Quaffers: beers to drink this week

Some would say every week is a good beer week. But then there's the official Good Beer Week, an annual Victorian celebration of the frothy stuff. Details of this year's 16-24 May event are currently embargoed, but the organisers plan to lift the veil at a so-called Gala Showcase this weekend, 13-14 March, at Fitzroy Town Hall in Victoria.

Twenty-three brewers from across Australia will whet our appetites for the big event and run three tasting sessions – limited to 300 people each – one on Friday, two on Saturday.

On Friday, March 13, the full beer week program will be released at goodbeerweek.com.au, which also offers tickets for this weekend's tastings. The May program includes 250 events at 180 venues throughout Victoria.

Feral Sly Fox Summer Ale

330ml $4.50

★★

The Sly Fox snuck from Baskerville, Western Australia, to Canberra. The back label reads, "This sneaky little beer is light on its but feet still packs a punch of flavour." Disappointingly, the head failed completely. And citrussy, mildly bitter hoppy flavours, though pleasant, needed a little more malt to flesh out the palate.

ParrotDog Flaxen Feather Blonde Ale

330ml $6.35

★★★☆

This quirky beer from Wellington, New Zealand, brings a serious load of aromatic, pungent, bitter hops to the blonde ale style. Sweet, malt richness offsets the hops to some extent. But the hops claims ascendancy, from first sniff to final swallow, leaving a bitter, pungent aftertaste.