Three hours’ drive south of Perth, amid forests of century-old karri trees and kangaroo-filled grasslands is the town of Margaret River, the centre of south-west Australia’s wine country. Or is it?
Recently this region has been showing a growing interest in beer. In the past year, a handful of microbreweries have started jostling for space among elegant vineyards, which account for 3% of Australia’s annual wine production. And they’re churning out locally brewed boutique beer that’s just as well-regarded as the cabernet and semillon/sauvignon blanc blends that Margaret River sells by the premium caseload around the world.
On a sunny day at the Cheeky Monkey brewery and cidery in Wilyabrup, half an hour north of Margaret River, the picnic tables by the lake are packed. There are families, tipsy groups of friends and me, nicely oiled from a tapas tasting with matching wines at nearby restaurant Rústico, on the Hay Shed Hill vineyard – a good example of the region’s use of foodie experiences to diversify away from vines. Here at Cheeky Monkey, there’s a different type of tasting menu: no food, no wine, just a “flight” of five ales on a wooden paddle, including its Summer Smash lager: a single malt and hop brew “designed for the south-west sunshine”. It tastes as good as it promises.
Further east in Metricup is the Beer Farm, in an old dairy: beer is brewed where cows were once milked, and the tasting bar is in the former cowshed. Now covered in cartoonish art, it’s where Perth weekenders come to lounge in hammocks swigging pints of bitter and cider, and enjoying the carnival atmosphere.
Slowly, tastefully, Margaret River is becoming Australia’s densest brewery region, using its reputation for wine as a springboard. In fact, even the local vintners are tempted – at least when they hang out at Swings taphouse, a “locals’ local” in Margaret River town.
Manager Kris, who is from the Napa Valley, says Australia is catching up to the US in craft beer. Alongside the standard “chardy” on tap at Swings, there are rotating ale “takeovers” from local breweries. When I’m there, a tasty Bao Bao milk stout from Black Brewing Company in Wilyabrup is on offer. Even the wine guys get “bloody tired of drinking wine sometimes,” laughs Kris.
To work it off, I go canoeing down the region’s eponymous river at sunset with Sean Blocksidge of the Margaret River Discovery Company. Once a vineyard manager, he now focuses on all the other things the region offers.
“Margaret River is a remarkable wine producing region, with two decades of consistently outstanding chardonnay and cabernet,” he says. “Plus it’s the adventure capital of Western Australia: you’ve got fishing, hiking, surfing, mountain biking, caving, kiteboarding, climbing.”
But for now there is a gorgeous sunset and the promise of a pint at the brand new Brewhouse on the edge of Margaret River town.
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