T- Bone Brewery & Willie Smith Cidery

Winter in Hobart is an amazing time.  Yes, we have miserable rainy days but mostly Winter is crisp and clear and a great time to rug up and celebrate.  This year's Winter arrived with cool but clear Friday evening and The Blonde and I took the opportunity to go along to North Hobart's T-Bone Brewery to see Ben Salter play. Having seen Ben play a few times already this year I was wondering whether seeing Ben again would be worth it but the minute he opened his mouth to sing I knew it was.  He is an extraordinary singer and his original songs are a fabulous.  He has a new song, Derwent River, which is in the running for my top ten of all time. The crowd was enthusiastic and the beer was good. It was a typical Hobart night where I seemed to know half the people in the bar and the beers went down a treat. I was sad when the night ended and it was time to go home.

On Sunday, to continue my the celebration of the arrival of winter, His Grumpiness and I headed to Grove to Willie Smith Appleshed for lunch and to enjoy some afternoon entertainment.

We met up with The Blonde, Drummer Kid and The Pink Thing we had great food and even better drinks. I stuck to my usual regular Willie Smith cider. His Grumpiness and The Blonde went for the hot mulled cider which they raved about. Well His Grumpiness said that he has had worse drinks which meant it was pretty good.

First up was The Stragglers joined periodically by other musicians on bass, trombone, mandolin and squeezebox.. Their set featured numbers by Paul Kelly and Bruce Springsteen and one of my favourites, Wagonwheel. I really love their original "I Miss Your Dog More than I Miss You".

Next up was The Dominic Francis Grief Ensemble whose music could best be described as Bluegrass Lithuanian Folk. They sand songs about the local folk and environment and a song about genocide in 1940s Baltic and somehow made it both poignant and jaunty at the same time. The highlight was the banjo ukulele.

A fine weekend with family, friends and music. What more could a girl ask for to kick off Winter in this beautiful southern city?