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!

Bright Brewery

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Style
Cocktail Sour
ABV
5.7%

Mismatch Brewing Peach Sour

Published March 21, 2023
Just as the sun sets on summer, Mismatch aim to hold on to the last flickers of warmth by releasing the Peach Sour that debuted at NOLA’s Acid Trip sour beer festival in cans. Drawing upon fruit from their home base in the Adelaide Hills, the brew team used purée to infuse the peach flavour into a kettle sour base beer created with a typically simple malt bill of pale and wheat. It's an approach designed to allow the fruit to shine unencumbered while keeping the beer light and easy to drink. Aroma… Read more
Style
Peach Sour
ABV
4.0%

Hawkers Beer Gratuitous Flare

Published March 21, 2023
For the most part, the beers within the 2023 GABS Australian Invitational Craft Beer 8 Pack sit a fair way from the sort of boundary-pushing, frequently "Should we really? Yeah, why not..." beers one associates with the multi-city event. Sitting either side of 5 percent ABV, they're typically session-friendly rather than designed to blow your head off via an 80mL sample. The one beer in the packs nudging the ABV a little higher comes from Hawkers: their Citra dry-hopped yuzu and pear sour,… Read more
Style
Dry-Hopped Fruit Sour
ABV
7.2%
Stockists

Available in the GABS Invitational Packs

Bright Tank Don Giacomo IPA & Oat Cream IPA

Published March 20, 2023
Bright Tank’s one-two punch for March leads with a formidable collab with Perth-born MMA fighter and UFC Rookie of the Year, Jack Della Maddalena. Borrowing Jack’s nickname, Don Giacomo presents a winning streak of Galaxy and Citra LUPOMAX’s sweet citrus and tropical tones across a smooth arc, with Idaho 7 weaving in more citrus and pineapple. Jack’s reputation has elicited requests for the beer from MMA fans across the planet, and there’s more in the works from this craft beer-loving talent. In… Read more
Style
DDH Hazy IPA & Oat Cream IPA
ABV
6.5% & 7.0%

Philter West Coast IPA

Published March 20, 2023
West Coast IPAs were of the cornerstone brews upon which much of the excitement in craft beer scenes across the world was built. And while the sweeter, softer and fruitier charms of their hazy siblings have stolen much of the thunder in recent years, when done well they're the sort of bold and beloved style that deserves to be celebrated. And here, via a can that makes synthwave play in your head, Philter are writing their entry in the sticky, hoppy book of WCIPA. Pouring unctuous and close to amber… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
6.0%

Matilda Bay Hazy Lager

Published March 20, 2023
In this most out there of brewing eras, the word hazy brings to mind descriptors such as "opaque" and "juicy". Yet creating such of-the-moment beers doesn’t feel like the Matilda Bay way, especially since the pioneering brand was reborn in the Yarra Vallery via a partnership between original co-founder Phil Sexton and CUB/Asahi. One imagines the team at the brewpub were thinking more of the unfiltered kellerbiers of Europe than the IPAs of New England when conceiving Hazy Lager.… Read more
Style
Unfiltered Lager
ABV
4.2%
Bitterness
12 IBU

Six String Brewing Stout

Published March 20, 2023
Just in time for the clocks going back, as and as the mercury starts to fall, Six String have released their winter seasonal: Stout. Dark malts dominate the flavour, conjuring up a melody of caramel and chocolate which dances across the palate, while a lovely, lingering bitterness is enticed from the Columbus and EKG hops. Oats give the beer a fuller mouthfeel, which amplifies the roasty bitterness and malty sweetness in what's an easy-drinking stout. Think chestnuts roasting on open fires, a comfortable… Read more
Style
Stout
ABV
4.4%
Bitterness
24 IBU

Good Land Brewing Delirious, Something Something Vic Secret & Tiki Juice

Published March 19, 2023
The good beer from Good Land Brewing for the good people of Gippsland keeps coming, with three hoppy releases out in quick succession. Delirious is a DDH Crisp Pale where the “crisp” is courtesy of a light malt base, Huell Melon and Enigma hops and the “DDH” is all about Citra and HBC630. The result is a delightful treat for the senses with vibrant white wine characteristics - think gooseberry and pear - fresh mango, melon and a lean dry finish. If a classic Kolsch and a modern hazy had a… Read more
Style
DDH Clean Pale Ale, Single Hop DIPA & Hazy IPA
ABV
5.6%, 7.7% & 6.0%

Noodledoof BC Oat Cream IPA

Published March 19, 2023
Since the start of 2023, Koroit-based Noodledoof have been on a run of lower ABV, tidily put-together beers. And maybe keeping a lid on things booze-wise has proven too much for Sam and Alex to do for too long and they've just had to let it all out in one hearty exhale. The average ABV of their limited releases this year to date might have been a mere 4 percent; here, they more than double it with BC Oat Cream IPA. The BC refers to the hops – Bru-1 and Citra – while, for me, there's as much of… Read more
Style
Oat Cream IPA
ABV
8.8%

Stomping Ground Hallion

Published March 17, 2023
2022 was a bog year for Oktoberfest beers and celebrations in Australia, is 2023 the year of St Paddy’s Day? Maybe, or maybe it’ll be 2024 with just a small number of craft breweries ensuring there is the goodness of a locally-made option when anyone walks into a pub asking for a big black pint.* Stomping Ground’s nod to the classic seems a little extra cheeky with the Hallion name literally being Irish slang for rascal or scoundrel. The Irish dry stout is dosed with nitro and watching it… Read more
Style
Irish Dry Stout
ABV
4.2%

Banks Brewing Follow The Festoons, Blackberry Parfait & Good Times

Published March 17, 2023
As a general rule in this country, if you see festoon lighting in the distance, you know you’re near one of two things: a brewery or a wedding. If you’re really lucky, you might even be at a wedding in a brewery and drinking a West Coast IPA. Banks Brewing’s Follow The Festoons is a tribute to the omnipresent lighting and features the American hop trio of Simcoe, Columbus and Mosaic. Together, they bring deep berry flavours, sweet ruby grapefruit and light pine while the yellow colour has shades… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA, Blackberry Cream Sour & Hazy Pale
ABV
7.4%, 6.5% & 4.7%