Australia’s favourite craft beer

By Editor on January 27, 2024

Mountain Culture Beer Co’s much-loved Status Quo Pale Ale has gone back-to-back and been crowned Australia’s favourite craft beer for the second year running in the GABS Hottest 100 Craft Beer poll.

Aussies voted for 1877 different beers from 436 of Australia’s best craft breweries in the 16^th edition of the annual GABS Hottest 100 Craft Beer poll.

After tens of thousands of votes had been counted, Mountain Culture came out on top once again. The brewery, founded in 2019 in the Blue Mountains, NSW, has experienced a meteoric rise in the local craft beer scene in just a few years, with a popular core range and frequent limited-release brews appealing to drinkers across the country. It is run by husband-and-wife team DJ and Harriet McCready.

“Back to back baby! Thanks for everyone for their support again this year! Let’s party!” Mountain Culture said on social media.

Two previous champions took the second and third positions on the podium with Mick Fanning’s Gold Coast’s Balter XPA taking Silver and, in what has said to be the closest race for third ever, Canberra’s much loved BentSpoke Crankshaft IPA came in just ahead of Sunshine Coast’s Your Mates Larry, to take out the Bronze. It is only the third time in the history of the poll the top three positions have been repeated in the same order as the previous year.

The Top 10 had two new entrants in WA’s Gage Roads Brewing Co Single Fin and SA’s Pirate Life Brewing’s South Coast Pale Ale joining Victoria’s Bridge Roads Beechworth Pale Ale, SA’s Coopers Brewery Original Pale Ale along with NSW’s Stone & Wood Brewing Co’s Pacific Ale and Young Henrys Newtowner.

After the votes were tallied, 63 different breweries had beers represented in the Top 100. The results also saw 28 beers dropping off last year’s list and being replaced by new favourite craft beer choices.

The state with the most votes

NSW breweries took out the bragging rights of most beers appearing on the Hottest 100 list with 27 beers on the list and Queensland had 24.

A strong resurgence from Victoria saw it close the gap with 22, Western Australia took out 11 spots, while ACT and South Australia both took eight positions.

Balter Brewing Co’s Cerveza proved to be the most popular new beer released in 2023 to make this year’s Hottest 100 list, ahead of Mountain Culture’s 2023 Summer Pale Ale collaboration beer with USA’s Sierra Nevada and Heads of Noosa’s Black Japanese Lager.

Beer taps flowed at GABS Hottest 100 countdown day parties held at venues all around the country as Aussies drank their favourite craft beer. Beer media personality, Matt Kirkegaard kept listeners entertained with over five hours of live podcasting, analysing the results and interviewing some of the industry’s biggest personalities.