The South West Beer Fest was back and bigger than ever this weekend, pouring pints and tapping kegs in Busselton.
Brewers from the South West region brought their finest and funkiest craft brews to Signal Park in Busselton for the event.
The festival was created to support smaller craft brewing companies in their infancy. And while it remains WA’s only beer festival, it has grown exponentially.
Event coordinator from Buzz Marketing, Ryley Dover, said brewer Michael Brookes started the festival with just six brewers featured.
“Michael liked the how wineries in the region had festivals to show off their product but saw a gap in the market for festivals focused on beer,” he said.
The Western Australian Southwest region is quickly becoming WA’s home to craft breweries, with more than 100 currently in operation as of 2024.
Shelter Brewing Co is a local Busselton brewery, and one of 29 stalls at Beer Fest.
Head of Sales at Shelter Brewing Co, Jason Lane, said “the event is a great opportunity to engage with those that enjoy that drink our beer”.
In addition to offering an eclectic selection of beers, Lane and Shelter brewed the atmosphere with a bowling inspired keg toss.
Lane said the keg toss was a unique activity that everyone was interested in, giving punters something fun to do while sipping beer.
He also noted the importance for all the breweries “down here” to support the event and the community it creates.
For the first time year, Beer Fest also opened the field to include a selection of local distillers, as well as a cocktail bar.
Why? Because, as Dover said, “the crowd is our favourite thing about Beer Fest”.
“There is such a calm vibe around it… this is great for those of us running the festival as we don’t have time to deal with so many issues and can enjoy the festival as the punters do,” he added.
Dover says having the cocktail bar and distilleries was a “great success”.
Maya Jones travelled to Busselton from Perth and said Beer Fest is a good reason “to get out of the city and see what the region has to offer.”
“As a non-beer drinker, having the cocktail bar was great, especially considering there’s so many great distilleries in the southwest,” she added.
Beer Fest is expected to return again in 2025.
