Keith Grice (Brewmaster for Hunter Brewing Co) announced as special guest at Darlo Ale Star session tomorrow

I'm very pleased to announce that Keith Grice (Brewmaster for Hunter Brewing Co) will be our very special guest at the Darlo Ale Star session on bocks tomorrow (Tues). Don't miss this session as we sample Keith's bock among other classics.

Bookings essential and via the blog button in the left hand column.

Red Hill hop picking is on! RSVP ESSENTIAL

As per an earlier post, the date of Red Hill Brewery's hop harvest is now confirmed as Tuesday 9th March, 9.30am sharp start.

Some of you have expressed interest in coming along for the day. They will be providing morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea and of course cold beer!

You will need:

old clothes as hops are oily and may stain your clothes.

long sleeves as hops are scratchy but they will be providing gloves

a camping chair, hat and sunscreen.

RSVP is essential as places are limited. Post a comment not later than the end of this week if you definitely want to come. First in best dressed.

Ale Stars March - What the Bock?

Our March lineup for Ale Stars in Darlo and St Kilda is locked in:

This month we taste the delicious style that is Bock.

Rogue Ales Dead Guy
Hunter Bock
Weihenstephaner Vitus
Aventinus Eisbock

Leave the car at home - these beers are hardcore.

We hope to see you there - 7pm March 2nd (Darlo) and 7pm March 16th (St Kilda).

Cheers,

The Local Crew

J.M.E.10's World Premiere!

We've had a few of Feral's kegs locked away in our cellars for a couple of weeks waiting for the birth of a Feral friend's baby!

J.M.E.10 is Feral's Belgian-style Strong Ale and we have been asked to wait for the impending birth of a friend of Feral before pouring. Anyway, we will tap it as soon as the right tap becomes available and it'll the world premiere!!

ALC is 6.8ABV

SpecTAPular IX (Star Spangled Beerfest) also in planning

While we have the Anzac Day SpecTAPular between now and then, the Star Spangled SpecTAPular is also in planning for July 3rd.

This year we're looking at having a few more US craft breweries represented (last year we only had the wonderful Rogue). We may even have a full lineup of 20 different US craft beers this time around!

The Locals make the Grand Final in their first season!

As proud sponsors of local touch footy team ‘The Locals’ we’d like to wish the boys all the best for Sunday's Grand Final to be played at Queens Park. ‘The Locals’ demolished their opponents in the semi final 7-1 thanks to spirited performances from Big Tezza, Spero and Spruell!

After a "difficult" start to this, their first season, the team pulled it together, clinched the minor premiership on the last day of the regular season, and have now made it to the big one. It's on at 8:30am at Queens Park if anyone is keen enough to lend some support!

Good luck Locals! Bring home the silverware!!!!!!!!!!!!

St Kilda Ale Star memberships hit 40

With three new sign-ups for Ale Star annual memberships, St Kilda today hit 40 members. With plenty of casual attendees, we're heading towards an average attendance in the 50s or 60s..

That's a long way since 6 people sitting around a high table 18 months ago!

10 gold medals given out at Sydney Royal Show

10 gold medals given out at Sydney Royal Show. Matilda Bay and Redoak were the biggest winners but Little Brewing Co, St Arnou, 4Pines and Moo Brew also got gold.

The 4Pines Kolsch will be on tap at the Taphouses soon.

Click here for all the results.

Coming in March: Murray’s Shawn’s Fault – India Dark Ale (sort of)

MEDIA RELEASE:
Murray’s Shawn’s Fault – India Dark Ale (sort of)
7.2% abv

Why would our business deliberately produce something that most people won’t like?
Isn’t the whole purpose of being in business to sell as much of your products and services as you can to make money?

At Murray’s our passion is about our beer. What interests us and a lot of our supporters is pushing the boundaries of what great craft beer can be.
Shawn’s fault is an out-there beer! Freestyle brewing at its extreme.

If you like big flavours and something a bit different, you’ll love Shawn’s Fault. And if you don’t – then it’s Shawn’s fault! This is not a beer for low-carb, no flavour fans.

Inspired by reading about an American craft brewery’s India Black Ale, this is a full flavoured IPA brewed using dark malts. The result is a great blend of big hop flavour and aroma with the strong dark chocolate, almost coffee-like flavours from chocolate and black patent malts used. The naming of this beer is really a joke with no pun intended. And if you really hate the beer, don’t blame Shawn. Blame Murray!

Beer 101 with Ange - new date

The inaugural Beer 101 with Ange will now be on Tuesday 9th (not the 2nd, which is her birthday)!

Hope to see some newbie craft beer drinkers then!

Gem's Ale Star (St K) report

In addition to the Prof's regular reports, newbie Ale Star attendee Gem posts her own.
You can read hers here.

Hunter Beer Co. Showcase in March

In March we wil be showcasing Hunter Beer Co. (NSW) in both venues. Expect to taste their Kolsch, lager, bock, wit, APA and ginger..

We'll let you know when we're off and tapped!

Anzac SpecTAPular - suggestions welcome

We're starting to plan for our Anzac SpecTAPular and, after the success of last year, we will be bringing in 10 (or so) of the best NZ beers in kegs to pit them against the 10 best Aussie beers!

If you want to suggest your favourite NZ beer comment below..

Is that a Willie in the house?

Beer writer and Seven Shed brewer Willie Simpson, also in Sydney town for RAS judging, popped in to the Darlo Taphouse this afternoon.

As you can see from his notes, it was all in the name of work ;-)

A cider tap is coming to the Taphouses

We've had cider on tap before but for the next few months (and possibly full time), we going to have a cider tap in both venues. We have been doing quite a bit of research and will be offering a rotating selection of the best Australian ciders we can find (in kegs, which is the hard bit!).

Coming up in Sydney will be Small Acres Cider (made in NSW) and in St Kilda will be Kelly Bros (from Victoria)..

Nice of you to drop in lads

In Sydney for a spot of judging this week, it was great to see - from left - Brad Rogers (Stone & Wood), Brendan Varis (Feral) and Richard Watkins (Wig & Pen) drop in for drinks and dinner last night.

In my view, these guys are among the very best brewers in Australia and we love showcasing their beers.

There's plenty of great Feral in our coolroom ready to tap and (as I promised Brendan) the oak aged Saison has been tapped today.. and it's bleeding top notch!

Other new and exciting developments re these breweries to come..

'Beer 101 with Ange' starts March 2 in St Kilda

'Beer 101 with Ange' (a fun 30 minute intro to better beer) is a new idea which starts on Tuesday May 2nd.

'Beer 101 with Ange' will happen on the first Tuesday every month at 7pm. Staffer Ange will take beer newbies through a tasting paddle from our taps and give them the basics about beer and beer styles..

The cost is a measley $13 (payable on the day) but includes Ange's shared wisdom and a full glass of your favourite!

Blokes are welcome too!

St Kilda Ale Stars - Wild Beers

Another month, another cracking night of beer and pizza here in St Kilda for Ale Stars. This month we tasted 'wild' beers.

The man who describes it best describes it here.

And these days he's also a photo-journalist...check out his pics (thanks Prof) by pressing play.



Thanks to all the members and the big contingent of newbies - 2 of which will be members by next month and another 2 who, having just arrived from the States, will hopefully be becoming members soon as well.

Cheers and Beers,

The Local Crew

Taphouse Tippers - who's keen?

Can you believe it's that time of the year again??

Last year we ran our first Taphouse Tippers comp. 37 tippers joined the comp and the winner took home $444, 2nd took $222 and 3rd took $74.

There were also around 22 x $20 drink cards given out to the winners of each round (thanks to James Squire).

So I'm very keen to find out who's interested in taking part this year. If YOU are, please let me know by making a comment below.

Also, this time last year, our Darlinghurst venue was just a tiny baby. It's now running around kicking the footy around with the bigger kids. So another question I have for you is, should we do an NRL tipping comp too?

Let me know what you think!

Next BrewShare dates locked in! Get brewing and COME ON MELBOURNE!

The date set for our next Brewshare in St Kilda is Tuesday May 5th and Darlo Tuesday 18th May. You have heaps of time so get brewing!

We are hoping Melbourne homebrewers come out in force to secure the future of the event there. Come on Melbourne!

The chosen style is Stouts/Porters. A few Open Class beers (judged separately) will also be accepted so get these applications in early.

The button to book will be posted up soon and you will have to fill in the questionnaire to submit yout beer.

Here's how BrewShare works.

Australian Champion Homebrewers are brewing a Kolsch with Mountain Goat for us!

I just got word that the joint Australian Champion Homebrewers (2009), Ross Mitchell and Barry Cranston (NSW) are brewing a kolsch with Mountain Goat for The Local Taphouses (which was part of their prize)..

We hope to tap it late March or April..

Read more about last year's beer here.

$1015.75 raised for The Local Arts Initiative at Hopping Mad (St Kilda)

A fantastic $1015.75 was raised for The Local Arts Initiative via gold coin entry at Hopping Mad (St Kilda) last Saturday.

Learn more about the LAI we established here..

Hottest 100 2009 results announced!

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!!

I hope wherever you are around this great land, whether its at a barby, at the Big Day Out, or even at work, I hope it is a great day.

Now down to business. The votes have been cast and they have been counted (incidentally the counting part is not something I would wish on anyone).

Almost double the number of people than last year voted for their top 10 Australian Craft beers of 2009 and more than 450 beers received at least one vote. Voters were from all over Australia.

Congratulations to all of the brewers for their great beers...I hope yours is on this list.

Drumroll please.....

1 Little Creatures Pale Ale (WA)
2 Murrays Icon Double IPA (NSW)
3 Matilda Bay Fat Yak (VIC)
4 Mountain Goat Hightail Ale (VIC)
5 Hargreaves Hill ESB (VIC)
6 Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale (VIC)
7 Feral Hop Hog IPA (WA)
8 White Rabbit Dark Ale (VIC)
9 Knappstein Reserve Lager (SA)
10 Jamieson Beast IPA (VIC)
11 Little Creatures Bright Ale (WA)
12 Coopers Pale Ale (SA)
13 James Squire Golden Ale (NSW)
14 Stone & Wood Draught Ale (NSW)
15 Holgate Chocolate Temptress (VIC)
16 Murrays Nirvana Pale Ale (NSW)
17 Bridge Road Bling IPA (VIC)
18 Coopers Sparkling Ale (SA)
19 Feral White (WA)
20 James Squire Amber Ale (NSW)
21 Moo Brew Pale Ale (TAS)
22 Murrays Grand Cru (NSW)
23 Kooinda Pale Ale (VIC)
24 Hawthorn Pale Ale (VIC)
25 Coopers Vintage Ale (SA)
26 James Squire Mad Brewers 10 20 Commemorative Ale (NSW)
27 2 Brothers Growler (VIC)
28 Red Hill Imperial Stout (VIC)
29 Bridge Rd Chevalier Saison (VIC)
30 James Squire Hop Thief (NSW)
31 Brew boys Ace of Spades Stout (SA)
=32 Holgate ESB (VIC)
=32 Mountain Goat Steam Ale (VIC)
=34 Barons Black Wattle (NSW)
=34 Moo Brew Imperial Stout (TAS)
36 Red Hill Scotch Ale (VIC)
37 Temple Saison (VIC)
38 Mountain Goat Rapunzel (VIC)
39 Coopers Extra Stout (SA)
40 Wicked Elf Pale Ale (NSW)
41 Boatrocker Alpha Queen (VIC)
42 James Squire India Pale Ale (NSW)
43 3 Ravens 55 (VIC)
=44 Grand Ridge Moonshine (VIC)
=44 Mountain Goat IPA (VIC)
46 Moo Brew Dark Ale (TAS)
47 Coopers 62 Pilsner (SA)
48 Lobethal Pale Ale (SA)
=49 Bridge Road oak aged Imperial Porter (VIC)
=49 Grand Ridge Gippsland Gold (VIC)
=49 James Squires Sundown Lager (NSW)
=49 Murrays Anniversary Ale 4 (NSW)
53 Feral Boris Russian Imperial Stout (WA)
54 Brew Boys Maiden Ale (SA)
=55 William Bull Red Angus Pilsner (NSW)
=55 Red Hill Temptation (VIC)
57 Murray’s Pilsener (NSW)
58 Little Creatures Rogers (WA)
59 James Squire Porter (NSW)
60 Lord Nelson Three Sheets (NSW)
61 Feral Razorback Barleywine (WA)
=62 Murrays Wild Thing Imperial Stout (NSW)
=62 Nail Brewing Stout (WA)
64 Brewboys Seeing Double (SA)
65 James Squire Pilsner (NSW)
66 Holgate Brewery Hopinator (VIC)
=67 Bridge Rd Brewers Beechworth Australian Ale (VIC)
=67 Matilda Bay Dogbolter (VIC)
69 Sunshine Coast Munich Dunkel (QLD)
70 Colonial IPA (WA)
=71 Bridge Road brewers Chevalier Bier De Garde (VIC)
=71 Mountain Goat Surefoot Stout (VIC)
=71 Nail Ale (WA)
=74 Hargreaves Hill Pale Ale (VIC)
=74 Otway Estate Prickly Moses Red Ale (VIC)
76 Barons ESB (NSW)
77 Bright Brewery Staircase Porter (VIC)
=78 Gage Roads IPA (WA)
=78 Holgate Big Reg (VIC)
=78 Murrays Sassy Blonde (NSW)
=78 Stone and Wood Pale Lager (NSW)
=82 Barons Pale Ale (NSW)
=82 Bridge Rd Celtic Red (VIC)
=82 Flying Horse Dirty Angel Porter (VIC)
=85 Bridge Road The Harvest Pale Ale (VIC)
=85 Feral Fanta Pants Imperial Red Ale (WA)
=87 2 Brothers Voodoo (VIC)
=87 Matilda Bay Beez Neez (VIC)
=89 Burleigh Hefeweizen (QLD)
=89 Coopers Dark Ale (SA)
=89 Murrays Dark Knight (NSW)
=92 Holgate Double Trouble (VIC)
=92 Red Duck Bengal Tiger IPA (VIC)
=92 Wig and Pen Russian Imperial Stout (ACT)
=95 Colonial Kolsch (WA)
=95 Holgate Nut Brown Ale (VIC)
=95 Lord Nelson Old Admiral (NSW)
=95 Red Oak Organic Pale Ale (NSW)
=95 Wig and Pen Brewers IPA (ACT)
=100 Bridge Road Pale Ale (VIC)
=100 Red Oak Belgian Chocolate Stout (NSW)

We'll pick a random voter out of hat shortly and they will win a case of each of the Top 5 beers (subject to availability)!

Cheers,

The Local Crew.

Darlo Brewshare 9 February

A huge turnout of 30 homebrewers for our second Darlo Brewshare last night meant we held the event in the downstairs bar for the first time. The chosen style was American Pale Ales and we had 14 entrants as well as 5 various other styles in the Open Class.

The beers were separated into two groups and the APA's were judged together with the open class. In a closely fought contest with a couple of countbacks the Peoples Choice Award and overall winner on the night was to Jon Setlins Citra APA.

Big thanks again to Dave from Dave's Home Brew (go say hello!) was along again as our sponsor for the night - shown at top sampling the winning beer.

The date set for our next Brewshare is Tuesday 18th May with the chosen styles being Stouts/Porters. A few Open Class beers (judged separately)will also be accepted so get these applications in early.

The button to book will be put up shortly in the left hand margin and you will have to fill in the questionnaire to submit yout beer.

For the newbies, here's how BrewShare works.

Darlo Hopping Mad SpecTAPular - damn that rain!

A wet and windy day (read friggin awful) greeted the revellers who arrived to sample the Hopping Mad range of great beers in Darlo last Saturday.

The early arrivals consisted of mainly the Ale Star crew, "The Jasons" as well as host of other Taphouse regulars. The rain forced a few peoples hands and made them stay through the entire afternoon as a captive audience - though there were no complaints.

Once the rain lifted and the Military Tattoo caused another gridlock of traffic we settled in for the evening session, entertained by the Mitch Fingers Trio who had both the room and the staff dancing thru til close.

The night also proved to be a crash learning course for our recently Assistant Manager, Gareth Duncan, who was styling in his top hat and tails!

We raised $805 for the Red Cross Haiti Appeal.

Here's the slide show below (press play).

St Kilda Ale Stars - anyone recognise this person?

Hopping Mad SpecTAPular St Kilda

Another season, another huge SpecTAPular in St Kilda...

Saturday saw a massive turnout for our Hopping Mad SpecTAPular (our 7th beerfest). As is tradition, we were greeted with some familiar faces as soon as we opened the doors. The dedicated beer enthusiasts were here to sample some of the hoppiest beers we could get our hands on.

The place looked amazing thanks to Beccy and Ange who went all out on the Alice in Wonderland decorations and the staff looked great - we had just about every character covered from Alice to a funny looking blue caterpillar!

The entertainment from The Band Who Knew Too Much during the afternoon and then later from Nick Roy was awesome as usual and the dancefloor definitely got a workout.

A big thanks to everyone for making it such a great day. Here is a slideshow of the first installment of the pics.

Stay tuned for the next SpecTAPular on ANZAC Day weekend where we'll have some of the best beers from around Australia and across the ditch.

Cheers and Beers,

The Local Crew

Darlo's first Ale Star Road Trip - register your interest!

As a thankyou to AG for his tenure as Ale Star tsar, we thought a road trip to Five Islands Brewery in Wollongong was in order. The planned date is Sunday 21st March and we're still working out the transports plans and cost (for lunch, bus, beer etc).

Everyone is encouraged to bring friends, partners etc. Please register your interest by commenting below.

The first Ale Star road trip (in Melbourne) was so much fun. You can see what we got up in the slide show below.

Darlo Ale Star session report on Wild Ales

Here are some photos from last Tuesday's fantastic Ale Star session in Darlo. Sadly it was the final swansong for our host AG from Five Island Brewery. AG has been the host with the most for Darlo Ale Stars since their inception. Big thanks to him . To send him off we managed to find his Ale Stars shirt!

Ale Stars was held in the downstairs bar for the first time and it proved to be a winner. Much more relaxed feel with lounges and bigger numbers.

Trivia was a tie with Team Lusitania going down in a tie breaker.

New LC IPA on the way in March

Little Creatures Head Brewer, Alex Troncoso, is pumping out the first in their "Single Batch" series which they hope to release 4-5 times per year. This will give Alex and his team free reign to do stuff to stamp them being some of the best craft brewers in the land (as told to me by LC man on-the-ground Tim!)..

The brew went down today and it should hit both Taphouses around the third week of March.

Here's the blurb:

This India Pale Ale is a single batch release brewed by our crew in Fremantle, Western Australia. In celebration of a hop that helped make craft beers great, we have used only Cascade hops throughout the brewing process - in the kettle,
whirlpool and hopback. At 55IBU (or international bitterness units for the non-brewers out there) this is a beer with some serious hopping.

And for the geeks:

The specs
Alcohol: 5.6% ABV
Colour: 29EBC (pretty much in the middle of Pale Ale and Rogers')
Bitterness: 55IBU
AE: 3.2 Plato

Malts
Pale Ale, munich, caramalt and dark crystal - grist is fairly similar to the Stimulus IPA but with a slightly higher dark crystal addition to richen up the malt slightly.

Hops
100% Cascade from the 2009 crop - bittering hop addition to the kettle, huge addition to the whirlpool, standard addition to the hopback.

Flavour Profile
Due to the high late addition there will be strong hop flavour and aroma - classic cascade "citrus" hit. Bitterness is high but will be easily balanced by the malts and the slightly higher AE. Should really be one for the beer nuts to go crazy for.

Liefmans Goudenband replacing Feral's Dark Funk at St K Ale Stars

A change has been made to the lineup for Feb Ale Stars session in St Kilda on Wild Ales (lambics/sours) with Liefmans Goudenband replacing Feral's Dark Funk..

Any ideas for craft beer seminar at Sydney Bar Show?

We've suggested to the organisers of the Sydney Bar Show (for hospitality professionals) that it's about time they put together a seminar on craft beer.

We suggested a panel discussing ‘Where to for the Beer Market in Australia and how do we get there?’ with someone from The Local Taphouse, a leading Microbrewer, someone from Matilda Bay or Malt Shovel/James Squire and perhaps others.

They are interested in the idea but have asked for a catchy explanation to that session. In other words, they want it jazzed up a little!

This year punters will have to pay to attend the seminars so it’s very important that the topics are of high interest.

I'm sure you all have something to contribute to this idea so what are your thoughts? What topics do YOU think warrant discussion about industry people.

May I introduce you to the person who we have to thank (kinda) for The Local Taphouses

When I was in LA recently, I met up with my former landlady, Kathleen (pictured with me above). Now if it wasn't for Kathleeen, the Taphouses would probably never have happened as she introduced me to a local bar (Father's Office) in Santa Monica near to where we lived. Father's Office was probably the original craft beer bar in LA and it became a regular haunt where I got to taste so many great beers and learn a little about the craft scene.

So, anyway, if it wasn't for this lady, I could still be a documentary filmmaker who was blindly loyal to Carlton Draught.. and the Taphouses wouldn't exist.

Cheers Kathleen!

BrewShare nights - how they work

A few people have asked for clarity about how the BrewShare nights work. While we still may tweak the night as they develop, here's the lowdown:

Held each quarter on a Tuesday night, BrewShare nights are about homebrewers bringing their own home brew to barter and socialise with their peers.

You can brew either the Style of the Night (announced at least two months in advance) OR there is an Open Class. You cannot submit a brew in both classes.

There will be a points winner in both classes but there can only be one People's Choice Best Beer (and this can come from either class). Best newbie brewer will also get a slap on the back!!

If there are more than 10 homebrews, beers and punters will be divided into 2 groups for tasting, discussion and scoring. After 90 minutes, each group is required to present its top two beers (so we were now down to the top four). After that, each group samples the other's top two and then complete a secret individual vote for their Public Choice Beer.

Anything goes - bottles or kegs but bring your own beer in an esky to keep it cool though.

You need to bring at least 3 litres of beer.

There is a $100 worth of vouchers to be won at BrewShare, thanks to the generous support of Grain & Grape in Melbourne and Dave’s Home Brew in Sydney. What beer gets what prize is still being tweaked although People's Choice Best Beer always gets something.

There will be a points winner in both classes but there can only be one People's Choice Best Beer and this can come from either class. So as minimise vote influencing(!), The Taphouse (and/or special guests) make up 30% of the People's Choice Best Beer vote.

The cost of the night is $10, all of which goes towards pizzas (to help soak all the beers). The cancellation policy is that you can only receive a refund if you cancel more than 24 hours before the event start time.

You must prepay by using the appropriate button in the left hand column of this blog.

All homebrewers attending will be emailed a questionnaire (after booking is confirmed) about their beers before the event. These are then handed out at the BrewShare..

A minimum 5 home-brewers must pre-book for the event to go ahead.

Non home-brewers who may like to attend, taste some homebrew and socialise may do so must still prebook and pay.

Night officially starts at 7pm but you must be ready to go with your beers so we strongly encourage you to come earlier!

Have I left anything out?? Post a comment below..

Here are photos from the first BrewShare in Darlo.. Just press PLAY and wait for slideshow to begin.

Comedy Gold - Adam Hills and the Tram Duo

As comedy tsar Jant McLeod put it on Facebook (re last night's Local Laughs in Melbourne):

The night the comedy planets aligned. Adam Hills stands back while the couple he lured off the tram take over the mic. SEE PHOTO BELOW:



Darlo also had a beauty on Sunday night.

Viva Little Creatures Local Laughs (its new name since Feb 1st)! Become a fan by searching for 'Local Laughs' on Facebook.

BrewShare - Darlo attendees

All attendees, in addition to prebooking via the button in the left hand column of this blog, must fill in this questionnaire about their beers. These are then handed out at the BrewShare..

Black IPA up next for Murray's?

Given that their Endless Summer is going down so well, you might be interested to know that next up is an IBA/Black IPA style (due late Feb). After that expect a change of pace from the high ABV beers…

All these monthly seasonals are available on tap at both Local Taphouses.. DON'T MISS THEM.

Feral Head Brewer the Ale Star special guest in St Kilda in May

Brendan Varis, Head Brewer at Feral Brewing in WA (Australia's Best Small Brewery of 2009) is locked in as very special guest at the May Ale Star session on Tue May 18th. Bookings will open the day after the April session. This will be one not to miss.

For Darlo Ale Stars, rest assured that we're trying very hard to get special guests for you too. It's likely that Little Creatures Head Brewer, Alex Troncoso, could be coming that way soon enough.

Any suggestions are always welcome.

Roof Terrace coming soon to Darlo!

After more than a year of applications and appeals, we can now announce that the roof terrace in Darlo has finally been approved! With this new outdoor space, we can now complete our vision for the Taphouse as first conceived.

We're working as hard as we can to open it as quickly as possible. Expect it to open in April.

The roof terrace for 95 people will have it's own bar (with 20 beers on tap), a BBQ, outdoor fireplace, tables and chairs and a special surprise.

Happy Days!

Bocks the Ale Star theme for March (and last call for Feb sessions!)

While Sours/Lambics are February's theme for the Ale Star sessions (book at left - Darlo is TOMORROW night!), March is looking likely to be all about Bocks (Mai-Bock, Trad-Bock, Doppel-Bock, Eis-Bock) - subject to availability.

We'll post an update soon.. (Darlo's date is on the poster)

Melbourne BrewShare cancelled for tomorrow night. Is Darlo next? Feedback wanted.

Melbourne BrewShare has been cancelled today (for tomorrow) as we didn't get a single person booking.

While there is a week to go, Darlo only has 5 people booked so far (we will review the numbers later this week to see whether to cancel that too). Last time in Darlo, we had a room full of 25 people eager to come again and dozens of people voting for APA to be the style for the next night.

Together with Grain & Grape and Dave's Home Brew, we're really keen to support homebrew crews in both cities but hardly anyone appears interested in this round of events and we announced the dates two months ago, have posted updates on these forums and on our blog!

Please post your comments as to whether this night is worth supporting moving forward.