Wild beers at GABS 2025
If you’re a lover of craft beers and have exhausted the selection in your local bottle shop, fear not, help is at hand in the form of the Great Australian Beer Spectacular (GABS) returning to Brisbane on 23-24 May this year.
Now in its 15th year, GABS is recognised as one of the great beer festivals not just in Australia but the world.
And to be part of GABS, craft brewer must accept the challenge form organisers – to come up with unique brew just for the festival and it’s a challenge that exhibitors accept willingly.
Many brewers think outside the conventional fermenter and come up with mind boggling and taste bud challenging brews.
For craft beer lovers, finding which unique brews are best suited to their palate is not an easy task with more than 100 different offerings available.
I can’t list them all here, but you can find out what will be available of the GABS website at www.gabsfestival.com
However, after an early perusal, here’s some to give you an idea of what to expect:
Breakfast Red IPA by Aether Brewing
6.5 per cent, IPA Red
This isn’t just for morning people, pouring a rich amber-red with a frothy white pillowy head. A delightful mix of ripe raspberry jam, Earl Grey tea, and a touch of toasted bread deliver a rounded aroma.
Honeycomb Mocha Stout by Green Beacon Brewing
5.5 per cent | Stout
Chocolate, toffee, honeycomb and coffee – Honeycomb Mocha Stout is the latest collaboration with Green Beacons Brewing and Allpress Espresso. A complex malt bill, dark candied syrup, lactose and freshly roasted coffee beans come together to produce this lovely winter warmer.
Peeling Guilty Banana Beer by Copperlode Brewing Company
7.0 per cent | Specialty Beer
This beer is made from traditional Ugandan banana beer called Tonto. Expect a tangy banana flavour with a malt and sorghum kick.
Electric Zombie Brain Cherry Cola Nitro Stout by Blackflag Brewing
11 per cent Stout Imperial
Deep in the Blackflag bunker, head brewer and master of chaos Simon ‘Mad Dog’ Macek has once again done the unthinkable. Combining a hefty Imperial stout, aged to perfection in whisky and red wine barrels it’s mixed with a powerful concoction of blitzed cherry, vanilla bean, cinnamon, citrus, and Kola extract. Be afraid.
A Rose In Every Cheek Vegemite Toast Beer by Captain Blighs Brewing
5.0 per cent | Brown Ale – Australian
That’s right, this is a beer inspired by Vegemite toast. Now you can drink your beer and have your morning/evening toast comfort food simultaneously.
Seeds Flowers Leaves” by Precinct Brewing Co
6 per cent Lager
The team at Precinct Brewing have made an Imperial (strong) rice lager with fragrant jasmine rice that was cooked in-house. It was then infused with a few different styles of tea, including Australian Alpine Green tea, Sencha Green and also some white tea. They made a pot of strong tea and added that into the fermenter, and also ‘dry hopped’ some tea leaves in.
With brewers coming from around Australia and a few guest overseas brewers attending as well, there is an opportunity to learn more about brewing and what goes into making some of the beers on exhibition.
But for those who aren’t into beer, there will also be ciders, cocktails, seltzers and non-alcoholic drinks.
Add to that an extensive range of foods, live music, heaps of activities and competitions, informative classes and you have a great festival vibe.
The Great Australian Beer Spectacular (GABS) will be held in Brisbane on Friday 23 May and Saturday 24 May at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre at Southbank. It will also be held in Sydney on Friday 30 May and Saturday 31 May 2025 at the International Convention Centre in Darling Harbour.
For details and tickets, visit www.gabsfestival.com
