Matilda Bay brewery bar Melbourne

A weekend away with the wifey in Melbourne and I got the pleasure of coming up with the itinerary. So after a lot of research on breweries and great bars / pubs from the many beer blogs I mention in this blog, I came up with a grand plan for the weekend... 

Unfortunately, the wifey didn't seem too keen to solely go to pubs and breweries in and around Melbourne to taste great beer... so a compromise was agreed - I got to pick a few places that I would like, and she got to go to a few nice wine bars and all the fine things that Melbourne has to offer... So I chose Matilida Bay and was thoroughly glad it made the cut! 

We were staying near the South Bank so thought we could walk to this place- google told us it would 15 mins... well my advice friends, taxis were created for a reason (and would of been like $15...so a real no brain-er). Its a walk down an industrial estate to this place and I don't think many walk here... 

This picture shows off the brewery come bar at its best... is it a brewery with a fancy bar? No and for beer lovers its awesome to sip a beer and see where it all comes from... Its a little charlie and the chocolate factory isnt it? 

The Little Ripper is just brewed for the brewery bar (they call it small batch beers)

Hmm...beer (a 'little ripper' of a beer) and a proper pint (see my review of the Wheatsheaf in South Australia)

The wifey is a fan of wheat beers so she tried the Beez Neez and the Redback. While the Redback is a more traditional European style wheat beer it has quite a 'floral-ly' taste through it while the Beez Neez is a wheat beer with a slight taste of honey and malt to make it a perfect beer for her.

I tried the'little ripper' and it was nice, and would be fantastic for a warm summer day as it is light and refreshing but in winter it maybe was a little lacking in punch. It reminded me of a Central European lager, which isn't something that I thought Matilda Bay would produce - I naturally think of them producing big and unique flavours! So it was great to try it and another reason why you have to try out the brewery bar!

I followed this up with a Duke IPA - this is a lot more like what I expect from these guys - big flavours and a bit like a beer brewed in Northern England - not that flat rubbish brewed in the South East that is warm and flat but with flavour, cold and crisp with bubbles and a head...!

If you are in Melbourne, head over to this place, and if you see the Matilda Bay range at your local, have a few for me (my favourite is either IGP, Fat Yak or Minimum Chips depending on the weather and my mood!)...

While you are there, you may as well pick up a few beers for the house! I love the new Fat Yak cans... I just dont like cans of beer though...

OK, now we are off to 'Harry and Frankies' in Port Melbourne (think bottle shop specialising in VIC wines but where you can also sit down, drink said wine and order a big sharer plate of cheese and hams)... Holidays are tough...