The final lineup for next week’s Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular has been announced. And it has to be the most outrageous collection of Aussie-brewed beers ever to appear in the same place at one time – homebrewer Christmas parties notwithstanding. With all manner of weird and wonderful ingredients added to the mix – and a handful of more traditional beers to balance the books – it promises to shine a spotlight on the darker recesses of some of the country’s craft brewers' minds.
Steve Jeffares, from The Local Taphouse, which is running the event simultaneously at its St Kilda and Darlinghurst venues, told Crafty he asked brewers to let their imagination run wild. “Most are somewhat constrained by commercial realities so I said, ‘Is there a beer you’ve always wanted to brew but has remained on the shelf?’. We were concerned they’d all come back with huge beers and felt that that wouldn’t work, but the spread has been really good with four beers under five per cent and only two over ten. There’s been real enthusiasm and we’re confident that a lot of them will be really good.”
The full lineup is:
Original Fassbier – Kellerbier matured on roasted oak chips (Last Drop, WA, 4.6%)
* Cucumber Sandwich – Summer Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC, 4.2%)
* kb – Kriek Berliner Weisse served through morello cherries (Wig & Pen, ACT, 4.3%)
* Organic Blueberry Hefeweizen (Otway Estate, VIC, 5%)
* Belgian Raspberry Wit (Kooinda, VIC, 5.5%)
* Anzac Bickies – Oats, coconut and vanilla ale (Burleigh Brewing, QLD, 5%)
* Red Relief (Stone & Wood, NSW, 4.7%)
* Cherry Bomb – Cherry and coconut porter (True South, VIC, 5%)
* Quince Ale (Lobethal and Brew Boys Collaboration, SA, 5.6%)
* Zephyr – Double White Ale (Doctors Orders Brewing, NSW, 5.6%) 
* Chocolate Chilli Porter (Hunter, NSW, 5.8%)
* 2 Hills Maibock (Collaboration between Hargreaves Hill and Red Hill Breweries, VIC, 6.8%)
* Wee Heavy (4 Pines, 7.8%)
* Rye IPA (Mash, WA)
* Karma Citra – Black IPA showcasing the Citra hop (Feral, WA, 5.9%)
* Lemon Myrtle IPA (Jamieson, VIC, 7%)
* The Secret Romance of Herman van Rompuy and Cherry Poppens – Belgian style Flanders red (Moondog, VIC, 7.3%)
* The Empress – Imperial Mocha Porter (Holgate, VIC, 10%)
* Big Red Rocket – Imperial Red Ale (Bridge Road, VIC, 9%)
* Imperious – Imperial Belgian Blond Ale (Murrays, NSW, 11%)
Some are the cause of great excitement at Crafty Towers; others we don’t know what the hell to think! Either way, it’s fantastic that such an event can happen in Australia – another sign of the rapid growth of the craft beer industry – and that brewers are up to the challenge. All being well, it will return next year – potentially off site and much, much bigger, meaning those brewers unlucky to miss out this year will have the chance to show off themselves.
If you’re heading to the St Kilda event, we’ll see you there.
