Slow Beer and East of Everything

It’s been great to get out into Melbourne’s inner-city suburbia again, and BotF’s occasional Melbourne guide and inductee Cam covered himself in glory with his latest two selections. His two choices on this particular evening really showed why Melbourne is still the place to go when it comes to bar and beer experiences.

His first choice was inspired. I must admit when I hopped out of the cab, I was heading into a place called the Bouzy Rogue (which looks worthy of a visit in its own right), but instead we headed into what is essentially a bottle shop with a few tables to enjoy a sample or two. A beer store and café as Slow Beer’s website proclaims. Slow Beer’s shelves are overwhelming – I’ll be back another time to give these a thorough perusing – for now the taps. Slow Beer offers 4 taps, from which you can have a glass or fill up a growler. I’ve had a couple of great less than 3%ers lately. Boneyard’s Red Ale was a fabulous drop that I had recently at Mrs Parmas. As good as Boneyard was, To Øl’s Sundancer was incredible. Sharp, opaque, fresh and really intriguing at only 2.7%. To Øl means two beers in Danish and is run by two students of Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, one of the founders of Mikkeller. Like Mikkeller, To Øl is a gypsy brewer and Sundancer is actually made in Belgium. Bloody complicated, but bloody good.

The second beer we tried, which was ideal given the miserable cold afternoon Melbourne had laid on, was a Smoked Porter with as good a back story as the Sun Dancer. Smog Rocket is made by Beavertown Brewery, which is based in London and has as one of its co-founders, the son of the legendary Robert Plant (Logan’s story is told here). It commenced life in a pub, but has now moved into stand-alone premises. Whilst there is the temptation to sicker at the name, “BEAVERTOWN WAS THE OLD COCKNEY NAME GIVEN TO THE HISTORIC DE BEAUVOIR AREA, FAMED ACROSS VICTORIAN LONDON FOR ITS RICH CHARACTERS AND INFINITE REVELRY“. We’ll take ’em at their word. The beer is beautiful. Smog Rocket pours black, but not too viscous. It is rich and satisfying, and eminently sessionable – despite its smoked quality (I often it a challenge to back up immediately on a smoked beer). The other two taps had great stuff including a 10% stout from Clown Shoes. Tempting – but Cam had another establishment to show me. Slow Beer – I’ll be back.

I love a bar with a non-descript entrance. The only thing that betrays that 72 Auburn Parade, Hawthorn East as a bar is a keg in the door. Up one flight of stairs are more kegs and a single piece of A4 paper blue tacked to the wall with “East of Everything” printed on it. Finally at the top of the stairs, you enter a very cool and classy establishment. Service was A1. We were given a quick intro the philosophy of East of Everything. 6 taps – turned over weekly – great food and a blast of a place to be. The six taps on our night couldn’t have been more varied. Beers from NZ, Canada, Japan, Germany and Victoria. 6 taps, 5 countries, 4 continents.

We launched straight into Garage Project‘s Day of the Dead. This was smooth, big and a little buzzy. That would be the agave and the chili, that they’ve put in the mix. It was a useful combo as we stood on the veranda overlooking the train line copping a cool breeze. We also enjoyed the Rauchbier, which was the discount beer for the evening. East of Everything is worth the trip from the city and I’ll be looking forward to another evening in its anonymous surrounds.