Canberra's craft brewers are toasting their success after 11 of the ACT's beers hit the list of Australia's top 100.
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Crankshaft India Pale Ale, produced by the BentSpoke Brewing Company based in Braddon, was voted one of the top three Australian craft beers for the second year in succession.
On a warm summer's day in which the countdown of Australia's best music and top beers combine to produce a pleasing afternoon symphony, two of Canberra's craft brewers had their thirst-quenching foamy products rated among the nation's best.
BentSpoke had five beers in the top 25, and Capital Brewing - whose Coast Ale came in at number 15 - had six beers in the top 100.
It was an outstanding result for Canberra's modest-sized brewing industry, which posted seven beers in the top 25, as judged by drinkers from around the country.
BentSpoke co-founder Richard Watkins said, "This is a fantastic result; we've held our top three position from last year and everyone's talking about Canberra's great beer which is great for our industry.
"We're now four years into this project and we're still spreading the word; there's still people in Canberra who haven't tasted our beer so hopefully, after today, they will."
Mr Watkins also congratulated the Fyshwick-based Capital Brewing Company, which had six beers in the top 100, three more than in 2017.
"The Canberra beer community is a collaborative one and we chat with the guys at Capital a lot about things we're doing and things they're doing," he said.
"It's great to see how well they are going because it means that together we are growing Canberra's craft beer-drinking audience.
"We're all Canberra businesses. We have 70 staff now; they're all Canberra people focussed on producing great local beer."
He said that during the past year BentSpoke focussed more intently on its distribution network so its beer range reached a wider national audience.
"The big challenge is always getting the beer out there into more people's hands, getting them to try it because we think our beer stacks up really well against the best," he said.
The national poll, now in its 11th year, is conducted by the the team behind the Great Australian Beer Spectacular (GABS).
The 11 Canberra beers in the top 100 was an increase on the seven in 2017, however, Pact Beer Co's Mount Tennent American Pale Ale, which came in at number 50 a year ago, failed to place this year.
Canberra's nation-building connection with high quality beer is more than schooner deep. It can also claim a strong connection to the nation's top beer, Balter XPA.
Scott Hargrave, the former Canberra concreter who completed a brewing course at Canberra CIT and won an amateur brewing contest here at his first attempt, left the nation's capital soon after and is now regarded as guru of Australia's burgeoning craft beer industry.
Mr Hargrave is now the head brewer at the Balter Brewery on the Gold Coast.
Balter, jointly owned by former professional surfers Josh Kerr, Anthony MacDonald, Bede Durbridge, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and former South Coast surf star Anthony MacDonald, had four beers in the top 10 including Balter XPA, the nation's favourite.
