When a power outage struck on one of Mitta Mitta Brewing Company's busiest days of the year, three things kept the family-run business ticking over.

Wood for the pizza oven, gas in the barbecue and beer lines, and cash in customers' pockets.

"The electricity flipped off at 11am on the dot, just as we opened and the first group of, like, 30 guests came into the driveway," venue manager Jen Cabelka tells AAP.

Power blackouts and network outages are somewhat common in the town of Mitta Mitta in the foothills of Victoria's alpine region, where the resident population of a few hundred swells into the thousands over summer.

The blackout, which occurred between Christmas and New Year, lasted about six hours and cost the brewery roughly 30 per cent of the day's take.

Without cash, though, the

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