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.
New England Brewing Co India Pale Lager
Tapped Yesterday
As they waited for their new canning line to be installed, tested and readied for action, the brewers at New England had to do a little juggling of their normal brewing schedule. The ideal scenario was to shift things around so the first beer destined for cans would be ready at just the right time to transfer from the tank, which meant they had to hold off brewing it. And that, in turn, resulted in them having a little extra time and tank space to fill. This India Pale Lager is what they filled it… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- India Pale Lager
- Strength
- 6.3%
- Bitterness
- 66 IBU
- Stockists
-
And select Sydney venues
More stockists...
Endeavour Dark Ale
Tapped Yesterday
When you stand at the bar at the Endeavour Tap Rooms waiting to order a beer, you pretty well know what you're going to get: after all, it says the name of the beer right there above the taps. Except, that is, if you're looking at tap number 7. That one is simply called "Something Dark" and it indicates that, yes, there’s a dark beer in here but, no, it won’t always be the same one. When coming up with the next beer it’s almost a case of brewer JB sticking his head out the door, seeing… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Mild Ale
- Strength
- 4.1%
- Bitterness
- 19 IBU
Endeavour India Red Ale
Tapped Yesterday
Andy Stewart, one of Endeavour’s founders and the original driving force behind the business’ beer recipes, missed out on giving the Tap Rooms brewery a proper christening due to being ensconced in the USA. So, understandably, on his most recent trip home he was keen to get his hands dirty and head brewer JB was only too happy to help him; he was even so generous as to organise a 5am start, mere hours after Andy had spent the preceding 24 in a plane. The pair got busy brewing an India red ale,… Read more
Red
- Style
- India Red Ale
- Strength
- 6.1%
- Bitterness
- 58 IBU
La Sirène Brewing Forêt Sauvage
Tapped September 21st, 2017
When you're a brewery like La Sirène, it's good to have time on your side. Outside its core range of saisons and farmhouse style ales is an ever-growing and diversifying series of projects incorporating spontaneous fermentation, barrel ageing and much more besides. Some of them were kickstarted several years ago, in the early days after the brewing company built its brewery in Alphington, giving the brewers liquids that have been evolving for years to play with, sometimes blending them, racking… Read more
Red
- Style
- Barrel Aged Wild Cherry Ale
- Strength
- 8.0%
- Stockists
-
More stockists...
And select Victorian beer venues
Modus Operandi Gadzooks & Tropical Contact High IPAs
Tapped September 18th, 2017
Pushing boundaries and experimentation are welcome features of the craft beer world. And, arguably, the one experiment to have been most widely tested by brewers in Australia in recent times is that of the New England IPA. In some quarters, the hazy, juice like style has been galvanising and, in others, polarising, but almost everywhere it has sparked curiosity. That’s certainly the case in Mona Vale where the Modus Operandi brewers have released several different versions of the style, each of… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- New England IPAs
- Strength
- 6.3% & 6.8%
Six String Ram Stein Märzen
Tapped September 15th, 2017
In the lead-up to Oktoberfest, it’s fair to say a lot of places will preparing to encourage their guests to raise a glass of pale lager into the air while whumping and thumping on tables to the merry sound of an oompah band. Not Six String. As is their style, the Central Coast rockers will instead be revelling in something darker, harder and louder – namely metal music and a healthy serving of Ram Stein. Their annual Oktoberfest / Märzen beer has been released in its 2017 incarnation, in both… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Märzen
- Strength
- 5.4%
Shenanigans Brewing Squeak & Bubble
Tapped September 15th, 2017
As is the case for many people at this time of year, the guys at Shenanigans have had a bit of a spring clean. And what they discovered when they swept out the contents of their cool room was that they had enough ingredients (not picked up off the floor, presumably…) to create something they'd be happy to label and release as their latest in their Stunt Beer series. It’s thus been branded Squeak & Bubble and is an IPA using Australian Topaz, US Chinook and Simcoe lupulin powder. They cobbled… Read more
Golden
- Style
- IPA
- Strength
- 7.2%
- Stockists
-
For Red Sky 2017 stockists head here
More stockists...
Holgate Brewhouse Wild Red Ale 2017
Tapped September 11th, 2017
It's fair to say The Crafty Pint team rather enjoyed the first Wild Red Ale from Holgate. And we were far from alone. The Flanders red style ale took out the top spot in our Best New Victorian Beers of 2016 poll, meaning the arrival of its successor was much anticipated. In fact, this year's beer could be described as "offspring" as much as "successor"with a portion of the 2016 batch used to "seed" the barrels this time around, ensuring the mixture of yeasts and bacteria… Read more
Red
- Style
- Flanders Style Red Ale
- Strength
- 5.6%
- Bitterness
- 10 IBU
- Stockists
-
Holgate Brewhouse
Other stockists TBC
More stockists...
Sailors Grave Nuts & Law Of The Tongue
Tapped September 11th, 2017
For the most part, the one-off and seasonal beers coming out of Sailors Grave have been farmhouse style ales. But, as they prepare to welcome another junior brewer into the world, they've sent out a pair of a more straightforward bent; well, as straightforward as you can reasonably hope to expect from them. One is Nuts, a beer with a name and label that recalls the humour of which so many real ale brewers in the UK seem fond. To wit, it's a brown ale brewed with chestnuts and hazelnuts grown at Gourmet… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Nut Brown Ale & Smoked Oyster Stout
- Strength
- 4.8% & 5.8%
Moon Dog Curtly Ambrosia
Tapped September 9th, 2017
The experimental limited release program is well and truly up and running at Moon Dog now they've assigned Señor Brewer Adrian McNulty permanently to their smaller original brewery with instructions to go hog wild. And, for his latest bottled release, it's fair to say inspiration comes from left field – particularly with cricket season still a way off. Said inspiration is Sir Curtly Ambrose, one of the fiercest pacemen to stalk the planet in the latter days of the West Indies' decades of dominance.… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Imperial Chilli Pale Ale?
- Strength
- 9.4%
- Bitterness
- 35 IBU
Fury & Son Red Ale
Tapped September 9th, 2017
When we chose to relaunch our blind tastings with a look at hoppy reds and ambers a few months back, it was more a case of finding something we hadn't looked at in a while than thinking it was a particularly "on trend" slice of the multi-dimensional beer spectrum. Yet, while most talk around the craft beer water cooler is of IPAs, sour beer styles and barrels at the minute, it's fair to say this has been a winter well served with hoppy reds and ambers, India red ales and the like. And,… Read more
Red
- Style
- American Red Ale
- Strength
- 5.5%
- Bitterness
- 35 IBU
Old Wives Ales Van Damn! Belgian IPA
Tapped September 8th, 2017
Old Wives Ales' Shed Series of one-off releases kicked off in June with Horn Swatter, the hoppy American stout brewed in honour of brewer Shannon Brooks' old man. The second in the series – draught only this time – comes with a nod to another old man, albeit not one with any familial ties to the Melbourne foursome. This time, it's the Muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude Van Damme that is both inspiration and decoration – the decals feature his bloodied face. Why? Because it's a Belgian IPA they… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Belgian IPA
- Strength
- 7.0%
- Bitterness
- 60 IBU
- Stockists
-
And on tap at a handful of other venues in Melbourne and Bendigo
More stockists...
La Sirène Copper & Vine
Tapped September 8th, 2017
A visit to the brewery this week confirmed just how much is on the go at La Sirène's "urban farmhouse" brewery. Step away from their already diverse core range – the hoppy as anything Urban Pale and the array of saisons and other farmhouse style beers, plus Praline, of course – and there's all manner of paths being trodden. There's the monthly single hop saisons in kegs, various short run barrel aged and blended releases, beer-wine hybrids and spontaneously fermented ales at various… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Single Barrel Aged Saison
- Strength
- 6.0%
- Stockists
-
Mr West
And select beer venues around Melbourne
More stockists...
Hargreaves Hill Apricot Sour
Tapped September 7th, 2017
It says something about the prevalence of sour beer styles coming our way over the past year or two that it's not often one comes along offering a new experience. But that's the case with this spring release from Hargreaves Hill, the latest in an ever-growing lineup of beers from the Yarra Valley brewery to make a feature of "wild" yeasts or bacteria in one way or another. It's not that they've done anything we've not seen in some way shape or form before – it's kettle soured, features… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Belgian Apricot Sour
- Strength
- 7.2%
- Bitterness
- 25 IBU
- Stockists
-
Brother Burger and the Marvellous Brew
Grape and Grain Liquor Cellars
More stockists...The Public Brewery
Hargreaves Hill Brewing Company
And select good beer retailers in VIC & QLD
Nomad Brewing Freshie Moka
Tapped September 6th, 2017
When Nomad first experimented with the gose style by adding local seawater and native pepper, they weren't to know they were about to strike the jackpot with the creation of Freshie, a beer that’s gone on to become a firm favourite that's dispatched all around the world. So you can understand why they’d want to keep the experimentation going, which is how we’ve ended up with a series of seasonal siblings starting with a Freshie base but all featuring slightly left field ingredients; summer… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Coffee Gose
- Strength
- 4.5%
Frenchies Old World IPA
Tapped September 4th, 2017
Most breweries these days have an IPA, but not many have one like this. Frenchies’ Old World IPA is not a riot of fruit and bitterness as you’d come to expect from, in particular, the US interpretations of the style based on that country’s big and bold hops. Instead, here they’ve used French hop varieties (Columbus and Triskel) and German (Hallertau Blanc and Mandarina Bavaria) to construct a more delicate beer built on floral characters, an almost vinous quality and very little bitterness.… Read more
Golden
- Style
- IPA
- Strength
- 6.0%
- Bitterness
- 60
Frenchies Comet Pale Ale
Tapped September 4th, 2017
One of the bi-products of the resurgence in small breweries is the return of some once unfashionable brewing ingredients. One such example is the American hop, Comet, which evidently disappeared in the 1980s before making a more recent comeback, not least in this beer. It’s one that brewer Vince began playing around with when Frenchies launched as a gypsy brewer and has fined tuned in several iterations since, with results coming anywhere between floral fruits and an earthy spiciness. Now made… Read more
Red
- Style
- Pale Ale
- Strength
- 5.4%
- Bitterness
- 45
Frenchies Golden Steam
Tapped September 4th, 2017
While their main focus flies beneath the tricolour, not everything is entirely French at Frenchies. Case in point is the Golden Steam which is actually more of a New Zealand style pilsner. Where Frenchies’ similar-in-strength Kölsch aims to please with sophistication via subtlety, the Golden Steam lets go the leash a little more. It’s made using only kiwi hops – Motueka, Wakatu and Waimea – though the amounts used are deliberately kept in check, with just enough to ensure you pick up the… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Pilsner
- Strength
- 4.4%
Frenchies Kolsch
Tapped September 4th, 2017
When it comes to brewing a Kölsch you'd be safe to surmise that spending a good amount of time in the city where the style originates would be of considerable benefit. That’s the case here, for Frenchies brewer Vince lived and studied in Cologne (or Köln, if you prefer) where he also schooled his palate on the finer points of the local beer. His Aussie-brewed interpretation is thus intended as a nod to the classics. It’s made with very light malts and Tettnang and Strisselspalt hops, forming… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Kölsch
- Strength
- 4.8%
- Bitterness
- 25
Two Birds Brewing Saison 2017
Tapped September 4th, 2017
A look at the weather forecast for their hometown of Melbourne may suggest otherwise but, allegedly, spring has sprung, meaning it's time for Two Birds' second bottled seasonal release. It's one with which they look to reassure us of better times ahead thanks to a label featuring a rising sun, blooming flowers, butterflies and, um, the Delorean from Back to the Future on a cloud. Inside you'll find a saison given an extra aromatic kick thanks to the use of "floral and fruity" Aussie hops.… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Saison
- Strength
- 5.6%
