New Beers: Riverside, Mountain Goat, Nail, Moon Dog, Murray's

July 25, 2013, by Crafty Pint

New Beers: Riverside, Mountain Goat, Nail, Moon Dog, Murray's

The backend of The Crafty Pint has developed something of a Bermuda Triangle at the minute. Whenever we try to add a new beer to a brewery it disappears as soon as we hit “Publish” and the developer with the skills to fix it is unavailable until next Tuesday. So, as a temporary measure, here’s some new beers you might like to know about…


Riverside Brewery Celebration Ale

Has it really been a year since the Riverside Brewing Company opened its doors to the public? That is to say, has it been ‘only’ a year? In the past twelve months it’s no exaggeration to say the Parramatta brewery has been going absolute gangbusters, with demand constantly outstripping supply and showing absolutely no signs of easing up. That’s meant everything at the brewery has been expanding: more brewers, more brewing capacity and bigger bottling line. And now, to celebrate their first anniversary, they’re releasing a bigger beer. It’s called, quite appropriately, the Celebration Ale 2013 and it’s a Double IPA. Considering their regular (but nothing regular about it) IPA sits at 7.7 per cent and probably wouldn’t feel out of place in the company of many other Double IPAs, you have to wonder how much bigger they can go. The answer comes straight at you in the form of this 8.7 per cent abv brew that uses four different US hop varieties to give an absolutely massive flavour and aroma. What can we say, they love their hops and know how to use them. Here’s to the next year! NO

Double IPA
8.7%
Available from the brewery in growlers and at The Local Taphouse Darlo


Moon Dog Selvmordstokt

This was one of the more unusual beers on offer at this year’s GABS, an intriguing melange of spices, sweetness, funk and even a bit of intense ‘erb. Little wonder really when you know the story behind it. It’s Moon Dog’s latest collab, this time with Norway’s Nogne O, that was brewed back in April as a porter using 100 per cent wheat. That’s only part of it though, as this was then blended with a sour cherry wine as the brewers were after a black forest cake kind of beer. According to brewer Josh: “The wheat porter needed 120kg of rice hulls to prevent the mash from sticking. The sour cherry wine was pressed from 200kg of fruit back in January and put in a Shiraz barrel with Brett B. It’s tasty. Like yo mamma.”

Wheat Porter with Sour Cherry Wine
7.6%
40 IBU
Available at the usual Moon Dog stockists


Mountain Goat Mike’s 3rd Nut

We might be a little late on this one, but we know there’s still some around as it’s a feature of an event at the Odyssey Tavern this weekend. It’s a nut brown ale with extras from Goat brewer Mike. As for the name, we’re told it’s: “Because as far as we know he has two others….” The extras are naturally grown and ground peanut butter and unhulled Tahini, the resulting beer slightly paler than you might expect from a brown with a hint of citrus from the use of Cascade hops. According to the brewers: “Although the flavour is intense to begin with it finishes dry to bring you back for more.”

Nut Brown Ale
6.0%
30 IBU
Venues (other than Odyssey) TBC


Nail Brewing Clout Stout 2012

Last year’s version of Clout Stout from WA’s Nail Brewing was our pick of all the beers we tasted last year, an incredibly luscious beer that led to an evening to remember at Crafty Towers armed with nothing more than a crystal goblet, a comfy sofa and a hunk of Cropwell Bishop Stilton. Brewer John Stallwood brews the beer long before allowing it into the world, sitting on the bottles at the brewery he shares with Feral and sampling regularly until he believes it’s perfect enough to head out into the world. Thus it was brewed in November, bottled in January and only released now. That said, a handful of kegs did appear at this year’s Good Beer Week festival prior to the bottle release, confirming that it’s another magnificent and rewarding example of the Imperial Stout, with layer upon layer of dark chocolate, liquorice, molasses, dark fruits and more in a warming, smooth, oily black river of goodness. There are just 800 bottles on sale, with this Clout the biggest yet at 11 per cent and described by John as “a bomb blast of a beer”.

Imperial Stout
11%
Available at good bottleshops and bars


Murray’s Heart of Darkness

Our favourite of Murray’s Imperial Stouts is back for another winter jaunt across the land. It’s the reason we opted for a Trappist yeast in the Auld Bulgin' Boysterous Bicep and you can read about it in our listing from the beer’s original release here.

Belgio Imperial Stout
9.6%

If you enjoy The Crafty Pint, you can become a supporter of our independent journalism.

You can make a donation or sign up for our beer club, The Crafty Cabal, and gain access to exclusive events, giveaways and special deals.

Frigid Cloud 2 B
Binary B2
Cryer E
Lallemand 1