Where to drink down under...

[Grist4brains]

Can anyone on here offer any suggestions on what breweries/beer bar to see in Australia and New Zealand? Ill be traveling there through September. First in Carins then fly to Melbourne, from there ill be driving to Sydney. We then Fly to Queensland NZ and will be driving to Auckland. Were defiantly spending a few days in the Nelson region and probably hitting Epic Brewing once in Auckland but other than those areas not sure what else ill be missing. I would appreciate any ideas? I ve heard of a few beer bars around the St. Kilda area in Melbourne.

[bbbilly]

Flying my home town flag... This might be a bit out if your way, but Canberra (Oz capital) has an awesome award winning brew pub called the Wig & Pen. You'll pass through on your drive from Melbourne to Sydney. Michael Jackson and Gordon Strong have both enjoyed the beer here. 14 different beers on tap. The head brewer even had a cameo on Sam's doco. The website sucks, but the beers are awesome.

Let me know if you make it, I'll buy you a beer.

Cheers,
Billy (pfc BN Army Australian Regiment)

[barls]

ok melbourne. mrs parmas and a few others. im not from down there i only know a few

heres a link to the ones in oz
http://www.beerandbrewer.com/pub

sydney.
harts in the rocks district.
lord nelson in the same district.
4pines manly
murrays manly
schwartz cbd


highly recommend wig and pen its one of the best in the country
let me know when your in sydney and ill come out for a beer if im not on night shift.

[gordonstrong]

You can search my tweets under @gordonstrong from late October 2010 to see some incoherent, inebriated ramblings on the topic.

I remember really liking Holgate in Woodend outside Melbourne, Zierholz and Wig & Pen in Canberra, and just about all that barls posted about in Sydney. Seems like there were some other stops along the way, but it gets a bit fuzzy now. Ask Peter Symons or Barry Cranston from Sydney for tips -- those two were my tour guides (great to see them both at the NHC in Seattle!).

[Grist4brains]

Good stuff guys! thanks for your time! Ill be looking into these over the next couple weeks as we try to nail down the route for our road trip. Once we get that figured out ill be posting again. Id love to grab a beer or 7 if were in the area. just a thought, but im also open to the idea of a beer trade. Im from Colorado and have access to TONS of great beers. Just thought...

[beerhog]

in around the inner suburbs of melbourne you have mountain goat brewery wich is good in richmond, just down the road from there is slowbeer who have a couple of taps running and a great selection of bottles on the shelf from a lot of australias best craft brewerys and just the other side in brunswick there is temple brewry wich also has some great beer. these are all within 10 mins on the tram from the cbd. in the cbd beer deluxe is good but pricey. an hour out of town is the yarra valley where you can find the hargreaves hill, buckleys, coldstream brewery and white rabbit brewerys al within 15 mins drive of each other and if your into wine as well there is umpteen small wineries and a couple of big ones i the same area and it is well worth your while to do a whole day trip into the area. as already mentioned about an hour the other side of melbourne is holgate, with the toobarac brewpub on the way. in st kilda itself you cannot go past the local taphouse who have a variety of taps and a pretty good selection of bottled beer as well.

[whoateallthepies]

What dates do you plan on being in Sydney? I'll come out for a beer too.

Driving from Melbourne to Sydney:
Recommend taking the Hume Hwy then turning off and getting to Beechworth for Bridge Rd Brewers. They have a wide range of beers and do some interesting stuff that not a lot of other brewers do in Australia. Beechworth is also a Ned Kelly town, and you can find out a lot about the outlawsof yesteryear. It's also the home of Beechworth Honey which has a nice tasting room and a dated but informative audio visual display.

Then just up the road is Bright Brewery. Small place, but Jon the brewer is a top bloke and they do some good stuff too.

Then once you reach NSW, go through Wagga Wagga for Thirsty Crow. Pretty new place, but they do some great beers there. The Milk Stout is a gold medal winner and is amazing.

Head a bit further North and hook over to Canberra for Wig & Pen as described earlier.

Sydney:
Can vouch for Barls' suggestions.

Local Taphouse has 20 taps of various beers from around the country and a few overseas selections also.

For a more suburban feel, you can jump on the train to Flemington and try Paddy's Brewery.

[koalasprint]

... We then Fly to Queensland NZ and will be driving to Auckland. Were defiantly spending a few days in the Nelson region and probably hitting Epic Brewing once in Auckland but other than those areas not sure what else ill be missing.

Enjoy that drive from Queensland to Auckland.

Guessing you mean Queenstown!

Have a great trip!

Kev