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 With Oktoberfest on the doorstep it's time for food that's heavier than a Panzer division and beer that could level a battalion.
Debacle ACT
30 Lonsdale St, Braddon; (02) 6247 1314; www.debacle.com.au
USUALLY full and always fun, this pub/café/bistro serves three square meals a day, seven days a week. Between 2.30-5.30pm it's tapas only - pan-fried haloumi, salt 'n' pepper squid, zucchini fritters, scallops with wakame salad, soft shell crab, spiced fetta (a mezze platter of 10 tasters is just $22) - and for the rest it's a thin-crust pizza and pub-grub delight, with burgers, bangers 'n' mash and more. Better yet, there are a staggering 120 beers available. With 13 on draught, there are 29 Australasian brews, and a wide enough international range, from Chimay Bleu to Gulden Draak, to keep you coming back again and again. And again.
 Last Drop Brewery Restaurant WA
Lot 51 Nicholson Rd, Canning Vale, Perth; (08) 9456 4228;
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BREWING "pure beer for a wicked world", this brewhouse restaurant packs a range of neck oils made under the watchful eye of Czech-born master kegmeister Jan Bruckner. He's a stickler for the purity resolutions of 1516, when Bavaria's King William decreed that malt, hops and water should be the sole ingredients for beer. A few centuries on, King Will would be proud of the Brewhouse Pilsener (4.8%) and Wheat (4.8%). He'd probably be likewise satisfied with the beef and ale pie on the unpretentious - albeit pricey - menu heaving with fine pub fare.
Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels QLD
Cnr Mary & Edward Street, Brisbane; (07) 3221 0199; www.belgianbeercafebrussels.com.au
IN BELGIUM they say: "We eat three times a day, so we'd better try and make a feast of it every time." Outside of official Oktoberfest celebrations at Musgrave Park (5-14 Oct), this promises the best chance for a lazy Brisbane afternoon in the company of beer and traditional tucker. Six Belgian brews are available on draught, with another dozen under glass. There's also a fine beer and food matched degustation menu across three courses, featuring Stella Artois, Hoegaarden Wit, Leffe Blonde, and Bellevrie Kriek for $75 per person.
 Grumpy's SA
115 Mt. Barker Rd, Verdun; (08) 8188 1133; www.grumpys.com.au
PROUD to stake a claim to running the first all-grain boutique microbrewery in the Adelaide Hills, boss and brew-king Andrew Schultz is anything but grumpy. His warm little brewhaus, just 15 minutes out of Adelaide in historic Hahndorf, heaves with great wood-fired pizzas bearing weird names like Grumpy Goat, Moby Dick, Funky Chicken, Zorba the Sheep and Kamahl, while the bar bristles with full-flavoured Euro-brews in seasonal styles. There are six beers on tap, and from the Auld Fojkker Altbier to the Red Baron Scottish 80 Shilling Dark Ale, each is finer than the last. It's a liquid feast.
Wisdom Bar & CafÉ NT
Ashton Lodge, 48 Mitchell Street, Darwin; (08) 8941 4866
STUMBLING in before 2am, we found a live band in a chilled beer garden, tables under majestic tropical foliage alive with possums, and a cosy booth by the bar within which to sup cold beer and dine on half-kilo buckets of prawns, baby barra and emu, served with tomato bush chutney, and mango, mint and chilli salsa. Now that's wisdom! Cracking joint, this - all the better for the Wall of Wisdom, a testament to the 100 or more folk who've downed 50 delicious beers on the premises. Oh and don't worry, you don't have to do a Boony - there's no time-limit on getting your 50; repeat visits count.
 Moorilla Wine Estate TAS
655 Main Rd Berriedale, Hobart; (03) 6277 9900; www.moorilla.com.au
FAST becoming one of Tassie's most beloved cultural havens, Moorilla (an Aboriginal word meaning "rock by the water") is not home to a fascinating museum of antiquities, some top-notch vino and a range of sweet chalets on the banks of the Derwent. But better than any of that, it also boasts a range of outstanding beers that truly do justice to the glory of the surroundings here, some 12km outside of Hobart. Whether you choose a glass of Wheat, Pale or Dark, Moo Brew is never better than draught on premises, alongside a dripping hunk o' pork belly. It's toasting 50 years next summer - we'll drink to that!
Bavarian Bier Cafe NSW
16 O'Connell St, Sydney; (02) 9221 0100; www.bavarianbiercafe.com.au
SET within the three-levels of an art-deco former bank in the heart of the CBD, this bier mecca has class up the wazoo - chandeliers, black finished tables and leather booths. Then there are the Bavarian beers: six on tap (Hofbrau, Paulaner, Stiegl Goldbrau, Spaten Munchen among them) and 12 in the bottle. The tucker is superlative stuff, drawing on Italian, Austrian and Hungarian cuisines, and comes as an all-day menu. Luscious pork belly, milk-fed Bavarian schnitzels, sausages, spicy goulash soups, seafood, spuds, plus a wide range of strudels and puddings to close - you know the drill. It's all too good to go back to work ain't it?
 Belgian Beer Cafe Bluestone VIC
557 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne; (03) 9529 2899;
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FINE beer and Melbourne's biggest beer garden? We're sold. In fact, throw in live music every Sunday from the likes of Sally Ford & The Pachucho Playboys and cabaret smash Eugene Hamilton, plus a BBQ menu boasting such sumptuous delights as rotisserie chicken, Bratswurst snags, Saganaki rolls, and Belgian fries with mayo in authentic white paper cones, and we may never leave. There's a sister café, Eureka, in Southbank but this is our pick. There's Leffe Blonde, Hoegaarden White and Bellue-Vue Kirek on tap, and there are another 24 Belgian brews in the bottle, including the Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit - aye carumba!
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