BEACH, live music and quality beer.
It's been a simple, but winning, formula for Gold Coast's Anna Cook since she and her brother, Sam, launched the Crafted Beer Festival in 2017 at Broadbeach.
For the first time the over-18 Crafted Beer Festival is migrating south to Newcastle's Foreshore Park on November 16.
Cook was in Newcastle on Wednesday to meet with local breweries Modus, Good Folk and Shout and to announce the line-up for the inaugural festival.
Melbourne indie-rock band Children Collide, best known for their triple j hits Farewell Rocketship and Jellylegs, will be joined by Sydney party-starters Hot Potato Band and Newcastle indie-folk troubadour Austin Mackay. More artists are yet to be announced.
There will be more than 300 beers from 30-plus breweries, including Mountain Culture, Sanctus, Six String, Sidewinder, Yullis and Fellr, plus a local's corner featuring Newcastle's Good Folk, Modus Brewing, Shout and Toronto-based Lake Mac Brewing Co.
"We were looking for a similar culture to the Gold Coast, a beach-side culture, and thought Newcastle would be perfect and Foreshore Park is such a right location for it," Cook said.
"Newcastle has a such a vibrant foodie and beverage culture down here, too."
Crafted Beer Festival is also expected to sate the thirst of Hunter craft beer drinkers, who were left disappointed by the cancellation of the annual Bitter and Twisted Boutique Beer Festival in July because of Maitland Gaol's closure due to safety issues.
Bitter & Twisted is usually scheduled for the first weekend in November.
Over the past decade Newcastle's reputation as a craft beer mecca has grown considerably. The city and its suburbs are home to eight independent breweries, the highest concentration in NSW outside of the inner-west hipster enclaves of Marrickville and Newtown.
Jaz Wearin, co-founder of Merewether's Modus Brewing, said it was fantastic that Newcastle's beer scene was being recognised outside the city.
"It's really exciting for Newcastle to have people like Crafted reach out and say they want to do something in Newy," Wearin said.
"It's a really affirming thing for us as brewers. We have built a really good community of brewers up here and I think it shows the state of play for this amazing town."
It's been a difficult 12 months for the Australian independent beer industry. A rise in the cost of products like hops and malts and overheads have been compounded further by an increase in beer excise and cuts in consumer spending due to cost-of-living pressures.
It's seen breweries like Wayward Brewing Co, Hawkers and Deeds Brewing enter into administration.
Cook said festivals like Crafted were positive ways to boost the industry.
"If you can get face-to-face with 3000 or 4000 customers then that's the best bit of marketing a brewery can do," she said.
"At the moment when you have breweries doing it tough, these are the type of events to get face-to-face with a new audience and get them to sample your brews."
