New Beers
Barely a day goes by without another seasonal or one-off special flying out of an Australian brewery (if not ten). Here and in our weekly newsletter, we'll bring you news and, if we've sampled them, our take on as many of them as possible. Happy hunting!
Balter Brewing Dimples West Coast IPA
Tapped Today
Now, we all know how this goes. Safely ensconced within the belly of the beast, the team at Balter have their new reality explained to them: we need a 4.2 percent ABV lightly hoppy and pale golden ale from you to add to our army of 'em. And, when you're done with that, could you please brew a Pacific Ale of some sort? Except there appears to have been a glitch in the matrix here, with the Gold Coast brewers continuing their post-acquisition nationwide release program with another IPA, this time created… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
- Stockists
-
Check the Balter Beer Locator
Tallboy & Moose Florida Vice
Tapped February 25th, 2020
Florida Vice is another Tallboy & Moose’s tinnie release and one that sees the brewers continue their exploration of fruit in beer. This time around, it’s a kettle sour packed with orange juice and comes inside a tin designed to bring back memories of playing early Grand Theft Auto. Inside you’ll find it’s not just the aroma and taste of Florida Vice that replicates orange juice but the look and consistency too. There’s a thickness to the beer which puts it in the “with pulp” category… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- OJ Kettle Sour
- ABV
- 6.0%
Tallboy and Moose Lil Zinger & Itty Sticky
Tapped February 25th, 2020
Two late summer releases from Tallboy and Moose play with keeping big flavours in small beers. First up there’s Lil Zinger, a lower ABV take on the Zing Tang beers the Preston brewers have been releasing regularly. It doesn't sit too far along the sour spectrum and instead is a beer featuring a fruit-heavy mix of pineapple, passionfruit and paw paw balanced by a soft, tongue-tickling tartness. The other is Itty Sticky, a session IPA that’s something of a successor to Dinky Dank, which proved… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Kettle Sour & Session IPA
- ABV
- 3.1% & 3.5%
Ogdens Brewery Windsor Juice
Tapped February 24th, 2020
With a name like Windsor Juice, it would be fair to assume there’s some reference to the Mexit extraction kerfuffle in the UK; however, the noble liquid in question is actually the debut hazy offering from one of Perth’s grandest old pubs, the Windsor. After bestowing the 110-year-old dame with a solid range of pub crushers, head brewer Damian Bussemaker is now going full Duke of NEIPA-land, and, what’s more, there’s a sour to come too! With a core audience in mind, Windsor Juice ticks the… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- NEIPA
- ABV
- 5.5%
- Stockists
-
On tap at The Windsor, South Perth
Hop Nation Seven Clouds Hazy IPA
Tapped February 22nd, 2020
For Moorabbin bar and bottleshop Grape & Grain's seventh birthday, Hop Nation brewed a one-off beer. Except it's no longer one-off as it proved popular enough to bring back on a larger scale. As the name hints, Seven Clouds offers not just a nod to the birthday bash but also to the land across The Ditch with Kiwi hops Taiheke, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin chosen to bring the birthday wishes. It's another hazy IPA from the brewery that does them well, this time with the addition of a lick of lactose,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.3%
Bodriggy Brewing Cucumber & Mint Sour Pilsner
Tapped February 21st, 2020
Once upon a time, not that long ago, beer advent calendars felt a little like a way for bottleshops to get rid of any old stock lying around. That's not the case today, with breweries asked to brew unique beers for many of the packs so that, come December, fridges are emptied of the usual Christmas essentials and instead loaded with mystery beers. Among the many sour, hoppy, dark and unusual releases in Carwyn Cellars’ Canvent in 2018 was Bodriggy's Cucumber and Mint Sour Pilsner. Sure, it might… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Cucumber Pilsner
- ABV
- 4.2%
Stomping Ground Can't Do Tomorrow
Tapped February 20th, 2020
We've seen breweries release series of beers featuring different artwork in the past; Cavalier showcased a number of street artists in their Art Series back in 2015, for example. But Stomping Ground, as is their wont, have taken things a step or two further in their partnership with the Can't Do Tomorrow Festival. They're releasing no less than 100 different can designs from 61 artists for the inaugural event held in The Facility in Kensington from February 20 to 29. What's more, they've put together… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Lager
- ABV
- 4.7%
- Stockists
Felons & Brewsvegas 2020 Hazy Pale
Tapped February 20th, 2020
Brewsvegas launched in 2014 as Brisbane’s annual ten day celebration of all things good beer. It's a not-for-profit that relies on sponsorship and a ton of volunteer help and goodwill, with everyone involved a lover of beer, Brisbane, and the city’s beer community. Their annual collaboration brew partners are no exception, and in 2020 the official Brewsvegas beer has been created with Felons Brewing Co. Felons have only been brewing beer under the Story Bridge in Brisbane for a little over a… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Pale
- ABV
- 4.4%
- Bitterness
- 22 IBU
- Stockists
-
Launching at Beers On The Lawn on Feb 22
Then available city-wide up to and throughout Brewsvegas
FogHorn Brewery Rowdy Kellerbier & Poundage Imperial Stout
Tapped February 20th, 2020
You kind of understand how FogHorn founder and head brewer Shawn Sherlock’s brain works when he explains that his Kellerbier was named Rowdy as it is his "quiet" beer. After slowing up brewing lagers as there wasn't much demand, Shawn and his team took a punt last summer and brewed this little beauty. It became one of the brewhouse’s biggest sellers and has continued to do so into 2020. All German malts and Kiwi hops and a Czech lager yeast come together in a brewing process that takes… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Kellerbier & Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 4.9% & 10.0%
Fixation Brewing Dreamseeker IPA
Tapped February 19th, 2020
On Valentine's Day, the team at Fixation's Incubator brewpub in Collingwood bathed their venue in warm, bright lights. But this was no fuzzy, heart-hued red to mark the romance of the day (although there was hot pink in the mix); instead, walls, tanks 'n' all were turned into psychedelic scapes by Melbourne artist Ruskidd. Why? To herald the arrival of the brewery's second Freshly Hatched tallboy tinnie release, Dreamseeker. The beer inside the eye-catching cans is tagged a "juicy IPA"… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 7.2%
Bad Shepherd Unicorn Beer & Lumberjack IPA
Tapped February 19th, 2020
As is becoming increasingly apparent, not only have we reached a point at which the role of ABAC – the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code – has become a weekly discussion point but we seem to have moved beyond that to a place in which brewers are deciding they're fair game. Take Bad Shepherd's tenth Brew Crew Series release, the Unicorn Beer. Unable to get such a beer, label design and all, past the pre-vetting process, they've instead figured: "What the heck – it's only a one-off release"… Read more
Red
- Style
- IPA Variants
- ABV
- 5.5% & 6.0%
- Bitterness
- 14 & 47 IBU
Beerfarm Barrel-Aged Cranberry & Pineapple Sour
Tapped February 18th, 2020
Recalls and withdrawals, while still infrequent, have become more commonplace in recent years as brewers push their experimentation into new areas and trade and consumers become better able to recognise (and reject) sub-par offerings. There can be upsides, however, and not just brewers improving techniques and standards and less bad beer hitting the market; in the case of Beerfarm, they've given one product they chose to withdraw from sale a new life. After some careful consideration and a desire… Read more
Red
- Style
- Cranberry & Pineapple Sour
- ABV
- 4.8%
Ballistic Beer Co Sleep When You're Dead Modern TDH IPA
Tapped February 17th, 2020
Have you ever run into someone you haven’t seen since you were in primary school? The shock at how much they’ve changed is perhaps only matched by the surprise at how familiar they are. Memory is a funny thing. I sometimes forget how much flavours and beer styles and trends evolve. I forget that my expectations change. I forget that what’s normal now wasn’t always the norm, and flavours that used to be familiar to me haven’t crossed my palate in quite some time. Modern TDH IPA, the latest… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- TDH IPA
- ABV
- 7.2%
- Bitterness
- 64 IBU
Hope Brewery Imperial Lemon Lime & Mango Sours
Tapped February 17th, 2020
Hope Brewery aren’t new to the fruit sours game - their fruited Berliner Weisse variants have been around for a while, and many would say they’re up there with the best of them. But, while their sours are good, their imperial sours might be a game-changer. The majority of fruit sours tend to sit below five percent ABV. Light in alcohol. Light in body. Fruit flavour is present. Lactic acid is king. But amp up the alcohol to seven percent, as Hope have done, and a shift takes place. More malt means… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Imperial Fruit Sours
- ABV
- Both 7.0%
Rocky Ridge Belgian Pale Ale & Ryes Against & Don't Drop The Cot
Tapped February 17th, 2020
After a brief period of calm among WA brewers, punters are starting to welcome the first slew of original releases for 2020. And if Rocky Ridge’s first drop – multiple beers in quick succession, as is their wont – is any sign of things to come, we’re in for a treat. Among this trio of limited releases from the Jindong brewers is Don’t Drop The Cot, a sour Apricot IPA utilising rejected apricots deemed unfit for supermarket shelf space. Moderately hopped to 25 IBUs and sizeably sour, the… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Various Styles
- Stockists
-
Rocky Ridge Cellar Door
Rocky Ridge Subiaco
And Rocky Ridge stockists nationwide
More stockists...
Otherside Brewing Co DDH Oat Cream IPA
Tapped February 15th, 2020
It’s becoming increasingly apparent the Otherside brew team have entered the sort of epoch of creativity and consistency which is normally only viewed retrospectively. Those paying close attention will have seen the Myaree brewery nail a spectrum of styles, almost in an offhand manner – “Hey, we made this. It’s in market if you’re keen to buy it”. They're making some of WA’s best beer and, for the most part, the liquid does the talking. With the beer at hand, think skim milk milkshake… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- DDH Oat Cream IPA
- ABV
- 6.2%
- Stockists
-
Otherside Brewery
And in limited supply from Otherside stockists nationally
More stockists...
Innate Brewers Pulp Fiction Blood Orange Gose
Tapped February 15th, 2020
Having Miserlou’s cool surf rock vibes belting through my head every time I looked at this can was great, yet it wasn’t the best part of opening Pulp Fiction. No, that honour goes to the fact the sampling day was a mere 40C, a situation which offered more sweaty swagger than Vincent Vega’s beading forehead, and thus demanded a refreshing Blood Orange Gose. Pouring a Berocca orange hue, the citrus levels are full without becoming overpowering. Likewise, the brine / tart balance dances Jack Rabbit… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Blood Orange Gose
- ABV
- 4.0%
- Stockists
-
Available from Innate stockists, in limited release.
Wayward Brewing Mango Mosaic Magic
Tapped February 15th, 2020
It’s a long, hot summer’s day. You arrive home, open the front door, step inside… and straight away your nose tells you someone in the house has bought mangoes. You walk into the kitchen and, sure enough, there’s a tray of big, juicy mangoes, ripening on the kitchen bench. Some are still green. Some are rosy and soft and ready to eat. All will be eaten before the week is out. This is the experience Wayward’s Mango Mosaic Magic brought to mind for me. To look at in the glass, it has the… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Fruit Sour
- ABV
- 4.0%
Moo Brew Berliner Weisse
Tapped February 14th, 2020
Moo Brew’s limited release series that kicked off last year haven’t just been about giving the world more of their balanced, dialled in beers but have also featured a run of madcap promotional campaigns. We’ve had a Red IPA launched at Dark Mofo, the palest Belgian male promoting a Belgian Pale and Moo head brewer Dave Macgill showing off as the brewery’s head thirst-trap and NEIPA model. But what else would you expect from a brewery that’s part of David Walsh’s art, culture, food and… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Berliner Weisse
- ABV
- 3.0%
- Stockists
-
MONA
Plus other stockists found here
More stockists...
Nail Brewing NBT #5: Simcoe & Centennial
Tapped February 14th, 2020
When we first covered the Nail NBT series it was the modern extension of John Stallwood’s formative years prior to founding the brewery, when he brewed more than 40 test batches at the University of Ballarat of what would become the now retired Nail Ale. But that was only part of the story. NBT #5 arrives with the digital unveiling of what Nail are calling Australia’s biggest collaboration: a partnership with you, the beer drinker. A QR code on the back of the can now links to a Nail rating page… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.7%
- Stockists
-
Available from Nail stockists nationwide
