Good Beer Week to feature craft and artisan brews, tastings, events and dinner

The beer is almost here. Good Beer Week begins on May 16, when beer takes over the town. Restaurant and pub menus are designed around beer, artisan-made beers from around the country are the focus of guided tastings and there are beer-inspired one-off events like Cans and Bands in the barn of the Collingwood Children's Farm. Around 180 venues participate in the nine-day festival that includes one-night-only restaurant events, such as Rockwell & Sons' partnering with Wellington, New Zealand's Garage Project brewery to present a beer-matched multi-course "vegetable extravaganza", as well as the brewing industry's night of nights, the Australian International Beer Awards dinner, to be prepared by Brooklyn Brewery's Andrew Gerson, Merricote's Rob Kabboord and pastry chef Pierre Roelofs. Good Beer Week: May 16-May 24; goodbeerweek.com.au