A festival dedicated to drinking, tunes and just generally chilling out is definitely the most Australian thing we’ve ever heard of. Except for maybe that lady who picked up a shark with her bare hands and threw it back into the ocean.

Obviously none of us will ever live up to her but we can get involved in the next best thing – the Crafted Beer and Cider Festival – debuting in Broadbeach on November 4th.

In celebration of all things beer and cider, Crafted will showcase (over 100) Aussie brewers from the Coast, wider Queensland and some of your faves from interstate.

Think Balter, Burleigh Brewing, Black Hops, Newstead Brewing, Stone & Wood, Batlow Cider and plenty more. We really are quite the beer connoisseurs aren’t we?

Because no festival (and drinking in general) is complete without quality tunes, there are some of those too. The lineup features Brisbane surf-pop/rockers Shag Rock, Byron Bay reggae/hip hop quintet Drop Legs, local indie-rockers Eliza & The Delusionals, alt-rock quartet The Maslows, GC-based soulful acoustic duo Azmosphere and Beatniks DJs.

ALSO, how did we survive before gourmet food trucks? All your local faves will be there from the Wiener Haus boys to Little Wahaca and Food Kartel and isn’t this going to be a good time.

If you’re still reading but just remembered you aren’t a fan of beer or cider, never fear. The Chandon S Spritz Pop Up Bar will be ahh…popping up for those who like to get sparkly and there’ll also be wine, cocktails and the like.

Round up your crew, re-locate your favourite Mexican picnic throw and get yo’ tickets ASAP because this one is not to be missed.

LOCATION: Pratten Park, Broadbeach
COST: $29.60 per person

Although there needs to be no specific reason to drink a frosty cold ale made by one of our many epic Gold Coast brewers, there is in fact a day dedicated to doing exactly that and it’s happening this Saturday August 4th.

In celebration of International Beer Day, we’ve rounded up a list of the latest brews all your local faves have released and you should definitely rope your Mum into driving you to every single one because, good times await.

From north to south here they are (pick us up on the way will you please). 

Fortitude Brewing Company
The crew at Fortitude Brewing Company have been busy little bees, or minors as the case may be. They’ve recently opened a sister company, Noisy Minor, who are slinging brand new brews faster than you can sink ‘em. The newbie boasts the same core values as their older sibling and each beer is brewed in single batches. Try the Anzus IPA which they say is a clean, light malt type of thang with earthy, resiny, piney and fruit notes. Yummo.
Where: 165 Long Road, Mount Tamborine

Black Hops Brewing
Word on the street is these Burleigh locals are expanding their offerings up north pretty soon so double the fun for everyone. They’ve been on the scene awhile now, creating much-loved offerings for their many fans. The latest brew to hit the streets is is the Send It Session Ale which literally rolled out this week. It’s an easy drinking, 4.2% Gold Coast inspired session beer (which means it’s low alcohol and can be consumed for a longer period of time! WINNING.
Where: 15 Gardenia Grove, Burleigh Heads

Balter Brewers
No doubt you’ve heard of them and hopefully you’ve ventured to the Currumbin industrial area to get involved in the endless good times on offer in their sweet space. If not, this weekend is your time friend. The Balter gang recently released a limited new brew, the Balter IIPA but you better get your hands on her quick smart, once she’s gone, she’s gone. And the can art is oh so pretty which is such a girl thing to say but hey, here we are.
Where: 14 Traders Way, Currumbin 

Lost Palms Brewing
Speaking of pretty can art, Lost Palms Brewing know what’s up. Hues of bright pink and red are their signature colours and that is a thing we can get behind. The actual brewery space is also one of the best around complete with a basketball hoop plus live music and food trucks from Friday to Sunday. One of the latest on their list is the Lost Palms Lager which is a 4.8% pale beer and we highly recommend it. This plus a game of ball and some tunes with the crew, what more could you want.
Where: 11 Oak Avenue, Miami

Burleigh Brewing Co.
The crew at Burleigh Brewing Co. have a good thing going on. A spacious brewery that hosts many a fun event, an outdoor area that you never want to leave and, most recently an outdoor cinema where you can sip beers and laze about in beanbags while watching a flick. Fun! In the interest of keeping things umm interesting, we’re changing it up. Instead of a new brew, we want to chat about an oldie. The Hef is one of BBC’s most popular brews but the wheat beer won’t be made again until 2019 so if you haven’t tasted it yet, get in quick stocks literally won’t last.
Where: 2 Ern Harley Drive, Burleigh Heads

Laughing Lizard Brewing Co
These guys have the absolute lock down on tasty brews with a selection of over 150 and all chemical and preservative free. You know what that means? No hangover (not guaranteed). The latest addition to the fam is Ol Man Lizard, named by a customer and boasting absolute deliciousness. It’s a healthy dark ale which is something a little bit different and we hear it’s full bodied and super flavoursome. The perfect winter ale.
Where: 27 Sinclair St, Arundel 

Words by Kirra Smith

Black Hops Brewery, in Burleigh Heads, has been in business for almost three years and in that short time, has become one of the Gold Coast’s favourite brews.

Today, the three men behind the brand – Dan, Govs and Eddie – launched their very first Pale Ale, in a can no less.

We had a chat with Dan about the new brew and why Black Hops has gone the way of the can.

Congratulations on the latest addition, tell us about your new Pale Ale?

We have always been pretty creative with our beers and beer names. We launched with an Eggnog Stout and our main beer was a Saison. Pale Ale is a style that both the team and our customers drink more than any other, so we thought it was a good idea to put a big effort into making this beer.

It’s a modern pale ale with a nice balance of pale malted barley and tropical hop aromas. We call it the Black Hops beer for every occasion. We called it Pale Ale, our least creative name yet. We don’t want people to overthink it. It is what it says on the tin.

How long did it take to develop the flavour?

Govs has been working on pale ale recipes for a decade but this is our first official batch. We had a meeting a few months ago about the need to make a big splash with our first beer into cans and decided on brewing a new beer as opposed to canning any of our current nine offerings.

From there we had a lot of meetings about every aspect of the beer. The colour, style, aroma and flavour were part of that as was the launch plan, design, marketing and sales strategy.

There have been some challenging moments but in the end we got a beer we are all stoked with and all 4,300L of it was sold before anyone had tried it.

The Pale Ale will be your first beer sold in a can, why did you decide to do that?

There is a big trend towards cans. The old mentality of cans tasting tinny is gone with modern cans and there are many benefits. They are cheaper, safer, more enjoyable to drink out of, they transport better and take up less space and they look sexy AF!

You’ve got 10 beers in the collection now, which has been the most loved do you think?

We have a “core range” of nine beers but we’ve probably brewed 20 or 30 total, maybe more. Out of the core range beers our seasonal IPAs have a loyal following particularly our American Red Ale “Code Red” and our Black IPA “ABC Bomb”. Our first beer the Eggnog Stout has a cult following and our 8.3% Super Hornet has been a big hit.

Judging by the response to Pale Ale though we think this will quickly become a fan favourite. On launch day we went through our first keg in a record five hours at our Taproom in Burleigh and at least two venues ran through the whole keg that night. Our online pre-sale of 40 cases sold out in two hours and all kegs and cans were sold in the two weeks before launching.

There’s a few microbreweries popping up around the Coast lately, what do you guys have that the other companies don’t?

Great tasting beer 😉

Biggest lesson you’ve learned since opening the brewery?

Probably the biggest one was the need to have a deliberate marketing and sales strategy for selling beer. Beer doesn’t sell itself and having everyone from the Taproom staff to the owners, marketing and sales and brewing guys working together on a deliberate strategy to make and sell beer people want has been a big lesson. Our Pale Ale beer and successful launch is the culmination of that work and it’s made a big impact so far to the business.

Anything else exciting in the works for Black Hops?

The big things for this year are going into cans, expanding the brewery and starting to sell beer interstate. We’ve also got the AIBA Awards and GABS beer festival coming up in May where we are aiming to better our previous best of a Bronze medal at the AIBAs and 9th at Gabs.

We are also putting out lots of content on our site including a podcast called Operation Brewery where we are documenting our journey to the AIBAs.