as 90% of IPAS in Australia are stale, some of them embarrassingly stale direct from the brewery

 

I'm going to have to disagree with Hallu and Sinkas here. Little Creatures (LCPA) and Stone & Wood are both good, readily available beers, but at any decent bottleshop/bar - of which there are plenty in melbourne - you should be able to do much better (or at least more interesting) than that. King and Godfrey's is a nice shop to pop in if you are walking by, however, even when i lived around the corner from it I only went there for deli supplies, never beer - there are multiple better options within easy waking distance.

As for Dan Murphy's, in Kilsyth the closest would be in Ringwood or Boronia. The range is reasonably standard store to store - nothing amazing but LCPA, S&WPA etc will all be there.

Beer is expensive in Australia compared with some parts of the USA.

As to Sinka's comment, I feel he may have exaggerated for effect, some Aus IPA's will be oxidised, but the ones I have had on tap recently, from a variety of East Coast Australian breweries have all been in good condition.

Some bars to check out, in no particular order would be:

Slowbeer (Richmond)
Foresters (Collingwood)
Carwyn Cellars (Thornbury)
The Alehouse Project (Brunswick East)
Catfish (Fitzroy/Collingwood)
The Great Northern (Carlton)
The Rainbow (Fitzroy)
The Local Taphouse (East St.Kilda)
East of Everything (Camberwell)
The Roysten (Richmond)
Junction Beer Hall (Newport)

All of the above are craft beer focussed venues, there are plenty of good bars and restaurants also that aren't necessarily craft beer focussed that still have good beer lists. Good bottleshops not already mentioned in other posts:

Blackheart & Sparrows - Multiple locations
Purvis - Multiple locations
Tru Bru (South Yarra)
McCoppins - Multiple locations
Grain & Grape (Yarraville)

 

The Riverside 55 (pale), 77 (IPA) and 777 (DIPA) are a must try while over here. Their 777 is as good as any DIPA going around in Australia IMO.

 

Smithflipper got all my choices for bars I would just add Beer deluxe to that list.
Also I second Moon Dog. Checked it out last week and was impressed.

 

Hey Zorora

Come say hi to us at TRU BRU and pick up a Growler or smaller bottles. We can also deliver to your office / hotel for $5.

Shop 3 / 9 Yarra St
South Yarra

Got some Pirate Life and Riverside 777 atm.

This is the online store (does not reflect current stock in store - many other beers on offer there)
www.trubru.bigcartel.com

 

Hey, I love Turtle Man. It's part of my weekly dose of foreign language programming