New Beers
There has never been a time like now: more breweries releasing more new beers than ever before. Here, in The Crafty Cuppa, and in our weekly newsletter, we'll bring you details – and, if we've sampled them, our honest, independent take – on as many of them as possible. Enjoy!
Molly Rose Organic XX & Zingy Kiss
Published Today
Molly Rose are clearly prepared for summer. Last week we covered the humid-defeating Gaterale and now we have two more with refreshment front of mind. Organic XX mixes modern ingredients with historic nomenclature, with the beer’s name paying homage to historic English brewing when a beer's strength was just denoted by the number of Xs. But in the 21st century's corner, we have New Zealand's Nectaron hop, organic malt from Voyager and additional grapefruit (organic of course). Although citrus is… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Golden Ale & Sour
- ABV
- 4.5% & 5.7%
Slipstream Brewing Batch #1000 Quadruple IPA
Published Today
A thousand batches of beer. That is a lot of beer. I don’t mind admitting I haven’t made that much beer. But Slipstream have reached this milestone, and they decided to celebrate by brewing a IIIIPA as their thousandth batch. In the theme of celebration, I’m picturing a glamorous awards night. Come on the journey with me. The guest of honour steps out of a limousine and onto the red carpet. Batch #1000 is wearing a satin dress the colour of nectarine flesh. Everything is smooth and flowing.… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Quadruple IPA
- ABV
- 12.0%
- Bitterness
- 100 IBU
Slipstream Brewing Hazy XPA
Published Today
Slipstream have always described themselves as being a hop-focused brewery, but their preferences could be described as even more specific than this; take a closer look at their line-up and you’ll see they prefer bitter American pale ales and West Coast IPAs to hazy pales and East Coast IPAs. This is the reason they went five whole years of operating before they put out a hazy beer in cans. I say this because when you taste Hazy XPA, you’ll probably think, “Why on earth hasn’t Slipstream… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hazy XPA
- ABV
- 5.0%
Heads of Noosa Imperial Japanese Lager
Published Yesterday
Goku powers up and goes Super Saiyan. The Power Rangers get into their giant battle robots. And the Japanese-style rice lager from Heads of Noosa turns imperial. In case it wasn’t obvious, this is a beefed-up version of the brewery’s flagship beer. It brings together the stunning clarity and clean fermentation profile of the original with a boosted alcohol content (from 4.5 percent up to 7.2 percent ABV)*, bigger body and more defined sweetness. Rather than a fluffy carbonation and crisp finish… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Imperial Japanese Lager
- ABV
- 7.2%
One Drop x Duckpond Chase The Crazy & Duck For Cover plus Roads of Creation
Published Yesterday
One Drop have collaborated with Duckpond Brewing, the Swedish outfit whose beers lean heavily towards fruited sours and hazy IPAs, also happen to be owned by Millencolin frontman Nikola Šar?evi?. The second gig I ever went to was in early 2000 at The Arena in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. I eventually saw Millencolin so many times that the gigs mostly blur into one, but I do remember that first time seeing Erik Ohlsson starting the set with the opening riff from Olympic and my 13-year-old self… Read more
Red
- Style
- Imperial Berry Sour, Triple IPA & DDH DIPA
- ABV
- 10.1% & 10.8% & 8.3%
Rover Merri Creek Middy
Published Yesterday
It might not attract anything like the noise of Hawkers' trophy-winning and typically high-quality lineup, but the Reservoir brewery's offshoot brand of affordable, approachable beers bearing the Rover moniker sure has its fans. Henty St Ale has been selling in vast volume since first appearing in plain gold cans, with Gilbert Rd. Lager as its wingman; ahead of summer 2022/23 the pair welcome a little sibling into the family. As with its peers, it's a case of delivering value rather than cutting… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Mid-Strength Pale Ale
- ABV
- 3.5%
Bad Shepherd The Caddy Victoria Ale
Published Yesterday
Bad Shepherd have always been proud of their local credentials but that fact was given an extra boost with the addition of Victoria Pale Ale to their core range in 2018. The beer uses malt, yeast, hops and water that are all sourced from Victoria and now it’s been given a little sibling in The Caddie. The midstrength saw the brewery partner with Visit Victoria to develop a local beer with golfers in mind and to promote some of the state’s best golf courses. We’re not really qualified to comment… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Pale Ale
- ABV
- 3.7%
Bad Shepherd Low Carb
Published Yesterday
Puns be damned: there are no prizes for guessing how Bad Shepherd’s Low Carb got its name. However, low carb can mean a lot of things and for the Melbourne brewery, their approach is one of haze and new world hops. While the focus for the brewery might be the 1.7 grams of carbs contained in each tin, it's certainly not a beer that's light on any flavour (OK, so to be fair the label does say that too). Instead, the classic combo of Citra Cryo and Mosaic provides a wave of tropical fruits and citrus… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Low-Carb Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.0%
Reckless Brewing Strawberry Gum & Lime Daiquiri Sour
Published December 5, 2022
Reckless Brewing are one of many breweries in Australia who've decided to eschew coming up with a colourful name for each beer in favour of keeping things simple. When someone picks up one of their beers, they know what they're getting: Stout, Red IPA, Pale and so on. Presumably it saves time in the brewery too, at least compared with those who've decided every limited release needs its own name (a policy that, in part, led the larks at Little Bang down this path a couple of years ago). Of course,… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruited Sour
- ABV
- 3.5%
Bridge Road Brewers New Sky IPA Vol. 3: Triple Dry-Hop Hazy
Published December 5, 2022
I’d never heard the phrase "new sky" before, so I googled it. The first page of results gave me a number of video clips for songs, a solar energy company, and a new-and-improved kind of durable yarn. I’m going to go ahead and guess that Bridge Road aren’t referencing New Sky yarn – although it is described as "surprisingly light", "soft" and "delicious". No, for Bridge Road’s New Sky series, it’s more of a new horizons, dawn-of-a-new-day type thinking.… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- TDH Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.3%
Red Hill Brewery Long Live The King
Published December 2, 2022
It's been a big few weeks for the collaborators behind this beer. Red Hill founders Karen and Dave Golding announced they were looking to sell the business almost 25 years after they started hatching a plan to open a brewery, and Dan Rickard (the caricature on the labels) is celebrating ten years since he launched his Calibre distribution business in Brisbane. Red Hill were his first Victorian clients and remain with him to this day, which has led to a suitably celebratory beer: an imperial pilsner… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Imperial Pilsner
- ABV
- 7.8%
Hop Nation x Garage Project What's In The Box?
Published December 2, 2022
What’s In The Box? A thiol-rich experience of has is what’s in the box. The beer is a collaboration between Hop Nation and Garage Project and is one of the first in Australia to make use of Phantasm. We’ll take a deeper dive into the brewing powder soon but basically, it’s an extract developed by Garage Project’s cofounder Jos Ruffell to boost thiols in beer to add more juicy or tropical aromatics. It’s a complex side of the world of brewing but you don’t need to understand the science… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 7.4%
Blackman's Barrel Farm: Lemon Sorbet Sour
Published December 2, 2022
Blackman’s Barrel Farm series has often seen the brewery work closely with their mates and neighbours on the Surf Coast but Lemon Sorbet Sour started life a little closer to home. To brew it, brewery founder Renn Blackman popped around to his family’s home to grab some lemons from his mum’s tree before peeling them to add along with some of Torquay’s famous seawater. Without turning up uninvited, I think I can comfortably say that Renn’s mum knows how to grow lemons thanks to the beer’s… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Fruited Kettle Sour
- ABV
- 4.4%
Molly Rose Gaterale
Published December 2, 2022
Summer is here and if you’re eager for some post-workout refreshment (and maybe to add back in the kilojoules you just lost), Molly Rose have the beer for you. Gaterale is a barrel-fermented lemon and lime gose that first poured at a Good Beer Week Gala when it was very warmly received. Now it’s back for the end of 2022 and brings a really refreshing mix of tart and fragrant citrus and a touch of salinity. If Melbourne becomes as humid as Brisbane, then I’d want this beer to join me for the… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Lemon Lime Gose
- ABV
- 4.5%
Wolf of the Willows Crisp Lager
Published December 2, 2022
The Wolf of the Willows team have released a beer for life's lighter moments as 2022 starts winding down: Crisp Lager is a low-calorie, low-carb beer they say is built for moments such as a post-hike refreshment or when washing down the bowl of chips you’ve ordered in a sunny beer garden. Pouring a particularly pale gold, the beer is certainly true to its name, with a light body, crisp finish, little-to-no bitterness, and the softest of citrus touches. But, while the beer might be better for the… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Lager
- ABV
- 4.2%
Dainton Beer Cherry Cola & Barrel-Aged Choctail
Published December 2, 2022
After releasing a ginger beer and alcohol-free XPA in quick succession, you might have wondered if Dainton were going to approach brewing a little differently. Well, these two suggest you would have been wrong. Cherry Cola has certainly hit the nail on the head when it comes to turning a soft drink into beer, with the sour filled with fancy flavours of cola with a touch of juicy cherry and a tart finish. Meanwhile, the brewery say Barrel-Aged Choctail is among their most indulgent releases yet and… Read more
Black
- Style
- Cola Sour & Barrel-Aged Stout
- ABV
- 4.3% & 11.4%
Five Barrel Flipside, Big Nipper & Norvell Belgian Christmas Ale
Published December 2, 2022
A koala*, a crab and a reindeer walk into a brewery… Flipside is a rush of fruit to the head. This hazy IPA is a showcase of Galaxy and Aussie Eclipse hops. It starts with aromas of peach and that fresh-but-sticky smell of rockmelon, and moves to lush citrus and tropical fruit flavours that come across dry in the mouth. But the beautiful full body is what really got my attention. You know those float tanks designed to be exactly the right softness so the sensation is gentle on your skin? It’s… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy IPAs & Christmas Ale
- ABV
- 6.5% & 8.0% & 7.3%
- Bitterness
- 40 & 40 & 35 IBU
Fixation Brewing Freshly Hatched: 24 Hr Mini Golf
Published December 2, 2022
Who doesn't love a spot of mini-golf, that great leveller where a four-year-old seems to have as much chance of nailing a hole-in-one as a seasoned pro. That said, take one look at the cans on this Freshly Hatched release from Fixation and it probably should have gone with the crazy golf moniker. The blazed hop monsters bring to mind some of the golf tournaments I’ve heard about during beer weeks, during which players make their way through a can with each hole with results you can imagine. So,… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Oat Cream DIPA
- ABV
- 8.4%
Aether Brewing Twisted Vine Passionfruit & Blood Orange NEIPA
Published December 2, 2022
Jump in a time machine and go back to the early days of Aether Brewing, and you’ll find Twisted Vine… but a little bit different. The year? 2017. The event? Beer InCider. The ABV? 8.5 percent. The passionfruit and blood orange NEIPA was a huge hit at the festival, which led to Aether re-releasing it in cans. But as they did so, they toyed around with the recipe and brought the crowd pleaser down to a more 4-pack friendly ABV - 5.5 percent. Today’s iteration is more in line with that second… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Fruited NEIPA
- ABV
- 5.5%
- Bitterness
- 20 IBU
Block 'n Tackle Kinny Lager
Published December 1, 2022
Australian towns seem to have a disposition towards making some sort of claim to fame. A lot of them go down the "big things" route – which, being honest, are disappointing about half the time – but only the great towns get a beer named after them. That’s why Block ‘n Tackle Brewery, from Kincumber on the NSW Central Coast, have launched Kinny Lager to put their town on the frothy map – complete with cans designed by Biffy Brentano featuring the town's boardwalk memorial to its… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Pale Lager
- ABV
- 5.0%
