The Canberra Brewers SpecTAPular Adventure

By David Gilks, Treasurer

A contingent of the Canberra Brewers headed off to Melbourne for the recent Great Australiasian Beer SpecTAPular put on by The Local Taphouse. Fifty-eight beers were on tap over the weekend with more than 15 making the trip across the Tasman from Beervana (a.k.a New Zealand), none of which had ever been made before.

Following a stressful journey in which some took on the Hume Highway while others relaxed in the Qantas Club the group took on the challenge of trying all 58 beers on offer. The set-up at the Royal Exhibition Building was great with 4 bars set up to serve the mighty hoards. Some of the zymurgical highlights included:

Watermelon Warhead (Feral Brewing, WA) – a deliciously puckering Berliner Weisse with a tempting addition of watermelon.
Stonecutter Oak (Renaissance Brewing, NZ) – a rich, warming Scotch Ale aged in oak barrels.
Zythos (Epic Brewing Co, NZ) – a fresh, floral and fruity IPA using the new Zythos hop blend from the US.
Mr Mistoffelees (Moon Dog, Vic) – a Wild Ale brewed with passionfruit and mango.

Some brewers struggled to get their heads around a 2.7% IPA, a Chilli Pilsner, a Red Pilsner and a Christmas Tree Ale brewed with spruce. Throughout the event we headed off to guided tasting sessions and a cooking with beer session with Paul Mercurio.

Some lessons were learnt on the day. For instance, fried shrimp are a great beer snack, liquorice in beer must be used in moderation, sarsparilla shouldn't go anywhere near beer and Dicko's taste buds are not to be trusted.

Of course, we didn't spend all our time at GABS. In between there were visits to Mountain Goat Brewing, The Royston Hotel, Temple Brewing and Josie Bones for yet more fantastic beer and food and real proof that Melbourne is the best beer city in the nation.

A few of us are already talking about heading down again next year and I think the group may just be a little bit bigger.

Check out the other photos on Flickr.