Jane Turner looks forward to the world-renowned Biloela Beer Festival.
Biloela Beer Festival 2007
Submitted by Jane Turner
Nothing, beyond your wildest
imagination,
surpasses the fun of experiencing what a true regional Queensland
Beerfest can
be like. Okay, forget about the massive
crowds, the real Germans or even the real German beer. If you're
looking for good-natured fun and an
entertaining beer drinking experience, go regional Aussie.
My daughter and I drove for 5.5 hours through rugged Dr Seuss type terrain to get to Biloela in time for their second annual Beerfest and it didn't disappoint. It was worth ever kilometre travelled.
Biloela Beer Festival
Jane Turner has actually BEEN to Biloela. Sitting on horses is just one of the many amazing nightlife attractions there.
Biloela (pronounced billow-e-la) is a small town north west of Brisbane.
For those geographically challenged, it means Biloela is not located on the coast, but due to on-going drought conditions, can be a humid dust bowl.
As luck would have it, Biloela had its first rain storm in years the night before I arrived.
The beerfest was located by the one major "pull" for the town, which was the Silo. Under cover of the open sided machinery shed, the imported and Queensland beers were chilled and a team of friendly (and you sensed somewhat experienced) barmen.
Ever been in a situation where you walk into an unknown place and realise that not many people are there and you get that uncomfortable "I'm too early" feeling? Not so at the Biloela Beerfest. True, few people were there at the start, but the gang who were there were friendly, chatty, helpful and warmly welcoming.
Stan the barman was top dollar! And Di Morris, the organiser of the event, was incredibly fantastic (if for no other fact than to invite the UNOB to the Biloela Beerfest!).
Di had asked me to come to the Biloela Beerfest to award the Home Brew prizes. One of the conditions of entry was that the home brewers turn up at the Beerfest. As none showed up, sadly, my job of awarding prizes was thwarted!
But it didn't matter, I was having an absolute ball anyway. The DJ for Rebel FM was a trooper. Not only was he genuinely a nice guy to an out-of-towner like me, offering me a place to sleep even, he even gave me his Biloela Beerfest Stubby Holder.
As for entertainment, the fake Germans dressed in lederhosen for the men and black fishnets and black boots with "traditional" dresses for the females were a big hit. They wondered around the room, laughing and joking with the beer drinkers. (Although my daughter was slightly worried at the one tall "German" that was trying to chase her.)
That's not all in terms of fun entertainment. There was a very good solo guitar singer who played, who runs the local Biloela music store. And there was a great comedian larking around with the crowd and on stage.
The DJ kept things moving along at a good pace, including music and chat and a "Comedy Idol" show for a prize of $100 Australian dollars. All you had to do to enter was to tell a joke and be judged by the audience and delegated judges. There was a bit of potential foul play with one group trying to rig the outcome so they could all split the $100 and drink it at the bar, however the astute DJ put a stop to that, which surprised me considering he discovered a new love of Peroni beer.
The local newspaper was there too, reporter Russell Gusse from The Telegraph in Biloela. (Funny his flash on the camera only worked when taking photos of beautiful women... hmm... only joking Russell!)
I was honoured that Di Morris who invited me to the beerfest had put my name in the program of events (and was truly honoured), which meant hanging around to be interviewed. That's not a bad thing. Just, I couldn't drink too much because I didn't want to slur, although I doubt the crowd would have noticed.
By the time I was introduced by the DJ on stage, it was about 10pm and an already drunken and disinterested crowd started heckling. Still, I did UNOB proud of answering questions from the DJ, who was getting a bit touchy-feely by this stage (well, we were old mates by now, as I arrived at 6:30) and he did give me his stubby holder, after all. So the DJ asked some great questions and the amazing interview can be viewed on the great video taken.
All in all it was probably the best
beerfest I had been to and I would strongly recommend anyone coming to
Queensland to look
it up for next year.
The money raised gets pumped straight back into the community and it's all the hard efforts of Di Morris that makes this an incredible success!
As for the beers…well…there was a diverse range of local (Queensland and Australian beers) as well as Miller (US), Peroni (Italian), Brahma (Brazil) and Holsten (German).
It was a true Aussie success and all made possible by the diverse mix of personalities there, not specifically for the beer brought in especially for the event. The beer was just a backup for the whole stage show which we all participated in.
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