Not everyone is lucky enough to live near Chicago to attend Uppers & Downers, the yearly festival coffee, beers, and coffee beers. But if you live in Melbourne, you are not long for a coffee beers festival of your own with On The Bend / On The Mend. The first installment of this coffee and beer extravaganza takes place this Sunday and will feature six breweries and six coffee roasters collaborating in a host of fun ways.
Held at 3 Ravens Brewery, OTB/OTM will feature local breweries Mash Brewing, Tallboy & Moose, Sailors Grave Brewing, Hop Nation Brewing Co, and Temple Brewing. The “mend” portion of the day will be provided by Aviary Coffee, Small Batch, Cartel Coffee Roasters, DC Specialty Coffee Roasters, Red Bean Coffee, and Wide Open Road.
A wide range of coffee beers will be served throughout the day, ranging from the more standard coffee and beer combos to some pretty funky creations. There will be offerings like the Bronze Lion, a cask-conditioned ESB from 3 Ravens Brewery using a naturally processed Yirgacheffe cold brew from Aviary Coffee; the Carlos Sultana, a cascara Berliner Weisse from Mash Brewing made concentrated cascara tea from Small Batch Coffee; and a nameless concoction from Sailors Grave Brewing, a white stout “brewed with local sea urchin, cacao nibs and Wide Open Road ultra-light roasted beans.”
Along with imbibements, OTB/OTM will also feature coffee and beer workshops as well as a Raclette Cheese Bar by Maker & Monger.
Tickets for On The Bend / On The Mend are $63 AUD and include “as much beer, coffee, coffee beer, cheese and music that you can consume within 5hrs. Responsibly, of course.” They can be purchased through OTB/OTM’s Eventrbrite page.
Just remember to balance out your bendy with your mendy.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
*top image via On The Bend / On The Mend
