Hop-lovers, rejoice: Taste 25 never-before-released beers at this Melbourne event
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17.01.2020

Hop-lovers, rejoice: Taste 25 never-before-released beers at this Melbourne event

Words by Marnie Vinall

Time to bend the elbow.

If you’re a big fan of beer and don’t have any plans for the Australia Day long weekend, Hop Quest may just be your glorious hop-filled answer.

Beer Deluxe are hosting the event and aim to provide the beer lovers of Melbourne with a variety of new and delicious brews to sample. Jarrod Nash, the venue’s in-house beer ambassador and certified cicerone (essentially a beer professional) is the mastermind behind the idea.

“Hop Quest is an event that we do over the long weekend, just basically to drink some fresh beer; some fresh hoppy beer,” he says.

The whole event, as Nash describes, originated from the venue trying to do collaborations with breweries, and getting them to make some beers that they wanted. But then, as Nash tells, “We turned it into a bit of a day party where everyone brews a fresh new hoppy beer.

“It can be whatever they want. The beer can be entirely up to the brewery – just as long as they chuck a whole lot of hops in it.”

The beers will be coming from 25 different craft breweries from across Australia and New Zealand, and be made exclusively for the event. Some of the contenders include the likes of Melbourne local favourites Bodriggy, Stomping Ground, Bridge Road, 3 Ravens and Moon Dog. Other breweries on show include Akasha, Bad Shepherd, Ballistic, BentSpoke, Boatrocker, Bonehead, Blackmans, Dollar Bill, Future Mountain, Holgate, Hop Nation and Jetty Road.

There will also be representation from Kaiju, Modus Operandi, Mr Banks, Otherside, Quiet Deeds, Sailors Grave, Tallboy and Moose & Wayward. So, plenty to choose from.

“Essentially, we just wanted to invite our favourite local and interstate breweries down and have a beer with them. So, that was kind of the feel for the rest of it,” Nash says.

The beers will be a total mix too. “It’s a bit of a mix this year, which is probably a good thing. It means that not everyone’s going to get too hammered because all beers are going to be a spread on ABV (Alcohol-By-Volume).”

And before everyone gets too many in them, there’ll be a poll of the people’s choice of favourite beer. Then that brewery will be crowned Hop Quest Champ of 2020.

There’ll be no tummy growling at the event either, as Beer Deluxe is a kitchen, bar and grill and will be running as business per usual. This means you can grab a BBQ chicken pizza, nachos or veggie burger whenever you feel like it.

In fact, your ticket will grant you a food item. This is along with the ten tasters of your favourite Hop Quest brews and a Hop Quest tasting glass for you to take home after the event and remember the day by (if you can).

The event being held on Saturday January 25 also means it falls nicely on the same day as the Hottest 100. And you can be rest assured the event will be blasting the tunes as you sip on the fresh, crisp beers.

“It’s basically like our Hottest 100 party. Obviously, not officially affiliated but we’ll be playing the tunes, drinking some beers, and hopefully, it’ll be nice and sunny,” Nash explains.

So, if you like beer, tunes and food, this really is the event for you.

“An event like this is just an excuse to drink from really bang-on fresh beers. Everyone in our industry knows that fresh is best.”

Few could complain with that.

Hop Quest goes down at Beer Deluxe on Saturday January 25. Tickets are $65 per person via the venue website

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