Say Cheers to 2017's Hottest 100 Kiwi Craft Beers

For the second year running the quaffers behind the Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular (GABS) have polled Kiwi craft beer drinkers to spotlight their favourite local drops of 2017.

The top spot for the recently released GABS Hottest 100 Kiwi Craft Beers was once again claimed by the ever-delicious Panhead Supercharger. This hop-forward American pale ale is one of the originals brewer Mike Nielson created back in 2013 when he was brewing beer out of an old Dunlop tyre factory, and not a shiny Lion facility.

Next on the list comes a Garage Project one-two hop punch with a pair of double IPAs: Death From Above and Pernicious Weed. The number two placed Death From Above was recently cancelled by the Wellington brewery after several complaints that the label and name were offensive references to the Vietnamese war. A masterpiece of American hops, mango, lime, Vietnamese mint and chilli, its high placing on the list underscores how much it will be missed by its Kiwi fans.

Garage Project was the biggest winner on the list with 19 beers of all styles featured, from New Zealand IPAs to a salted peach gose. Auckland breweries Behemoth and 8 Wired also did extremely well with 13 and 10 beers making the list, respectively. It was promising to see a number of new breweries make the cut, with North Shore legends Birkenhead featuring twice and Outlier Cartel making the top 40 with their delicious New England IPA 'Kekule's Dream'.

Creator of the poll, Steve Jeffares, was stoked with the diversity of the top 100, hinting that it demonstrated our more sophisticated palate when compared to our neighbours over the ditch. "In this year's Aussie list, we saw hoppy styles such as pale ales and IPAs dominate with 75% of beers being hop-driven. While that trend is still strong in New Zealand, it's very rewarding to see Kiwi beer lovers also voting in numbers for sours, stouts, goses and other more experimental beers."

Seven of the beers on the list started their lives at the GABS Festival. To taste the next best beer first head to this year's GABS on June 30 at the ASB Showgrounds.

GABS HOTTEST 100 KIWI CRAFT BEERS OF 2017

1. 'Supercharger' American Pale Ale (Panhead)
2. 'Death From Above' Specialty IPA (Garage Project)
3. 'Pernicious Weed' Double IPA (Garage Project)
4. 'Hop Zombie' Double IPA (Epic)
5. 'Party & Bullshit' New England IPA (Garage Project)
6. 'Armageddon' American IPA (Epic)
7. 'The Kush' American IPA (Liberty)
8. 'Citra' Double IPA (Liberty)
9. 'Cucumber Hippy Berliner' Berliner Weisse (8 Wired)
10. 'Hapi Daze' New Zealand Pale Ale (Garage Project)
11. 'Wakachangi' International Pale Lager (McCashin's)
12. 'Knife Party' American IPA (Liberty)
13. 'Lid Ripper' New England IPA (Behemoth)
14. 'Bitterbitch' Specialty IPA (Parrotdog)
15. 'Garagista' American IPA (Garage Project)
16. 'Jungle Boogie' Kettle Sour (Funk Estate)
17. 'The Dude Abides' Sweet Stout (Behemoth)
18. 'Magic Dust' Specialty IPA (Epic)
19. 'Beautiful Trouble' American IPA (Birkenhead / Ninkasi [USA])
20. 'Hoppy McHopface (Hop Oil Project)' Double IPA (Deep Creek)
21. 'Quickchange XPA' American Pale Ale (Panhead)
22. 'Bird Dog' American IPA (Emerson's)
23. 'Hopwired' Specialty IPA (8 Wired)
24. 'Boss Level' Double IPA (Garage Project)
25. 'NZ Pilsner' New World Pilsener (Emerson's)
26. 'Yakima Monster' American Pale Ale (Liberty)
27. 'IPA' English IPA (Good George)
28. 'White Mischief' Gose (Garage Project)
29. 'Fuzz Box' New England IPA (Garage Project)
30. 'Prohibition Porter' Wood-Aged Beer (Liberty)
31. 'Kapai' New Zealand Pale Ale (Tuatara)
32. 'Fistful Of Cherries' Soured Fruit Beer (8 Wired)
33. 'Triple Chocolate Milk Stout' Sweet Stout (Behemoth)
34. 'Tomahawk' American Pale Ale (Tuatara)
35. 'Bouncing Czech' Bohemian/Czech Pilsener (Boundary Road)
36. 'Pils N Thrills' New World Pilsener (Garage Project)
37. 'Halo' New World Pilsener (Liberty)
38. 'Kekulé's Dream' New England IPA (Outlier Cartel)
39. 'Billion Dollar Grapefruit' American IPA (Behemoth)
40. 'Beer' New World Pilsener (Garage Project)
41. 'Port Road' New World Pilsener (Panhead)
42. 'Impeachment' Kettle Sour (Behemoth)
43. 'Hippy Berliner' Berliner Weisse (8 Wired)
44. 'Double IPA' (Lupulin Effect Project) Double IPA (Deep Creek)
45. 'Superconductor' Double IPA (8 Wired)
46. 'Kauri' Double IPA (Birkenhead)
47. 'Tropical Mo Fo' New Zealand Pale Ale (Behemoth)
48. 'Falcon' American Pale Ale (Parrotdog)
49. 'Apehanger' American IPA (Bootleg)
50. 'Flat White' American Stout (8 Wired)
51. 'Chocolate Fish' Sweet Stout (Behemoth) ​
52. 'Mermaids Mirth' American Pale Ale (Mount Brewing)
53. 'Bookbinder' Ordinary Bitter (Emerson's)
54. 'Mot Eureka' New World Pilsener (Tuatara)
55. 'Threeway Sour Mango IPA' Experimental Beer (Emerson's / Behemoth / Funk Estate)
56. 'Cosmic Chaos' Kettle Sour (8 Wired) ​NEW​ G​ ABS
57. 'Hops On Pointe' New World Pilsener (Garage Project)
58. 'Gunnamatta' Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer (Yeastie Boys)
59. 'Dogfather' American IPA (Black Dog)
60. 'Mutiny On The Bounty' Foreign Extra Stout (Garage Project)
61. 'Oh Brother' American Pale Ale (Liberty)
62. 'The Juice' Gose (Boneface)
63. 'Interstate' American Pale Ale (Mac's)
64. '1812' New Zealand Pale Ale (Emerson's)
65. 'Wild Feijoa' Soured Fruit Beer (8 Wired)
66. 'La Calavera Catrina' Experimental Beer (Garage Project)
67. 'Thunder' American Pale Ale (Epic)
68. 'Pilsner' New World Pilsener (Sawmill)
69. 'Cabbages & Kings' Russian Imperial Stout (Garage Project)
70. 'Aro Noir' American Stout (Garage Project)
71. 'Deadcanary' New Zealand Pale Ale (Parrotdog)
72. 'Big Smoke' Porter (8 Wired)
73. 'Soul Train' Specialty IPA (Funk Estate)
74. 'New England IPA (Lupulin Effect Project)' New England IPA (Deep Creek)
75. 'APA' American IPA (Good George)
76. 'Tropical Cyclone' Double IPA (McLeod's)
77. 'Big Bang' Double IPA (Epic)
78. 'Yuzu Pernicious Weed' Double IPA (Garage Project)
79. 'Hopped Up On Pils' New World Pilsener (Behemoth)
80. 'Venusian Pale Ale' Specialty IPA (Garage Project)
81. 'Chur' New Zealand Pale Ale (Behemoth)
82. '6 Foot 5' American IPA (Behemoth)
83. 'No Sleep Till Moutere' New England IPA (Behemoth)
84. 'Hoptron' American Pale Ale (Boneface)
85. 'Tropidelic' New Zealand Pale Ale (8 Wired)
86. 'Extra Pale Ale' American Pale Ale (Brave)
87. 'Dusty Gringo' American Brown Ale (Deep Creek)
88. 'Three Wolves' International Pale Ale (Mac's)
89. 'Chomp' Extra Special Bitter (Black Dog)
90. 'Angry Peaches' American Pale Ale (Garage Project)
91. 'Rogue Hop' New World Pilsener (Harrington's)
92. 'Bloodhound' Red IPA (Parrotdog)
93. 'Extra Pale Ale' American Pale Ale (Sawmill)
94. 'In Ya Face' Double IPA (Behemoth)
95. 'XPA' New Zealand Pale Ale (Monteith's)
96. 'The Vandal' Double IPA (Panhead)
97. 'Day Of The Dead' Experimental Beer (Garage Project)
98. 'Royal Tanninbomb' Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer (Yeastie Boys) ​
99. 'Murica' American Pale Ale (Behemoth)
100. 'Milk Chocolate Stout' Sweet Stout (Moa) ​