CRAFT beer connoisseurs hoping to receive the full GABS experience in the Hunter Valley this year might be feeling a little flat.
In July last year it was announced with great fanfare that the Schwartz Family Company (SFC), which is owned by high-profile businessman Jerry Schwartz, had bought a 50 per cent stake in The Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular (GABS).
Under the deal, the SFC-owned Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival became an official GABS event.
GABS kicks off in Sydney on Friday at Darling Harbour with 120 different beers. GABS is one of the world's largest craft beer festivals and is renown for its wacky and experimental brews.
This year's more experimental beers feature indigenous plums, macadamias, crushed-up corn tortilla shells, basil and peppercorn, Tajin salt, tequila and ghost chilli, sweet potato and smoky bacon.
The Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival returns to Rydges Resort in Lovedale on July 13, but will maintain a heavy focus on local wines.
The Lovedale-based Sydney Brewery, Pokolbin's Hope Brewery and Willie The Boatman from St Peters in Sydney are the brewers secured for the festival.
A spokesman for SFC said GABs would "power" the Hunter Valley Wine & Beer Festival through their marketing channels and that, "wine is still the major focus, but as you will see with the addition of 'beer', the festival is putting greater emphasis on craft beers."
