28 January 2021

Territory's tinnies voted best in Australia

| Dominic Giannini
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Richard Watkins

BentSpoke co-founder and head brewer Richard Watkins smashed the GABS Hottest 100 out of the park. Photo: Dominic Giannini.

BentSpoke Brewing has taken out the top spot on the GABS Hottest 100 list of Australian craft beers with its crowd favourite Crankshaft American IPA, and rounded off the top 10 with Barley Griffin pale ale.

In total, the Canberra brewery managed to get four of its beers in the top 20 and five in the countdown.

BentSpoke co-founder and head brewer Richard Watkins lauded the Canberrans who have supported the local business, especially after a tough 2020.

“It is a massive win for BentSpoke,” he said. “It was voted on by thousands of Australians and I value those competitions really highly because it means people want to put their hard-earned money into your beer.

“People want to support local businesses, especially with the major breweries moving overseas. It just shows what a little pub from Canberra can do.”

Another Canberra staple, Capital Brewing, also performed well, with its Capital XPA and Coast Ale coming in at 13 and 14 respectively.

Capital managed to wrangle seven of its beers into this year’s rankings. Its Rock Hopper American IPA and Trail Pale Ale cracked the top 50 at number 48 and 46 respectively.

Capital Brewing

Capital Brewing has seven beers in the top 100. Photo: Supplied.

Stone & Wood’s Pacific Ale was second and Balter’s XPA ranked third.

The annual list covers more than 2000 beers from over 200 breweries and tens of thousands of Aussies voted for their five favourites.

Mr Watkins said it also reflects the increasing popularity of craft beer in Australia.

“People want something with more flavour and to try something different,” he said.

The brewery’s Silly MID On mid-strength beer, brewed for cricket fans at Manuka Oval, is also doing better than expected due to the increased number of games at Manuka this year and the larger than expected crowd size, he said.

The full list can be found at GABS Hottest 100.

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