Premium beer festival coming to Auckland

Premium beer festival coming to Auckland

A craft beer and food festival, judged one of the best beer festivals in the world, is hopping its way to Auckland shores in June 2016. GABS 2016, otherwise known as the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular, will showcase the best craft brewers from New Zealand and around the world.

Started in 2012 by Steve Jeffares and Guy Greenstone, owners of the multi-award winning Local Taphouse beer bars in Melbourne and Sydney, GABS is an annual event run in both cities attracting 23,000 people. The event has previously featured a number of local Kiwi brewers, who now have the opportunity to showcase their craft at a premier event on home ground.

GABS celebrates the diversity of craft beer and features hundreds of beers, brewery stands, outstanding food vendors, cooking demonstrations, educational seminars, fun activities and great entertainment. What makes GABS unique, however, are the dozens of exclusive ‘Festival Beers’ brewed specifically for the event.

“There’s no limit to what breweries can create”, says Jeffares. “They can submit any beer they like as long as they’ve never brewed it before. This year’s Festival Beers incorporated everything from peanut butter, rice, spiced rocket leaves, blueberries and apricots to strawberry jelly, with an increasing number fermented and aged in old wine and spirit barrels.”

Acclaimed New Zealand breweries including 8 Wired, Garage Project, Liberty, Panhead, ParrotDog, Tuatara, Yeastie Boys, Croucher, Moa, Bach, Hallertau, Monteiths and Epic Brewing have already signed up for the locally based 2016 event.

Local brewer Soren Ericksen from 8 Wired Brewery said GABS is one of the leading beer festivals in the Southern Hemisphere, and holding the event in Auckland will help support the national craft brewing industry.

“GABS Auckland will not only raise the awareness of good beer here but also help raise the profile of New Zealand beer in Australia, which is an important export market for many small breweries," says Ericksen.

Jeffares hopes GABS can become part of a series of premium New Zealand beer events throughout the year and Beervana Wellington’s owner, Sarah Meikle, agrees:

“We are excited that GABS is joining us in supporting our craft beer industry and the community who enjoy it so much. We look forward to working together to make the whole sector stronger,” says Meikle.

GABS Auckland will be held on Saturday 18th June at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane.

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