GABS 2020 Postponed Until August

GABS has announced it is moving its 2020 Australian festivals to August and is working on a new date for Auckland due to measures being taken to halt the spread of Covid-19.

In a statement released today (March 17), the organisers said: "Behind the scenes, our team has been working hard with venues, partners and the many great breweries involved to find a way to keep GABS on the calendar, and at a time when it will be OK again to get together with friends over a beer.

"We’re pleased now to announce new dates for all of our Australian events as below. And we’re working on the best possible dates for GABS Auckland as well (to be announced as soon as we can)."

It follows the cancellation or postponement of a number of major events in the beer calendar, including Good Beer Week, High Country Hops and the Carwyn Collaborational, in what is going to be a tough time for the events, hospitality and tourism industries.

All tickets already purchased for Australian GABS sessions are now automatically valid for the new dates, including Season Passes for GABS Melbourne. This is the case for any Crafty Cabal members who secured them through ballots or as signup bonuses. Session times will also remain the same.

The GABS team added: "If for any reason you can’t make it on the new event date, you can transfer your ticket to another GABS event or session (find out more on that here) or give it to a friend. If you have any questions, please get in touch with us at contact@gabs.beer.

"It’s no secret that it would help the event and its team out a lot if you can hang onto your tickets, so as a special treat and thank you from us, all ticket buyers for the original dates will score themselves a 25% discount on all GABS merchandise (redeemable at the events)."

The GABS team also confirmed they would be implementing health and safety measures at their festivals, including:

Including messaging in our email marketing and ticketing platforms to advise ticket holders not to attend should they feel unwell (with full refunds offered).

While we do clean and reset each venue between sessions, we’ll be working with our cleaning supplier to bring in additional resources and thoroughly sanitise each venue.

We will be installing hand soap / sanitizer with paper towel alongside all water troughs throughout each festival to encourage hand washing.

We will put together a range of procedures for exhibitors to follow to reduce the likelihood of transmission, including wash kits, sanitizer, bar cleaning, gloves and more.

If deemed necessary closer to the time, we may sadly have to swap the iconic GABS Festival Glass for single use disposable plastic cups, and drop our ‘rinse and reuse’ program for tasting cups.

The statement added: "Of course, this is a rapidly evolving situation, and we greatly appreciate the support of all our GABS fans, partners and exhibitors during this period. We’ll keep you posted as we go along, and we look forward to seeing you for our tenth year celebrations at GABS 2020. I reckon by then, we’d all enjoy a beer. ;-)"