Bridge Road Brewers Pale Ale cracks top 10 in GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers

Bridge Road Brewers Beechworth Pale Ale placed ninth in the annual GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers countdown.

It was the highest placing from a Victorian brewery in the 2022 poll.

The GABS Hottest 100 is recognised as the largest consumer-voted craft beer competition in Australia.

The results were determined through 60,000-plus public votes nominating favourites from 2140 beers and 311 breweries.

Beechworth Pale Ale improved on its 14th place in 2021 and was the highest-ranked Victorian beer.

Bright Brewery made the competition's top 50, scoring 46th for its Alpine Lager.

The Beechworth brewery was packed with revelers during the count on Saturday, ready to celebrate when the result was announced late in the proceedings.

In the 15 years since the GABS Hottest 100 Craft Beers' inception, Beechworth Pale Ale was one of only two beers to feature in every count, and the only one which is independently owned.

At a total of 62 entries, Bridge Road Brewers was highlighted during the event as holding the record number of entries for a brewery in the poll's 15-year history.

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Bridge Road Brewers founder and owner Ben Kraus said it was a victory for independent craft beer.

"The craft beer industry has more competition today than ever before, particularly with huge increases in the number of breweries being bought out by multi-national corporations," he said.

"For smaller regional breweries like ourselves it is hard to compete with the reach and resources of these major organisations.

"We have always had great support from regional Victoria, not just in Beechworth but the wider High Country and border region too.

"A lot of our customers see us as the local craft beer for regional Victoria and this loyalty doesn't go unappreciated.

"We think of this result as win for the whole North East in having the number one Victorian craft beer come from our collective region."

Ben and Maria Kraus founded Bridge Road Brewers in 2005 and moved to the historic Beechworth Coach House one year later.

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