AUSTRALIA'S biggest craft beer festival will pour into the Hunter Valley in 2024.
The Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular (GABS), has joined forces with the Schwartz Family Company (SFC) to expand the festival outside of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and into new homes in Lovedale, the Gold Coast and Canberra.
Under the partnership, the SFC-owned Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival will become an official GABS event.
SFC owner Jerry Schwartz has also become a board member of Spectapular Enterprises, the holding company behind GABS.
The Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival has been running for the 11 years and was last held on June 24 at the Rydges Resort Hunter Valley.
The first GABS event in the Hunter Valley is expected in June 2024.
"The Hunter Valley is such a natural destination for events celebrating supreme craftsmanship in wine and beer production, and with GABS' massive audience we will be able to attract far greater numbers from intrastate and interstate to come to the Hunter Valley to experience the best the region offers," Mr Schwartz said.
GABS is recognised as one of the world's leading craft beer festivals and an important date on the brewing calendar.
A crowd of 40,000 attended GABS events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne this year to taste beers from 120 breweries, including exclusive one-off ales.
Some of the more outlandish ales brewed for GABS this year included a banana pina colada sour, a pizza beer and jam donut-inspired golden ale.
GABS also owns the annual Hottest 100 Craft Beers poll, which was won by Katoomba's Mountain Culture Status Quo Pale Ale in January, ending the two-year dominance of the Crankshaft IPA from Canberra brewery BentSpoke.
"The partnership with Jerry is a natural fit on all levels," GABS managing director Mike Bray said.
"He brings a wealth of experience in providing local and international guests exceptional experiences every day.
"I see huge potential to build on the incredible work the SFC team have done with the Canberra Beer & Cider Festival and Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival over the years."
Newcastle and the Hunter Valley has fast become one of Australia's most fertile markets for the craft beer industry.
The region has at least 15 breweries and is already home to the successful Bitter & Twisted Boutique Beer Festival at Maitland Gaol and Newcastle Beer Festival, which was last held in February at King Edward Park.
