We recently saw the GABS Hottest 100 beers of 2019 revealed. It was the biggest year yet for the national poll but, as it has grown, so has the discussion and debate about the results. This year saw the antipathy towards the results reach new levels as many of the social media beer cognoscenti decried what they regard as pedestrian beers gaining high positions in the results. Another bugbear for some were little known breweries – at least little known to them – triumphing over better known breweries or more widely distributed beers.

Your Mates bore the brunt of a lot of the attention and criticism after they reached the top 5.

With next to no footprint outside of its home on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Your Mates results – 4 beers in the 100 and the top 5 finish – have been held up as proof the poll is flawed or can be gamed. To others, it was proof that the lack of a marketing budget and national distribution didn’t count against a brewery that had done what craft beer says it does – engage and mobilise its community.

Regardless of your own position, the result for the founders – Christen McGarry and Matt Hepburn, was that their excitement at their achievement quickly became tarnished as they watched the scorn online catch them up in its wake.

So who is Your Mates? We caught up with Christen McGarry last year, the day after they opened their new brewhouse and bar. In this episode we discuss the Hottest 100, how they campaigned, what their result means for them and also why the Sunshine Coast did so well in the national poll.

It’s a fun conversation with two mates who, as you’ll hear, are filled with enthusiasm for what they do.

Enjoy the conversation.

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