Mojo’s Kitchen: Bunbury beer and wine institution goes back-to-back for Australia’s best beer list

A Bunbury beer and wine institution has won consecutive gongs for Australia’s best beer list.

Mojo’s Kitchen was awarded the honour at the Australian Wine List of the Year Awards 2024, and retained its three-glass rating for its wine list.

Owners Noel Brunning and Juliana Frisina said their beer and wine lists were a testament to the region, focusing on small-batch breweries and local wineries.

“It’s a sense of pride — we’ve been at it a long time and just to be recognised nationally amongst a lot of very good venues in a lot of the capital cities (is amazing),” Mr Brunning said.

“We’ve won the award, not just amongst people in WA, but venues right across Australia who invest a lot of time and energy, like we do, to make sure there’s an exciting collection of booze, and in our case, beer for people to enjoy.

“It’s something we enjoy. There’s a lot of really tasty beers out there . . . and we’re excited by what the producers come up with.

“It’s a sense of pride being able to put their stuff on our lists, to have them enjoy it and to have people recognise that it’s a noteworthy list and the best in Australia.”

Both the beer and wine lists are a credit to the couple’s son and sommelier, Jake Atkinson who curates the selection from around the region.

“He sources mainly small batch breweries and wineries, and tries to support them first,”’ Ms Frisina said.

“That’s why he’s found all these little gems everywhere and people say, ‘where did you get that from?’.

“That’s really important.

“It’s important putting Bunbury on the map, and that’s what we’re about. It’s not just for us, it’s for everyone that supports us and all the breweries and locals around the place, we really need that, because it all brings business to us and to the families of producers and brewers.”

Mr Brunning said the list was diverse and balanced.

“Anyone can chuck together a selection of beers and wines, and call it a wine list. But, it’s got to be balanced, there’s got to be nuance, there’s got to be flavour profiles,” he said.

“It’s the same with beer. You don’t just have four lagers and call it a beer list, you’ve got to have a variety of different styles of lagers.”

This year’s best beer list award made it back-to-back wins for Mojo’s after its 2023 success.