The iconic GABS craft beer festival is back, bringing 120 entirely new beers with it.

Combine Coachella with the Grammys, but celebrate the year’s best brewers, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a beer festival. We’re talking 120 completely new beers, over 60 brewery stands, live music, dance parties and more entertainment than you could poke a stick at (or even several sticks). Take that show on the road and you’ve got GABS – Australia's biggest craft beer celebration and one of the world's leading beer festivals.

Kicking off in Brisbane this May (before hitting Sydney and Melbourne), GABS, or the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular, showcases over a hundred beers from the world’s best breweries in a celebration of total beer supremacy. Pushing their creativity to the furthest degree, brewers spend all year carefully crafting special beers explicitly for this next-level exhibition and a ticket to GABS is your chance to be the very first to try them. This is absolutely no place for middle-of-the-road flavour – previous GABS darlings include Feral Brewing’s Biggie Juice East Coast IPA, Two Birds Taco Cerveza, and Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA – so don’t expect anything short of experimental.

“Every year, we invite our industry’s extremely talented brewers to create something new for GABS, and every year we’re amazed by the new trends and pushing of just what is possible,” says GABS’ managing director, Mike Bray, who also gave us a sneak peak at some of this year’s top brews to look out for:

The Catchment Brewing Co’s Ra Ra Raspoutine 9.5% Imperial Stout

Made from actual hot chips, cheese and gravy (no, seriously), this rich and smoky stout is on course to get a few chins wagging.

Moorebeer Brewing Co’s S’Moorebeer 6% Sweet Stout

How do you improve on the gloriously gooey melted Smore? Make it beer, obviously.

Public Brewing Co’s Groovy Smoothie Strawberry Guava Sour 5% Kettle Sour

Tropical flavours of strawberry, guava and Tahitian vanilla meet marshmallow for a thick and fruity (and groovy!) brew.

Bucket Brewery’s Pandanus Pale 4.7% Pale Ale

This classic pale ale brings flavours of South East Asia to the fore with notes of lemongrass, zesty lime and a spicy hit of fresh ginger.

As if these weren’t reasons enough to grab tickets immediately, beyond the beer you’ll also have the chance to catch panel discussions with industry leaders and up your cooking game at food pairing workshops. House band The Ale Capones (good one) will be roaming the festival, bringing their lager-tinged brassy bops to the masses, and some of Australia’s best local food trucks will be on hand dishing up a feast.

Don’t miss the return of this blockbuster celebration of all things craft. Or better yet, follow it across the country all month long.

Tickets are available for purchase now on the GABS website. Better yet, My Dan’s members can nab tickets at 20% off – but this is only available for the first 1,000 tickets, so get moving. Even if you miss out on that offer, all My Dan’s members can use the express VIP entrance at the events and score 10% off all GABS merch. And if you can’t make it, we’ve still got you. There’s a best of the fest 8-pack coming to Dan’s soon, so you can sample the festival’s finest brews long after the festival is over. Keep your eyes on our socials for more.

Festival dates

Brisbane:
Saturday 7 May, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

Sydney:
Friday 20 May – Saturday 21 May, Sydney International Convention Centre

Melbourne:
Friday 27 May – Sunday 29 May, Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton