BentSpoke’s Crankshaft IPA aiming for a rare three-peat in the GABS Hottest 100 craft beer poll

It’s a feat that has only been achieved once before, but Canberra brewer BentSpoke’s Crankshaft IPA is gunning to be crowned the country’s best craft beer for the third straight year

Brewer Richard Watkins knows he’s going to have his work cut out for him to achieve a rare three-peat in this year’s GABS Hottest 100 craft beer poll.

The co-founder of Canberra’s BentSpoke Brewing Co scored the top spot in the last two lists – after three straight years in third place – with his Crankshaft IPA but he agrees it’s going to be a tough ask to match the run put on by Feral Brewing Company’s Hop Hog American Pale Ale, which topped the chart from 2012 to 2014.

“I think you’re right there,” he says. “We will take any spot in the top 10. I think there’s going to be a little bit of change at the top of the top 10 this year. But even top 10 is a really good result for a pretty small brewery in Canberra.”

The popularity of the GABS Hottest 100 – nearly a quarter of a million votes were cast by nearly 50,000 consumers in the 14th annual poll last year – has been inextricably linked with the rise of the craft beer market in Australia.

Although craft beers still only make up about 8 per cent of the total beer market in Australia, Watkins says the Hottest 100 is a fantastic way for smaller breweries to get noticed and also to get their product picked up by distributors.

Richard Watkins and Tracy Margrain from Canberra's BentSpoke Brewing Co.

When Crankshaft was first entered in the poll in 2015, it was still only available in BentSpoke’s brew pub, but its creditable 88th placing helped raise awareness once they started canning it and it cracked the top 10 the following year. For smaller breweries, who might not have the budget for huge marketing campaigns or advertising spends, the kudos that comes with featuring on the poll and the likelihood that enthusiasts will actively seek the entry out, can be invaluable.

“We rode on the back of that in the last few years and have been really able to increase our distribution,” Watkins says. “When we finished third, no one really knew about us at all so getting our name front and centre also made a big difference. And then to top it off with No. 1 was really the icing on the cake and really cemented us as a quality beer.”

Crankshaft is now widely available in bottle shops and through beer clubs around the country and has since won a gold medal in the UK’s long-running and prestigious International Beer Awards, but Watkins says that while medals and trophies are always welcome, the stamp of approval from consumers is what really counts.

“This competition is really important because it’s voted by the people who buy your beer,” he says. “At the end of the day, we’re here to sell beer to people and if people like our beer and they vote for it then that’s really good recognition for all the hard work we put in making really good beer.”

Balter’s XPA is a past-winner of the GABS Hottest 100 is expected to poll highly again this year.

IPA (India Pale Ale) enthusiast Watkins says he’s not quite sure why Crankshaft, which is brewed with four different kinds of hops sourced from the US, has struck such a chord with drinkers. It pipped Balter’s XPA and Your Mates’ Larry Australian Pale Ale for the top spot last year – but Watkins says he feels like a bit of an anomaly in the craft beer world.

“I don’t think there’s another brewery in Australia with an IPA as their biggest selling beer,” he says. “It’s not a 7% IPA, it’s a 5.8% IPA and is quite sessionable – you can still have a couple of pints and it’s not overly bitter but it is nice and hoppy and fruity and I think that’s what a lot of people like.”

Typically the Hottest 100 list features all manner of beer styles, from more straightforward lagers, pilsners and pale ales right through to exotically flavoured stouts, fruit-infused kettle sours and slightly wacky one-off batches.

Watkins, who has been making beers for 26 years, first as a home-brewer then professionally, is all for innovation and experimentation but admits that in the pursuit to stand out from the crowd “some people tend to maybe brew beers first and think about the flavours later”.

Matt Hepburn, co-owner of Your Mates Brewing, which will be gunning for the top spot in this year’s poll. Photo: Patrick Woods.

“I think my advice is get to know which flavours go well together and back yourself to deliver that flavour balance,” he says. “It’s fine to push the boundaries and everyone wants to do that but you can push the boundaries in moderation and still have a really innovative beer. It’s when we go too far one way that I think we actually maybe alienate the consumer a little bit and that’s not good for any of us.”

Of the chasing pack hunting his coveted No. 1 position on the list, Watkins names fast-growing Griffith outfit Better Beer, Sydney stalwarts Young Henry’s, Blue Mountains’ Mountain Culture and fellow Canberrans Capital Brewing as the ones to watch this year. But he doesn’t view them as competition – rather as collaborators in trying to get more consumers to explore the breadth of beers now readily available.

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“All these little things that we do now like the Hottest 100 really increases our market share in the beer market,” he says. “That means there’s more spots on shelves for small brewers to showcase their beers, more consumers who are looking to buy different beers. It’s literally good for the whole industry.

“I think that is pretty exciting for the Australian beer consumer. Craft beer is now so accessible to people and you’re able to get them quite easily.”

Vote for your favourite beer at gabshottest100.com. Voting closes at midnight tonight

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