While popular opinion was mixed over Billie Eilish’s No.1 position in the Triple J Hottest 100 with her hit Bad Guy, the voters in the GABS Hottest 100 Craft Beer countdown had a lot more success.
Stone & Wood’s Pacific Ale took the top spot, with Balter’s XPA in second.
And then the Canberra onslaught started. BentSpoke came in third, for the third year in a row, with their Crankshaft.
Their Barley Griffin polled at number 12, the Cluster 8 at 17.
Capital Brewing Co’s Hang Loose Juice was one of the biggest movers from the 2018 list, jumping 79 places to poll at number 18.
BentSpoke head brewer and co-owner Richard Watkins said it was great to see Canberra brewers being nationally recognised.
“It’s always good to be able to celebrate a good GABS result with our mates at Capital,” he said.
“In Canberra we’ve been able to grow the craft beer industry together and it’s a testament to the local culture here – customers really believe in drinking local and supporting small business.”
Both BentSpoke and Capital had six beers in the top 100. The only brewery to top that was the Gold Coast’s Balter Brewery, where the head brewer Scott Hargrave is a former Canberran who trained under Watkins at the Wig and Pen.
Dan Watters from Capital Brewing Co said the team there was “super stoked” with the results.
“We had six beers in the top 100 for the second year in a row, and we tied with Bentspoke. Only Balter beer had seven in the top 100.
“Our Hang Loose Juice flew up the charts, we were so happy with that. Canberra is punching way above our weight.”
BentSpoke co-owner Tracy Margrain said the results were an incredibly exciting way to start 2020.
“Not that we’re resting up, we’ll have more exciting new beers coming up this year, beginning with our barrel-aged Flemish red ale,” she said.
Watkins said the best thing about the GABS competition was that it was voted on by the people that drink your beer.
“As a brewer, it’s always immensely validating to know that not only are we making technically good beer that wins awards, but that people love to drink the beer we’re brewing,” he said.
Story Credit: canberratimes.com
