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!
Grifter Brewing Co Acid Drop
Tapped February 24th, 2014
What do dynamite, Post-Its and penicillin have in common with this beer from the Grifter Brewing Company? The answer is they all came about by accident. When the boys were brewing up a recipe for a Steam Ale, they experienced a bit of misfortune in the form of a dead burner, meaning they were stuck with 1400 litres of wort they were unable to boil. Because they hadn't yet mashed out the spent grain, they kept their wits about them and did what anyone should in that situation: call for The Doctor.… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Berliner-Weisse
- ABV
- 4.2%
- Stockists
Cavalier Brewing IPA
Tapped February 20th, 2014
Much as we'd love to, we don't always get to sample every single beer released in Australia before telling you about it. However, we do always try and get as much information about said beer out of the brewers before posting here. And sometimes, it would seem, we are more successful at this than at others. Anyone who has met Heath from Melbourne's Cavalier will know he likes to chat and has a way with words. Thus, we expected a little more than: "A beautifully rounded beer with a big hop flavour… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Bitterness
- 50 IBU
- Stockists
-
VICTORIA
Blackhearts & Sparrows (growler)
Fox Hotel
[Ger
More stockists...
Six String Brewing Bobby Brown
Tapped February 18th, 2014
The name 'Bobby Brown' means different things to different people. If your formative years included the late 1970s, it might conjure up memories of Frank Zappa's confused sexual deviant. A decade later, the infamy of the name passed to another Bobby Brown whose prerogative was apparently excessive use of drugs and drop crotch pants. With those sorts of associations, you might expect a beer called Bobby Brown to be similarly twisted. But what's in a name, right? The Bobby Brown Ale from Six String… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- American Brown Ale
- ABV
- 5.1%
- Stockists
-
Spooning Goats
Quarrymans Hotel
Forest Lodge Hotel
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Bridge Road & Nogne O Aurora Borealis II
Tapped February 12th, 2014
Given the extraordinary lengths that Bridge Road and their Norwegian brewing buddies went to to create the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis beers – involving brews on either side of the planet, and unrefrigerated shipping of said brews from one side of the world to the other in barrels via ship – they will presumably be rather chuffed with their reception. Aurora Australis is currently the highest rated Australian beer ever on Ratebeer and Aurora Borealis scored a top 10 finish in the recent… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Tripel
- ABV
- 9.1%
- Stockists
-
And at good craft beer-supporting bottleshops.
Hargreaves Hill New Season IPA
Tapped February 9th, 2014
The brewers at Hargreaves Hill have been enjoying themselves with hops, particularly new varieties (or varieties new to them), in recent years. There's been the Topaz & Amarillo IPA (A.K.A. Melanie), Admiral Nelson IPA, C4 IPA and the recent Eldorado IPA list a few. With the most recent crop of US hops recently arrived in Australia, their back with another. This time they are showcasing varieties that play an important role in some of their core beers, Pale Ale and Extra Special Bitter. They… Read more
Golden
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 6.2%
- Stockists
-
Blackhearts & Sparrows (growler fills)
[Slowb
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Grifter Brewing Co Cold War
Tapped February 7th, 2014
There's a war going on in the beer world. It's one of attrition between two fundamentally different attitudes. At the extreme of the Old World thinking is the immovable pillar of the Reinheitsgebot - the German purity law decreeing thou shalt only brew using water, barley and hops. At the opposite extreme is the 'anything goes' policy of the New World, where the blending of styles and use of new ingredients is not only welcomed but encouraged. And somewhere amidst all of this is an invisible line… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hopfenweizen
- ABV
- 5.3%
- Stockists
-
Dove & Olive (For Craft Beer Rising)
Yulli's
Pet
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Red Duck Supa Nova / Saison / Saison Bee
Tapped February 7th, 2014
Ballarat's Red Duck is showing no signs of slowing down in 2014. Already, a number of limited release seasonals have hit shelves, with more coming, including sours, barrel-aged beers and the like. The most recent three to appear are the Supa Nova Australian IPA, Saison and Saison Bee. The Supa Nova features just the one hop, the ubiquitous Galaxy, and despite tipping the scales at 7.5% ABV isn't particularly fierce, instead allowing the familiar citrus and tropical hop aromas obtained from the use… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- IPA & Saisons
- ABV
- 7.5% / 6.2% / 5.2%
- Stockists
-
Press Cellars
Swords Select
Olinda Cellars
More stockists...
Mountain Goat India Red Ale
Tapped January 31st, 2014
Time for the first Rare Breed of 2014... Fresh from seeing six beers hit the Hottest 100, with their first can, Summer Ale, hitting the top 10, Mountain Goat has brought back a beer first trialled in kegs last year. This time around, they've given the India Red Ale a boost and a tweak and popped it into suitably bright red Rare Breed bottles too. The ABV has been nudged up to 6.6 per cent and they've done something of a tour of the world for the ingredients, with three different US hops (Athanum,… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- India Red Ale
- ABV
- 6.6%
- Bitterness
- 60 IBU
- Stockists
-
Kegs:
[Gr
More stockists...
Mountain Goat India Red Ale
Tapped January 31st, 2014
Time for the first Rare Breed of 2014... Fresh from seeing six beers hit the Hottest 100, with their first can, Summer Ale, hitting the top 10, Mountain Goat has brought back a beer first trialled in kegs last year. This time around, they've given the India Red Ale a boost and a tweak and popped it into suitably bright red Rare Breed bottles too. The ABV has been nudged up to 6.6 per cent and they've done something of a tour of the world for the ingredients, with three different US hops (Athanum,… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- India Red Ale
- ABV
- 6.6%
- Bitterness
- 60 IBU
- Stockists
-
Kegs:
[Gr
More stockists...
Seven Sheds Platypus 200
Tapped January 22nd, 2014
Tasmania's northwest doesn't tend to be lavished with as much attention by tourist bods as some of its other regions. But on a trip there for a travel feature a couple of years ago, in the company of brewer and beer writer Willie Simpson, we were introduced to all manner of colourful, quirky and fascinating local producers, often hailing from other parts of the world and settling in NW Tassie after years travelling the globe. For his 200th batch of Seven Sheds beer, Willie decided to bring a few… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Spiced Brown Ale
- Stockists
-
Just 500 bottles available from Seven Sheds
Moon Dog Bjorn To Boogie
Tapped January 16th, 2014
It's almost as if they knew the heatwave was coming... For their latest release, Moon Dog has returned to the fruit bowl and, vaguely, to the scene of one of their earlier adventures. Some of you may recall the Magnificent Mullet series of beers that saw Mel(on) Gibson, MacGuava and Billy Ray Citrus star as fruity, wheaty, tarty ales. Foregoing the temptation to forge an ancestral thread through the beers by releasing a Limey Citrus (a beer that would no doubt require more twerking than tweaking),… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Watermelon Weizen
- ABV
- 5.3%
- Bitterness
- 11 IBU
- Stockists
-
At good craft beer venues nationwide.
If you want help finding it near you, contact Moon Dog's distributor Phoenix.
Mornington Peninsula Brewery Black IPA
Tapped January 14th, 2014
Midway through presenting the "Malt" week of the beer course we run with a fellow Good Beer Weeker late last year, we fell out. Not in a punching each others' lights out or sulking way, just in a "tomayto / tomahto" kind of way. He said Black IPAs were just gimmick beers, something brewed for geeks to talk about, we felt that they were a valid style and, when made well, one of the tastiest outcomes of the modern craft beer world's love of melding styles. Whether you think it gimmick… Read more
Black
- Style
- Black IPA
- ABV
- 6.2%
Murray's Anniversary Ale 8
Tapped January 1st, 2014
Every year on its birthday, which falls on New Year's Day, Murray's releases its Anniversary Ale. Always big, always oaked and always an evolution on the previous year's recipe, past years have also tended to see the beer get bigger year in, year out, with the ABV percentage climbing, the number of yeasts used on the rise and sometimes even the number of types of oak used increasing too. For number 8, however, they've decided to head back to where it all started with the first Anniversary Ale. It's… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Barley Wine
- ABV
- 10%
- Stockists
Murray's Moon Boy
Tapped December 30th, 2013
The Crafty Pint legal team is considering taking action against Murray's if they don't cough up fees for image rights for their newest beer. OK, not really - the website's founder doesn't own a maroon sweater like the bearded, bespectacled chap on Moon Bay's decal and given we allowed them to use our rippled physique as the basis for the Auld Bulgin' Boysterous Bicep label, we can't really start playing funny buggers now. OK, that's a lie too as the only thing rippling about the site's founder's… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Golden Ale
- ABV
- 4.5%
Young Henrys Young Cherry Saison
Tapped December 20th, 2013
The last one-off batch for Young Henrys in 2013 is a suitably festive affair. But warming winter ales and Christmas spices be damned; it's Australia, it's 40 degrees and it's the time of year when fresh produce seems at its most abundant - perfect fodder for a collaborative brew. As tends to be the case with Young Henrys one-off beers, there's a story. This one involves the Young Henrys Sales Manager's wife's friend's family's cherry orchard. The husband of one of the said family members also happens… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Stockists
-
Young Henrys (growlers)
Eagle Bay / Yeastie Boys Feijoa Pale Ale
Tapped December 19th, 2013
He likes to leave a trail wherever he goes, does Yeastie Boy Stu McKinlay. You may not always see him coming, but you know when he's been as there tends to be a beer or two left in his wake. The latest gift from the Trans-Tasman traveller is a collaboration he concocted with WA's Eagle Bay, that started, as many things do, over a few beers together at the Beervana Festival in New Zealand in August and came to fruition during this year's WA Beer Week. the result was a sessionable pale ale with a twist:… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Fruit / Tea / Flower Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.9%
- Bitterness
- 21 IBU
- Stockists
-
Clancy's Fish Pub, Dunsborough
The Pourhouse, Dunsborough
Muster, Margaret River
[Cellarbrations at Carlisle](/beer/bottleshop/cellarbratio
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Red Duck Wood Gnaume & Bobcat
Tapped December 16th, 2013
Of all the beers that Red Duck put out in 2012, few caused as many ripples of excitement in the beer nerd world as the Gnaume, one of his collaborations with Anders Kissmeyer. It was a Belgian farmhouse style ale, a little fruity, spicy and tart and made with all manner of yeasts and sugars. It's back in a seriously limited and altered version, with Wood Gnaume having spent time in a small oak barrel for six months (hence why there's only 13 cases in existence. We're told it's fermented with more… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Oak-Aged Lambic & IPA
- ABV
- 6.2% / 7.5%
- Stockists
-
Press Cellars
Swords Select
Olinda Cellars
More stockists...
Holgate Black Forest Summer Porter
Tapped December 12th, 2013
Holgate's Temptress, its cocoa and vanilla porter, has been one of the most surprising and enduring success stories of the rise of Australian craft beer. An instant hit upon launch a few years back, its lusciousness has continued to win over drinkers and diners ever since. It is, however, perhaps not the first beer you'd reach for when the mercury heads above 30C so the brewers decided to create a summery version instead to tide you all over. Named in honour of the gateway to Woodend, the Black Forest,… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Fruit Porter
- ABV
- 6.0%
- Stockists
-
Forrest Lodge Hotel
Quarrymans
Old Growler
Porters Balgowlah
More stockists...Beer
White Rabbit Porter
Tapped December 11th, 2013
One of the side benefits of Little Creatures opening its new base in Geelong is that White Rabbit Dark Ale will now be brewed into open fermenters there, opening up capacity at Rabbit's Healesville home. This will allow Jeremy and his team of brewers to take some of the frequent mini-experiments they carry out onto a far larger scale. Visitors to the cellar door or the Little Creatures Dining Hall in Brunswick will have come across all manner of weird and wonderful things in kegs and firkins, with… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Barrel Fermented Porter
- Stockists
Young Henrys Heilala Vanilla Wit
Tapped December 10th, 2013
More often than not when you come across vanilla in beer, you'll observe that it's in something dark - think along the lines of stouts and porters which tend to have a bit of chocolate malt character. It kinda makes sense since chocolate and vanilla is one of those heaven-sent pairings for which humanity can be so grateful. But what the folks from Young Henrys and Heilala Vanilla have done for this collaboration is almost the exact opposite; adding vanilla - and lots of it, several times - to a comparatively… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Vanilla Belgian Witbier
- ABV
- 4.0%
- Stockists
-
Old Growler
More stockists...
