GABS 2024
Record I'm Listening To: Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit - Courtney Barnett
Beer I'm Enjoying: Tasty Pale Ale - Mountain Goat Brewing
Among the most enjoyable of days on the Melbourne events calendar is the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular. It's been nearly ten years since I went for the first time and aside from 2020 (for obvious reasons) and 2022 and 2023 in which I was living in the US, I've been every year. There are four of us who attend as a group (although five this year because we brought our little boy along) and it's become something of a tradition that we all attend together. I look forward to it every year and was very excited to be returning in 2024.
The last GABS we attended together in 2021, while enjoyable, was a bit underwhelming. As we reflected on it this year, we thought it was likely due to a number of factors. We went to the Sunday session 2021, which was at a different venue and took place during this weird 'in between' period in which Melbournians were briefly allowed to go outside and play. I was disappointed initially to learn that the 2024 event had not only been moved from it's usual slot of mid-May to mid-June, but that it was changing venues again. GABS has always been held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and this year it was held at Showgrounds. Turns out we needn't have worried. We returned to our traditional Saturday afternoon session, and by midday the festival was absolutely heaving!
Apart from the lack of a Ferris wheel which is an iconic piece of GABS from the Exhibition Centre, everything else was very similar. Dozens of stalls from well known craft breweries like Mountain Goat, 4 Pines and Kaiju as well as many other breweries I'd not heard of before like Mountain Monk. The main draw at GABS though, at least for us, are the 120 festival beers that are brewed specifically for the event and not available for purchase at any other time. It seems like all breweries are only given one slot on the bill and so as many as 120 breweries each brew their own festival beer. Part of the fun is then carefully designing paddles. The beers are divided into six sections of twenty beers. Each paddle holds five tastings. With a piece of chalk, patrons then write the numbers of the five beers they want on the paddle, take it to the bar, and have the beers poured. Then the fun begins. Among the sounds of a vibrant beer festival in full force complete with a brass band playing covers of well-known songs that, as my friend put it, "white people like," we carefully navigated our way back to our table holding loaded paddles. Trying desperately not to spill a drop, and passing food stalls with memorable names like "Bilbo Snaggins", we sat down, pulled out our guides, and began tasting.
Despite writing out paddles for all six sections, we've never actually had all thirty tastings. It's a big ask to knock that many back in only five hours. After three sections (so fifteen tastings) we got up to explore more of the festival and get a festival glass (provided upon entry) of some of the beers we really liked and in which we wanted a full pour. My wife was particularly enamoured with a mango beer from Matso's Brewery. I took notes on the fifteen festival beers I tried, that I've included here.
As is always the case, the five hours flew past because we were having so much fun. For anyone visiting Melbourne in May I highly recommend attending GABS. It's a wonderful opportunity to support small, local breweries and join in on the celebration of the artistry that is craft beer.