Good beer week in Geelong

Geelong is known for its craft breweries and that is what Good Beer Week is all about. It is all about showcasing the best of what beer there is to offer and to show some of the best breweries to newcomers.

I had picked a really good day to do this and that was when the student protests in the city were on. Here I heard that they can be quite rowdy.

It is about an hour away from the city and a full fare ticket to and from Geelong is about $20 Myki money.

Our first stop was at White Rabbit brewery in South Geelong. Here they were showcasing their red beer as one of the Good Beer Week creations. I tried a pot for $7. This brew works well with mixed nuts.

Then I walked about their brewery learning about how they make their beers. White rabbit allows for this and when you get in the door for the first time you can see how they make their beers and the beer barrels.

Then over at Little Creatures Brewery just behind I tried their Fire beer for $6. This one was pretty firey. Then I also had a little sample of their Dreadlock beer which was really strong and coffee like. it was really strong in the alcohol.

I also got some chips to go with it. These were in a big bowl and were very salty for $9.50.

A tour around Little Creatures is $15. They are at 11am and 3pm. Little Creatures was opened in 2013 and their beers are the most popular at all the city bars and it is not hard to see why.

Furphy was the beer that was on promotion in Little Creatures and Gastrology had tried their Furphy beer.

Then we took a break and wandered around Geelong before heading to Blackman's brewery. Here at Blackman's brewery we went crazy and tried five beers in a sample size. We really loved the sweet cider.

Then it was time to go back to Melbourne. Our day had been really fun and we'd do it all again. Students do pop up to Geelong and visit the breweries when you have a chance over the mid year break. You might just learn a thing or two.

Oakdene vineyard and Portarlington

We went to Ocean Grove for the day just to visit a friend. Yep me, Friend A and B. Here Oakdene had some nice views and the cafe there was great.

Friend A and B didn't really like the food all that much. But I enjoyed the pizzas and they would be great with a glass of wine. Here we ordered potato pizza and ham and mushroom pizza. I could taste the truffle in the potato pizza and I liked that very much. A white wine would work well with this.

Gardens

Linguini

Pizzas

As well as marinara, fish with apple slaw and crab cakes. I have had better marinara in the city which was worth the price tag. This marinara here was not fresh and the linguini was about a day or two old. It broke easily and there was too much sauce to it.

The apple slaw was very vinegary. Here the fish had a lot of batter and it was hard to eat. But the batter was crispy. It was a beer battered fish,

Whilst going around the vineyard and exploring my friends had coffee and they didn't enjoy it that much. I saw that they had high tea going for $45 which is a little bit pricey. They also had $5 tastings for their well known wines. For me that is also expensive seeing as city gives it for free. But I did love their dukkah.

The pier

The pier again

After lunch we went to Portdarlington which is about a ten minute drive away. There, there was lovely sea on a lovely sunny day. Here there was a mussel stall selling mussels at $5 a kg. Friend A wanted some so she got.

And then we walked off lunch. Around the bay we went and enjoyed some of the sights and here are the pictures.

Do come up for a road trip away from the city when you want a break.

Snagga's launch party

RNIS was invited to try the place and did not have to pay.

As part of Central Geelong's taste program there was a launch party where people tried the beers and snags and voted for their favourite ones as part of a new monthly thing where they do a different flavour each month.

We have been to Snaggas before and they were good. The buns were a little bit on the sweetish side but they were awesome.

The beers are from Southern Bay Brewing and Co and were quite nice. There were three different ones. Each of them had an alcohol level of 4.6%

Ok the snag that I liked the most was the oriental one. But I also enjoyed the Italian one which smelt like pork dumplings and were spicy and tasted like nonna meatballs. The first one which was morrocan was a bit strong in flavour for me.


Oh and by the way their coffee from DC coffee roasters is strong but chocolatey in flavour.
I hear that there is one going to be opening up in Melbourne city but they don't know where. Will keep you informed.