Life changes when you have kids, but at these destination venues the experience is only enhanced when you BYO brood. With drawcards that span sophisticated teen tastings to guinea pig cuddles and climbing walls, kids are as catered for as parents seeking a locally crafted drink at these 10 brew-pubs and vineyards.
Set the kids up with some colouring while you sip at family-run Cupitt’s Estate in Ulladulla. Stay in family-friendly accommodation (pet also welcome) and time your visit for Friday afternoon when the lawn games come out, or Sundays when the large grassy area becomes a dance floor in front of live tunes. Don’t miss the chocolate sundae on the kids’ menu.
After you dominate Victoria’s largest water park across the road (at Adventure Park Geelong, reopening in November) settle on the lawn at Flying Brick for some slow-paced sips on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Just north of Ocean Grove on the Bellarine Peninsula, there’s plenty of room to kick a footy if the kids still have energy to burn, and the “Cockpit” food truck slings tasty snacks like loaded fries, shiitake dumplings, panko-crumbed calamari, and hot dogs. Choose your cider or slip into the Yes said the Seal cellar door if vino is more your thing.
With its brews crafted by a former mountain guide, it’s little wonder Du Cane Brewing comes with its own rock-climbing wall to keep the kids busy while you settle in. Launnie local Will Horan has fused his love of the outdoors into his mountain-themed brews, with names like the Hut to Hut Walk Pale and Turning of the Fagus Hazy Pale. A wood-fired pizza oven keeps bellies full (with Valhalla choc tops for dessert), while you can also buy your Tasmanian Parks Pass or fishing licence at the bar, along with a four-pack to take on the trail.
No one needs to know there’s an underlying craving for a craft brew behind your suggestion to visit the petting zoo at Terella, just outside Yandina. The farmyard opens its gates every Saturday and Sunday morning, giving kids a cute and cuddly introduction to its goats, guinea pigs, ponies and pigs. Once the bar opens and the live music and food trucks kick off, the chilled-out lawn party atmosphere makes this fail-safe for families. Bring a blanket and some shade and try the beers, hard lemonade and ginger beer, all produced on site. Expansion plans are also afoot to include a restaurant and micro-distillery.
In the Margaret River region, playground pairings with breweries or cellar doors are almost as plentiful as the excellent wines the region is renowned for. (A contender for this list, Beerfarm, even has a waterslide into a dam!) On Caves Road in Yallingup, Swings and Roundabouts is the pinnacle when it comes to child-friendly and dog-friendly cellar doors with an adventure playground, swing chairs, and space to chill on the lawn while listening to live music on Sunday afternoons. Bonus points for the ice-cream bar, which is a winner for all ages.
After a morning of bouldering with your under-12s at nearby BlocHaus, this carbon-neutral, B-Corp Certified brewery in Fyshwick is a welcome chill-out zone – especially if there’s a game on the big screen. Along with Capital’s range of core and experimental small-batch brews, there’s a courtyard with a cubby to keep the littlies occupied, a family-friendly beer garden, and burgers and hot dogs on the menu from Brodburger. Bring the pups – there’s plenty of shade, too.
When Down the Rabbit Hole opened in 2019, it quickly became a Fleurieu Peninsula drawcard and there are almost too many spots where you can enjoy a tasting at this picturesque cellar door. The double-decker bus is a favourite, but the place is so relaxed, with low-table seating and picnics set up across the lawn, you can even have your tipple in the playground with your little ones. Order a couple of pizzas or a cheeseboard, or visit for Golden Hour on Friday afternoons (restarting in November) with live tunes from 5.30pm.
There’s a cheeky childlike personality that permeates Blackman’s Brewery, a Surf Coast stalwart, which has, at times, infused beer with red frogs and Frosty Fruits. It’s part brewery and part Mexican cantina, set across the road from the beach, and all the beers served here are brewed and canned on site. The vibe in the courtyard here is as appealing as the ice-cream shop next door on summer afternoons, with mini golf for the kids and beers named after the founders’ family members.
The setting of this off-grid, family-owned winery sets the tone for the experience, which is tailor-made for families. Roll off the ferry at Penneshaw and drive for 15 minutes direct to False Cape’s cellar door – a handcrafted space of recycled wood, jetty timbers and limestone from the property. There’s a nature playground and grassy area to spread out on, while older kids gravitate to the basketball court. Meanwhile, you can sample a selection of their minimal-intervention wines alongside a cheeseboard or homemade pies. For the young’uns, there are kid-friendly platters and toasties.
Large-scale lawn games are one of the attractions at family-owned Pokolbin mainstay Tulloch Wines, but the Junior Tasting and Teens Kombucha Tasting experiences really set it apart. Add them on to your adult wine tasting so the kids can indulge alongside you, enjoying matching snacks and colouring-in, or a local cheese box with the Mailer McGuire kombucha varieties. A First Nations-informed sparkling wine tasting called “Welcome to Wonnarua” has also recently been launched.
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