The True Story of Oysters and Champagne

Food and wine writers Richard Cornish and Max Allen are bringing The True Story of Oysters and Champagne to Itinerant Spirits in Ballarat on Sunday October 4.

In this lively Hungry Gentlemen show, guests will taste three different local sparkling wines and a bespoke gin cocktail while enjoying freshly shucked oysters harvested from around the Australian coast.

Between the bubbles and bivalves, Cornish and Allen will reveal the remarkable story of the immense native oyster reefs that once fringed Australia’s coastline - and how oysters became part of the extravagant dining culture of gold-rush Ballarat.

Equal parts tasting, history lesson and rollicking good yarn, The True Story of Oysters and Champagne promises an afternoon of delicious drinks, freshly shucked oysters, fascinating stories, plenty of laughs and some genuine surprises. The sellout show comes to Ballarat for one performance only.

• “We didn’t know until we started researching this show that oysters were sent all the way from Port Phillip by horse and dray, and later by steam train, to Ballarat to feed wealthy miners,” says Richard Cornish.

• “And they were washing down those oysters with French champagne, chilled on ice shipped all the way from America.” adds Max Allen

• "We will pouring some carefully chosen local bubbles to support this event,” says Allen.

• “There could even be a tower of glasses brimming with bubbles,” adds Cornish. “Anything could happen.”