“So this is Christmas / And what have you done?” asked John Lennon back in the day. A more pertinent question to the Australian craft beer world as we all settle down to gorge ourselves, catch up (and possibly fall out) with friends and family, swig some quality beer and fall asleep too early might be: “What haven’t you done?”
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the excitement surrounding craft beer in Australia is really quite incredible. As in 2011, the past year has seen more new breweries appear – some diving straight into experimental territory too – with only a tiny number falling by the wayside. States where craft beer had made little impact before have jumped on board the bandwagon. There’s a wealth of new and often excellent craft beer bars across the country and, slowly but surely, the restaurant world is starting to wake up to what’s going on. Then there’s the rise of the beer festival in all shapes and forms: one-dayers and weekenders plus beer weeks in multiple states.
Australia’s best brewers are making beer that’s the match of anything being brewed anywhere, there’s a growing number making consistently good beer and a general improvement in quality across the board. And, with many the nation’s drinkers developing maturity in their appreciation and understanding of beer, there needs to be as fewer and fewer people are going to stand for substandard beer.
So, as you line up a few special bottles for today’s festivities, do so knowing you’re part of something exciting and amazing – a revolution, no less! There’s a bloody long way to go, but we’re heading in the right direction.
Anyway, must dash: need to get the beers pictured above to our Christmas Day hosts. Not sure if they’re all beer drinkers, but if the above collection can’t convince them…
Cheers!
