Craft Beer Guide: East Of Everything

If you didn't know about East Of Everything, you might just walk right past it.

Doesn't look like much from the outside, but open the doors to the third floor space (the building also houses its sister venue, Bar None) and inside you'll find a big, bright venue with massive windows and a mint view of the city. It's got beautiful craft beers and food to match, plus a chill vibe that makes you feel like you're hanging at a mate's house. We chat to co-owner Genevieve Cotter.

What've you got on tap? Right now on tap we have Hitachino White Ale, Tuatara Black Toasted Malt Stout, Nogne O #100 Imperial IPA, Dainton Red Eye Rye, Moo Brew Pilsner and Golden Axe Apple Cider. It's really hard to pick what beer is going to sell quickly. We had the Pirate Life Double IPA on a few weeks ago and that was gone in just two days. Considering it's an 8.8% beer, that's pretty amazing. I generally choose beer that I think will be interesting. We try to make sure we don't have the same beer on twice within six months — the exception to that rule is Moo Brew Pilsner.

What other drink options are there? We like to make sure everyone's drink choice is covered so we have about 20 cocktails on our menu (and we can make most classics as well), nine wines by the glass, plenty of bottled beer and cider, and an extensive spirit selection.

What changes have you seen within the Aussie craft beer scene? In the 11 years that I've worked in the industry it feels like everything has changed, for the better. For a long time craft beer consisted of a handful of local breweries like Red Hill, Mountain Goat and Hargreaves Hill. We also sold a lot of Belgian beer as that was the most interesting beer you could get. Now it feels like there's a new brewery opening every week in Australia, and the imported beers are coming from all over the world. 

How does your menu go with your brews? Because my brother owns Gumbo Kitchen and Po'Boy Quarter, the food focus has always been on American food, which goes brilliantly with craft beer. The Southern Fried Chicken Po'Boy pretty much matches with any of the beers we sell and a good hoppy IPA works really well with our Spicy Texas Chili and Chili Fries.

What will we hear through the speakers? Music has such a huge impact on the ambience of a venue, depending on the time of day or day of the week you want a different style of music. Lately we've been playing a lot of Leon Bridges, Alabama Shakes, Kurt Vile and Foals. I also have a real soft spot for funk and soul. 

Do you do any specials? Every Tuesday we have "Half Cut Tuesday" where at least two of our taps will be half price until they run out. 

Do you have anything exciting coming up? We have a couple of events coming up for Good Beer Week. Really looking forward to having some great local brewers come in and talk about their beers and passion for brewing.