Get ready: Australia's biggest craft beer, cider and fun festival is coming back for 2024. If you haven't heard of GABS Festival, it's like Disneyland but for beer lovers – think more than 500 beer taps under the one roof at ICC Sydney in Darling Harbour. And we don’t need to say it, but we will anyway: it’s hops of fun.
Going down on Friday, May 31 to Saturday, June 1, the festival is an opportunity to go on a deep dive on all things beer, with pretty much every local, interstate and a fair few international brewers present. But the serious drawcard of GABS each year involves the roster of never-brewed-before beers and ciders made just for the festival. There are 120 different beers and ciders on tap that have been brewed exclusively for GABS, so this is your chance to try all sorts of weird and wonderful tipples. We’re looking at you, sushi and spaghetti beer.
The festival also features masterclasses, roving entertainment, a silent disco, beer-hall games, eating competitions, an air guitar championship and live music. And to keep things on an even keel, food trucks and stalls will keep the masses well fed and energised throughout the festivities.
This year’s festival is set to be the best one yet. One of the biggest highlights is GABS welcoming the oldest brewery in the world, Weihenstephan. This 1000-year-old brewery was founded in a Monastery in Germany and joins as a special guest. If you want to pace yourself, more breweries will be offering creative non-alcoholic options. And on Friday night there will be a pink party in support of Pink Boots Society, which assists, inspires and encourages women and non-binary individuals in the booze industry to advance their careers. How good.
So whether your drink of choice is a hoppy pale ale, a fruity sour, a crisp pilsner or a full-bodied stout, you sure as hell won’t go thirsty at GABS. Tickets for GABS Festival start at $50 per person and you can snap yours up here.
Cheers!
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