While I first wait nervously to find out if I'm required to report for jury selection tomorrow, and then probably wait nervously tomorrow to find out if I'm required to sit as a juror during Good Beer Week – yay – I ponder nervousl-- no, wait, the other thing. I ponder quietly to myself, and now to a text-box, about the role Good Beer Week could play in the quest for a fairer beer excise system in Australia.
I think we've already noticed how well this group of events – collective noun required – has come together, and I sure hope there will be a throng of giddy Melbourne/Victorian/maybe even inter-state beer lovers in attendance. Surely such an event can be used as a prime example of the potential of Australian microbreweries as a growth industry in need of a little assistance, possibly in the form maybe of a fairer excise system perhaps, and of consumer interest in alternatives to Big Beer. [Note to self: "Strong Ale" or "Imperial Beer" might be funnier alternatives to "Big Beer".]
Of course, I could be getting way ahead of myself. Realistically, it would be a hope of mine that Good Beer Week is a great success and that it grows and expands to other states in subsequent years, which would be a great example of interest in the industry that could be used to assist in the cause.
So then, what about now? Well, to start with, and if it's not too tacky, why not have petitions at Good Beer Week events? This could be particularly helpful at free-entry events at normally busy venues such as Cookie. Plenty of regular punters could sign. Just a thought. The Australian Association of Microbreweries' 6,500-signature petition, great achievement though it be, should merely be the beginning.
Pondering over. Now to come up with a witty collective noun for a group of beer events.
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