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!
One Drop Whero, Wonderland By Day & Liquid Motueka
Published April 14, 2023
When the average beer fiend thinks of One Drop, they’re probably thinking big, silly glitter-laden pastry beers or 12 percent ABV sours with a full three months of visa-obligated fruit picker labour packed into each can. What’s missing from this picture is Nick Calder-Scholes and his team tucked away in their Botany brewery are some of the most respected hop wizards in the country. Thiols, linalools, isomerisation, if it’s in any way associated with hops, One Drop are bloody well doing something… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Various IPAs
- ABV
- 6.2% & 7.4% & 8.4%
Helios Brewing Demeter DDH NZ IPA
Published April 13, 2023
Hop harvest in the southern hemisphere is just about wrapped up for another year, but that doesn’t mean we’re finished talking about it. Demeter is the Greek goddess of harvest and agriculture,* and Helios Brewing’s Demeter DDH NZ IPA is a celebration of New Zealand’s 2023 hop harvest. For this brew, Helios partnered with Freestyle Hops, who hail from Upper Moutere at the north end of New Zealand’s south island, and built an IPA on three varieties: Rakau, Waimea and NZ Cascade (also known… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- DDH NZ IPA
- ABV
- 6.4%
The Mill Brewery Freshest Haze 2023
Published April 13, 2023
Freshest Haze is a longstanding favourite for the crew at The Mill Brewery with the IPA only returning once a year but always exciting hop heads. Its release has grown into quite a launch event too, with the DDH hazy beer now showcased alongside a mix of wet hop beers from some of Victoria's finest breweries at the Fresh Hop Tap Takeover. It’s also picked up a prestigious AIBA gold medal over its life and the 2023 version of Freshest Haze certainly tastes a whole lot like a walk through a hop… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Wet Hop DDH Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
Urban Alley Urban Dark & Alley Dangler
Published April 12, 2023
Melbourne’s Urban Allley Brewery are well-prepared for the coldest part of the year, with two of the brewery’s most-popular limited releases returning. Urban Dark is a classic English brown ale with plenty of nutty, biscuity, caramel, roasted and chocolate notes at play. On the hop front, the use of EKG and Willamette brings a touch of earthiness while a dry and quite light finish make it the kind of easy-drinking brown that helps transport you to England’s north-east. Alley Dangler meanwhile,… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- English Brown & Smoked Lager
- ABV
- Both 5.4%
Wildflower X Mountain Culture Village 2022
Published April 12, 2023
In March 2022, Wildflower Brewing & Blending teamed up with their mates at Mountain Culture to produce an extraordinary Australian lambic named Village. Brewed in the most traditional way possible, left out to collect native yeasts and bacteria overnight on Mountain Culture’s back deck in Katoomba and aged in 500 litres oak puncheons, Village was not only one of the best beers I had the pleasure of drinking in 2022, but it’s also possibly the best single release Wildflower has ever produced. With… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Australian Wild Ale
- ABV
- 5.5%
Hop Nation Dog Beer
Published April 12, 2023
Just when you thought you'd tried basically every type of beer under the sun, this comes along. Hop Nation's (well, Dog Nation's) beer for pets is suitable for dogs and cats of all ages and, thanks to Dog Beer containing no alcohol, collagen protein and 19 amino acids, it's good for joints, coats and gut health. Better yet, it's made entirely with human grade foods so while it might be designed for four-legged friends and vet-approved, humans can drink it too. (In all honesty, before tasting this… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Alcohol-Free Dog Beer
- ABV
- 0.0%
Eagle Bay 90 Day Pilsner – 2023 Edition
Published April 12, 2023
Eagle Bay’s 90 Day Pilsner returns for a second run boasting more hops and offering a starkly different outcome from its original release. The 90 days of conditioning that give the beer its title have yielded a crystal-clear pour, further enhanced by a light foamy head and spritzy carbonation. A clean yeast profile, with some minerality and herbaceous hop character, leads on the nose, backed by lemon and lime. The pronounced hop profile is thanks in part to a staggered dry hopping regime: Motueka… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Pilsner
- ABV
- 5.2%
Tallboy & Moose Bit-A-Citra & Code Red Alert
Published April 11, 2023
Tallboy & Moose are keeping the hop train running in Preston with the brewpub experimenting with two new releases. Bit-A-Citra is a pale ale that uses the much-loved American hop known for its citrus qualities but throws in more of it thanks to additional bitter orange peel. Pouring like a classic American pale thanks to its clear orange hue, there are notes of OJ, candied orange and a somewhat perfumey, bergamot side that kicks in alongside the bitterness. Code Red Alert meanwhile, is a beer… Read more
Red
- Style
- Pale Ale & Cold Red IPA
- ABV
- 5.2% & 6.1%
Burnley Brewing Zero Alc Lager & Radler
Published April 11, 2023
Well before alcohol-free craft beer was taking off on these shores, Burnley Brewing’s Michael Stanzel was making them in Germany. It was there that the brewer learnt to make beer (both with and without the alcohol) and after some years making it with just booze, Burnley added their own to their lineup in 2023. Zero Alc Lager follows a path the brewery knows well, with the classic and pale European lager providing some light floral hop notes, a slightly bready side, and a touch of sweetness while… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Alcohol-free beers
- ABV
- 0.5%
King Road Brewing Beedelup Pilsner & Wet Hop Ale
Published April 11, 2023
For 2023, King Road’s annual hop harvest dabblings come complete with a full-blown festival at the Olbury brewery, and they’ve invited some of WA’s best along for the festivities. Alongside the harvest party vibe, King Road will launch this vintage’s lager and ale offerings in collaboration with Preston Valley Hops, one of which featuring Beedelup: a hop variety discovered and nurtured by the grower. Beedelup Pilsner’s malt component remains sagely supportive to the freshly dried Preston… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Fresh Hop Pilsner & Wet Hop Ale
- ABV
- 4.5% & 5.0%
Rocky Ridge X Mr West West & Wester IPAs
Published April 9, 2023
The classic West Coast IPA has well and truly clawed its way back into the favour of many beer drinkers after being subsumed by the tidal wave of hazies, and the brewers at Rocky Ridge – with their penchant for brewing hop forward beers – couldn’t be happier. Or so it seems with this pair of beers created in collaboration with Footscray bar Mr West. West is light in profile, while still hitting 6 percent ABV, thanks to a lack of crystal malt in the grist. It's a subtle detail that yields a… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- West Coast IPA & West Coast DIPA
- ABV
- 6.0% & 8.0%
Blackman's Brewery Ice Cream IPA & Paradise City Black IPA
Published April 8, 2023
You don't need more than a cursory glance at this pair from Blackman's to work out which is the dessert beer of the two. And yet... Let's start with the obvious: Ice Cream IPA, complete with 80s ice cream tub swirls on the cans, sets out its stall (or should that be van?) clearly enough. Indeed, even if you hadn't seen the cans or checked the ingredient list, it goes about its business clearly enough too; if you've been around beer over the past half decade, you'll pick the vanilla added alongside… Read more
Black
- Style
- Oat Cream IPA & Black IPA
- ABV
- 7.0% & 5.8%
The Suburban Brew Goodwood/Glynburn Gold & Boh-Ella Pilsner
Published April 8, 2023
When planning their Glynde brewery, Suburban included in a few horizontal lager serving tanks, encouraging the brewers to conquer the challenge of brewing a solid lager. Enter Goodwood/Glynburn Gold, an Australian lager whose name changes depending on where it is being consumed: their Goodwood taproom or their brewery (Glynburn is the main road leading you there). And a solid lager it is, uncomplicated but wholesome, with a pale-yellow colour and good clarity. There are earthy, herbal notes on the… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Aussie Lager & Bohemian Pilsner
- ABV
- 4.8% & 5.0%
Hepburn Springs Brewing Co Cold IPA
Published April 8, 2023
When Nick Galik decided to test the recipes he'd been honing as a homebrewer on the wider world, he did so with a range of beers rarely seen pouring at Australia's craft brewpubs and beer bars. He's a fan of old world, traditional styles and that's what you'd find across the Hepburn Springs Brewing Co taps and in their fridges. But, as awareness of the tiny operation and the quality of their beers has grown, he's been playing with newer styles too, including this Cold IPA – one of three IPAs released… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Cold IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
Hargreaves Hill Team America, Australia & New Zealand IPAs
Published April 7, 2023
Around a decade ago, while in Washington DC to give a presentation at the US Craft Brewers Conference, I jumped on one of the official brewery tours. When we stopped at Flying Dog, we learned that when they wanted to showcase new hop varieties in a single hop beer, they did so with 10 percent ABV IIPAs. It felt suitably Flying Dog, suitably American craft beer at the time, and acted as a reminder of how much further down the path they were than Australia, where brewers embarking on single hop series… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPAs
- ABV
- All 6.7%
Shedshaker Brewing x DEAD Burn Us A Clean Pils Lager
Published April 6, 2023
They’ve always been ardent supporters of local music and the arts at Shedshaker Brewing and Burn Us Clean puts that collaborative approach straight on the can. The beer was made with underground Castlemaine two-piece DEAD who were looking for a beer to toast to their Burn Us Clean album and so approached the local brewery with some artwork of their own. The chosen beer was the kind DEAD wanted to see the crowd enjoy at their shows and so inside the psychedelic can is an effortlessly clean lager… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Lager
- ABV
- 4.6%
Banks Brewing Secretly Ripped & Don’t Chase Me, I’m Buzzed And Full of Chocolate
Published April 6, 2023
Sometimes it feels like not a day goes by when Banks Brewing aren’t dreaming up a new hazy and Secretly Ripped is dedicated to satisfying juicy cravings. Sure, ripped might be in its name but what we have here is instead a lush, soft and fundamentally gentle hazy IPA while the featured hops are HBC’s experimental 586 plus Simcoe and Citra in Cryo form. Pouring with a light golden haze, the IPA immediately lets loose pine on the nose and to taste, that aroma is joined by mango, guava, lychee and… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy IPA & Imperial Pastry Stout
- ABV
- 7.2% & 12.7%
CoConspirators Brewing The Bandit & The Repeat Offender
Published April 5, 2023
There's a fresh crime wave coming out of a single suburb in Melbourne and 2023 isn't even an election year. CoConspirators Brewing's two hoppy releases are a first for Brunswick brewery, with these tall tins their inaugural 440ml cans. The Bandit is a red IPA ready for some daylight robbery during Autumn's shorter days and packs Cashmere, Amarillo and Mosaic hops in a web of rich malts. It means the beer hits with a mix of raisins, bergamot and chewy caramel while those hops bring pine, marmalade… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Red IPA & Oat Cream IPA
- ABV
- 7.1% & 6.7%
7th Day Brewery In Bruges
Published April 5, 2023
After launching a pair of dead ringer Belgian brews in 2022, 7th Day Brewery are backing up Sinner and Saint with In Bruges Belgian Pale Ale, named after a great movie to watch if you want to laugh and feel depressed at the same time. Pouring a rich caramel that is almost bordering on amber, the luscious head emits a classic-meets-modern aroma of toasted malts, noble hops and a hint of well-loved books with orange peels for bookmarks. Immediately, it's a veritable journey, starting warm and malty… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Belgian Pale Ale
- ABV
- 5.2%
Otherside Brewing Session IPL & German Hazy
Published April 5, 2023
While the rest of the country feels the coming cool, in Perth the moderate days linger, offering an abundance of temptation to indulge in outdoor activities, something Otherside’s Session IPL has very much in mind. Here, refreshment is paramount, with a clean length featuring Strata and Vic Secret hops as pineapple jam tones, berry hints and subtle herbal freshness. A touch of minerality appears as the initial fullness recedes to a slaking dry finish that pairs well with hill walks, and picnics. Meanwhile,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Session IPL & Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 4.3% & 6.7%
