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!
Working Title Panic Room, Whiplash & Detour
Published April 4, 2023
You can say a lot of things about Working Title founders Mark and Luke. That they’re cynical, funny-looking, ill-mannered, disinterested in personal hygiene, possible lizard people wearing suits of human skin… but you can’t say they skimp on flavour. Working Title’s second birthday coincided with the launch of their brewpub, and because Mark and Luke love big Westies, big reds, and big stouts, half the taps were pouring beers over 8 percent ABV from the minute the venue opened. Here are three… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Double WCIPA, Triple Red IPA & Barrel-Aged RIS
- ABV
- 10.0% & 11.0% & 10.0%
- Bitterness
- 83 & 65 & 45 IBU
Uraidla Brewery Spellbinder DDH IPA
Published April 4, 2023
Uraidla's brewers once again showcase the depths of their brewing skills when it comes to hops within Spellbinder: a hazy IPA. In this case, they've utilised a hop thiol-boosting technique (hop mashing) to extract as much in the way of fruity aromas from the hops as they can, then let biotransformation during fermentation do the rest. In this instance, Saaz hops were used in the mash alongside Lallemand’s expressive Verdant IPA yeast strain. Throw in a double dry hop featuring Cryo Pop and Wai-iti… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- DDH Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.3%
Bridge Road Brewers Hazy Harvest & Dark Harvest 2023
Published April 4, 2023
March's turn into April always means we get to enjoy a once-in-a-year opportunity in Australia: beers made with hops plucked straight from the bine. Among the earliest releases is always Bridge Road’s Harvest Beers, which are the country’s longest-running, going right back to 2009. In more recent years, they’ve asked breweries to join them for both beers and in the case of Hazy Harvest, the pick was a brewery that knows plenty about haze, Fox Friday. The beer uses both whole Galaxy cones and… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Wet Hop Beers
- ABV
- 6.3% & 6.6%
The Zythologist Rubidium
Published April 4, 2023
Like many of The Zythologist’s beers, there’s a lesson at the heart of Rubidium. Here the focus is on taxonomy and the science of classifying life on earth, with this Elemental core range beer focused on the rosaceae family. It’s a wonderful family too, including the likes of rose, raspberry and blackberries, with those berries all part of the rubus genus – hence the name. The beer itself is a raspberry and rose pastry sour that pours pale pink with a soft, creamy mouthfeel. There’s a… Read more
Red
- Style
- Raspberry & Rose Pastry Sour
- ABV
- 5.6%
Five Barrel Sticky Beak Australian Pilsner & Possum Paradise, Wild Russell & Checkmate IPAs
Published April 4, 2023
With the allure of a bin chicken on the label, it’s easy to be drawn to a can of Sticky Beak. This Australian pilsner brings that combination of refreshment and flavour that new world lagers do so well. Sticky Beak is a pretty thing, sparkling like a sprinkler oscillating on the lawn. But don’t expect a standard Aussie macro-style lager here; this is more like "New Zealand pilsner, but make it Australian.” With a dry-hopping of Aussie varieties Eclipse, Enigma, Ella and Galaxy, this beer… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Aussie Pilsner, White IPA, NZ IPA & American IPA
- ABV
- 5.0% & 6.0% & 6.2% & 7.0%
- Bitterness
- 39 & 11 & 58 & 70 IBU
Hop Nation x Birdsnake Karma Milk Chocolate Stout
Published April 3, 2023
Hop Nation’s Karma is one of the long serving members of the brewery’s lineup and ahead of Easter 2023, it’s been given a spinoff. This milk chocolate limited release has been brewed in collaboration with Melbourne’s Birdsnake and uses ethical and traceable cacao nibs Birdsnake sourced and roasted from the Kemito Ene Association in Peru along with Tahitian vanilla beans and lactose. The result is the creamy stout with freshly-roasted espresso notes you may well know and love with an extra… Read more
Black
- Style
- Milk Chocolate Stout
- ABV
- 5.0%
Nowhereman Haze & Oats IPA
Published April 3, 2023
In the same way the pun-referenced auteurs of this beer's title combined soul, pop and rock into the smoothest of stylings, Nowhereman arrive at the party weaving hoppy, hazy and pastry elements together as one to create an equally smooth affair; naturally, Haze & Oat’s decal echoes the hybrid themes via the keytar on the decal: a physical portmanteau that’s as kitsch as it is classy. Haze & Oats' fleeting creamy vanilla oat aromas open up into US hop-derived lupulin pollination courtesy… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Oat Cream IPA
- ABV
- 6.2%
Woolgoolga Brewing Co Okaeri Friend Cold IPA
Published April 3, 2023
Friendships between brewers are one of the best things about the beer industry. When Charlie Hodgson mentioned to Tim Radjenovic (head brewer at BrewDog Australia) that he was taking the head brewer position at this little place on the Coffs coast called Woolgoolga Brewing, Tim said: “Woolgoolga? I went to high school there!” In the face of such a charming coincidence, what could these brewer friends do but make a beer together? The beer is called Okaeri Friend, Okaeri being Japanese for "Welcome… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Cold IPA
- ABV
- 6.7%
- Bitterness
- 40 IBU
Reckless Brewing BX Old
Published April 2, 2023
When they opened their Bathurst brewery in the second half of 2022, Reckless launched their BX Lager: a crisp knock-em-back lager that captures the spirit of traditional Aussie beer and is at home in a brewery pub out in regional NSW. Now they’ve launched this golden beer’s dark counterpart: BX Old. No prizes for guessing which popular Aussie pub staple this is channeling. Its body is a deep and brooding dark brown, but BX Old isn’t a heavy-hitter; hold your glass up and you’ll see the liquid… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Dark Ale
- ABV
- 4.4%
Slipstream Brewing Uncharted Oat Cream IPA HBC-630
Published April 2, 2023
When I first saw this instalment of Slipstream’s Uncharted series, I wondered why it was an oat cream IPA. The point of the series is to showcase experimental hop varieties; why add oats and lactose? Then I read a little about HBC 630, the experimental hop in question. Specifically, I read: “HBC 630 is complex and fruity, with sweet fruits and berries like raspberry and cherry, along with sweet candy-like esters and lactones giving creamy notes of peach and banana.” So, OK, it’s already halfway… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Single Hop Oat Cream IPA
- ABV
- 7.3%
Pikes Beer Co Raspberry Berliner Weisse & Hazy IPA
Published March 31, 2023
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 March 31, 2023
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 March 31, 2023
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 March 31, 2023
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 March 31, 2023
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 March 31, 2023
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%
