# Gabs



## Wolfy (11/5/12)

Rather than clutter up the GBW thread with GABS specific stuff, I thought a new-thread would be in order.

I presume a number of AHB members will be attending tonight (Friday) or over the weekend, but since I volunteered for the first session on Friday here are some pictures and info of what to expect.

This is what to expect (photo taken from the VIP lounge), two large containers at each end of the hall, with two bars on each side - all bars pour the same 60 beers. A central stage with band and entertainment, various tables through the hall, food vendors off to the right (out of photo) and the 'Craft Beer College' at the far left of this shot (upstairs exactly opposite of where this photo was taken from).





Photo was taken late during the Friday session, when things were very quiet, I'd expect many more people at the Evening and Weekend sessions.

The beer list, with more info here, and in the guidebook you'll be given at entry or can pickup at Dan Murphys beforehand.




58 beers, some cider, wine and softdrink.
Some very interesting and unusual beers (including those with chili, kiwi fruit, rose petals, Christmas tree), as well as many other decent craft beers (IPA's, Belgians, wheat beers etc), most all of which are new and unique to the festival - some made for the first time just for this event.

The 4 bars is where it all happens, 60 beer taps lined up on either side of a refrigerated container.




The procedure for most people is to grab their wooden tasting paddle, write on it (in chalk) which beers they'd like to sample, and then take it to the bar-attendants who will add the beer to the paddle, however individual glasses of a specific beer can also be purchased. Read the beer guide descriptions, and select the beer that you think you'll most enjoy, or pick some things that are unusual and you have not had before, and may not have a chance to get again, because it's highly unlikely that you'd get to sample all 60 beers in one session. 

I found some of the beers I tried very interesting, some great and others not really to my tastes. Depending on how how busy things are and how quickly the beer is moving, sometimes the beer sample glasses (plastic cups) can sit for a little while after it's been poured and before it's given to the customers, so asking for a freshly poured sample cup might be a good idea IMHO.


----------



## mmmyummybeer (11/5/12)

Good work with the photos and details Wolfy. I was fortunate enough to make it to the arvo session today and certainly glad I did. So many great beers to try, I just wish I could of tried them all :icon_drool2: . 
As with different beers I though I better also mention the Watermelon beer by Feral, which is no.55 on the tasting list. I heard lots of conversation about it and thought I better put it on the to try list, well what can I say I wasn't disappointed. It is described as a warhead lolly which is accurate as it is slightly sweet up front then has a lovely sour tart finish (great if you love sour beers). 
Anyway good luck to everyone fortunate enough to make it to GABS over the next couple of days, and commiserations for those that can't. Couldn't ask for more, so many great beers and met some really great beer lovers and brewers :beer: .


----------



## DU99 (11/5/12)

Looks good "the project" did a short cross.


----------



## fcmcg (11/5/12)

DU99 said:


> Looks good "the project" did a short cross.


Thought you'd be up to volunteer Steve ?


----------



## JestersDarts (12/5/12)

Also volunteered yesterday- great fun. 
I'll be attending as a punter tonight- cant wait


----------



## DU99 (12/5/12)

Ferg..i would have but other committments..DAY JOB :icon_offtopic:


----------



## aaronpetersen (12/5/12)

I went yesterday arvo and it was great. Very quiet and no queues. My favorites were the Moon Dog sour ale (I forget it's name) and the watermelon one from Feral. Most were good with only a few disappointments from the ones I sampled.


----------



## jayahhdee (12/5/12)

Heading in to town shortly for the arvo session today, looking forward to some of the out of the square beers that have been brewed up for it.


----------



## Wolfy (13/5/12)

Wow it was busy in the Saturday day/afternoon session, but not so bad for the nighttime one.
Out of all the 60 beers the one I paid for a refill on was #51 a 'Double Dubbel IPA' which I really enjoyed.


----------



## bconnery (13/5/12)

worked the busy Saturday afternoon session. Great fun and glad I did. Went last night. Some great beers. Particularly loved the Yeastie Boys Earl Gray Ipa and the Moondog Mr Mephistopheles wild fruit beer but there were lots of others I enjoyed my taster of. Looking forward to todays session


----------



## doon (13/5/12)

Can't wait to get in there today!


----------



## NealK (13/5/12)

I went to the Saturday afternoon session. I chose my first five beers from the list I printed out off the website. I thought some of them looked weird. I then realised that the beers list on the website is in a different order to the list at the event!
It was very busy and the queues were pretty bad but the whole thing was so well organised, and the people (staff, volunteers and punters) were all so laid back, the day was a great success. My favourite of the day was the Red Hill Sticke Alt. Moon Dog Mr Mistofelees is also definitely worth a taste.


----------



## Charst (13/5/12)

Renaissance oak aged scotch ale was beer of show for me. Another oak aged one was also good. Epic zythos and the simcoe one next to it also good.


----------



## Innes (13/5/12)

Can't wait for the leftover dregs to be served to us here in Sydney!


----------



## Wolfy (13/5/12)

Innes said:


> Can't wait for the leftover dregs to be served to us here in Sydney!


Late yesterday I was speaking to one of the owners about what will happen with all the kegs that are left-over, they plan (or have an agreement with the brewers or something) to have them on tap at TheLocalTaphouse over the next few months - I'm just not sure how many they will be shipping up to Sydney. He suggested that the logistics of getting all the kegs and setup done for the event was equivalent to an ACDC concert.

While I know the brewers are not likely to read this, I'd still like to thank all those who brewed something special, unique and different for GABS. While the usual-stuff (Brown Ales, IPA's etc) were good, it was the unique and one-off beers, that I've never had before (and may never again) that made the event much more interesting and enjoyable. Some of those unique beers were not my thing (too much chilli, too much funk etc) but I was pleasantly surprised at how interestingly good some of the one-off beers were (rose petals, EarlGrey tea, coconut, Christmas-tree, chocolate, karaka fruit, watermelon).


----------



## bconnery (13/5/12)

Loving today. So cruisy. Any brewers who read this come and say hello. Sitting with Ross and Dave (Pockebeers). Look for the guy in the flanny hoody and the grey hat (all class me)


----------



## Rowy (13/5/12)

bconnery said:


> Loving today. So cruisy. Any brewers who read this come and say hello. Sitting with Ross and Dave (Pockebeers). Look for the guy in the flanny hoody and the grey hat (all class me)




Shout Ross a nice wheat beer from me......he loves them apparently.............get Dave a Fourex Gold.


----------



## bconnery (13/5/12)

Ross says get on a plane and do it yourself 


Rowy said:


> Shout Ross a nice wheat beer from me......he loves them apparently.............get Dave a Fourex Gold.


----------



## Spiesy (13/5/12)

ihad a good day yesterday at the midday session, although the lines proved to be a pain from about 1pm on. Had some nice and interesting beers for the most part. The Sweet Potato Porter, S!mcoe, Imperial Pilsner & Koffee Stout are my picks.


----------



## cam89brewer (13/5/12)

I wish I could have made it!!! Bought the tickets months ago and but my little girl didn't get to sleep until 2:30 Sat morning and was planning to leave Wodonga around 7 to make it to the 12pm session....  but slept in.


----------



## doon (13/5/12)

What a great day! I heard someone in Dunny say lines sat arvo were crazy. Today no lines not busy at all. While some beers I would never drink again some of them were awesome had a great time with the missus even got down to Baden Powell after to have some Bacchus beers


----------



## jayahhdee (13/5/12)

Yeah, Saturday lines were crazy, next year will definitely attend on Fri or Sun.

Beer of the day for me was the Bright IRA, awesome beer great flavour and nice bitterness, enjoyed plenty of others as well, the Feral Watermelon Warhead was intense, took sourness to another level.

Thoroughly enjoyable day all up.


----------



## Adam Howard (13/5/12)

Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta IPA with earl grey. Spectacular, grew up with earl grey tea, blown away by how well it worked in an IPA.

Moon Dog.....amazing.....FUNK.

Wig and Pen Sour Blonde was a perfect summer quencher.

Bright IRA, Epic Zythos, MG 'Top Paddock', Rennaissance 'Stonecutter Oak', Emerson's Pilsner, Double Dubbel IPA = Superb.

Holgate Gruit Expectations was outstanding too.

Liberty S!mcoe had a mountain of diacetyl which was disappointing, love beers with Simcoe.


----------



## super_simian (14/5/12)

Well, I volunteered Saturday for the day-session; and the lines were horrendous! My main gripe was that we didn't get a meal break for 7 hours (because it was so busy I presume) and then when we finished almost all the food vans were shut :angry: Seriously, working for nothing without any food isn't a great way to make people happy. But it did mean my food tokens could go on beer at the Sunday session; which was fantastic! Steered clear of the chili beers ( had a cheeky nip of a few during my shift, and was not impressed!) The Renaissance "Stonecutter" was just incredible, what a brilliant sipper. And the Janszoon Summer Ale was what session beer should be, IMHO. So many great beers, so little time! Doctor's Orders White IPA, Liberty Simcoe, Red Hill Sticke Alt...I could go on.


----------



## Wolfy (15/5/12)

super_simian said:


> Well, I volunteered Saturday for the day-session; and the lines were horrendous! My main gripe was that we didn't get a meal break for 7 hours (because it was so busy I presume) and then when we finished almost all the food vans were shut :angry: Seriously, working for nothing without any food isn't a great way to make people happy. But it did mean my food tokens could go on beer at the Sunday session; which was fantastic! Steered clear of the chili beers ( had a cheeky nip of a few during my shift, and was not impressed!)


We were warned in advance that breaks might not be possible, but if you needed one desperately others would have covered your shift.
There were 3-4 chili beers, I found #7 far-and-away to pepper/hot for my taste, but know others liked it, however I found #11 was a wonderfully balanced chili stout, the chili did not hit you in the face but was just a hint/aftertaste which made it quite drinkable.


----------



## Edak (15/5/12)

I really liked the sweet potato porter. 

I also enjoyed the #7 chill beer, the green pepper style would go well with pizza. Chilli hit from 11 was enough to make me salivate but I wouldn't drink a whole pot of it. 

#24 was really to my taste. 

The sledgehammer PA left me with bitterness bitterness bruises.


----------



## DarkFaerytale (15/5/12)

i was at the saturday afternoon session, i really enjoyed it, we arrived right on opening and found no lines for our first paddle, by the time we got to our second after something to eat though we were waiting for about 35 minutes. still the time went quickly and we both had a great day. 

if you sore a bald guy with a long goatee and a scooby doo t-shirt on, that woulda been me. 

stonecutter was my favourite but there were deffinatly some really out there and awesome beers. no more of that aniseed stout for me though thanks...

-Phill


----------



## super_simian (16/5/12)

If by "desperately need" you mean the usual human requirement for food, then I perhaps should have spoken up! I just think it shows some poor organisation. Furthermore, there could have been some communication with the food vans; when it was apparent we weren't going to have a break, they could have asked them to stay open longer to give the volunteers (without whom there would be no event) a chance to get a bite after their shift. 

On a personal note, it didn't help that I had a narrow margin to get to my actual paying job that night, and I can't have been the only one with such miserable hospo work hours (meaning waiting for the vans to re-open/going elsewhere wasn't a viable option). 

Anyway, despite the sting of the food fail, I did actually have a pretty good time, it was great to meet some other beer nerds and help run such a sweet event. TBH, boning the free food tokens and instead having a volunteer sausage sizzle or similar might be a better bet next year.


----------



## bconnery (18/5/12)

One thing I was very impressed with was their reaction to organisational issues. 

So many festivals I've seen just let the issues run without bothering to react to them. 

Queues at the paddle tables? Right, next session we'll hand them out at the front door and on the tables...
Paddle only tasters meaning people have tokens left? Ok, from now on you can buy individual tasters...
I understand that they also changed the bar serving system slightly from Friday as well. 
And there were a few other little examples I saw. 

The lines one was always going to be hard to fix on the day though...

Personally even in a long queue on Saturday night I never felt like it was that long. I just made sure I took my two paddles and the glass 
I certainly can't say I hadn't had enough beer by the end of the session!

Oh, and the beers. The beers were just awesome!
Gannamatta IPA, Bright IRA, Moon Dog Mr Mephistoffeles and Feral Watermelon Warhead were my standouts but there were loads of others I could have mentioned. 
I think there was about 2 I rated as completely awful, a couple more that were fairly meh, but I'd say well and truly less than 8-10 all told that didn't range from quite good to absolutely outstanding.


----------



## redbeard (18/5/12)

For Sydney peeps who couldnt make it to Melb, a number of leftover kegs will make an appearance at the LocalTapHouse on Sat 2nd June. i have no idea which ones.


----------



## Where's Jim? (7/6/12)

Yeastie Boys to release Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA.


----------



## DarkFaerytale (7/6/12)

[quote name='Where's Jim?' post='921420' date='Jun 7 2012, 11:20 AM']Yeastie Boys to release Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA.

[/quote]

Gunnamatta technical information:
Malt: Golden Promise Pale Malt, Carapils, Caramunich, Wheat
Hops: Pacifica, Motueka, Southern Cross, Pacific Jade
Tea: Earl Grey Blue Flower from t leaft T
Yeast: Chico (US ale)
Alcohol: 6.5%abv
Bitterness: 52ibu 

nice, thanks Where's Jim?


----------



## Wolfy (7/6/12)

[quote name='Where's Jim?' post='921420' date='Jun 7 2012, 11:20 AM']Yeastie Boys to release Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA.[/quote]
My first impression - trying the beer without reading the tasting notes - was that I was drinking used-dishwashing-water ... but I'm not a big tea-drinker, so that could be a factor.


----------



## Adam Howard (7/6/12)

[quote name='bconnery' post='913510' date='May 18 2012, 12:04 PM']Oh, and the beers. The beers were just awesome!
Gannamatta IPA, Bright IRA, Moon Dog Mr Mephistoffeles and Feral Watermelon Warhead were my standouts but there were loads of others I could have mentioned.[/quote]

They were my top 4 with the Holgate Gruit Expectations and the Wig and Pen sour up there as well.

[quote name='Where's Jim?' post='921420' date='Jun 7 2012, 11:20 AM']Yeastie Boys to release Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA.

[/quote]


 :beerbang: :chug: 

Heck yes. Bergamot in an IPA....cannot believe how well they made that work. I've been drinking earl grey tea from a very young age and to now have an IPA with that character = awesome. Would love to have a crack at a clone given the above info. Have to disagree about dishwater Wolfy!


----------



## Wolfy (7/6/12)

Adamski29 said:


> Have to disagree about dishwater Wolfy!


After reading the tasting notes and changing the perception of what I was expecting, the beer was quite acceptable and I didn't mind it.
But it was still not my cup-of-tea.


----------

