Bar & Bites: South West Beer Festival to showcase brewers old and new, plus WA’s first gluten-free brewer

Recent years have been tough for craft beer, with more folks chatting about liquidation than liquid. Refocus on what’s important as the South West Beer Festival takes over Aravina Estate in Yallingup on May 17. There are some interesting newbies joining Bushshack, Cowaramup and Eagle Bay breweries, which have featured at every festival to date. Ocean Beach Brewing has recently started brewing in Denmark, while Bailey Brewing qualifies for this year’s event after moving into the old Clancy’s Fish Pub in Dunsborough. Bailey will have a football-themed stall, with AFL games on big screens, mini games and footy-related prizes. Last year 8 Waves was at the festival, but now brews out of Aravina where it has just opened a taproom. Perhaps the most interesting of the debutants is Vasse’s Someday Somehow, a couple of mates in former winemaker Ryan White and brewer Beau Neunuebel making totally gluten-free beer using sorghum, quinoa, rice and corn for their malts. Brewing under the manta “no boring beers allowed” and borrowing its name from a Nickelback song, Someday Somehow currently cans eight beers ranging from a big bold hazy IPA and “lawnmower” XPA to a non-alcoholic grapefruit IPA and citrus sour. Bar & Bites reckons it could be WA’s first gluten-free brewery. “We’re on the small side of the brewery size scale but don’t plan to stay there,” White told B&B. “We’ve got big plans and a tonne of different beers in the pipeline. “The plan is world domination,” he joked. “I mean, getting great gluten-free beer readily available to everyone.” Other top South West brewers on show include Margaret River Beer Co, Shelter, Thorny Devil, Cheeky Monkey and Beerfarm, plus Rocky Ridge and Froth, which have both thrown open city venues. Rocky Ridge also recently celebrated its eighth birthday. The South West Beer Festival runs from 10.30am to 5.30pm, with tickets plus details of food, music and other froth available via swbeerfest.com.au HOTTEST 100 DROPS The public has sipped and spoken. More than 20,000 votes were cast for our favourite WA drops at the inaugural Top Up Wines Top 100. The pointy end of the list, which was unveiled at an industry event at H&C Urban Winery in Fremantle, had an intriguing blend of big hitters, smaller producers and some unusual vinos. Ampersand Estates pinot noir took the chocolates with Stella Bella’s Luminosa cabernet sauvignon coming runner-up and Ad Hoc Nitty Gritty pinot grigio third (and a good buy at around the $20 mark). Stella Bella earned the most spots in the Top 100 with six, while chardonnay, cab sav and pinot noir were WA’s most popular styles. Top Up Wines founder Jamie Burnett said he was blown away by the response by WA wine lovers, which delivered a diverse hit list of wines and wineries. “To see so many people vote to support their favourite wines, wineries and the local industry is amazing,” he told B&B. “When we turned voting on, we had no idea what results would come. That was the fun of it.”