Cheers to 10 years of great beers in Geelong

GREAT Australian Beer Festival (GABF) Geelong turns 10 next weekend, celebrating with a plethora of food, drink and entertainment across the Friday and Saturday.

With a multitude of new additions, the expanded program for January 20-21 ranges from established and emerging live music and live comedy to cooking demonstrations, masterclasses and beer-food pairing, live Australian Open tennis coverage on the big screen and family-friendly activities ensuring the festival will truly offer something for everyone – and it is all included in the ticket.

Delivering an immersive ‘Taste of the Region’, the festival at Geelong’s Johnstone Park will also showcase a colossal line-up of more than 300 world-class breweries, cideries, distilleries, cocktail specialists, vineyards and local gourmet street food.

With the full GABF Weekend program announced, festival founder and co-director Kieran Blood said he was incredibly excited by what was on offer at this year’s event.

“We are expecting a sold-out crowd with a diverse mix of locals and visitors from all parts of Australia and overseas.

“At GABF, we love to push the boundaries and most of all, create lifelong memories through unique and engaging experiences.

“Our program celebrates creativity, diversity and all things that make our region great.”

The list of breweries offering beers to sample over the weekend is comprehensive, and comprises Archive Wine Bar (wine and spirits), Austin’s Wines, Balter Brewing, Bells Beach Brewing, Bentspoke Brewing Co, Better Beer, Blackmans Brewery & Coast Seltzer, Brewicolo Brewing Co, Bridge Road, Bright Brewery, Burnley Brewing, Clifton Hill Brewing, Cockies/Great Ocean Road Brewing, CBCo, Coopers, Deeds Brewing, FarmDog Brewers and Distillers, Flowstate Brewers & Distillers, Forrest Brewery, Fox Friday, Franks Cider, Fury and Son, Gage Roads, Hawkers Beer, Hawkers, Hop Nation, Jetty Road brewery, Kaiju! Beer, Little Creatures, Local Brewing Co, Moondog Craft Brewery, Mt Pleasant Road brewers, Pipsqueak Cider, Prancing Pony, Stomping Ground, and White Rabbit.

The full GABF entertainment program can be located online on the GABF website and features established and emerging contemporary music on the Gage Roads live music stage with Gabby Steel, Maz Green Jasmin Adria, Tyne James Organ and Jolyon Petch closing off the Friday night session; and Seamus McCorry, Violas, Ash Grunwald, The Natural Culture and Telenova headlining the Saturday session.

Laughter starts pouring on the Friday night with host Stewart Bell at the Brick Lane Brewing live comedy stage at 6pm featuring Nick Cody, Tom Ballard and Alex Ward and Kirsty Webeck.

From classic toasties to internationally celebrated Moules Frites (and all things in between), festival-goers can experience live cooking demonstrations at the Culinary Stage. Each session will focus on sustainability and cooking with local ingredients to create flavoursome meals that pair with great beers.

These include:

• 1.30pm – The Ultimate Toastie Masterclass Presented by Tim Bone, popular MasterChef semi-finalist and owner of Tim’s Toasties
• 2.45pm – Sustainable Cooking with Little Creatures: Putting an Australian Spin on A Class Belgium Dish with Locally Sourced Ingredients Presented by Stephen Shing, Executive Chef- Little Creatures Geelong
• 4pm – A Guide to making the Perfect Beer Snacks presented by Tim Bone

For those looking to start their journey with something a little more educational, masterclasses will kick off 1.30pm on Saturday at the Barrett Burston Masterclass stage with industry icon Tif Waldron and classes including brewer forums, beer/food matching, free tastings lead by local industry leaders.

Tennis fans can get live AO coverage on the big screen at the Better Beer Activation across the entire weekend! Wear your best tennis whites, dress up like your favourite icon or just enjoy the action with a icy cold bevvy.

And to ensure GABF caters for festival goers of all ages, a range of family friendly activities will also be on site on Saturday including shuffleboard, balloon sculpting, face painting, glitter and go and giant bubbles for the young and young at heart.

For 2023, the festival has partnered with the City of Geelong to help cement itself as Geelong’s signature summer festival experience.

“We are both excited and honoured to have the opportunity to work in partnership with the City of Geelong to continue to invest in diverse programs that showcase the best of our region to the rest of the world,” Mr Blood said.

“The increased program across two days is set to bring over 8,000 people from all over Victoria and interstate into the Greater Geelong region, with many opting to stay more nights to experience the abundance of activities and entertainment on offer. This means a massive economic injection into the local hospitality and retail industry.”

GABF Geelong will be held at Johnstone Park on January 20 from 4-10pm and January 21 from noon-7pm.

Very limited tickets are available online only at gabfgeelong.com.au