Revealed: The Blue Mountains craft beer that beat Balter and Young Henry’s to be voted nation’s best

A Katoomba husband-and-wife duo have beaten off the likes of Balter and Young Henry’s to have their craft beer hailed Australia’s best.

Top drop: Mountain Culture, founded by DJ and Harriet McCready, was voted No. 1 in GABS Hottest 100 Craft Beer List. Picture: Supplied

A Katoomba-based husband and wife team who started brewing beer out of a former Civic Video store have been voted the best craft beer in Australia.

Mountain Culture’s Status Quo Pale Ale was voted by the public as the best craft beer in Australia in GABS (Great Australian Beer Spectacular) Hottest 100 Australian Craft Beers List, beating the likes of household names like Young Henry’s and Balter.

The list, now in its 15th year, tally’s the votes of over 60,000 Australians, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese among one of them.

However, it’s the first time a new beer has made its debut on the list at number one.

DJ and Harriet McCready started brewing in 2019, with the aim of creating the first brewpub in the Blue Mountains.

Mountain Culture founders DJ and Harriet McCready. Source: Supplied

They took over Katoomba’s Echo building, which used to be a Civic Video store and also, further back in time, home to the local newspaper.

“We made history, which is totally unexpected. We would have been stoked with getting in the top 30, but to win the biggest competition in beer is crazy,” said Harriet McCready.

Mountain Culture founders DJ and Harriet McCready. Source: Supplied

McCready, whose husband was had been a head brewer for a company in Marrickville, said the award was also vindication to all those who discouraged them for starting a brewhouse in the Blue Mountains.

“We had so many people tell us we couldn’t do it. From council, to banks. Everyone said the area didn’t have a big enough market and we should chose a more industrial area like Marrickville. But we had faith in the beer,” she said.

They started with the two of them and the hopes to sell 60,000 lites of beer in the first year. Come April 2023, they will have the capacity to make 10 million litres of beer. And the now employ more than 60 staff.

Craft beer has become a booming business in Australia.

In 2022, there was a 17.7 per cent growth in total craft beer revenue. And 14.1 per cent of total beer revenue is held by craft breweries.

McCready believes that like our increasingly-sophisticated coffee palette, Australians now expect a lot from their beer: “Like the espresso movement back in the day, people’s palates have expanded and they are looking for different flavours.”