GABS beer fest: All the faces and moments in Melbourne

From golden hues to frothy delights, thousands celebrated the vibrant tapestry of brews and smiles at the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular.

From golden hues to frothy delights, thousands celebrated the vibrant tapestry of brews and smiles at the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular (GABS).

Amid the bustling streets of Melbourne, more than 18,000 beer aficionados came together to celebrate the thriving beer culture.

The beer fest goers experienced 80s inspired disco party theme, air guitar championships, hanging bar challengeand more than 120 unique, never seen before beers from breweries across the state.

Event director James Bradshaw said GABS was “pushing the boundaries” in the beer industry with brewers showcasing their creativity.

“We've got 120 new beers the brewers go out and brew for us. There’s some absolutely unique and wacky ingredients, we’ve got our brownie, peanut butter brownie stouts there’s an electronic gummy worms sour — it’s really around. The brewers been able to push their creativity and really showcase what they can do,” he said.

Mr Bradshaw said it was important to support regional breweries around the state.

“GABS gives smaller businesses in the industry an opportunity to showcase their craft to their communities in a bigger space with more people; the Brewers go over and above every single year,” he said.

“There’s quite a few of the breweries are regional breweries, and this is bringing them into the city, getting them in front of the big market that comes today.”

Diti from Bad Shepherd, a family owner brewery in Cheltenham said they focus on “really approachable styles” but also did several limited releases.

“The limited editions are a bit more challenging, a little bit more exciting. At the moment, we have Poseidon Triple IPA, which is a really big bold IPA. We've got the apple crumble sour, an imperial sour,” they said.

Beechworth local and Billsons Brewery also showcased its unique new beers.

“Brewer Hamish has been working on this for a while when mixing our beers with all our awesome cordials as well so it‘s like choose your own adventure creating your own flavour, which is really exciting.”

Nick Campbell from Local Brewery said their company was unique because it “challenges the status quo”.

“We started four years ago, a group of mates and wanted to challenge how the craft beer industry or alcohol industry in general could give back. So we started relationship with Second Bite, a charity that deals with food wastage and food insecurity,” he said.

“We donate a meal through Second Bite for every pint or four pack sold. We have donated over 220,000 meals so far.”