I wasn't expecting to go to Cubby Haus, I fact I didn't really even know that Cubby Haus existed. I think I'd seen their logo somewhere before, maybe seen them at a beer festival once but never really took much notice - untappd tells me I'd certainly never had one of their beers, but last Saturday, on a cold afternoon I found myself sitting in their tasting room eating pizza and sampling their beers. So how does this happen.
Well we were in Ballarat for the BIFB - the Ballarat International Foto Biennale which is a photography festival which happens every two years. Ballarat is about a hour and half drive from where I live in Melbourne so we were making a very leisurely weekend of it.
There are about 10 or so 'Core program' exhibitions which are all by professional, some international photographers but then there is the 'Open' program which is where amateurs/semi professional photographers exhibit their work. This is normally done in random businesses across ballarat - over the years I've seen photos exhibited on farms, in the back rooms of record stores, handbag shops, bookstores, I've peered over the head of diners in cafes, in pubs, seen exhibitions in school, farms, in abandoned mental institutions, but I think this is the first time that I read the guidebook noticed that there was a exhibition on at a brewery, and a brewery I'd never tried before.
So we set ourselves for a lunchtime-ish visit so we could have a break see some art, each pizza and drink some beer.
So how where those things - well the art was from a Sydney artist called Edfen Diebel and can be seen on the wall in the shot above - it was macro work of 'creatures' which where in themselves made from discard objects - it was really very well done. Although when talking to the brewer (who actually had to hang the photos) he pointed out that they are all slightly different sizes which I find to be really, really weird.
As for the brewery itself - it was normal enough - it was in a industrial area, you can see the brewery out the back - it is in a sperate room, there were signs saying that the brewer would give us a tour if we wanted but I've seen enough stainless tanks in my life so I resisted, there was also an outside part, but it was cold and raining so we set ourselves down on some couches, and listened to the Vinyl records he was spinning. The highlight was Melbourne band the Wagons - check out the video below to get a sense of the vibe this was giving the whole place. Also these photos make it look empty but there were actually a few locals who popped in - including a very happy dog who turned up a good minute and a half before his owner, who was very happy to get a pat - love a brewery with a dog.
Okay but this is a #beersaturday not #ramblingstoriessaturday so how was the beer. As you can see from the photos and the top and right below we sampled 10 beers.
Across the board they were solid brews, not designed for a inner city hipster gimmick chasing crowd, but rather for more traditional beer drinkers that you get in regional towns. The stand-outs for me were a very good Saison - it had some great deepth and complexity to it and very nicely true to style which I liked. There was a American Brown ale which I enjoyed - I forgot how much I like the balance of sweeter malts with hops that you get in this style. It's also a perfect style for colder weather.
So this is the sort of thing I love in trips to the country and to the BIFB in particular you get to discover so amazing art and at the same time to discover this new places, this is a brewery I would have never considered visiting otherwise, but I have to say I've very glad I did.
