The Bright Brewery is busy preparing for this year's Darker Days festival; an engaging, live music, specialty beer-drinking experience, set to return from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 June.

Participants can keep warm by the bonfire as they sample a selection of this year's featured beverages, including guest breweries - Kaiju, New Zealand-based Garage Project, Blackman's Brewery and Bracket Brewing.

"It's always really exciting for us to be able to feature other breweries, as well as our own beers and own talent from within our team," Bright Brewery's marketing manager, Selina Blair-Holt said.

"We love running the Darker Days festival...our heritage is as a brewery, so we love to bring out new beers every year.

"Garage Project are a really great brewery...we've collaborated on the beer already, so we'll be releasing that at the festival.

"If you want to try it first, you've got to come to the festival.

"We really love to hero our local vendors; Reed & Co. are coming again, Backwoods Distilling Co. from Yakandandah and Alpine Cider from Nightingales down in Wandiligong, so guests can see a lot of their favourites represented."

Selina said the alpine environment really comes alive in the winter.

"It's obviously damn cold, so it's nice for everyone to get together and warm up by the fires and bonfires," she said.

"Last year the fires didn't get lit quick enough and everyone was freezing: that will not happen again.

"I think it's amazing to see the transformation of this venue and the paddock into a festival site.

"There's such a lovely community feel at Darker Days, lots of people show up for the fun vibes and have a nice time."

Darker Days 2026 will be headlined by The Grogans.

"The supporting bands include Rage Flower who are based in Sydney; Five Buck Kid and I believe Sophie Kelly are both from Melbourne; Lennon Paul is actually local and he's phenomenal," Selina said.

"Matt Gorman the drummer from British India who headlined last year, is also a DJ, which he'll be doing throughout, which is really exciting."

Also located at The Paddock this year are 'Blank Space Tattoos', for those interested in getting a tattoo.

An inflatable igloo will be the Kids Zone this year, with a number of activities lined up for them.

While the crowd were invited to participate in a hot dog eating contest at last year's event, Selina said they have something different up their sleeves.

"Watch this space for what that will be this year," she said.

On Friday, 19 June, ticketed guided brewery tours and tastings will commence at 3pm, with the evening's 'Welcome Party' kicking off at 6pm.

Doors will open at 12 o'clock on Saturday, with live music all day until 10:30pm, including five different head line artists and DJ sets in between.

A more casual Recovery Day on Sunday will feature Matt O'Gorman DJing on the Hop Terrace.

"We do have some tickets left, they are available for purchase on the day," Selina said.

"It is family-friendly, insofar as we do have activations for the kids to keep them occupied for the day, but after nightfall, it's more of an adult's kind of vibe."

Tickets for adults general admission are $70, reduced prices are available for children aged 6 to 17 and kids under 5 are free.

For more information, visit: https://darkerdays.com.au/