Victoria Brewery Touring

[Back Yard Brewer]

I will be over in Melbourne in October with two / three other beer connoisseurs during the ANHC (most likely not doing the ANHC) I would like to visit Holgates and Hargreaves and was wondering whether there are any reasonably priced driver / tour services that can be recommended? I do realise they are both over an hour from the Melbourne CBD. I do intend visiting Mountain Goat at some stage. Worst comes to worst we will most likely hire a car for a couple days which means a designated driver I am not that good with those weird hook turn road rules :lol: Any sort of info would be great.


BYB

 

[Screwtop]

I will be over in Melbourne in October with two / three other beer connoisseurs during the ANHC (most likely not doing the ANHC) I would like to visit Holgates and Hargreaves and was wondering whether there are any reasonably priced driver / tour services that can be recommended? I do realise they are both over an hour from the Melbourne CBD. I do intend visiting Mountain Goat at some stage. Worst comes to worst we will most likely hire a car for a couple days which means a designated driver I am not that good with those weird hook turn road rules :lol: Any sort of info would be great.


BYB

Get yourself and your Konossa mates down to Red Hill brewery on the Mornington Penninsula, do a flight of his beers and then stay the night somewhere close, great country atmosphere, nice deck and snacks! Maybe you need to elect a DD for each day, bit expensive hiring a driver!

Have a great time,

Screwy

 

[DU99]

Holgates is at woodend...Hargraves Hill is in Yarra Glen..you could also visit "white rabbit"

http://www.whiterabbitbeer.com.au/Find-The-Rabbit/

which is 14kms from yarra glen...woodend to yarra glen is about 122kms...you would be better staying out of the city...when in october

 

[Fents]

Make sure you get to goat on a wed or fri night, it goes off. Three ravens also open most fri nights. Red Hill, Hargraves and Holgate all worth a visit.

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

All our commo has already been booked, just up the road from the JS Ale House in the CBD. May give Red Hill some thought as well Wife and kids won't be with so I want to make the most of this trip.

BYB

 

[DU99]

thats a busy week in melbourne spring racing carnival time..

 

[WarmBeer]

All our commo has already been booked, just up the road from the JS Ale House in the CBD. May give Red Hill some thought as well Wife and kids won't be with so I want to make the most of this trip.

BYB

If you end up going to Red Hill, you will most likely drive past Hickinbotham Winery.

Don't be mislead by the "Winery" part of the name, as they also have a brewery attached, and 4 house brews on tap.

Worth a look.

 

[Wonderwoman]

I organised a work winery/brewery tour through this operator http://www.laughingcamel.com.au/howe_to_travel.html a few years ago. We got a 24 seater bus, all day tour (you make the itinerary), with driver for $600. He also offers 4wd tours for smaller groups, so I assume that would be cheaper, and perhpas affordable for your group.

Depending on how rushed or slow you want to take it, you could probably fit in mornington peninsula (red hill and hickinbotham) and the yarra valley (coldstream, hargreaves hill and white rabbit) in one day.

 

[brendo]

As far as Holgate is concerned... it is only a two minute stumble from the V/Line station at Woodend - so that isn't a bad option for getting to the brewery and not having to worry about consumption levels.

 

[DU99]

for about $200 you can hire a 8 seater car from europcar..all you need is driver

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

As far as Holgate is concerned... it is only a two minute stumble from the V/Line station at Woodend - so that isn't a bad option for getting to the brewery and not having to worry about consumption levels.

Will investigate that option.

for about $200 you can hire a 8 seater car from europcar..all you need is driver

By the sounds of it you could be the driver :lol:

BYB

 

[brendo]

keeping on the public transport theme - if you did head out to Yarra Valley, I am sure there would be a bus service that would run out from Lillydale or Ringwood stations.

If you do make it out there to check out Hargraves and White Rabbit, it is worth adding Coldstream Brewery to your list also as you have to drive right past it - just check their opening days as they aren't open early in the week.

 

[Murcluf]

Sort of :icon_offtopic: Wouldn't knowing of any city based micros there or some good bars to check out while we are over there. Just read a mention in a mag about a bar call Lambsgo which sounded interesting wonder if it worth checking as well.

 

[ChefDave]

As far as Holgate is concerned... it is only a two minute stumble from the V/Line station at Woodend - so that isn't a bad option for getting to the brewery and not having to worry about consumption levels.

Thanks for this post!

A Saturday afternoon excursion awaits

Dave

 

[WarmBeer]

Sort of :icon_offtopic: Wouldn't knowing of any city based micros there or some good bars to check out while we are over there. Just read a mention in a mag about a bar call Lambsgo which sounded interesting wonder if it worth checking as well.

Depends on what you mean by "city based".

If you're in the CBD, and cbf getting a cab or tram, try any of the following list (no, I'm not going to look them up for you, Google is your friend):
- Mrs Parma's
- Beer Deluxe
- Transport
- Cookie
- Biero Bar
- Penny Blue

I've been to all (except Cookie, never found the opportunity) and they all have a great, if sometimes expensive, selection.

If you are prepared to get on a tram (it is a lovely trip down St. Kilda Road) head to The Local Taphouse in Balaclava for 20 non-CUB beers on tap :beerbang:

There's Mountain Goat and the Royston Hotel in Richmond, yet another tram trip, but a different direction.

Lambsgo Bar is a tram trip North. Again, never been there, but has a good reputation.

Welcome to Melbourne, quickly becoming Australia's premiere destination for beer tourism

 

[DU99]

there's a bus to healsville

 

[Adam Howard]

Depends on what you mean by "city based".

If you're in the CBD, and cbf getting a cab or tram, try any of the following list (no, I'm not going to look them up for you, Google is your friend):
- Mrs Parma's
- Beer Deluxe
- Transport
- Cookie
- Biero Bar
- Penny Blue
- Belgian Beer Cafe Eureka

Easy walk across the Yarra.

Just went to Matilda Bay Garage Brewery on Friday. It was brilliant, but unfortunately you can't do tours there easily due to forklift OHS, I was just lucky my girlfriend won the Beer Expo Early Bird prize :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Lecterfan]

Well, I wouldn't want to anger anyone by starting a new thread so I thougth I would just tack on to the end of this one (seemed the most appropriate from a search without using the date-specific Holgate thread)....

SOOOO...just came back from an awesome afternoon. Had lunch and most of the available beers at Holgate Brewery. I really liked the building and the aesthetics. Really courteous staff - down to earth but still professional enough to keep the toffs happy. The menu was pretty broad - not a huge range but at least something (maybe not plural) for everyone. The chicken Parma was f*cking huge. The duck was tasty, the steak was a touch more cooked than ordered and the brie-stuffed chook breast with olive yoghurt and prosciutto was awesome.

But more importantly (everything came off tap except the Mt Macdeon Ale):

-The Mt Macedon Pale ale is a pretty standard American PA that was familiar from the first whiff and taste. Really bloody nice (this is as technical as you are going to get from me as I didn't have to drive home afterwards), but nothing new.

-"Road trip" The American IPA (brewed seasonally) was yummy, but a bit of a let down...it is essentially the aforementioned APA with a higher IBU. Same aroma, basically ther same flavour (albeit the lingering bitterness)

-Pilsner, was a good, solid pilsner. Nothing amazing but I would certainly take 6 of them in summer over 6 of the mega-brewed "under licence" recipes (although maybe thats not saying much?). It was really good, just not my favourite style, and not really a suitable day for it (cloudy, rainy, classic Ballarat December all the way over the dividing range).

-ESB - magnificent. While not a Fullers this was bewdeefull. Nice and malty, that hint of dark raisin, some hop flavour from a late/non-bittering addition but not too much. Served at cellar temp out of the traditional contraption, very nice.

-Brick Kiln hefewiezen. While I'm not a huge wheat fan, I found this beer to be really nice...but it got even better once I had something to snack on with it ( a smoked eel pate thing which was awesome). My old man loved this one. It had hints of honey but that wasn't mentioned anywhere...still my beer notes are pretty primitive.

-Temptress Porter - as mentioned already on this site several times this is a good drop...again served at cellar temp out of a trad machine, very nice (I am not a huge porter fan either). I would have reduced the roast/black malt and increased the choc a touch personally, but it was still a hit.

So I didn't do the nut brown or the mild ale, but overall a great meal, great service, awesome beers, decent take-away prices over the bar for the non-drivers.

Very happy. No affiliation.

Cheers.