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!
Wolf Of The Willows & Ale Of A Time Southern Brut IPA
Tapped Tomorrow
They've been busy, um, wolves down at their Bayside brewery in recent weeks. This is the third new can we've had from Wolf Of The Willows in a month, all featuring artwork by their illustrator buddies BySequence and Studio Worldwide, and the second of them to involve collaborators. This time around, Southern Brut was conceived in conjunction with Ale Of A Time and the Patreon supporters of their podcast. It's one of the first (although certainly far from the last) of a new style of IPA to be brewed… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Brut IPA
- Strength
- 6.2%
- Stockists
-
Catch the collaborators for its launch here
Other stockists to follow
More stockists...
Staves Brewery Winter Solstice II Collection
Tapped Today
For the second edition of what is surely now a nailed on annual tradition, Staves celebrated Winter Solstice by turning their Glebe brewpub into a haven of dark beer that featured something for everyone with a dusky disposition. Getting Figgy With It is a near ten percent ABV Belgian Dubbel aged on bourbon soaked Hungarian oak, with dried figs and Medjool dates thrown into the mix for added effect. As you can likely guess from the name, it’s a beer that throws up plenty of complexity; rich and… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Dark Beers
Modus Operandi Moon Tan Stout
Tapped Today
It’s not often they make ‘em like this any more. More hops. More booze. More sweet. More sour. That’s what the people want, they say. It’s all about having something fresh, something new, they say – the planned obsolesce of the beer world putting the classics out of fashion. But some things will never be out of style. A solid stout is one of them. Modus Operandi found the imperative to make one for BrewCon 2018, the beer conference being held in their home city of Sydney. They got talking… Read more
Black
- Style
- Stout
- Strength
- 6.8%
All Hands Beer Of Skulls & Skinny DIPA
Tapped Today
The All Hands brewers have reached for the pep-up powder for Beer Of Skulls, a brown ale made in collaboration with Victoria’s Cartel Coffee Roasters. The name is a play on the origins of the coffee component; beans were sourced from a grower in Burundi called Gitwe Hill, which apparently translates in the native tongue as the rather ominous Place Of Skulls. Coffee is often added to stouts and porters, where the rich and deep flavours integrate seamlessly with the natural characters of the malts.… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Coffee Brown Ale & Double IPA
- Strength
- 5.3% & 8.9%
3 Ravens Yuzu Juicy
Tapped Yesterday
There are less and less breweries across Australia who've yet to at least have a go at producing a New England style IPA and a few who look like keeping one as part of their ongoing lineup. Then there's 3 Ravens, who seem unable to go more than a few weeks without releasing another variant on theirs, the Juicy IPA that was among the first, and has become one of the most popular, of the locally brewed examples. Only last month we had the least Juicy Juicy yet, their dessert like GABS entry Moussey… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Yuzu NEIPA
- Strength
- 6.0%
Sauce Brewing O Cascadia
Tapped Yesterday
While it's not for everybody, and is still dismissed in some quarters as a fad, there's no doubting the New England IPA is very much a thing. And it's a thing that shares much in common with another hoppy beer style that originated in the US a few years before NEIPAs arrived in all their turbid glory. Back then, it was brewers on the opposite side of the country, the home of the West Coast IPA, that had done something wicked: sticking heaps of hops into dark beers and giving them the oxymoronic title… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Cascadian Dark Ale
- Strength
- 5.5%
Sauce Brewing Trubble & Squeak
Tapped Yesterday
Want to know what it tastes like when a New England IPA gets raised on a diet of mango and steroids? For their 2018 GABS entry, Sauce took the recipe for their almost permanent NEIPA, Bubble & Squeak, to the operating table and turned it into a murky monster: Trubble & Squeak. NEIPAs are fruity. This is like standing in a cricket net, open mouthed and without a bat, being pummelled by a bowling machine loaded with mangoes. NEIPAs are juicy. This is dense, a sweet and viscous syrup. Bitterness?… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Imperial Mango NEIPA
- Strength
- 9.0%
Six String Brewing Chai Porter
Tapped Yesterday
The passage of time easily confuses a busy mind, but trudging through the mental archives brings a faint recollection that this beer has been around before. Five years ago, perhaps – it can’t be more because the brewery that made it is barely older than that. And such distinct blends of ingredients tend to linger in the memory for one reason or another. So, whether you treat it as the return of a long lost friend or view it as something new, Six String has released a Chai Porter. This is the… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Chai Porter
- Strength
- 4.7%
Two Birds Bright Copper Kettles Rye IPA
Tapped June 20th, 2018
They're not doing things by halves when it comes to their seventh birthday celebrations at Two Birds. There's the not insignificant matter of a series of parties all over the country and three new beers too. Admittedly, only this one is technically a birthday beer but, when you've knocked out a couple of collaborations with London brewers in Melbourne for Good Beer Week, why not make them part of the fun too? As for the official birthday beer, Bright Copper Kettles takes its name from The Sound Of… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Rye IPA
- Strength
- 6.4%
- Stockists
-
You'll find the beer at these birthday venues and elsewhere across Australia
Two Birds, Fourpure & Wild Card Nugget Session Pale & Wild Bird DIPA
Tapped June 20th, 2018
For Good Beer Week 2018, the festival's Good Beer Mates partner city was London, a city where the beer scene has exploded to the point it's home to more than 100 brewing companies. Among the breweries to make the trip were Fourpure and Wild Card Brewery, both of whom called in to Two Birds so they could leave behind a beer. Both are hop-centric, but they're far from alike. The Fourpure collab is the Nugget Session Pale, a collab that came with an added dimension in that one of the Two Birds brewers,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Double IPA
- Strength
- 8.4%
- Stockists
-
Find the beers on tap at these Two Birds 7th birthday venues and at select venues across Australia.
Hawkers Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Ale 2018
Tapped June 19th, 2018
In order to preserve their growing collection of barrels for ongoing use, the brewers at Hawkers like to refill them as soon as they've been emptied, pumping them full of CO2 as they're drained with the next base beer ready to be siphoned in. When it came to the bourbon barrels that housed what was to become this beer, they hadn't actually planned what was going to become their new resident so decided to knock up an old ale, a strong, malt-rich beer with origins in England that's not too far away… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Barrel Aged Old Ale
- Strength
- 8.5%
Woolshed Brewery Bunyip Imperial Stout 2018
Tapped June 19th, 2018
Winter time in the Riverland can get particularly cold thanks to the chill breeze blowing off the Murray River. It's one reason why the Woolshed brewing crew has brewed three very different dark beers to help survive the season. The baby of the trio is a dark ale, brewed with roasted wattleseed, the middle child, a stout, is laced with lashings of coffee and, lastly, the big brother, is a Riverland imperial stout called the Bunyip. The name refers to a dark beast that lurks in the waters nearby;… Read more
Black
- Style
- Imperial Stout
- Strength
- 8.1%
Nail Brewing Hopeye Pale Ale
Tapped June 19th, 2018
Early success for Nail Brewing was driven by Nail Ale, an Australian pale ale more in the Coopers mould than the pales of today that would dominate awards. Now, as the brewery heads towards 20 years in the game, it appears founder John Stallwood feels it's time to put out a modern spin on the ever-widening pale ale category; enter Hopeye. While Nail Ale is anchored to legacy of Pride of Ringwood hops, Hopeye instead ramps up the flavour with Mosaic – the first time the brewery has used the American… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Pale Ale
- Strength
- 4.7%
- Stockists
-
And at select WA and East Coast venues
More TBC
More stockists...
Van Dieman Old Bubba Hubbard & After Dinner Mint
Tapped June 19th, 2018
It appears Will Tatchell at Van Dieman, in Tasmania, has been pining for his youth, or maybe he's developed a sweet tooth, a reaction to the often dry and funky series of estate ales and barrel aged beers he released at the end of 2017? Whatever the cause, this pairing of beers sits snugly in the colourful camp. Old Bubba Hubbard is the brewery's GABS 2018 entry, one that takes a hefeweizen base as its starting point and looks to end up somewhere in the vicinity of Hubba Bubba bubblegum via the use… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Berry Hefeweizen & Choc Mint Stout
- Strength
- 5.0% & 6.0%
- Bitterness
- 40 IBU & 45 IBU
Hargreaves Hill R.I.S. 2017
Tapped June 18th, 2018
Hargreaves Hill's Russian imperial stout, R.I.S., has long been one of the big beers we look forward to when it makes its occasional appearances. It's tended to be among the larger (11 percent ABV plus) and fiercer of locally brewed imperial stouts, not holding back on its roasted and bitter characters, has picked up a gold medal in the past and fared well in both imperial stout tastings we've run in the past. And, while it's hard to draw comparison between beers you've had several years apart, this… Read more
Black
- Style
- Russian Imperial Stout
- Strength
- 11.2%
- Stockists
-
More stockists...
Hargreaves Hill Cellar Door, Yarra Glen
The Public Brewery
And other good beer retailers around Victoria
Bootleg Brewery Raspberry Porter
Tapped June 18th, 2018
The Bootleg brewers have been tinkering in the brewery. Beyond the core range and head brewer Pizey’s tenth anniversary DIPA, in recent months there has been a showing of brewpub only sours that hint at a broadening curiosity. This fruit-led exploration may well have begun with Flaming Youth – Passionfruit Gose but, whatever the cause, winter 2018’s Raspberry Porter surely bears some of this influence. The 60 litres of local raspberry juice added to the 1000 litre batch translates is more apparent… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Raspberry Porter
- Strength
- 6.0%
- Stockists
-
Find it in bottles and draught at select WA locations and Bootleg's brewpub.
Murray's Wild Thing Whisky Imperial Stout
Tapped June 16th, 2018
If you were attempting to establish some perspective on how much the Australian beer scene has shifted over the past decade, one of the clearest views may be seen by squinting through the impenetrable black prism of Murray’s Wild Thing. While reserving the right to be corrected, a rough calculation suggests that 2018 represents the tenth year the Port Stephens brewery has released its iconic imperial stout. Such milestones can be dismissed as being no big deal – just another big beer, you might… Read more
Black
- Style
- Imperial Stout
- Strength
- 10.0%
Rocky Ridge Holy S**t, It's A Mid! The Plum Edition
Tapped June 15th, 2018
Continuing his noble work in saving fruit from landfill, Rocky Ridge’s Hamish Coates and his expanding team have given 300 kilograms of plums a new lease on life in this iteration of the brewery's fruit gose series. Salty aromas lead the way on the palate with Holy S**t, It’s A Mid! – The Plum Edition showing similar restraint on the fruit front as the previous Kiwi edition. The refreshment of the base beer holds the spotlight with the plum characters providing tart acidity underscored by a… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Plum Gose
- Strength
- 3.7%
- Stockists
-
And for a limited time at other good WA retailers.
More stockists...
Innate Brewers Bulletproof Black IPA
Tapped June 15th, 2018
Bulletproof. It’s a big call for the first beer from the newly supersized Innate brew kit but one that implies confidence in its expansion. This decision is reinforced by releasing a Black IPA when taps around the nation swell with lurid haze, not that Innate have been shy when it comes to embracing turbidity; more, it’s a signal of intent: we know the market but will chart our own path, thank you very much. Sampling Bulletproof at the brewery’s home city, Fremantle, while a squally winter… Read more
Black
- Style
- Black IPA
- Strength
- 6.8%
- Bitterness
- 60 IBU
- Stockists
-
Available at good WA venues and growler filling retailers
