These are your GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of 2023

Few awards offer as much insight into the Australian craft beer community’s collective tastes and psyche as the GABS Hottest 100. The annual poll returned for a 16th instalment over the January long weekend, boasting a record number of voters and delivering some surprising (and some not-so-surprising) results.

For the uninitiated, GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers pits the biggest brews of the previous year against each other, inviting the nation’s craft beer connoisseurs to cast their votes and deliver us a champion. But more than that, GABS is a platform for brewers to push the envelope right out, so expect to find experimental one-offs finishing neck-and-neck with former champions and classic crafts.

Previous GABS darlings include Little Creatures Pale Ale (the inaugural two-time champion finished 13th this year), Stone & Wood Pacific Ale (8th) and Feral Brewing Co Hop Hog Pale Ale (still the only beer to win a three-peat). 

With that said, 2023’s poll offered up some interesting takeaways. From a back-to-back champion to the prolific breweries dominating the charts, here are our talking points from GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers for 2023.

Aussie craft beer connoisseurs are nothing if not consistent. With the votes tallied, three former GABS Champions emerged as the cream of the crop (hop?) in 2023. Taking out top honours for the second year running was Mountain Culture Status Quo Pale Ale, while Balter XPA and BentSpoke Brewing Co. Crankshaft IPA resumed their positions in second and third place, respectively, giving us an identical top three to last year. 

But it would be hasty to assume this consistency reveals a wane in relevance or interest. Three-time GABS champion Feral Brewing Hop Hog quietly slipped out of the top 100 this year alongside Vale Brewing Vale Ale (another former champion), proving that previous results are no indicator of future success. Tastes do change fast, but not that fast.

With the medals all locked up, two beers did, in fact, manage to stage an incursion into the top of the list: Gage Roads Single Fin Summer Ale and Pirate Life South Coast Pale. Displaced from the top 10 were Black Hops Brewing G.O.A.T. Hazy IPA and Better Beer Zero Carb Lager, both retaining their spot in the top quarter of the chart.

Despite a relatively unchanged top 10, some notable debutants managed to crack the Hottest 100 for the first time this year. Leading the charge with two entries was Queensland’s Moffat Beach Brewing Co whose Passenger Pale Ale finished impressively in 25th spot (their Moff’s Summer Ale snuck in at 95). A citrus-tinged sundowner packing plenty of malty backbone, it was only a matter of time before we saw this award-winning brew storm the field, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see it climb even higher next year.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt clocked the recent rise of ginger beer in the press and the bottle shop. And so, the omission of any ginger beers from the Hottest 100 whatsoever might seem glaring to most observers. But don’t worry, you aren’t the victim of some wicked propaganda campaign orchestrated by ‘Big Ginger’. 

Rather more innocuously, GABS adjusted the rules this year to only allow beer that features water, malt, hops and yeast (i.e. beer beer). Unfortunately for last year’s breakout gingers – Brookvale Union Ginger Beer (16th in 2022), Better Beer Ginger Beer (32nd), and Matso’s Broome Brewery Ginger Beer (37th) among others – that means no more GABS for them. Sad!

1. Mountain Culture Status Quo Pale (NSW)
2. Balter Brewing XPA (QLD)
3. BentSpoke Brewing Crankshaft IPA (ACT)
4. Your Mates Brewing Larry Pale Ale – QLD
5. Bridge Road Brewers Beechworth Pale Ale (VIC)
6. Gage Roads Single Fin (WA)
7. Coopers Brewery Original Pale Ale (SA)
8. Stone & Wood Brewing Pacific Ale (NSW)
9. Young Henrys Newtowner (NSW)
10. Pirate Life South Coast Pale (SA)