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!
Pikes Beer Co Raspberry Berliner Weisse & Hazy IPA
Published Yesterday
Not one but two new releases to report on from Clare Valley brewery Pikes. First up is a trophy-winning, kettle sour with loads of fresh raspberries added post ferment: a re-release of the original Raspberry Berliner that took out Champion Specialty Beer at the 2020 Royal Adelaide Beer & Cider Awards. As you'd expect, it pours a cloudy pinkish colour, with an off white head from which fresh raspberry aromas and flavours rain forth early. There's a touch of fruit sweetness, a little wheat character,… Read more
Red
- Style
- Raspberry Berliner Weisse & Hazy IPA
Banks Brewing Way Too Much Serenity & Probable Paws (with Otter's Promise)
Published Yesterday
Countless Melbourne brewers have taken the Hume up to the High Country to get their hands on fresh hops but Banks took the road less travelled: the Maroondah Highway. What does that road and the many other highways along the route get you that the Hume doesn’t? Bonnie Doon and all its serenity. Way Too Much Serenity is a celebration of not just Hop Product Australia’s fresh Galaxy but the pub meal at Bonnie Doon on the way home to Seaford. Maybe it’s all thanks to that time in the pub but this… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Wet Hop IPA & Cali IPA
- ABV
- 6.2% & 6.0%
Ocean Reach Brewing Rollin And Tumblin
Published Yesterday
They brew a lot of West Coast IPAs at Ocean Reach so you might think they’d have to search far and wide for inspiration. But Rollin and Tumblin is a beer that looks close to home, with the can design drawing on a local surf break near Ocean Reach’s home, which itself inspired the Phillip Island brewery’s logo. The recipe design meanwhile, takes Citra Cryo, Vic Secret and Galaxy hops and wraps them in a slightly chewy malt base with gentle waves of biscuit. Those hops bring out pine, a tropical… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 6.0%
Sauce Brewing Mandarin Wild Sour Ale & Dark Choc Porter
Published Yesterday
With an updated core range and schmick-looking cans oozing with brand promise now out and about, Sauce have launched their first new-look limited releases, taking aim at opposite ends of the beer spectrum. According to head brewer Simon, the plan is to always have one sour and one dark limited release, ideally changing with the seasons. On the sour end, we have the Mandarin Wild Sour Ale, which pours pulpy with a seafoam head on top of a beer reminiscent of a certain orange-coloured citrus fruit.… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Fruit Sour & Chocolate Porter
- ABV
- 5.0% & 5.5%
Little Bang Bliss Point & Emotional Rescue
Published Yesterday
Nobody in Australia has released more hazy IPAs than Little Bang. Admittedly, they rigged the system somewhat when they released 12,000 different ones at the same time, but it's an area they've explored even outside that wee detour. And they're back at it again here. Bliss Point is, booze wise at least, the smaller of the equally opaque duo, and pours a few shades darker too. Before we get to the hops (Nelson Sauvin, Nectaron and Strata since you asked), it's worth mentioning it possesses a crushed… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy IPA & DDH DIPA
- ABV
- 7.2% & 9.4%
Felons Brewing Dragonfruit IPA
Published Yesterday
When you've finally unleashed the first of your years-in-the-making barrel-aged beers to much praise, where do you go next? In the case of Felons, creating an IPA variant I'm pretty sure I've never seen before. Sure, fruited IPAs aren't new, but one laced with red dragonfruit? Certainly, it's a first at Crafty Towers. It's also one that presents a welcome opportunity for a beer writer; in recent years with IPAs it's been a case of coming up with ever new ways of describing subtly different shades… Read more
Red
- Style
- Dragonfruit IPA
- ABV
- 6.0%
Hop Nation Field Daze & Field Haze
Published March 30, 2023
If you follow any number of breweries on Instagram, you may have spent recent weeks with a touch of jealousy. The hop harvest is currently underway and brewers from across the country have been descending on the country’s hop fields for tours to pick up fresh hops. On March 2, Hop Nation made their way up to Hop Product Australia’s Rostrevor farm to pick up Galaxy for two distinct but similar IPAs. Field Daze is the brighter of the two, with the clear and orange beer turning that hop into stone… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Fresh Hop IPAs
- ABV
- Both 6.0%
Nail Brewing Quokka Export
Published March 30, 2023
Thirty minutes by ferry from the Perth coastline lays Rottnest, a rocky island surrounded by stunning beaches that West Australian’s have claimed as their very own laid-back, Mediterranean-style getaway. Thongs and bikes rule, with kids playing out unsupervised adventures that would make good copy should Wes Anderson need new material, and the chance to snorkel as an octopus makes its idiosyncratic way over coral below you just a short swim away. It’s also home to around 10,000 quokkas, an indigenous… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Beer
- ABV
- 4.1%
Dainton Beer Machine Mind
Published March 29, 2023
I’ve watched enough movies to know we should be worried about artificial intelligence but should we fear its beers? Dainton Beer are among the many wondering what impact ChatGPT will have on our lives and so they've turned that bot and asked it to design a West Coast IPA, Machine Mind. Sure, they haven’t entirely handed the keys to the brewhouse over but they did ChatGPT to design the recipe, design and the name. So, what electric hops do androids dream of? Turns out, it feels close enough to… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- AI-Generated IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
Slow Lane A Mars a Day, Attention Seeker & Family Ties
Published March 29, 2023
This is a particularly exciting triple release from Botany brewers Slow Lane this March. Yes, all three beers are very good, but that’s pretty much par for the course. The main cause for all this excitement is a beer style that’s completely new to me! So let’s stop playing silly buggers and find out what the bloody hell a bière de mars is, shall we? If two years of primary school French 25 years ago hasn’t completely escaped me, this style directly translates as March beer, ie beer made… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Bière de Mars, Hoppy Hefe & Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 5.0% & 6.5% & 6.5%
Otherside Brewing Co No-Fi
Published March 29, 2023
Otherside’s nomenclature suggests that fidelity levels are amplified by ABV: Lo-Fi is a core range citrusy mid-strength while the limited release Hi-Fi pushed toward IPA levels. This, of course, leaves room at the bottom of the naming bandwidth for No-Fi, a non-alc lager. Pouring the slightest tinge of clear orange, No-Fi is a clean, light-bodied lager with a breath of Galaxy hop passionfruit flavour, a lick of soft supporting bitterness, and a short length. Guy Southern… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Non-Alc Lager
- ABV
- <0.5%
Heads Of Noosa Imperial German Lager
Published March 28, 2023
After releasing their Imperial Japanese Lager in late 2022, Heads of Noosa are back with an Imperial German Lager. They’ve given the beer this friendly name to communicates a few things to anyone not steeped in beer nerdery: this is a lager; it’s a German lager, so you may expect it to be different from your standard Aussie lager (in this case, darker and maltier); it’s imperial, so it will be stronger in flavour and alcohol. For anyone more interested in beer lingo: this is a doppelbock. To… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Doppelbock
- ABV
- 7.8%
Lost Palms Get Together & Blue Skies
Published March 27, 2023
Get Together is one of the tamer limited releases Lost Palms have brought out in some time: a hazy pale designed for easy drinking with mellow juiciness. The translucent pour has the same effect as peeling open a tin of crushed pineapple, filling the air with that sweet smell as well as a waft of citrus. These fruits make their way into the mouth with low carbonation to give you that satisfied smile, then Get Together's mellow grain flavour and light bitterness show up in the finish to keep it real… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Pale & Oat Cream IPA
- ABV
- 4.5% & 7.0%
King Road Brewing Co Strata IPL
Published March 27, 2023
Some creators have such a synthesis with the tools of their trade that it’s hard to separate them, especially as the relationship develops over time. Hendrix’s Stratocaster, Dilla’s MPC3000, Jordan’s Nikes, Serena William’s Wilson racket... on it goes. And while it may be something of a stretch, West Australians are witnessing a similar relationship take shape in semi-rural Oldbury: one between King Road’s Steve Wearing and the US hop Strata. Not only has the brewery’s Strata-led IPA… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- India Pale Lager
- ABV
- 5.2%
Reckless Brewing Double IPA
Published March 24, 2023
Reckless are big on making approachable beers. It’s their thing. “Whatever we produce has to be easy to drink, no matter how complex,” co-owner Jarrod says. “There is a way to give people these flavours from the outset without being in your face.” So… what does that look like in their eight percent ABV Double IPA? It looks like a thick aroma of sweet resin luring you in. It looks like potent hop flavours of savoury dankness with citrus oils in the background, but with a malt foundation… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Double IPA
- ABV
- 8.0%
New England Brewing Co Hop Buzz Honey Hazy IPA
Published March 24, 2023
Up front, I’m just going to say this: please appreciate how hard I’m working to not fill this write-up with bee puns. Buzz, sweet, sticky, hive, wax, queen, worker, drone… I’m not annoying you with wordplay on ANY of them, and I think I deserve some credit for that. New England love working with other producers in their local area, so it was only a matter of time before they brought in some Spring Valley Honey to use in a beer. That it would be a hazy IPA packed with whole Galaxy and Eclipse… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy IPA with Honey
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Bitterness
- 45 IBU
Rocky Ridge Polskie Pivo, Ra Ra Raspberry, Tropicale & Ice Ranga
Published March 24, 2023
In the month of March, Rocky Ridge have thrown down a couple of freshies alongside reboots of past favourites – all dropping just a couple of weeks on from the brewery's last seven limiteds. Where do they find the time...? Fresh takes on old favourites include Polskie Pivo, the Champion Beer of 2022 at the Perth Royal Beer Awards. It's undergone some slight adjustments but still boasts its famed taint of smoke and a light body with a spritzy carbonation. Ra Ra Raspberry is also back in tallboy… Read more
Red
- Style
- Various Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- 4.5% & 8.5% & 3.5% & 5.2%
Prickly Moses Mango Guava Sour
Published March 22, 2023
Once he'd become settled in at the Queenscliff Brewhouse – part of the Otway Drinks Group that also owns Prickly Moses – brewer Mattias Isaksson started to introduce drinkers at the brewpub on the Bellarine Peninsula to something a little different to the play-it-safe beers associated with the brand to that point. He did so most impressively with Swede & Sour: a heavily fruited mid-strength Berliner Weisse that went on to claim gold at the Australian International Beer Awards. And, as summer… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Fruited Berliner Weisse
- ABV
- 3.5%
Ocean Reach x Free 3D Hands Kinetic
Published March 22, 2023
Ocean Reach and Free 3D Hands have again joined forces to deliver a hoppy hit for an important cause. Their joint fundraiser has already helped raise some $22,000 for the charity, whose story you can read here. And now the two Phillip Island outfits want to raise further funds and have gone back to the deep well that is delicious hops to do so. Once again, all profits are going straight to helping those in need, with the focus this time on kinetic arms to assist with mobility. Like its predecessor,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.25%
Heroes and Villains Cosmo Nova Cocktail Sour
Published March 21, 2023
Heroes and Villains founder Shannon Mizen’s previous cocktail-inspired sour took inspiration from Scandinavia; as he returns to the concept, however, his eyes are set on straight-up NYC with Cosmo Nova. While the origins of the cranberry juice-based Cosmopolitan are disputed, there's little doubt that a Y2K HBO series about four single New York women helped make it iconic. Semi-industrial Osbourne Park is a far cry from New York's bars, yet that hasn't stopped the Villains muddling, shaking and… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Cocktail Sour
- ABV
- 5.7%
