New Beers
Barely a day goes by without another seasonal or one-off special flying out of an Australian brewery. We'll do our best to tell you what’s coming when, where it’s going and – where possible – what it tastes like before it goes on sale. Be aware, however, that just because a venue’s getting a beer doesn’t mean they’ve tapped it straight away so maybe check it's pouring first.
Colonial Brewing Co Inquest
Tapped Yesterday
Judged by their core range, you could assume Colonial Brewing Co, the operation that started out in Margaret River more than a decade ago and now brews out of Port Melbourne too, is a brewery interested only in delivering tight, approachable beers and cider. Yet take a look through the catalogue of one-offs – usually tagged Project beers – and, as well as finding rather a lot named Gary, you'll see they're not afraid to throw off the shackles: truffle beers, a long lineup of globe-trotting IPAs ··· Read more
Black
- Style
- Imperial Stout
- Strength
- 11.7%
3 Ravens Wild Ravens Riesling Golden Sour
Tapped July 21st, 2017
In the past couple of years, we've noted how 3 Ravens head brewer Brendan O'Sullivan has been steadily turning every bit of spare space and equipment into part of an ever-broadening exploration of wild, sour and mixed fermentation beers. On our most recent visit, to check out the first of the second run of beers under the Wild Ravens banner, it felt like things had moved a step further; while most breweries now make room for a lab, the Thornbury operation is beginning to feel more like a giant lab ··· Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Riesling Golden Sour
- Strength
- 6.0%
Lord Nelson 111
Tapped July 21st, 2017
Now into a fourth decade brewing at its iconic home in The Rocks, the Lord Nelson is sticking to its roots for the latest seasonal release to appear in bottles. No haze, no bacteria, no barrels to be seen here, just another interpretation of the sort of English style ales that inspired Blair Hayden to start the operation in the mid-1980s. For winter 2017, they've pulled 111 from the recipe book and had a larger batch of it brewed and bottled off site to send around the country. It's dedicated to ··· Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- English IPA
- Strength
- 5.4%
- Bitterness
- 45 IBU
- Stockists
-
Available nationwide
Fixation Squish Citrus IPA (can)
Tapped July 20th, 2017
With so much attention focused on the haze craze surrounding New England style IPAs, one could forget another direction in which the increasingly broad IPA category has been heading: the addition of fruit and fruit juice. On a global scale, it's been San Diego's Ballast Point leading the way. Here, a brewing company whose co-owner was first really turned on to the wonders of West Coast IPA by a trip to San Diego back in 2010 (where Green Flash provided the epiphany of epiphanies) has been developing ··· Read more
Golden
- Style
- Citrus IPA
- Strength
- 5.9%
- Stockists
-
More stockists...
Grape and Grain Liquor Cellars
Midway Cellars
Saccharomyces Beer Cafe
And limited amounts of cans landing at other good beer venues
Akasha American Stout
Tapped July 20th, 2017
It’s long been customary, when winter arrives, for breweries to release a dark beer of some kind. There’s just something about all those extra malt characters – the richness, the sweetness and the roast – that serve as comfort to the cold when you sip away at them nice and slow. But malt has never really been what Akasha is about. They use plenty of malt, of course – and are as fussy as any brewer about the kinds they use – but their beers are ultimately designed to put hops on a pedestal. ··· Read more
Black
- Style
- American Stout
- Strength
- 6.0%
Cheeky Monkey Pale Ale
Tapped July 20th, 2017
Cheeky Monkey’s fifth birthday celebrations included a present to themselves: new branding and new recipes. Under the gift wrap were such things as the Travelling Monk Session Red mainstay now packaged in a responsibly sized 375ml can, an award-winning Australian Lager and the debut of this American style Pale Ale. Once an outlier, the West Coast IPA released at Christmas last year now also looks very much a part of its familial troupe, with the tallboy cans saved for single batches such as the ··· Read more
Golden
- Style
- Pale Ale
- Strength
- 5.0%
Sailors Grave Breakfast Stout
Tapped July 18th, 2017
With hindsight, it was surely only a matter of time before Sailors Grave was going to address the issue of the drunken sailor. The brewery's name and nautical stylings almost demand it and their reimagining of traditional children's book illustrations throughout their branding seems a good fit for bringing an old folk tune to life. So here is Breakfast Stout, complete with drunken sailor lolling on the can and a snippet of the lyrics explaining how such a beer can offer him the much needed "hair ··· Read more
Black
- Style
- Breakfast Stout
- Strength
- 5.0%
Green Beacon Cutwater & ESB & Flanders Red
Tapped July 18th, 2017
Given they've been busy building and starting brewing on a second production facility, winning champion trophies and touring the country with their beers, it's a wonder the team at Green Beacon has had time to create one new beer let alone multiple. But there's a trio that have hit taps in recent days and another seasonal on the horizon. Among that trio is Cutwater, a 5.2 percent ABV New England style pale developed over the course of a number of single keg releases at the brewpub. Now hitting taps ··· Read more
Red
- Style
- Various
- Stockists
-
Green Beacon Brewpub
And taps nationwide (with Flanders Red hitting them from mid August)
More stockists...
Mash Brewing Black Cat
Tapped July 13th, 2017
Back in 2014, the AIBA Australian Champion Beer trophy for Copy Cat became a tipping point for the Swan Valley’s Mash Brewing. The bold but clean flavours won many fans and now, three years later, they welcome another kitty to the clan – Black Cat. This Cascadian or black IPA version of the champion beer borrows heavily from its sibling's pine and passionfruit but the beast in black now purrs with cocoa and chocolate too from its suitably boozy 6.8 percent ABV. Those quick to visit the Swan ··· Read more
Black
- Style
- Black IPA
- Strength
- 6.8%
- Stockists
-
Draught and canned versions of Black Cat are available at good West Australian venues and retailers
Nail Brewing Mid-E Session Ale
Tapped July 12th, 2017
In the past few years, Nail Brewing has had something of a Midas touch when it comes to releasing quality beers when no one is looking that quickly define the brewery. The inaugural single batch Brew Log release was dedicated to a Hugh Dunn, an icon of West Australian brewing, and morphed into the deliciously boozy core range imperial brown ale. The Citra driven Nail Brew Log #4 became Nail Red, a beer that has defined the brewery during the second half of the decade, before evolving into the 9 percent ··· Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Mid-Strength
- Strength
- 3.4%
- Stockists
-
On tap in WA from July 2017 then nationwide
Can release to follow
Prickly Moses Saboteur Imperial IPA
Tapped July 11th, 2017
Several years ago, when head brewer Luke Scott was joined by a pre-BrewCult Hendo at Otway Ranges brewery Prickly Moses, they added a series of colourful releases to the brewery's portfolio that were usually a step up in booze and character from their more approachable core lineup. Among them were beers such as the Tailpipe American brown, Black Panther black IPA and Raconteur, an IPA with the subtitle "A Love Story About Hops". Presumably, given the similarity in names, the brewery's winter ··· Read more
Golden
- Style
- Imperial IPA
- Strength
- 10.4%
- Stockists
-
Queenscliff Brewhouse
Prickly Moses Brewery
More stockists...
Staves Coconut Brown / Imperial Stout
Tapped July 11th, 2017
To celebrate the Winter Solstice, Staves put on an event designed to show off their dark side by way of turning all their taps over to dark beers, most of which were their own, a couple of which were brand new. The first new one was a coconut brown ale that was not strictly theirs, as much as they’d like to claim the credit upon tasting the result. It was the winner of a home brew competition run through the venue that saw the victorious entry scaled up (in as much as the tiny brewpub does scale) ··· Read more
Black
- Style
- Various
KAIJU! & Breakside & The Catfish Peregrination IPA
Tapped July 7th, 2017
Portland's Breakside Brewery was among the cohort from the US city that travelled to Melbourne for the most recent Good Beer Week. While in Australia, brewer Ben Edmunds joined forces with KAIJU! and the team from The Catfish in putting down a collaboration brew. It was a reimagining of his brewery's Wanderlust IPA, a serial medal winner that in its original form is a showcase for hops from Breakside's home region, Northwest USA. For this version, those hops were swapped out for Aussies. The result ··· Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Australian IPA
- Stockists
-
Other stockists to follow post launch
Tallboy and Moose & Bucket Boys Zero IBU
Tapped July 6th, 2017
The craze for the haze continues apace. And it's one that's finding particular favour at Tallboy and Moose, the Preston brewpub that's already put out full and mid-strength takes on the New England IPA style. Zero IBU (+ Other Tales of Hoppy Magical Brekkie Juice, to give it its full name) is a collaboration with Sydney's Bucket Boys. And it's so-called because all the hops were added in three stages of dry-hopping, thus leading the brewers to claim they've extracted none of the bitterness that comes ··· Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- New England IPA
- Strength
- 5.3%
- Bitterness
- 0 IBU (allegedly)
- Stockists
-
Grape and Grain Liquor Cellars
Tallboy and Moose
Other venues TBC
More stockists...
New England / Batch Brewing Country Cousins 2017
Tapped July 6th, 2017
When the idea was first thrown around, it was all just a bit of fun. Then it became a regular fling. Now it looks like things are getting a bit more serious. It began in 2015 when the gentlemen from the country, New England Brewing Co., invited the city folk from Young Henrys to head up to their brewery in Uralla to collaborate on a beer before reciprocating the offer and brewing the same recipe at the Newtown brewery. The idea was to release the two together in order to showcase the fact that beer ··· Read more
Red
- Style
- Vanilla Wit / Cherry Sour
- Stockists
-
The Pig and Tinder (Tamworth)
The Welders Dog (Armidale)
The Henson
More stockists...The Gasoline Pony
The Little Guy
Block 'n Tackle Big Ben
Tapped July 6th, 2017
With the winter weather having settled in on the Central Coast, the guys at Block 'n Tackle have decided to release something that offers a little extra oompf and comfort to locals on these cooler days and nights. Big Ben is a Belgian style blonde ale, so it's one where the emphasis is all on the yeast and malt. They've used a simple base consisting solely of Pilsner malt upon which the banana and fruity esters and spicy phenols of the yeast are able to shine. It's not a beer for hop heads as very ··· Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Belgian Blonde Ale
- Strength
- 7.1%
- Stockists
-
Woolpack Redfern
BrewSmith Russian Imperial Stout
Tapped July 3rd, 2017
BrewSmith has been concocting recipes and selling kits that allow people to enjoy a taste of brewing at home on a small scale – even if their home is just as small – for a number of years now. But for winter 2017 they've come up with something rather larger: their first Russian imperial stout kit, one that requires so much grain it barely fits into the cotton bags in which they send it out. They say that if you follow the recipe they've included you'll end up with a beer that "develops a ··· Read more
Black
- Style
- Russian Imperial Stout
- Strength
- 9.0% (approx)
- Stockists
-
Available from BrewSmith
Clifton Hill Brewpub Winter Seasonals 2017
Tapped July 3rd, 2017
With Melbourne’s winter well and truly set in, breweries across the city have released a wide variety of more seasonally appropriate limited releases. The Clifton Hill Brewpub is no exception, with several beers now gracing its taps best suited to drinking by the pub’s open fire. First off the rank is the Rauchbier, which pours a crystal clear amber before its bacon like smokey aroma lets you know it's a beer for the colder months. Flavour wise, it’s a malt-driven affair with clear aromas ··· Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Various
- Stockists
4 Pines Keller Door Hop Hash XPA
Tapped June 27th, 2017
Hop hash is a new means, developed in the States, by which brewers can deliver an intense hit of the best bits of hop flowers into their beers. It's made up of the powder left over after masses of hops have been turned into pellets during harvest and small amounts made it to Australia for the first time following the latest American season. 4 Pines played around with some in an XPA and clearly liked what it did as they've now brewed the beer again and released it as their latest colourfully attired ··· Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hop Hash XPA
- Strength
- 5.5%
- Bitterness
- 50 IBU
- Stockists
-
Find it at 4 Pines venues then nationwide
Bridge Road Brewers B2 Bomber Mach 7.0
Tapped June 26th, 2017
We're not quite sure when – or if – there will come an anniversary at Bridge Road Brewers upon which it becomes impossible to up the ante for what's been its birthday beer for the past seven years. But, clearly, this year isn't that year as the B2 Bomber returns, shiny and green, with the brewery claiming they've increased the levels of malt and hops once more in what is probably best described as an imperial Belgian black IPA. The gelatinous beast clocks in at a round 10 percent ABV and is best ··· Read more
Black
- Style
- Imperial Belgian Black IPA
- Strength
- 10.0%
- Stockists
-
Bridge Road Brewery
And good beer outlets nationwide
More stockists...
