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Including a $15 snack-and-pot deal at the Builders Arms, $5 tacos and $10 burritos before quarter time, and a shiny new sports bar with game-day booths and unlimited drinks.
Can you feel it? Finals fever is heating up in Melbourne as we inch closer to the AFL grand final on Saturday, September 27. If you’re planning to watch any of the games in a pub or bar, use this edition of Specials Board to help you find one with a screamer of a deal, so you don’t break the bank while soaking up all the action.
$15 snack and pot, Builders Arms Hotel, Fitzroy
Every weekend leading up to the grand final, Andrew McConnell’s Gertrude Street pub, The Builders Arms, is pairing a different snack with a different pot of beer for $15. From September 12 to 14, it’s a beef cheek croquette with Stomping Ground brown ale. The following weekend, there’s a crumbed-fish bun with 4 Pines Japanese-style lager.
211 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, buildersarmshotel.com.au
$5 pots and $20 margheritas, Kaiju, Huntingdale
Have you been to home-grown brewery Kaiju’s beer hall and pizzeria? It’s hidden in an industrial pocket of Huntingdale, in the south-east, and it’s getting into the finals spirit by showing all games on the big screen and pouring $5 pots of its crisp Cerveza lager. There’ll also be $20 margherita pizzas on grand final day.
27 Hume Street, Huntingdale, kaijubeer.com.au
$50 game-day booth packages, Hickens Hotel, CBD
On level two of Hickens Hotel – Melbourne’s new four-storey mega-pub – is a dedicated sports bar called Abe’s Athletic Hall. On game days, you and your mates can book a booth for $50 a person that includes a private screen, an hour of bottomless beer or wine, and snacks like dimmies, sausage rolls and lamb and Vegemite party pies.
127 Russell Street, Melbourne, hickenshotel.com.au
$5 tacos and $10 burritos, Bar Lingo, Thornbury
You might’ve seen Bar Lingo on High Street, but did you know a sports bar is hidden upstairs? Not only is it screening all finals games, it’s running wallet-friendly deals throughout the first quarter to encourage you to get in early. That includes $5 tacos, $10 burritos and $10 pints.
875 High Street, Thornbury, barlingo.com.au
$7.50 footy-shaped jam croissants, Calle Bakery, Carlton North and Northcote
It’s not a pub, but Calle Bakery’s got a fun take on a footy staple that you’ll want to wrap your hands around. Instead of jam doughnuts, it’s turning laminated croissant pastry into the shape of a football, which is filled with raspberry jam and rolled in sugar. Winner.
649 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North; 229 High Street, Northcote; calle.com.au
Grand final weekend specials, Vic Hotel, Footscray
There are a handful of reasons to make one of the best pubs in the west, The Vic, your go-to for footy’s biggest weekend. Thursday has $28 steak sandwiches; on Friday, there’s a meat raffle; and Saturday has a $90 four-course set menu in the dining room.
43 Victoria Street, Footscray, vichotelfootscray.com.au
Grand final week specials, Stomping Ground, Collingwood and Moorabbin
Whether you’re in the inner north or the south-east, you can find a week full of specials at either of local brewery Stomping Ground’s beer halls to gear you up for the grand final. Collingwood has $2 oysters and $10 pints between 4pm and 6pm on Thursday. Moorabbin has $15 pizzas on Monday night, and a steak night on Wednesday.
100 Gipps Street, Collingwood; 9 Cochranes Road, Moorabbin; stompingground.beer
$12 siren-to-siren pints, Royston Hotel, Richmond
All finals games are playing live and loud at backstreet boozer The Royston. And to keep things affordable, it’s pouring $12 pints from siren to siren, thanks to the team at Castlemaine brewery Love Shack. Choose from the house draught, Love Shack pale or Love Shack brown ale. Bookings recommended.
12 River Street, Richmond, roystonhotel.com.au
$15 wing specials, Molly Rose, Collingwood
Molly Rose, the brew-pub known for its left-field beers and bites, is churning out a new chicken wing special every week of the finals series, before all flavours make a comeback on grand final weekend. It’s $15 for four whole wings with one sauce, or you can scale it up to eight with two sauces for $29.
279-285 Wellington Street, Collingwood, mollyrosebrewing.com
$25 steak and AFL trivia night, Beehive Hotel, Hawthorn
Buzzy Hawthorn pub The Beehive does trivia every Thursday night, but September 17 is dedicated to all topics AFL, with the winner taking home a $200 voucher. Gather a crew and test your knowledge from 7pm, after fuelling up on the $25 steak special from 5pm.
84 Barkers Road, Hawthorn, thebeehivehotel.com.au
Grand final week specials, Auburn Hotel, Hawthorn East
This rebooted east-side pub has plenty in the calendar for the last week of the AFL season, from streaming the Brownlow Medal count to a Thursday night happy hour on September 25 with $8.50 wines and $12 pints. There’s also a grand final eve party with live music, and a $70 bottomless brekkie on the big day that includes two hours of unlimited pizza, fries and spritzes.
85 Auburn Road, Hawthorn East, theauburnhotel.com.au
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