Beer and beef festival!

I had the pleasure of attending the Beer and Beef festival over the weekend. 

My sister had a spare ticket and she extended it my way. The weather was amazing!
The festival consisted of lots of different stalls set up by different breweries. Upon entry you get a tasting glass (which is just a wine glass on a lanyard) and you visit each stall and try all the different beers/ciders they are offering and then you have the option to buy a pint if you want.
It also had market stalls, live music and a big projector to watch the football!

I really liked the garden ale from Stone & Wood, which is a brewery in Byron Bay. I don't like many ales, I am more of a draught girl myself. But I really enjoyed this ale, it was dry and refreshing and I ended up buying two pints of it! Another drink I am not a huge fan of is cider. It is a bit too sweet for me to enjoy. But tasting just small amounts of each I was able to enjoy it a bit more. I really liked a cloudy apple cider from Custard and Co, though. I would definitely buy that again.

 Another drink that was really good was the Ruby Cooler. It was Gin, Grapefruit and soda water. It was so refreshing because it was quite hot by then and I'd been drinking a lot of beer so to mix it up with a bit of gin was good. By this point I was a bit merry:

 Okay, so now let's talk about the food.

First of all, there was a stall there called chewy mooey and they make the most delicious beef jerky. I tried the original which had a really nice flavor to it. The chili one is really good, too, it's not too hot straight away but the heat does build. I got some for my partner and he has tried most of the jerky on the market, he is a serious jerky eater. And he gave me the thumbs up on this one, so you guys can check out their site here if you want to find out for yourself,

 All the food looked so amazing, I wish I tried everything. But I'm not sure if that would have been a smart idea. The first thing that we got were these Mogo Mogo balls with chipotle crema.

 They were amazing! Basically they are a deep fried ball of pulled brisket with a banana coating on the outside. They look as though they are burnt, but honestly, if they aren't meant to be like that, then I want them to be purposefully burnt if I ever have them in the future again. Because the crispiness on the outside really pulled it all together. Same with the chipotle crema. The combination is really good. I could have eaten 20. They are from a Mexican restaurant called El Publico, and I even found the recipe online.. I'm definitely going to have to visit this restaurant.

Along with the Mogo Mogo balls, we got a texmex potato salad from Lot Twenty. Now the chef really talked this up. She said something along the lines of the sauce being made out of the juice from cooked brisket and a whole bunch of other flattering stuff, and I mean, it was good.

 But it just tasted like a potato salad to me., In the defense of Lot Twenty, though, they did try to get us to buy the ribs. I am in a world of regret for not taking their suggestion.

There were some amazing looking dishes that I didn't try but took photos of anyway.
Like these Cheeseburger Spring rolls from Eat no Evil. I asked how they tasted and the reply was
"tastes like pickles and mince"
Mmm!

 I saw many of these amazing burgers in the hands of hungry and satisfied festival goers.

 These are Smoked Beef Brisket Mac & Cheese Croquettes made with Margeret River fresh beef, roasted capsicum and wild rocket salad from The Stables Bar.

 Having recently trying Chilli Con Carne for the first time and loving it, my sister got The Stables Bar, Chilli Con Carne with Blackwood Valley organic beef, tomato, coriander, salsa & sour cream. She said it was amazing.

Towards the end of the festival I got a dish that I'd been eyeing off since I arrived. And that was the Crispy potatoes with slow cooked braised beef and cheese sauce. It was as good as the name made it sound. I got this from Chloe & Kelly, who I believe were contestants on Master chef.

It was a really great day filled with good drinks and even better food and a perfect way to spend a sunny spring day celebrating the Queens birthday long weekend.
I would definitely go back next year.