What are the odds of an alcohol-free beer being named as Australia's favourite craft beer?
Pretty high if the gossip about Canberra's own Heaps Normal is anything to go by.
Voting in the GABs Festival Hottest 100 closes at midnight on Friday, January 14, so beer lovers don't have long left to vote for their favourite craft beer. Four Canberra-based breweries are in the mix: Heaps Normal, BentSpoke Brewing, Capital Brewing Co, and Wild Polly Brewing Co.
You can vote at gabsfestival.com.
Canberra's breweries have dominated the GABS charts in the past few years. BentSpoke Brewing took out top spot last year with its popular Crankshaft and 12 ACT beers made the top 100, including seven Capital Brewing beers.
Heaps Normal stormed onto the market in 2020 with its debut 0.5% ABV Quiet XPA release and quickly became the nation's best-selling alcohol-free beer.
"To see an alcohol-free beer earn a place in the Logies of the craft beer industry would highlight just how far the conversation around mindful drinking has come," said Andy Miller, chief executive officer and co-founder of Heaps Normal.
Wild Polly is a small Mitchell-based brewery who use ancient grains for its beers. By using a mix of Australian-grown malted sorghum, millet, rice and buckwheat means the beers are naturally gluten free. It has two beers in the running, an IPA and a Pale Ale.
BentSpoke has five beers in the running: Barley Griffin, Cluster 8, Crankshaft, Red Nut and Sprocket.
Capital Brewing has the Capital XPA, Coast Ale, Evil Eye Red IPA, First Tracks Imperial Stout, Hang Loose Juice Blood Orange NEIPA, Rock Hopper IPA, Summit Session Ale, Trail Pale Ale and the West Coast NEIPA Mountain Culture Collab.
Both BentSpoke and Capital Brewing will be holding official countdown parties on Saturday, January 22, when the results are announced.
The BentSpoke event is at the Braddon Brewpub from noon until 5.30pm with 16 beers on tap and nibbles throughout the afternoon.
Or head out to Dairy Road, Fyshwick, for the Capital event, from noon until 5.30pm in the beer garden. They'll have the Triple J countdown blaring and there'll be free giveaways every time a Capital beer is named in the top 100.
