From red frogs to pizza to jam donuts, these are the crazy beers coming to GABS this year

From pizza and beetroot flavoured beers to red frog and jam donut inspired treats, The Great Australian Beer Spectapular festival is a chance for craft brewers to go a little crazy.

For adventurous beer lovers, one of the great joys of the Great Australian Beer Spectapular (GABS) is the chance to try some of the crazy creations concocted by breweries from around the country.

Frexi Brewing’s Pizza Beer, containing tomato, oregano, basil and salt.

Among the offerings this year will be a dark lager made with raspberries and red frogs from Geelong’s Blackman Brewery; a pizza beer sour containing tomato, oregano, basil and salt, from Melbourne outfit Frexi Brewing; a beetroot pilsener by the Moffatt Beach Brewing Co. in Queensland; and brown ale with Tim Tams from Sydney brewery B.O.B.

Evin Craney, national sales and export manager for Bright Brewery, in country Victoria, describes the annual craft beer festival that will make its way up the East Cost in May and June as a combination of Disneyland, Christmas and Halloween for beer lovers, and says it presents an opportunity for craft beer to be “the adult version of a lolly store”.

“The beauty of GABS is that it takes the Willy Wonka aspect of our industry and dials it up to 100,” Craney says. “It’s the one time that breweries get to really take off the reins and go all out and produce things the probably wouldn’t make sense any other time of the year, but allow us to dive into the deepest realms of innovation.”

Craney says that the team at Bright Brewery start thinking about the next year’s special beer the day after the annual event finishes, with ideas encouraged from all parts of the business. This year, inspired by country bakeries, assistant brewer David Stokie designed, created and brewed the Drinkin’ Donuts Imperial Jam Donut Golden Ale.

David Stokie with jam donuts.

Bright Brewery’s Drinkin' Donuts Imperial Jam Donut Golden Ale.

Like its name suggests, the sweet-tasting beverage contains actual jam donuts that were made on the property, as well as 200kg of raspberry puree. Craney says that the brewery’s mantra is that if they make a beer they say tastes like something, it has to actually taste like that thing, not just partially.

“It’s tasting great,” he says. “It has a really nice, sweet, raspberry flavour that you want from the jam, and we picked golden ale because it’s a really nice base – it’s not too malt-heavy and we’re not looking for any hop presence in the beer itself. We’re also getting this fried, doughy flavour coming through as well – the brew team actually used 250 freshly fried, homemade donuts from our kitchen on the day of brewing. We want this to appeal to everyone.”

Craney admits that as much as they are wanting the customers who visit their stand at GABS to enjoy their beer (where it will be served with a cinnamon sugar rim and doughnut garnish), they are also trying to one-up their previous creations and impress the other 180-odd other breweries at the event.

“It’s an opportunity for brewers to flex their chops,” he says. “It might not be the most commercially viable beer and I don’t know if we are going to have it year round – but it’s an opportunity for our brew team to show what they are capable of. So it’s a mixture of all three – it’s for the brewers, it’s for the team members and it’s for the punters.”

There are beers to suit all tastes at the annual GABS beer festival. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Crosling

FIVE WACKY BEERS TO TRY AT GABS THIS YEAR

BREWERY: B. O. B, Marrickville, NSW

BEER NAME: Tim, Tam & Tom (ABV: 5.9%)

STYLE: Brown Ale – UK

Classical British Ale with Tim Tams. Front palate will have loads of biscuitiness, followed by a mid palette showing some hoppy character followed by a sweet lasting finish.

BREWERY: Dad & Dave’s Brewing, Northern Beaches, NSW

BEER NAME: Boba Beer

STYLE: Sour – Berliner Weisse (ABV: 6%)

A delightfully tart grapefruit Beliner Weisse infused with Jasmine Green Tea. Bit notes of citrus and floral jasmine. Serve with Tapioca Pearls for full experience!

BREWERY: Blackman’s Brewery, Geelong, VIC

BEER NAME: Red frog, Raspberry dark lager

STYLE: Lager – Dark (ABV: 5%)

A dark lager made with copious amounts of red frogs and raspberries. Bags and bags of red frogs have been thrown in along with a large amount of fresh raspberries. A crisp easy drinking beer with fruity choc berry explosion of red frog delight!

This year’s GABS beer festival will features its usual complement of oddities for the adventurous drinker.

BREWERY: ATOMIC, Redfern NSW

BEER NAME: VoVo Whip

STYLE: Sour – Kettle Sour (ABV: 4.5%)

Modelled off the treasured biscuit favourite served by Nans around Australia, this raspberry coconut sour tastes exactly as it sounds. Tart, refreshing and delightfully nostalgic

BEER NAME: Can’t Beet A Root

STYLE: Lager – Classic Pilsner (ABV: 4.8%)

Beetroot. Whether it’s leaking the red stuff all over your burger with the lot, or ‘garnishing’ your Mum’s iceberg lettuce ‘salad’, is there any veg more quintessentially Australian? Well, we’ve taken it one step further, and whacked it in a beer. That’s right. Beetroot. In. Your. Beer. Can’t beet it.

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Originally published as From red frogs to pizza to jam donuts, these are the crazy beers coming to GABS this year