GABS 2023 BEERS THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

2013 brought with it more hops, but this time in the shape of IPAs as our hop thresholds grew and we wanted more hops, more flavour, more intensity. We couldn’t get enough!! We were drinking bigger beers, with higher ABV’s, so much so that a Belgian Quad (coming in at a hefty 14.9% abv) also made the Top 10. Was this a sign of big things to come?

It was definitely the start of a foray into our love affair with IPA’s with nearly 50% of the top 20 beers being some form of IPA, be it American IPA, Double IPA or the newest kid on the block, the Imperial Red IPA, a beast of a beer style that combined the best of big hops, high alcohol and rich malts!

2015 was an interesting year… still hop dominated with a slight recalibration back to more traditional American & Australian Pale Ales but perhaps most interesting was the inclusion of three beers that were all mimicking popular food & drinks with Taco, Golden Stout Time and Milk & Three Sugars all finding favour in the Top 20. This was also around the time that GABS Festival beers really went all out as brewers pushed the boundaries between beer and food! 2016 feels like a bit of a turning point, back to more approachable beers, though still very hop-dominated with only one of the beers in the Top 20 not being some style of Pale Ale. This was also the year that the XPA (Extra Pale Ale) featured in the Top 20 for the first time, signaling that perhaps we had been defeated by those big, boozy hoppy numbers of the past, and this then continued on into 2017 with the XPA taking out the top position on the poll. What was also interesting in 2017 was the next faze to take hold of craft beer, the New England IPA, or NEIPA, or the haze craze! Juicy, fruity and super-drinkable, there was nothing that was going to slow these juice-bombs down!

Tropical Pale Ale showed itself in 2018, more NEIPA’s and the continuing love affair with American & Australian Pales and IPA’s, which was pretty much replicated through 2019 and 2020. We are certainly a country of hop lovers it would seem!

Whilst our beer tastes were fairly consistent, life was anything but with the dreaded C word keeping us locked at home, socially distancing and getting our beers delivered straight to our front doors (maybe it wasn’t all that bad). Tik Tok exploded as housebound Gen Z’s got creative, Zoom was how we met both for work and socially and Netflix binging became our favourite pastime.

And finally 2021 and 2022 have brought perhaps the most diverse top 20 lists for some time and probably a great reflection of the need to stay stimulated whilst also the desire to be more grounded. Pale Ales, XPAs, Hazys and NEIPAs along with a Zero Carb/Zero Sugar and even a sour are all really supporting our foray back into easy-drinking, approachable and dare we say it, sessionable beer styles that feel exciting, if not a little reassuring and safe, which is exactly what we all need.