Good Beer Week 2014 officially launches this month, with 200 unique craft beer events over nine froth-filled days. Described by international brewers as “the best beer week in the world”, the fourth annual Good Beer Week will run from 17-25 May in venues across Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Many events take good beer out of its usual haunts and instead pour it into new and sometimes unexpected spaces, aided by the arrival in Melbourne of many of the local and international brewing industry’s biggest names. The festival has grown almost 400 per cent since launching in May 2011, with the organisers looking forward to welcoming craft beer loyalists, foodies, home brewers and newcomers to better beer. Anyone interested in having a good time with a good beer in hand is welcome.
Festival director James Smith said: “Craft beer has moved from the shadows into the Australian mainstream in the past few years and we’re delighted that Good Beer Week has been part of that movement. “Every year we have welcomed new venues and new guests to the festival and this year is no different, with everything from comedy and surfing to crafts and live music lined up to entice people along. “With pretty much every brewer in Australia and guests from New Zealand, Japan, Lebanon, Europe and the US along for the ride, it promises to be a fantastic celebration of the best of the beer world.”
The festival team has curated a diverse program of events, from street parties with free admission to exclusive, highend degustations that showcase stars of the brewing and culinary worlds. The eclectic program caters for and features events from around Geelong, the Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs, Ballarat, Bendigo and the High Country, as well as all parts of Melbourne.
Good Beer Week 2014 is Australia’s most exciting celebration of beer, bringing together brewers and beer lovers from five continents. The festival is a chance for people to gather and celebrate the renaissance that beer is enjoying globally.