Bentspoke Brewing Co has stamped their mark on the Australian craft beer scene, with two beers making the top 20 in the GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers.
A large crowd gathered at the Braddon brew pub with owners Tracy Margrain and Richard Watkins to hear Bentspoke's Crankshaft beer announced in eighth place and Barley Griffin at 19.
![Bentspoke's Tracy Margrain and Richard Watkins with their Barley Griffin and Crankshaft beers, which both finished in ...](/web/20170126073522im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/z/7/7/b/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtyzi5.png/1485411449946.jpg)
It's a huge win for Bentspoke, at only their second year in the countdown, with Crankshaft placing at 88 in 2016.
It was a result that head brewer Watkins said brought a tear to his eye.
"It's fantastic. I mean obviously we were just a little brew pub last year and this year we've expanded into a production brewery and we put our beer in cans," he said.
"We've been selling a little bit of beer around Canberra but we're not really selling a lot of beer. We've got our beer out and packaged, people can take it home which is great, but in terms of the breweries that we're standing next to, they're massive Australian brands. People are obviously loving the beer."
There were three Canberra brews in the list of 100, with Pact Beer Co's Mt Tennent Pale Ale also placing well No.52.
Margrain said they were blown away by both the result and the support from the Canberra community.
"I just want to thank everyone from Canberra because they're obviously our main reason for being here," she said.
"If everyone in Canberra didn't vote for us then we probably wouldn't have polled so well. So it just goes to show that from a small country town of 400,000 people that we can compete in a massive beer community. It's just totally humbling and awesome and I can't thank everyone enough."
Watkins expected the result would lead to higher demand for Bentspoke beer across the country.
"It means we're going to be working hard. Next week we were planning on doing a bit of packaging, but I'm pretty confident we'll be cracking on next week," he said.
"Around Australia people are going to be wanting our beer. We'll have a few emails probably on Friday saying, 'can we get your beer?' And at the end of the day we're in the business to sell beer. So we're gonna have beer ready to go."
The countdown, which started in 2008, is hosted by The Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular, and is voted for by the public. Stone and Wood Pacific Ale took out the competition in first place.
A huge CONGRATS to BentSpoke Brewing Co who just came 8th in the GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of the Year. It's cheers all round down here!
Posted by Canberra Life on Wednesday, January 25, 2017