What flavourless, odourless ingredient might be the magic behind Canberra's beers?

Canberra’s breweries are bracing for a very busy long weekend come Australia Day, and not just because of soaring demand to crack open cold ones while barbecuing lamb cutlets.

On 25 January, the names of Australia’s best craft beers will be announced.

For 17 years, the ‘GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers Poll’ has asked the public to name their five favourite drops. Not for nothing is it described as “one of the biggest polls of its type in the world”.

Last year, more than 60,000 beerophiles (it’s a word now, cheers!) from across the country cast their vote on craft beers from a whopping 436 breweries.

As with previous years, many of the breweries will be watching as 2024’s results are tallied and published on 25 January, hosting “countdown parties” members of the public are welcome to attend.

Bentspoke Brewing Co in Braddon is definitely hosting one. And they’ve got good reason to be confident.

Bentspoke’s Crankshaft IPA took first place in 2020 and 2021 and third place in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023, with the Barley Griffin Pale Ale always only a few places behind.

“We will be having a big party at our brewery on that day,” Bentspoke founder Richard Watkins says.

“It is probably one of our most important days on the calendar. Whether we make the podium or not, it doesn’t matter. It is about the beer celebration. I think we should push for a national beer holiday.”

You’ve probably heard the story of how Richard started brewing craft beers for the Wig and Pen bar in 1994. At the time, there were only eight companies doing this across the country.

“In 2012, I suggested to my partner Tracey that we should set up our own brewery, and we ended up launching Bentspoke in 2014 with a couple of business partners,” he says.

He sources most of the ingredients from local farmers, with many of the hops imported from the US and Europe and malt from Germany.

As for the magic ingredient, that’s a Canberra special.

“It comes down to the water available in Canberra,” Richard explains.

“Our water started in the mountains and comes through limestone plains, so by the time it gets to us as brewers, it is nice and soft so we don’t need to do much to it to make it work for a good beer.

“This is where Canberra-based breweries are very lucky.”

Capital Brewing Co, another local brewery that makes regular appearances in the Hottest 100 (and now among the largest independent craft breweries in Australia), agrees.

“Canberra has some of the purest water in Australia, which provides a great base from which to brew our beer,” marketing manager Jonny Day says.

Founded by Canberra locals Tom Hertel and Laurence Kain in 2016, Capital Brewing Co is all about sustainability. In 2022, it became the first brewery in Australia to be “certified carbon neutral” under the Federal Government’s Climate Active accreditation.

It’s also now one of the largest independent craft breweries in Australia, with a team of 70-plus.

Of the local breweries otherwise occupied on 25 January is relative newcomer Ambush Brewing in Mitchell. This was founded by Tim Boxall and Sam Axelsen a little over nine months ago as the “realisation of a life-long dream”.

“Both of us were homebrewers and armed with extensive recipe books, we set about creating the equipment and space to reach a larger audience,” Tim says.

The pair try to keep their ingredients as “local as possible”, sourcing malts from Whitton and hops from Bemboka in NSW and supplementing with their own “home-grown hops when in season”.

He agrees Canberra beer is set apart by the water.

“Although we still test the water before every brew, we have been pleasantly surprised by its consistency,” Tim says.

“Soft and delicious, it lends itself to additions without being osmosis filtered or stripped of its minerals.”

Tim and his partner are looking forward to welcoming his twin children into the world on 25 January, but they hope Sam—who will be holding a family BBQ—can drop off a “snag or two at the hospital.”

Local breweries Bentspoke, Brew Nation, Capital Brewing and To All My Friends are hosting countdown parties on Saturday, 25 January. Click the links for location and opening hours. Entry is free. Voting for the 2024 GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers Poll is open online.