# Melbourne Beer Festival May 19-21 2005



## Linz (30/3/05)

Hi guys, wife of Linz here. 

I'm organising a trip for Linz and I to the Melbourne Beer Festival and wondered if any AHB guys/gals are going, and if so, what sessions you're attending. Do you want to get together that weekend at the festival - or afterwards perhaps and show us some of Melbourne's best pubs?


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## Backlane Brewery (30/3/05)

hey Mrs Linz.
I am planning to go but have not decided a schedule/session times.
More than happy to meet up/go to some pubs in any event.


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## rodderz (30/3/05)

Whats the details of said festival guys....location, etc?


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## Trev (31/3/05)

We're from Sydney and last year my wife and I went to the Beer Awards and had a rage. We also hit a lot of the brewpubs around Melb over the next couple of days, had dinner one night at JS Brewhouse etc etc. Got back home after 3 days and an awful good time, although I did have to give the kidneys a bit of a rest  

We went to the first session, 4:00pm to 7:00pm on the Friday and were planning to do the same agian this year - more than happy to go to a different seesion if there's an AHB group together.

If I remember right, the advantage of the first session is that Mountain Goat Brewery has an open night from 7:30pm onwards on that Friday night  

Rodderz, the link is 
Beer Awards


Trev


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## Linz (14/5/05)

Ok,

So next weekend is the beer festival in Melbourne. We're in Melb from about 3pm Thurs

We've got tickets to the first session on the friday night(4-7pm) and Sat morn (11am-2pm).

Who else is going? Did anyone want to catch up? whats to do after?

BB drop us a PM and I'll try and send you my mobile number so we can catch up


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## Weizguy (15/5/05)

Linz/ Mrs L,

U may need to email BB, as I think this is one of his last posts.

He was coming to the Sydney pubcrawl and bailed out and has allegedly ceased brewing. Maybe he reconciled with his SWMBO by recanting all belief in the therapeutic value of brewing.

If U want, PM me, as I have his phone number.

However, as I mentioned, he may be given up his faith, and may be delivered back unto the everlasting torment of the mega breweries.

Seth


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## Wasabi (17/5/05)

Hey guys!

Was part of the judging for the beer festival again this year at the uni. Still loads of fun.

I was thinking of going along this weekend (uni work pending), and it would great if some of you guys were going to.

Trev: I was wondering if you were making your way down.

Let me know what you are doing and I'll see if I am able to make it (fingers crossed)

B.


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## Gough (17/5/05)

G'day Wasabi. Good to hear from you again - been a long while. Hope things are going well down there at Uni mate. 

Shawn.


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## RobW (17/5/05)

For anybody in Melbourne there is a free tasting session at the City Square (from 12-2 today)


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## voota (17/5/05)

city square? is that fed square?


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## Louis'Lager (17/5/05)

Hey Rob,

Is that at Transport? or out in the square?
Sounds great, for a long lunch...

Cheers


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## RobW (17/5/05)

voota said:


> city square? is that fed square?
> [post="59340"][/post]​



City Square, Swanston St


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## voota (17/5/05)

cheers, i'm about to head down there


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## johnno (17/5/05)

RobW said:


> For anybody in Melbourne there is a free tasting session at the City Square (from 12-2 today)
> [post="59330"][/post]​



I only work around the corner so i went with a colleague to have a look. Basically they just have a tent there and you only get to have a very small taste from a number of beers. Its more a promotion for the big event. 
I tried the Mercs Own peach ale but unfortunatley due to a head cold I only took a sip and turfed the rest in the bin. Much to the disgust of whoever served me. 


cheers
johnno


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## dickTed (17/5/05)

Has everyone gone in the competition for the fridge? Can't you just envisage a pair of taps & drip tray on the front of that whirlpool?

Click


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## Trev (17/5/05)

Wasabi,

Yep, we'll be there again  We're booked in for the Friday afternoon session and then have the next couple of days to wander around pubs etc.

When are you thinking of coming down to Melb (and have they got the trains running any later  ).

There is a really important Rugby Super 12's game on at about 8:00pm Saturday night so we were going to find a pub with Foxtel that was showing it (Any Melb based members got an idea about where). It would be perfect if it were the JS Brewhouse.

Trev


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## Jino (24/5/05)

What did the poeple who went to this think of it?

I went and didn't mind it but it was way too packed for the amount they had there. I don't know if i would go again.

Good to see Grain and Grape there with a setup though.


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## voota (24/5/05)

It wasn't as good as last year imo, James Squire wern't there on sat night, and Little Creatures had about a slab to go around (which lasted 5 minutes). By the end, i'd say 50% of the beers were no longer on tap. If i wasn't so lazy, i'd write a letter to the organisers. 
Some positives, I tasted two Aussie Micros which were quite good, Buckleys Bock (I stayed at this stand for about an hour), and 3 Degrees IPA. 
The crowd was full of wankers too.


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## Jino (24/5/05)

That sums up perfectly. 
I didn't even see a LC beer, there was only a sign when i saw it and an empty tent. 
The bars were that packed you hardly even got a chance to see what beer they were pouring you. 
I spent more time in the bar area with the band.


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## Trev (24/5/05)

Yeah, it wasn't a good effort, particularly compared to last year. There were probably only half the breweries from last time and really none of the associated suppliers with the exception of Grain & Grape (on ya).

We went to the Friday afternoon session and it was way too packed. Had to fight to get much to drink that was a bit different.

I'm told that they stuffed up with the venue arrangements, after all the Awards were a fortnight ago, which is why there were too few exhibitors and not enough room.

Trev


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## Jino (24/5/05)

I can't understand why they didn't utilise more of that huilding. It was huge and they used the smallest wing of it!


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## bagnol (25/5/05)

I attended the Saturday morning session and really enjoyed myself. The crowd was small. It was easy to get to the beers and there was plenty of them to go around. 

I have always tried to attend the early sessions as they good to avoid the morons that are just there to get pissed and make arses of themselves. I reckon there may have been 300-400 people at the session I went to compared to over 2000 the night before. Plenty of room to move. Easy access to the bars and beers. The beertopia bartenders seemed more knowledgeable about what they were serving, and it was easy to have a chat with the different brewers and stall holders.

The only fault I found were that the toilets were too far away. The long walk to the urinal took away precious sampling time.

Bagnol


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## bouncingcastle (25/5/05)

I went on the friday night session.

Got fed up and left at 10:30 (30 minutes shy of session time). Had to wait forever to get a beer, and by 9:00 the varieties were dropping.

I managed to sample a lot of stuff from the microbreweries, and have a chat to the G&G guy. But what really got to me is that the crowd wouldn't shut up and let the seminars happen. I was looking forward to hearing what some of those folks had to say.

Oh well... Not sure I'de spend $35 on that again, but I did manage to discover a few new beers.


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## NRB (26/5/05)

I went to the Saturday 11am-2pm session like bagnol and found the attendance numbers to be perfect. I didn't find the beer numbers adequate however... *"400 beers, 1 place"* my arse - there were more like 100-150 beers and half of the ones I wanted to try weren't there.

I came prepared. I printed out the list of awards and chose the beers I wanted to sample - about half of them were available.

If I had one word to describe Beertopia, it would most-definitely be *DISAPPOINTING*.


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