Australia has spoken! The ‘other’, more delicious Hottest 100 list has been unveiled, looking at the ever-growing craft beer industry across the country and helping rank the best of the best brews of 2015. Since 2008 the poll, started by The Local Taphouse, has sifted through barrels and barrels of creative brews to give us a nice and ordered list of Australian craft beers. Titled The G.A.B.S Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of the Year, the public voted system pulls in the opinions of thousands of craft beer lovers all across the country.
G.A.B.S stands for The Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular, which is now an annual event held in both Sydney and Melbourne that showcases hundreds upon hundreds of craft beers from the country’s best breweries, with some created exclusively for the event; some of those exclusives have been included in the below list.
Stone & Wood have come out on top with their brilliant Pacific Ale, also seeing their Cloud Catcher come in at number 29, and their Garden Ale place at 65. Other big winners from the list include WA brewery Feral who have six brews on the list, two of those being in the top 10 (their Hop Hog placing at number 2, and their Karma Citra at number 10); Pirate Life who have three entries in the top 15; Little Creatures who have six brews placed; 4 Pines with seven entries, two in the top 10.
Pirate Life Brewing has made the biggest impact as far as ‘new’ entries go, nabbing numbers 3, 4, and 11, and they only just released their very first beer in March of last year. Their IIPA (which came in at number 3) was hotly tipped for the number one spot before the list was released.
Take a look at the list below and then put together your to-do list, there’s a lot of drinking to be done!
GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of the Year
1 ‘Pacific Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW)
2 ‘Hop Hog’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA)
3 ‘IIPA’ Double American-style IPA (Pirate Life, SA) NEW
4 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Pirate Life, SA) NEW
5 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Little Creatures, WA)
6 ‘150 Lashes’ Australian-style Pale Ale (James Squire, NSW)
7 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (4 Pines, NSW)
8 ‘Kolsch’ (4 Pines, NSW)
9 ‘Former Tenant’ American-style IPA (Modus Operandi, NSW)
10 ‘Karma Citra’ Black IPA (Feral, WA) GABS (2011)
11 ‘Throwback’ Specialty IPA (Pirate Life, SA) NEW
12 ‘Hop Thief 7’ American-style Pale Ale (James Squire, NSW) NEW
13 ‘Taco Beer’ Specialty Beer (Two Birds, VIC) GABS (2013)
14 ‘Milk and Two Sugars’ Sweet Stout (BrewCult, VIC) NEW / GABS (2015)
15 ‘Beechworth Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Bridge Road, VIC)
16 ‘Golden Stout Time’ Sweet Stout (Big Shed, SA) NEW / GABS (2015)
17 ‘War Hog’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA) NEW
18 ‘Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Coopers, SA)
19 ‘Summer Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC)
20 ‘Steam Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC)
21 ‘Dark Ale’ Dark Mild (White Rabbit, VIC)
22 ‘Ramjet 2014/15 (Whisky Aged)’ Russian Imperial Stout (Boatrocker, VIC) NEW
23 ‘Three Sheets’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Lord Nelson Hotel, NSW)
24 ‘Red’ American-style Amber Ale (Nail, WA)
25 ‘India Red Ale’ American-style IPA (Prancing Pony, SA)
26 ‘777’ Double American-style IPA (Riverside, NSW)
27 Noisy Minor ‘Admiral Ackbar’ American-style Amber Ale (Fortitude, QLD)
28 ‘The Chancer’ Blonde/Golden Ale (James Squire, NSW)
29 ‘Cloud Catcher’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW)
30 ‘Newtowner’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Young Henry’s, NSW)
31 Noisy Minor ‘ANZUS’ American-style IPA (Fortitude, QLD)
32 ‘Fat Yak’ American-style Pale Ale (Matilda Bay, VIC)
33 ‘Bright Ale’ Blonde/Golden Ale (Little Creatures, WA)
34 ‘Small Ale’ Specialty IPA (Colonial, WA)
35 ‘Indian Summer Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (4 Pines, NSW) NEW
36 ‘Hangman’ American-style Pale Ale (Rocks, NSW)
37 ‘Copy Cat’ American-style IPA (Mash, WA)
38 ‘XPA (Extra Pale Ale)’ American-style Pale Ale (Wolf of the Willows, VIC)
39 ‘Vale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Vale, SA)
40 ‘Dog Days’ American Wheat (Little Creatures, WA) NEW
41 ‘Imperial West Coast Red Rye IPA’ Specialty IPA (4 Pines, NSW) NEW
42 ‘Praline’ Belgian Specialty Ale (La Sirène, VIC) GABS (2014)
43 ‘Return of the Dread’ Foreign Extra Stout (Little Creatures, WA) NEW
44 ‘Roger Ramjet 2015 (Bourbon Aged)’ Russian Imperial Stout (Boatrocker, VIC) NEW
45 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Hawkers, VIC) NEW
46 ‘Tusk 2015’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA) NEW
47 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Little Creatures, WA)
48 ‘Australian Pale Ale’ (4 Pines, NSW) NEW
49 ‘Fred’ American-style IPA (Murray’s, NSW)
50 ‘Growler’ American-style Brown Ale (2 Brothers, VIC)
51 ‘Fancy Pants’ American-style Amber Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC)
52 ‘Windjammer’ American-style IPA (Green Beacon, QLD)
53 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Hawkers, VIC) NEW
54 ‘Watermelon Warhead’ Berliner Weisse (Feral, WA) GABS (2012)
55 ‘Californicator’ American-style IPA (Big Shed, SA) NEW
56 ‘Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Kosciuszko, NSW)
57 ‘Citrus IPA’ Specialty IPA (4 Pines, NSW) NEW
58 ‘Golden Ale’ Blonde/Golden Ale (Two Birds, VIC)
59 ‘Temptress’ Porter (Holgate, VIC)
60 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Hawthorn, VIC)
61 ‘Calypso’ American-style Pale Ale (Odyssey, VIC)
62 ‘Two to The Valley’ American-style IPA (Newstead, QLD)
63 ‘F-Yeah’ American-style Pale Ale (Big Shed, SA)
64 ‘Kung Foo’ Pale Lager (2 Brothers, VIC)
65 ‘Garden Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW)
66 ‘Pale Ale’ Belgian Pale Ale (White Rabbit, VIC)
67 ‘Sunset Ale’ American-style Amber Ale (Two Birds, VIC)
68 ‘Dark Red IPA’ Specialty IPA (Six String, NSW)
69 ‘Atomic Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Gage Roads, WA)
70 ‘Angry Man Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Murray’s, NSW)
71 ‘Winston’ American-style Pale Ale (Shenanigans, NSW)
72 ‘Hopsmith’ American-style IPA (Akasha, NSW) NEW
73 ‘Clout Stout 2015’ Russian Imperial Stout (Nail, WA) NEW
74 ‘Grizz’ American-style Amber Ale (2 Brothers, VIC)
75 ‘#010 West Coast IPA’ American-style IPA (Exit, VIC) NEW
76 ‘Draught’ Kölsch (Colonial, WA)
77 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Mornington Peninsula, VIC)
78 ‘ESB’ Extra Special Bitter (4 Pines, NSW)
79 ‘Yenda Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Australian Beer Co, NSW)
80 ‘Rogers’ American-style Amber Ale (Little Creatures, WA)
81 ‘Splice of Heaven’ Specialty IPA (Moon Dog, VIC) NEW
82 ‘West Coast IPA’ American-style IPA (Batch, NSW)
83 ‘Vanilla Milk Stout’ Sweet Stout (Thirsty Crow, NSW)
84 ‘Barrel Breed Barley Wine’ UK-style Barleywine (Mountain Goat, VIC) NEW
85 ‘Bling’ American-style IPA (Bridge Road, VIC)
86 ‘The Fox’ Vienna-style Lager (Rabbit & Spaghetti, SA) NEW
87 ‘Session Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mismatch, SA)
88 ‘Crankshaft’ American-style IPA (BentSpoke, ACT)
89 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Mornington Peninsula, VIC)
90 ‘28’ American-style Pale Ale (Burleigh, QLD)
91 ‘3 Quarter Time’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Newstead, QLD)
92 ‘White Ale’ Witbier (White Rabbit, VIC)
93 ‘Sly Fox’ American-style Pale Ale (Feral, WA)
94 ‘ESB’ Extra Special Bitter (Hargreaves Hill, VIC)
95 ‘55’ American-style Pale Ale (3 Ravens, VIC)
96 ‘Metamorphosis’ American-style IPA (KAIJU!, VIC)
97 ‘Sparkling Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Coopers, SA)
98 ‘Zoo Feeder’ American-style IPA (Modus Operandi, NSW)
99 ‘Hopped Out Red’ American-style Amber Ale (KAIJU!, VIC)
100 ‘Hazelnut Brown’ UK-style Brown Ale (Bad Shepherd, VIC) NEW
NEW – First released in 2015
GABS– A ‘Festival Beer’ made especially for a previous GABS festival
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For more information plus to see stats and check out places 101-200 head to the GABS website HERE.
Image: Stone & Wood
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