Better known by its acronym of GABS, it's a three-day event held in Melbourne in May as part of Good Beer Week (also another fave of beer geeks).

GABS is a little bit special because it features more than 100 brand new beers - beers that haven't been available anywhere before because they've been brewed especially for this event.

Over the past few years the festival has grown to include international breweries. This year, breweries from New Zealand, United States, Britain, Japan and Denmark are bringing along special beers.

The South Coast will be represented by the Illawarra Brewing Company and HopDog BeerWorks.

One of the appeals of the event is that brewers let their imagination run wild.

So this year there's a creme caramel-flavoured dessert beer, another modelled on rocky road, a Belgian beer with rocket, a sake-beer hybrid, a banana chocolate stout and another featuring coriander, cumin, chilli and coconut.

The event also features brewers' stalls where other beers are available, gourmet food stalls and a range of pub games.

Then there's the Coopers Craft Beer College, where brewers meet to deliver seminars or talk about the beers they've made for GABS.

Details gabsfestival.com.au