Ballarat Beer Festival
No I haven’t been recovering since the festival, I’ve just been busy!
Saturday dawned bright and well, cloudy. And a little bit cold. It was forecast to be sunny and warm up in Ballarat though, so I put on appropriate summer atire (light dress, thongs, sunnies and a hat) and went on my way. Jes and I met some of his friends at the station and the V-Line left on time, which was a great omen, although it felt wrong to be considering beer at 8am and 9am in the morning!
There was a shuttle bus just about to leave Ballarat station, so we jumped on board and headed down to the oval, arriving not long before the gates opened. There was a queue with some people who had obviously planned ahead and brought folding chairs and picnic rugs with them. I had briefly considered bringing mine, didn’t want to carry it there and back and forgot about it by morning anyway. It would have been nice to have later on, but that’s something to remember for next time.
The glasses on lanyards was certainly a smart idea, especially being able to unclip them to be filled and drink from. There have been several tasting events where I’ve put my glass down to make notes or take a phone call and walked away! The tokens became frustrating though. We had five included in our entry fee, but the rest could be bought from a tent in the centre of the oval or from roving sellers. Unfortunately, these roving sellers seemed to be mythical creatures, although occasionally spotted out of the corner of my eye in the queue for the tent. A real shame, as they could have made the day run very smoothly, avoiding queues and people pushing back and forth through crowds.
Onto the beer though! There was a decent selection of breweries, including a handful of newbies.
The regular faces also had some great offerings.
Kooinda Red Ale – a smooth and tasty beer, but didn’t stand out for me like the Prickly Moses Red Ale did the first time I tried it. It is worth taking into account that by the time I got to Kooinda’s tent, I’d tried many an IPA and had potentially destroyed my tastebuds.
Mountain Goat -
Rye IPA – a beautiful Rare Breed from them. As soon as I see it on sale, I’ll snap up a few bottles!
Cider – I was interested to see that they had brought out a cider. It was always pleasing to see Napoleon Cider in their fridge at the brewery, local brews supporting other locals, and a change from all of the very full-flavoured big beers they’ve been releasing recently. Given how popular cider is quickly becoming, it was only a matter of time. I didn’t get to try this, and have heard no feedback, but I’d be keen to give it a go.
At Red Duck I had a sip of the Honey Porter, which was very honey-like, but far too sour to be a porter in my books. I really didn’t like this one, but it is good to see brewers experimenting (see: Perverse Sexual Amalgam).
As for the new brews, there was nothing particularly inspiring, but some good efforts with a lot of potential. First up was Coldwater Creek pilsner. A refreshing brew with a bit of a fruity edge, they’re definitely on the right track.
King Valley Brewery had their first offering as well, the Yowie lager. Again, it has a lot of potential and some very enthusiastic brewers, so I look forward to trying things from them in the future.
Many of the brewers only had their most popular offerings on – such as Bridge Road Brewers who only brought the Australian Ale and the Pale Ale (the latter of which suited the weather perfectly). I can understand why, given it’s an unproven event and it would be a lot of effort to bring everything out. Perhaps next year there’ll be more! For someone who is familiar with the local brewing scene, there wasn’t much new to try, so it became a pattern of having those that we knew we liked to refresh our memories, and by the end of the day, just relaxing and drinking pots in the shade.
The day itself was very enjoyable. It became sunny and warm, and being sheltered by all of the tents kept the cool wind away from us. There were plenty of barrels and tables around, but as the day wore on, there wasn’t enough shade or seating and many people (including us) left the oval to sit beneath trees on the edge of the oval. The security men were trying to be strict in keeping us away from the back of the tents (and all of those beer-vehicles that were parked and no threat to anyone), so it often became a battle of pushing through the crowds in front of the tents to get around. There was a great selection of food (I went for the paella) but some was running out by the end of the day. I have a feeling that much of it was local produce. There was a reasonable number of wine stalls as well, which I think were mostly local, but I didn’t try any. It was a good idea, particular for groups of friends who may have some who don’t like beer.
Unfortunately, by the end of the day there were 10-15 people queues for all of the stalls, which were hard to tolerate and get around. The toilets had queues too, and most had run out of toilet paper. The space in the field was very crowded, especially around the stage (I didn’t pay too much attention to what was going on – I just know there was some depressing and bad music with intermittent chit-chat). Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the day. I tried some new beers, sampled some familiar flavours and chatted with many people. However, if this is to be an annual event, there is a lot to improve on for next year.
