The beers of Victoria

A source of constant frustration for brewers and beer lovers alike is the inequity between beer and wine. Beer suffers from 2000 years of  bias towards wine and this continues as demonstrated by restaurants treating beer as a second class citizen. Governments too have showered the wine industry with tax breaks, development cash and tourism dollars, with nothing for craft brewers. Queensland even has a department promoting wine and even a college of wine tourism. With all this support for wine, it is great to to when a government throws its weight - even in a small way - behind the beer industry as Victoria has done with it newly updated Beer Lovers’ Guide to Victoria’s Microbreweries.

The updated guide showcases 35 Victorian breweries and includes 20 in regional Victoria and features references to the brews produced, facilities available, tasting sheets, contact details, brewer profiles and anecdotes, and a map of Victoria with the locations of featured microbreweries. This edition has an additional 13 new breweries added including several new players which have been open two years or less.

Most importantly,Tourism Victoria is now aware of the guide. Two years ago when I was researching a story about beer tourism and the state's tourism body wasn't even aware of the guide, which is produced by the Victorian Association of Microbrewers.

The Beer Lovers’ Guide to Victoria’s Microbreweries is available free of charge at all good bottle shops and bars that sell Victorian craft brew, from the breweries themselves, and Information and Tourism Victoria outlets throughout the state.

If you're planning on a visit to Victoria, and it's well worth it for the beer lover, you can grab a copy here or  call 132 842 (within Australia) to order a copy.

Drive me to drink

It's one of those things that highlights how hard it is to have a great idea. The UK-based real ale advocacy group CAMRA has just launched its 2009 Good Beer Guide, a guide of the best pubs in the UK according to CAMRA's strict criteria. In a stroke of genius they have created a sat-nav version that allows you to download the 4500+ recommended pubs into your TomTom, Garmin and Navman sat-nav systems which then enables you to get directions to each one of those pubs. Sounds like a great idea? Of course it does, but the UK road safety charity Brake has come out and criticised the move saying it encourages drink driving.

You have to be sympathetic to their arguments. I mean, these devices are generally meant to be used in a car and it's definitely not a good idea to drink drive, but then again - the mere fact of driving to the pub doesn't mean that you are going to drink and drive. Still it is a tough one...the solution if you were in the UK is to download the mobile version and walk to the pub with your mobile phone leading the way....

The issue shows the very difficult time that beer is having at the moment as society grapples with binge drinking issues. The Otago District Health Board in New Zealand is in trouble at the moment because they are offering a free beer to expatriate health professionals at the Speight's Southerner bar in London as part of its advertising campaign to entice them home. The local Public Health Association says that with thousands of national health dollars were being spent to address New Zealand's problematic drinking culture the board associating itself with Speight's is questionable.

Again, you can see the conflict - but does one beer constitute a health risk?

Personally, I see greater conflict in breweries that do the small things like adding "drink responsibly" logos to their website and making you negotiate the pointless "tell us how old you are" questions while promoting beers that are designed to be "sessional" (ie  drunk in great quantity), offering turnover discounts to pubs in a way that provides a financial incentive to the pubs to sell it in great quantity - not necessarily to more people. "Sessional lager" beers are a volume game - the breweries need to sell them in great quantities to be profitable and so they are designed to be easily drunk in volume.

My motto is "drink less, drink better". Drink fewer beers but enjoy them more...

A quiet beer in the country

After a recent trip to Rockhampton and Mackay I despaired a little about how slowly the beer revolution is progressing outside of Brisbane. They have some really great pubs up there, beautiful old pubs with lots of character - the sort of place you can really enjoy a beer. Unfortunately, the selection was pretty much, "We have both kinds - XXXX Heavy and Gold". About the only concession to the march of time is that you can get VB and a number of Foster's brands in most places. So, when last week I headed up to Stanthorpe for another work trip, I fully expected a similar run and took a stash just in case. I was surprised and delighted to discover that Stanthorpe's rapidly growing reputation for wine and other gourmet produce has spread to beer as well. The first surprise came at dinner at Vineyard Cottages & Cafe where in addition to a well-stocked wine list, host Peter Cumming had included a good selection of beers meaning I could enjoy a 2004 Cooper's Vintage Ale with my steak.

On my second night I was even more suprised to discover the Commercial Hotel. Billing itself as Stanthorpe's first wine bar, the Commercial is exactly the sort of character-filled old pub you find in most country towns - but with great beer too. The owners, Robert & Shayne Johnson, have restored it beautifully and stock a range of beers that would shame most pubs in Brisbane, in addition to showcasing the region's wines. What's more, they are looking at developing the range further and in December will be offering food that they aim to match.

There have been a lot of murmurings about a brewery opening up in the area and the old Oxford 152 brewery has even been moved up there - though I gather those plans have fallen through. Though, given the development of the wine industry and the tourist trail and high standard accommodation that's offered in the area, it can't be too long before a brewery moves in.