There’s no better festival than GABS for lovers of beer.
The Great Australasian Beer Spectacular, otherwise known as GABS, is making a triumphant return in 2021 with festivals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland. (Featured image: @salxox)
GABS is once again bringing together the best local, interstate and regional brewers to share the love of craft beer and cider with eager punters keen to make up for last year’s cancelled event.
As usual, the main drawcard of GABS is the exclusive list of unique and first-time brews that have been concocted for the festival. While there is no list of specialty pours that will be on offer, past years have seen breweries collaborate with whisky and gin distillers as well as tea houses, coffee roasters and chefs in order to prepare something truly special.
Or, in other words, pretty experimental. One year, there was even a peanut butter and jelly beer that could be sampled if you were curious enough to mix the peanut butter-flavoured beer with another jam-flavoured beer from the same brewer.
With 120 festival-exclusive brews ready for 2021, GABS might be your only chance to try some weird and wonderful beverages as well as meeting the men and women who brew them.
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But aside from all the sampling you will be doing at GABS, there will also be masterclasses to attend, panel discussions to drop into and live music as well. There is a silent disco too, beer hall games like giant Jenga, and the Mountain Goat Cornhole Championships.
For those looking to escape the malt, barley and hops, there will be a wine bar by 19 Crimes while food trucks and stalls will also be on hand to keep attendees fed and ready to sample more beers.
In Melbourne, GABS will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on the weekend of Friday 21 to Sunday 23 May.
Sessions usually sell out, so you better be quick to get your tickets ($45-$149 each).
For more info, see the website.