Melbourne Trip Part 6: Into the Countryside we go!

Day 6 of the road trip, and we were nearing the end of our journey, finally heading North, back towards Sydney. Started the day with a quick stopover at Moon Dog to collect some equipment that we hadn't been able to fit on a tram. 

"Equipment"

We then headed up the Maroondah Highway to our first stop for the day, Coldstream Brewery

Was one of the first things we saw on entering town

Mello picked up a pint of their Imperial Porter, while I opted for the tasting paddle, figuring 5 x 50 mL tasters was a better option considering the long drive ahead of us

Road Trip? That's a paddlin'

Having not realised beforehand that Coldstream even made beer (I'd only had their cider before), I was pleasantly surprised by them, and took home a few of their ciders and porters. Back on the road, we decided to make a less beery detour and head to Coldstream Hills Winery. Mello had a full tasting and came away with a bottle of Merlot, while I listened on eagerly but had to take one for the team and not taste.

After chatting with the winemaker, he recommended a brewery in Yarra Glen to us, so we decided to stay in the Yarra Valley a while longer and add that to our itinerary. But first things first, we headed to Healesville to grab a pie and hit the White Rabbit Brewery

Bigger than expected

The Brewery itself is a pub of sorts, so we settled in and grabbed a pot each of one of their limited releases, "Kai's Dark Matter", which seemed to be a modified version of their Dark Ale, but with extra hops added for some more bite and bitterness. Very nice overall, and a good winter warmer considering how bloody freezing it was out.

Next up, we headed west to Yarra Glen, to try out Hargreaves Hill Brewery

Hard to snap a good photo surrounded by 800 tourists

When we arrived, the place was packed out with people out the door queueing up. Turns out we'd arrived about 5 minutes after a couple of tour buses. Oops. Ended up grabbing a pint of their Admiral Nelson IPA, a British style IPA that's pretty melt driven, but still packs a fair wallop of hop bitterness. Thoroughly enjoyable.

As the sun started to go down, we made the last leg of our trip for the day, passing through Yea and Mansfield on our way to Jamieson, or more specifically to the bank of Lake Eildon, to "The Outlook", a property owned by my Aunt and Uncle. Met up with my Uncle Chris and his mate Harry there. All packed into the car and headed out to the Kevington Hotel for a couple pots and a Parma, classic pub dinner, before heading home to watch the Wallabies get slaughtered and drown our sorrows in Bourbon.

Next time: The final day! Jamieson Brewery and a return to a previous favourite!