Congratulations to the Cavalier Brewery which has just taken out People’s Awards for both Best Brewery and Best Wheat Beer at the 2011 Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase in Melbourne.

The two-man brewery, based in Fitzroy, was up against 28 other Victorian microbreweries and cider producers to take out the coveted awards – not bad for a brewery only launched this year.

The Best Specialty Beer Award went to Prickly Moses Otway Estate for its Organic Blueberry Hefeweizen, while Arctic Fox’s American Pale Ale was named Best Pale Ale. Hawthorne Brewing took out both the Dark Ale and Lager categories.

All of which underscores the impression that Victoria continues to set the pace when it comes to craft brewing in Australia. The bicentennial Fed Square event, held March 16-17, this year attracted 1800 people and a healthy range of craft beers and boutique ciders from across Victoria.

Sadly, most of us are unlikely to taste any of the beers named above in the near future. Microbrewers often struggle to find support within their own region, let alone nationally. The larger retail chains prefer to stock mostly established local brands and big name imports (many of which are brewed here under licence).

This is yet another reason to salute those dedicated individuals, like the men at Cavalier Brewery, who are willing to enter the choppy economic waters of craft brewing, brave a harsh excise regime and an equally hostile retail environment in order to pursue their dreams.

All the more reason, therefore, to pressure those other great purveyors of beer (cafes, bars, restaurants and airlines) to take a more enlightened attitude to beer and stock interesting brews from some our smaller, regional microbrewers. We can’t wait for Coles and Woolworths to do the job for us. They have bigger fish to fry.