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!
Nomad Brewing Co Supersonic Gold Rush DIPA
Tapped Today
It’s been near enough four years since Nomad’s Supersonic double IPA first landed on the scene, though it’s only relatively recently the beer seems to have really discovered its wings. In 2018, the Brookvale brewery has resurrected and reinvigorated the original concept by releasing the beer in an expanding collection of one-off editions that explore new hops, native ingredients and even a collaboration with one of their favourites American brewers, Stone. The latest in the Supersonic family… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Desert Lime Double IPA
- ABV
- 7.8%
Wildflower Noel 2018
Tapped Today
Christmas has come to Wildflower in the form of their first Noel, a beer conceived to channel and complement the spirit of warmth and spice that washes over much of Europe at this time of year. But, unlike a great many Christmas beers, Noel isn’t actually spiced. Instead it relies on malt, yeast and the not-so-secret ingredient of Muscat barrels to do the job. The malt base is all-important and comes courtesy of Voyager Craft Malt in NSW, their Munich variant accounting for 99 percent of the load… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Christmas Ale
- ABV
- 8.0%
Six String Brewing On Tour
Tapped Today
Miraculously timed for the arrival of the warmer weather, the Six String Brewing Company has ventured into the mid-strength market with On Tour, a beer to take with you wherever you venture this summer. This is a category that was once frowned upon by a hardcore craft beer crowd determined to be defined by anything other than the kinds of beers the big brewers would generally make. But, over the years, a degree of pragmatism has taken hold. It turns out quite a lot of people quite like drinking… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Mid-Strength
- ABV
- 3.5%
BentSpoke Brewing Co Easy
Tapped December 7th, 2018
As the first days of summer 2018/19 tick by, another hoppy mid-strength – this time one that veers close to light beer territory in terms of ABV, serving up just one standard drink per 375ml flip top can – lands. It's BentSpoke's turn to throw their hat into this ever busier area of the local beer landscape – see our article on the rise of mid-strengths here – with Easy creating a vibe before you've even put the beer to your lips thanks to its sea-meets-sand colour scheme and the line drawings… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Mid-Strength
- ABV
- 3.2%
- Bitterness
- 22 IBU
Sauce Brewing DIPApotamus
Tapped December 7th, 2018
It could be that the most notable thing about the new double IPA from Sauce Brewing is that there’s really nothing unusual about it. Indeed, it brings to mind a comparatively quaint time within the Aussie craft beer boom, before all the haze and the fruity sours, when the default way for a brewer to make an impact with drinkers was to concoct some sort of IPA recipe then throw as many hops as possible at it. And that’s pretty much what they’ve done here as DIPApotamus is the hoppiest beer… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast Double IPA
- ABV
- 8.2%
KAIJU! Paradise Pils
Tapped December 6th, 2018
A lager from KAIJU!?! Look, we know the beer world is twisting itself into every weirder contortions, but, seriously? Well, yes. And, as with many things lager-related, you can blame the Czechs. It was on a trip to Europe that notorious US hop fiend Nat Reeves, one of the founders and head brewer at the Dandenong brewery, had an epiphany drinking unfiltered kellerbiers at the likes of Pilsner Urquell and returned to Australia set upon developing such a beer, albeit with a KAIJU! twist. Various trials… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- New World Pilsner
- ABV
- 4.7%
KAIJU! Mutation Series: Main Squeeze
Tapped December 6th, 2018
Now their pilot brewery is up and running, KAIJU! has launched the Mutation Program, a series of 300 and 600 litre batches of beers that may or may come back in greater volume down the line. Initially, however, they'll only see the light in tiny runs of 30 or less cases plus a few kegs dotted around the country. Or, in the case of the first one, Main Squeeze, inside the Carwyn Cellars advent calendar too. Recipients of the calendars will have cracked theirs at the weekend. For anyone else who can… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Tropical Session Ale
- ABV
- 3.2%
Fury & Son Long Hot Days
Tapped December 6th, 2018
For their 2017/18 summer seasonal, Fury & Son put out the mid-strength Citra Sour. A year on, as every man and his dog looks to release some sort of lower ABV fruity sour, the Keilor Park team has decided to follow a more traditional path with a water, malt, hops and yeast summer ale. So, while the cans are funky to look at, what's inside is rather more straightforward. It's tagged a "hoppy kolsch" and, while there are some ripe tropical fruits at play, there's a pretty full, bready,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Summer Ale
- ABV
- 4.4%
Batch Brewing Co 2 Strainz Triticale Sour
Tapped December 6th, 2018
Fruited sours have become quite the thing at the Batch Brewing Company. They usually have at least one pouring at any given time, often more – especially in summer. In the past they’ve added everything from passionfruit to raspberries to currants, but this latest one’s a little different. Why? It’s got no added fruit at all. 2 Strainz is a triticale sour, so named for the triticale strain of grain which is a hybrid of wheat and rye. The beer itself is pale, slightly hazy and, for something… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Sour Ale
- ABV
- 4.0%
Batch Brewing Co Tasman Tango Session IPA
Tapped December 6th, 2018
Is the Tasman Tango one beer done two ways or two totally different beers? Well, kind of both. Batch’s new Session IPA experiment involves taking one recipe but brewing it using two distinct sets of ingredients, each sourced from a different country. The Gold version is a showcase of Australian malt and hops while its Silver dance partner represents New Zealand grown ingredients. Flipping the coin and starting with the Kiwi version, the Gladfield malts do the subtle but important work of giving… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Session IPAs
- ABV
- 4.0%
Little Rivers Brewing Sour Series: Berrylicious & Passion Fruit Sour
Tapped December 6th, 2018
The brewing team at Little Rivers has embraced the lacto life with the launch of its Sour Series. Kicking things off is a pair of kettle sours that may have started out in roughly the same place but end up as rather different beasts. With Berrylicious, the label might suggest a need to pucker up, but it's laden with so many berries the tangy, acidic side of the beer is very much playing second fiddle. You're given fair warning too: emptying a bottle into the glass is a stop-you-in-your-tracks moment,… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruit Sours
- ABV
- 4.8%
Ballistic Beer Co El Dorado Single hop IPA
Tapped December 5th, 2018
Mum always brought fruit salad to summer barbecues. Bringing a four-pack of El Dorado SHIPAs is practically the same thing, right? While it’s labelled as a West Coast style IPA, this one’s at the gentler end of Ballistic’s SHIPA (single hop IPA) offerings to date. It offers up pineapple and pawpaw on the nose, but the flavours tend more towards mango and bright, fresh watermelon. A low malt body gives the El Dorado more quaffability than its brothers, which works well for a summer release.… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Single Hop IPA
- ABV
- 6.0%
- Bitterness
- 60 IBU
Stockade Brew Co 16bit Double IPA
Tapped December 5th, 2018
Just as the NES led us to the Super Nintendo, and the Sega Master System made the Mega Drive possible, Stockade’s 8bit IPA has laid the foundation for its levelled up version, 16bit IIPA. Keen observers may have noticed that Stockade had to remove the cartoon character from the 8bit label, but the transient 16bit is able to sport a pixelated hop hulk and be gone before it can cause any trouble. But not before leaving a mark on our impressionable taste buds. With its rich orange colour, it may look… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Double IPA
- ABV
- 9.0%
- Bitterness
- 80 IBU
Van Dieman Claude
Tapped December 4th, 2018
Picture the scene... It's late summer in Leongatha in the heart of Gippsland's pristine dairy country. There, in an orchard sat amid green, rolling hills, sits a single greengage tree. Up wanders a nine-year-old boy, the youngest of three, under a tumble of blond curls. Hoping no one is looking, reaches up and helps himself to fruit after fruit after fruit, wallowing in the sugary, sweet flesh. Though he doesn't yet know it, childhood nostalgia is made of such moments. "Will!" comes a voice… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Fruited Wild Ale
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Bitterness
- 26 IBU
Van Dieman Bramble
Tapped December 4th, 2018
Van Dieman has been making more and more use of the bounty of its family farm in recent years. And, for Bramble, cast the net a little wider and added some juicy, "almost overripe" blackberries to the mix in another fruited farmhouse style ale. And it's up there as one of the funkier creations to come our way. Indeed, while to taste there's much that's reminiscent of a soft, summery table wine to this barrel-fermented saison – summer and autumn berries, a gentle acidity – on the nose… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruited Wild Ale
- ABV
- 7.5%
- Bitterness
- 9 IBU
Moon Dog & Patient Wolf Two Wolf Moon
Tapped December 3rd, 2018
As we've written in the past, while they're relatively scarce compared to beers featuring some other spirits, local brewers' partnerships with the world of gin have tended to prove rather successful. Among those to impress in 2018 was Wolf Of The Willows' Tom Collins-inspired GABS festival beer. It was created with Brunswick's Patient Wolf, who have now embarked on a second canine (or at least canine-lupine) collaboration as the year winds down. It's a rather different beast to that debuted in May,… Read more
Red
- Style
- Sloe Gin Cocktail Ale
- ABV
- 8.5%
Two Birds Brewing Double Taco
Tapped December 3rd, 2018
The rise of the beer advent calendar and the lengths many of those behind them go to in order to source brand new beers from brewers is threatening to turn December into a mini-May. And, no, this isn't an obscure reference to the British sitcom that ran from 1989 to 1994 (the usefulness or otherwise of obscure pop culture references from 1980s Britain was made abundantly clear to He-Man during his recent WA Beer Week appearance with Beer Sucks). Instead, it's a rather more straightforward reference… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Double Coriander & Lime Ale
- ABV
- 7.0%
- Stockists
-
Two Birds Nest
Royal Albert
More stockists...
Van Dieman Early & Late Table Beers
Tapped December 3rd, 2018
Use of the term Table Beer is becoming increasingly common among Australian brewers. As with many terms plucked from history – such as farmhouse ale with its origins in the same region of the world – it's a pretty broad church, taking in typically lower alcohol beers once served from jugs with a meal. But, given table beer's origins in parts of France and Belgium, those created locally tend to take inspiration from there too, often using farmhouse yeast strains and favouring malt and yeast-derived… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Table Beers
- ABV
- 3.0% & 4.5%
- Bitterness
- 15 IBU & 31 IBU
Wolf Of The Willows Pacific Sour
Tapped November 30th, 2018
At the sours blind tasting we held as part of WA Beer Week in 2018, it was fascinating to see where different attendees' preferences lay, from those who enjoyed those of a hoppy and low acidity bent to those who were all over the fruit and others that were looking for the funk. And, with this new "tropical sour", the Wolf Of The Willows team almost appear to be attempting to cover all bases, melding the yeast they feature in their Acidulus range with pineapple, guava and mango juices as… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Tropical Fruit Sour
- ABV
- 4.2%
- Stockists
-
Hitting taps across Victoria and out in 355ml cans too
Mornington Peninsula Brewery Hamfish Brut IPA
Tapped November 30th, 2018
What is a hamfish? And what relation does it have to the Brut IPA style? Well, it turns out Hamfish is the nickname of Mornington brewer Hamish and, when the team there was thinking about a name for this Brut IPA they deemed it appropriate. Why? They figured there was a "pompous beer-wankiness" to the style and Hamfish was its "vulgar antithesis" – a means of "taking the piss out of the style and ourselves for being late to the Brut IPA party". For all that there's… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Brut IPA
- ABV
- 6.8%
