Avoca Hotel

115 High St, Avoca, Vic
(03) 5465 3018

theavocahotel.com.au

CUISINE Modern Australian
WINE LIST Ian Urquhart
WINEs ON LIST 187 (21 by the glass)
WINE PRICES $$

The best beers – around 177 of them from 14 countries – are not necessarily to be found in a four-star Sydney hotel, or micro-brewery in Fremantle, but rather in a Gold Rush era pub in a quiet Western Victorian town.

In some ways, the beer list at the Avoca Hotel plays to a largely wine-drinking audience. This is a wine town, after all, but the comprehensive nature of the beer listing changes all of that. After a brace of popular national and international brews of broad appeal, the list drills down into the intriguing world of craft beer, of IPAs from Japan, wheat ales fermented in oak from Norway, of tart, blood orange goses, farmhouse ales and brews aged in old Bourbon barrels. Read the tasting notes on every brew and consider the multitude of styles, and don’t fight the urge to match a beer to every course off the menu. Perhaps a Lindemans Pecheresse peach beer from Belgium?  You’ve gotta love its tasting note: “Literally like drinking peach Champagne.” It might be followed by a rustic farmhouse ale from California’s Le Merle, or a refreshing golden ale from the Ballarat-based Red Duck Brewery.

A good beer list quenches a thirst, a great beer list drives discovery and feeds the senses. This is great. JENI PORT