New Beers

Barely a day goes by without another seasonal or one-off special flying out of an Australian brewery (if not ten). Here and in our weekly newsletter, we'll bring you news and, if we've sampled them, our take on as many of them as possible. Happy hunting!

Hopco

Moon Dog Jean-Strawb Van Damme Sour Ale

Tapped Today
We've given Moon Dog's Magnificent Mullets series credit in the past for being somewhat ahead of the game in terms of the Aussie beer scene, even popping them into our Beers of the 2010s feature at the end of 2019, back when we thought that year was shithouse. Given our current predicament, it may well be they're prescient in more ways than one. After all, who among us hasn't considered the ways in which we can take advantage of enforced isolation from the rest of society? While mullets were briefly… Read more
Style
Fruit Cream Sour
ABV
4.5%

Ocho & Deeds Woolly Mammoth Double IPA

Tapped Yesterday
Just a couple of weeks before travel into Tasmania was brought to a halt, Ned from Quiet Deeds called in to see Stu from Ocho at his Miner’s Gold brewery home. Of course, they brewed a beer together and, of course, it is a double IPA. With all the juice style IPAs on the market at the moment, it's refreshing to dip into a double IPA that serves up a thick, resin-filled back palate. Whilst light on the malts and driven by a hop forward front palate, the pleasant dry warmth you get at the end –… Read more
Style
Double IPA
ABV
8.0%
Stockists

Order direct from Ocho, where you can pick up special lockdown mixed packs too

King River Brewing Blueberry & Mango Berliner Weisse

Tapped Yesterday
Nathan Munt from King River Brewing has been busy throwing fruit into his beers recently, with two Berliner Weisse style beers available from the brewery this April. For Blueberry Berliner Weisse, he sourced local blueberries so he could throw them atop a kettle soured wheat ale base. The skin of those berries give the beer a fantastic pink, slightly purple hue while the flavour they contribute is unmistakable, while the tart finish, to my mind, brought to mind chomping on blueberries straight from… Read more
Style
Fruit Berliner Weisse
ABV
3.5% % 3.8%
Stockists

If you buy them from King River's new online store use the code CRAFTYPINTS for a 10 percent discount!

Cheeky Monkey Guillotines East Coast IPA

Tapped Yesterday
Following the Supertubes collab from pre-shutdown 2020, Cheeky Monkey’s Guillotines keeps the swell pumping in the hazy surf break series with this one is named after a Wilyabrup reef break. Although the nomenclature is recent, the build towards it stretches back into 2019 when a limited release IPA trio explored various shades of haze. The lessons learned then have given the openers to this clutch a substantial advantage, particularly in terms of palate structure. Here, Guillotines opens with… Read more
Style
East Coast IPA
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

Available from the Vasse brewery and WA retailers.

The Caves Road brewery is currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

More stockists...

Cheeky Monkey Imperial Monk 2020 & Great White Raspberry

Tapped Yesterday
It’s a delicious dichotomy: in one can, the return of a much loved and highly rated imperial red IPA and, in the other, the debut of hard seltzer in a can from an Australian craft brewery. Being a beer publication, let’s start there. Cheeky’s Imperial Monk began as a scaled-up version on the now defunct Travelling Monk mid-strength red ale, and has become an iterative, annual release. Where 2019’s was more of an imperial American red ale, 2020 is a straight ahead imperial red IPA. It’s… Read more
Style
Imperial RIPA & Hard Seltzer
ABV
8.3% & 4.0%
Stockists

Available now from the Vasse brewery and WA retailers.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Caves Road brewery is currently closed.

More stockists...

Hawkers Right On Schedule Hazy IPA

Tapped March 31st, 2020
They might have come late to the hazy party but it would appear the Hawkers brewers took a fancy to what they saw as they've tagged along with their hosts, cleared their diaries (haven't we all) and rocked up to the next one as the doors open, arms laden with another IPA that's even bigger than their first, albeit one that slips down easier. The reasons for this bigger-in-booze yet easier-to-dispatch one-two punch can presumably be put down to a few things. The sweet-bitter balance leans more heavily… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
8.5%

White Rabbit & Pana Organic Chocolate Stout 2020

Tapped March 30th, 2020
It feels like Easter, as with pretty much everything else other than adjusting temporarily to a new way of life, is cancelled for 2020. But if you feel like getting in the mood (well, the mood that involves chocolate, bunnies and hunts rather than murder and alleged resurrection, at least) then there are still brewers out there keen to lend a hand. White Rabbit have been putting out a chocolate stout in cahoots with Pana Organic for a few years now and their 2020 version – brewed with cacao from… Read more
Style
Chocolate Stout
ABV
5.6%

La Sirène What The Farmhouse & Beer With Jeff & Blueberry Noir

Tapped March 29th, 2020
Given the limited amounts of each that have been released and the fact we've taken a little while to post this, this trio might require a bit of hunting down. But none is the sort of beer with which you want to sample just enough to put together a write up and pour the rest away; they all warrant time dedicated to them. What The Farmhouse is another La Sirène beer featuring both spontaneous fermentation and a spot of blending, with a young, acid forward farmhouse ale coming together with a wild… Read more
Style
Oak-Aged Wild Ales
ABV
5.0% & 7.2% & 6.0%
Stockists

Mr West

The Oak Barrel

La Sirène Cellar Door (open Saturdays)

Or online store

And select good bottleshops

More stockists...

Holgate Brewhouse Road Trip IPA (Cans)

Tapped March 27th, 2020
These days, IPAs are found everywhere and in every shape and size. Go back a decade and they were pretty rare. You might see the odd one as a specialty release, but the industry was still trying to convince drinkers 4.5 percent ABV pale ales weren't confronting. Yet it was at the start of the last decade Holgate first released their Road Trip IPA, inspired by a road trip through the States, and it soon became a core beer, making them one of the first local breweries to back an IPA as a year round… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.0%
Bitterness
80 IBU

3 Ravens Guava Juicy & Pacific Red Ale

Tapped March 27th, 2020
The Juicy train rolls around again at 3 Ravens, with a return to fruit additions this time. Guava is the weapon of choice here and, boy, can you tell. It looks like a fruit juice in your glass and the fruit purée comes out on top in its arm wrestle with the New World hops. Indeed, such is the guava's potency, there's a tartness reminiscent of a fruit sour in place of the soft bitterness you'll have found in most of its Juicy predecessors. Leaving the Thornbury brewery around the same time is the… Read more
Style
Fruit IPA & Red Ale
ABV
6.0%

Otherside Brewing Co Juicy West Coast IIPA & Russian Imperial Stout

Tapped March 26th, 2020
The Otherside experimentals continue with a flurry. Not only is there this massive duo but, as you read this, there’s also an AUS/NZ DDH Oat Cream IPA on the way plus some more shelf stable styles on the horizon. The DDH Juicy West Coast Hazy IPA is a hybrid of sorts, and one which is finding increasing favour with brewers looking to best express New World hops. A decade or more ago, the three Cs may have abrasively dominant, nowadays more juicy offerings showcase hops. And that's the case here.… Read more
Style
IIPA & Russian Imperial Stout
ABV
8.4% & 9.8%
Stockists

Available from the Myaree brewery, their web store, and other Otherside stockists

Temple Brewing Last Train To Boston & Pineapple Seltzer

Tapped March 26th, 2020
Temple Brewing’s twin tinnie release sees the Brunswick brewery arrive a little late to one party but nice and early to the seltzer soirée. Last Train To Boston is a NEIPA - the brewery’s first to get a wide release – and one that’s triple dry-hopped, thus enabling the brewery to give the beer an extra dash of modernity by calling it a TDH NEIPA. That heavy hopping regime also gives the beer a big hit of orange, along with mango and nectarine, in a soft, thick and entirely opaque beer. … Read more
Style
TDH NEIPA & Fruit Seltzer
ABV
6.4% & 4.7%

Bad Shepherd Poseidon IIPA

Tapped March 25th, 2020
The Almighty has long been one of Bad Shepherd's most sought after and top notch releases, a bold yet balanced double IPA bearing a hoppy, bearded god figure on the cans. But now it turns out there's someone more almighty than The Almighty as Poseidon, a triple IPA, makes his way from the brewery – all 10 percent ABV of him – after proving popular as a single keg trial at a past event. There's a danger with such high octane beers, particularly where the brewers look to keep the malt character… Read more
Style
IIIPA
ABV
10.0%

Moon Dog Leon's IPA

Tapped March 24th, 2020
They may have had to shut their venues for a while but the new releases are set to keep on coming from Moon Dog, with Leon's IPA the latest in their Doggo IPA series paying tribute to their staff's canine buddies. In the case of Leon (which you may have had the chance to try on tap at their venues pre-shutdown before batch two was packaged), they've stepped into NEIPAland and held little back. At a time when many hazy IPAs are reining in the depth of haze, this is turbid AF; it's almost as if hop… Read more
Style
NEIPA
ABV
6.4%
Bitterness
55 IBU

Newstead & Loop Growers Salt of the Earth Pickled Pilsner

Tapped March 23rd, 2020
We all need to eat more vegies. We know that. So putting veggies in our beer makes as much sense as anything else. But this isn’t the primary reason Newstead joined up with Loop Growers; the brewery has jumped on board with the small farm’s sustainable ethos of closed loop farming. They send spent grain and food scraps to the farm to be used as compost and they purchase produce for use in their venues - and, sometimes, their beers. Salt of the Earth Pickled Pilsner is the fourth beer Newstead… Read more
Style
Pickled Pilsner
ABV
4.5%

Newstead Brewing The Mayne Thing Golden Juice

Tapped March 23rd, 2020
Newstead's core range beers are named after stories from Brisbane’s history, including Mayne Thing. But Mayne Thing is developing quite a history itself - to better service their customers, Newstead revisited it first to change it from a golden ale to a golden lager, and now to change it from a golden lager to a hazy pale ale. They’re not calling it a hazy pale ale, though; apparently the new style names of hazy or juicy pale ale aren't new enough for Newstead, who took this historical beer and… Read more
Style
Pale Ale
ABV
4.7%
Bitterness
27 IBU

Newstead & Brisbane Distillery Company Juniper Juice

Tapped March 23rd, 2020
When it comes to gin and juice, who did it better: Snoop Dogg, Lou Bega, or Newstead Brewing? I’m tempted to vote for Lou Bega, since he linked it to a beer bust… but he loses out since he failed to follow through and make a beer that captured gin and juice. Newstead, however, put their money where their mouth is and collaborated with Brisbane Distillery Company to make Juniper Juice, a gin-infused version of their tropical sour ale. The can label gets to work relaxing you straight away, as it… Read more
Style
Gin-Infused Tropical Sour
ABV
4.2%

Mismatch Brewing Crush Ale

Tapped March 23rd, 2020
When South Australia heats up, people come out to play and drink, and eat and party [At least when they're allowed too – Editor]; this is when the Adelaide Hills comes alive during their Crush Festival. Held over a weekend in late January, it showcases the Adelaide Hills region and draws in hordes of people to their favourite wineries. In 2020, Mismatch decided to get involved, teaming up with a few Adelaide Hills wineries – Vinteloper, Murdoch Hill and Howard Vineyards. To satisfy the beer… Read more
Style
Golden Ale
ABV
4.2%

Smiling Samoyed Imperial Hop Bandit NEIPA

Tapped March 23rd, 2020
In late 2018, Smiling Samoyed released their first NEIPA, calling it Hop Bandit. Two years on, when the team sat down at the brainstorming table to devise ideas for a new limited release, they landed on the idea of bulking up the Hop Bandit and sending it into imperial territory. A clutch of hops were thrown in, including Amarillo, Citra, Vic Secret, Ella and Enigma, balanced by pale ale malt, rolled oats and wheat. The hop combo lashes out instantly as soon as the top is cracked. The aromas take… Read more
Style
Imperial NEIPA
ABV
8.5%

Wayward Brewing Ohana Tropical Gose

Tapped March 22nd, 2020
“Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.” Perhaps the team at Wayward were thinking about this quote from Lilo & Stitch when they named this beer, knowing that it’s more important than ever that people look out for each other in the current climate. Or maybe they just wanted a good, Hawaiian word to capture the tropical island vibes of this beer. Either way, it's a fitting name. Ohana is by no means the first gose that the Wayward brewing team have made, but… Read more
Style
Tropical Gose
ABV
4.3%

The Crafty Pint is an independent online magazine and resource for anyone interested in craft beer in Australia. We bring an honest, old-fashioned journalistic approach to beer's brave new world, telling stories because they're worth telling not because someone is paying us to write them.

Like many of the people who have changed the face of beer in Australia, we believe in authenticity, integrity, enjoyment and love. We hope to play a role in helping good beer, brewed by good people, find its way into the hands of more drinkers.

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