Hopheads Yarraville

Craft beer is in Adrian Chong’s blood. In 2011, he and four cousins opened Malaysia’s first craft beer spot, Taps Beer Bar in Kuala Lumpur. Chong had already been living in Melbourne, where brewers like Two Birds and Moon Dog were emerging. But when he moved to the western suburbs in the early 2010s, he was disappointed to find a beer desert, not yet flush with contemporary gems like Hop Nation and Mr West. So, he and his partner Wai Lee Yong opened the craft beer bar and bottle shop Hopheads in Point Cook in 2015, before expanding to Altona and Yarraville.

Like the Point Cook original and its Altona sibling, the Yarraville outpost is an ode to good craft beer. The cosy, wood-panelled space is simply furnished, leaving maximum room for the more than 350 unique beers in the fridge and 12 taps behind the bar. Styles are never too restrictive, but Chong admits to favouring bold and fun breweries like Hawkers Beer, Mountain Culture Beer Co, Range Brewing and Fox Friday Craft Brewery. It means that, among the easy drinkers (and there are still plenty of those), you’ll find hopped-up hazy IPAs, pastry stouts and fruited sours. Non-beer drinkers are catered for too, with a tidy selection of craft seltzer, cider and hard lemonade in the fridge, plus a small list of local wine, spirits and soft drinks.