I’m standing somewhere vaguely familiar staring myopically at Google Maps on my phone while jazz fills the air. I know that six hours ago I set out bright eyed and bushy tailed in my leather jacket from Armani (Ok, fine, polyurethane from Target), but for the life of me I couldn’t pinpoint my current location to within 10km; so much for watching Bear Grylls every day for a month. I blame the 8 to 10% beers that seem to have been the flavour of the night, but luckily I have my packet of crisps that will be my Michelin starred supper. As I get on a random passing tram and cryptically tell the driver that I need to go to a three letter suburb beginning with a “K” I take out my camera and go through Wednesday night of A Good Beer Week.

It started off at Mountain Goat Brewing, luxuriously set between a hardware store and a construction company. It may seem more industrial than industrial-chic with its steel roller door but the atmosphere was great; pizza, beer, great conversation, what more could one want? I was there for the release of the Abbotsford Collabotsford, a delectably dark drink with the dabbling of three Abbotsford (or close as could be) brewers bringing it to life. Mountain Goat, Moon Dog Brewing and CUB, in the form of Matilda Bay, managed to create something that was incredibly familiar to me. It took me a while to click (and this was a good few hours ago!) but it was fairly similar to my beloved Castle Milk Stout. Deliciously dark with a whopping mocha coloured head; the wafts of caramel, burnt, roasted, toasted and smoky notes grabbed me like a character being drawn to an irresistible dish in cartoon. In the mouth there is a delicate but not insubstantial bitterness, a great big body with a wonderful creaminess underlined with chocolate, butter and toffee notes. That’s where my tasting notes end and where less intellectual fun begins.

Having met George Theodoridis of BeerSpace I am intrigued by his knowledge of beer, beer styles, raw materials, profiles and flavour taints. He is exactly the sort of person that can lead beer geeks down the slippery slope of beer appreciation that ends up in home brewing, critical examination and all round beer guru-ism!

We progressed together through the Queensland Tap Takeover at the Baden Powell Hotel, where we came across beer Royalty in the form of Beer Diva Kirrily Waldhorn and Australian Brews News’ Matt Kirkegaard. I fear, though, that after a Bacchus Rum Barrel Aged Porter and Red Bellied Black that my most articulate sentence to these two may have come out as the Homer Simpsonesque:

Me like beer. Beer taste good.

The evening ended up at the Western Australia Tap Takeover at the Great Northern Hotel where the first thing to try was the Feral Brewing Watermelon Warhead Berliner Weiss. For me more green melon than watermelon, with the sour, lactic nature completely foreign to my lager palette, I was ill-equipped to savour the complexities of the beer.

Tonight, for me, emphasises what A Good Beer Week stands for. It is about meeting interesting people more knowledgable and more passionate about beer than you are and going on an adventure. An adventure of meeting a host of beer geeks, regular guys and lost tourists. An adventure through beer styles, over-hopped monsters and sublime pints. An adventure where the boundaries of what you know is possible and practical are pushed to the extreme, but most importantly an adventure where you have bloody good fun and don’t know why your wallet is suddenly empty!