The third annual Crafted Beer & Cider Festival returns to the Gold Coast with brews, bites and beats
Whether you’re a hop head who knows your pale ales from your pilsners, or if you just enjoy blowing the top off a few frothies with your pals, you’d best block out Saturday September 7 in your diary. The Gold Coast’s beloved Craft Beer & Cider Festival is returning to crack the kegs in Kurrawa Park in Broadbeach for its third year, bringing with it more than 200 different beers and ciders from 44 breweries, alongside a healthy dose of street eats, a roof-raising seaside concert, beer yoga, hotdog-eating competitions, live comedy and more.
Kicking off at midday and running through until 8:30 pm, the Crafted Beer & Cider Festival will jam your Saturday with pure goodness, with the outdoor precinct to be lined with a raft of local, national and international beer and cider makers showcasing both their cult-favourite brews as well as exclusive festival-only creations. All of the local suspects (from the Gold Coast’s Balter and Lost Palms to our very own Newstead Brewing Co. and Soapbox Beer) will be pouring their finest froths, while the likes of satirical gangsters The Betoota Advocate (armed with their Betoota Bitter) and Gage Roads Brewing Co will be making the trip interstate. The USA’s New Belgium beer will also be on tap, and ParrotDog will be slinging sips from across the ditch. Don’t do beer or cider? No sweat. The team from Miami distillery Granddad Jack’s are also joining the party, pouring their coast-made craft spirits from a two-storey vintage bar.
It doesn’t stop at the sips. The beachside festival will also feature a collection of hunger-busting gourmet food trucks to line the beer bellies, with popular names like Dick’s Burgers, Fiery Deli, Mac from Way Back (yes, those tubs of gooey mac’n’cheese), The Wiener Haus and Cychos Buffalo Wings dishing up beer-friendly eats all day. Festival goers can settle in by the open-air stage to soak up tunes from a killer line-up of live-music acts rolling out across the afternoon – there will be antics and anthems from The Delta Riggs, plus indie-rockers WHARVES and Seaside, surf-punks Concrete Surfers, Brisbane indie favourites Nice Biscuit, plus roots heartthrob Jack Botts and party starters Beatniks DJs. On top of beers, bites and beats, ticket holders can also get bendy with a brew in hand at the beer yoga sessions, expend some energy on the ping-pong tables, or put their stomach on the line for maximum laughs in the hotdog-eating competition.
While the full timetable for activities on the day will be announced soon, locals have already swooped in on the early bird offering, with first-release now on sale online. Oh, and Crafted Beer & Cider Festival has gone green this year – every ticket purchased comes with a free festival-branded reusable cup for you to use on the day and take home.
To find out more about what’s on in Brisbane, head to our Event Guide.
