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!
Feral Brewpub Series: Raging Flem
Tapped March 25th, 2013
In their 10-plus years of brewing, Feral has accumulated such a long and wildly varied list of beers on its roster that you rarely see one-off, limited releases from them. Instead, it's more a case of waiting until the next batch of Boris/Fantapants/Watermelon Warhead/Razorback (delete as appropriate) appears on tap or travelling to the brewery's home venue in the Swan Valley to sample them year round. In fact, whenever a new release does appear, chances are it's going to become a permanent fixture… Read more
4 Pines Autumn Ale
Tapped March 24th, 2013
Inspiration for a new 4 Pines beer can apparently come from many different sources. It can, like their stout - the 'Certified Space Beer' - spend years in continual development and involve aeronautical engineers and zero-gravity flights. Others, like this one, have a rather more straightforward genesis. The story goes that 4 Pines brewers Andrew Tweddell and Chris Willcock were chatting with the bar supervisor, Chris Moore, when the conversation turned along the lines of: Chris W: We need to brew… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- American Amber Ale
- ABV
- 4.6%
- Stockists
Six String ESB
Tapped March 22nd, 2013
A homage to the Extra Special Bitters of England, the Six String ESB uses only UK malt and hops from the U.K. This has pretty much everything you'd seek from a classic ESB; copper colour, biscuity, malty aromas with floral notes and - despite the name - not overly bitter (at least not when compared to something like, say, the Dark Red IPA). A beer like this changes greatly depending on the system used to dispense it. Served at cellar temperature from a traditional beer engine - the way UK expats… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Extra Special Bitter
- ABV
- 5.4%
Colonial Brewing Dampfbier
Tapped March 22nd, 2013
They love their German beers at Colonial, in particular rare or forgotten styles. For this, their latest foray into that nation's beer history, they've headed to the forests of Bavaria and seem to have been inspired to even greater levels. The beer's release comes with a colourful tale about the origins of the beer that includes references to "flickers of sunlight flowing down", "strong, noble common folk" and "little bundles of yeasty joy". Essentially, it seems that… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Dampfbier
- Stockists
-
Apple Daily
Bobs Bar
Raffles Hotel
Print Hall
The Royal East Perth
More stockists...
Riverside Brewing Resurrection Ale
Tapped March 21st, 2013
The first official limited release to come from the Riverside Brewing Company is the Resurrection Ale and, quite aptly, it's been released just in time for Easter. So then, what to expect from the Parramatta brewery's first attempt at branching out? Will it be big and hoppy like some of their most beloved beers? Damn right! This has a substantial malt backbone balanced with a massive amount of hops (fans of the 44 Amber Ale and 77 IPA take note). There are two fundamental differences though; the… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- India Amber Ale
- ABV
- 6.3%
Bridge Road Bling Bling Imperial IPA
Tapped March 21st, 2013
He doesn't tend to do things by half, Ben Kraus. Not only does he like to brew collaborative beers with international stars, where he might engage in things such as brewing wet hop beers in the dead of night, sending beers in wine and whisky barrels by sea across the planet or adding wild yeasts from wineries to beers, but he's happy to take beers in all directions and into anywhere that will have him. As such, when the Bling Bling Imperial IPA – a bigger brother to his long-standing Bling IPA… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Imperial IPA
- ABV
- 8.5%
Little Creatures Shepherd's Delight
Tapped March 21st, 2013
They took the Aussie beer world a little by surprise with this release did Little Creatures. Bottles arrived at Crafty Towers before we even knew the was another Single Batch on the way and it seems plenty of others were unaware too. Still, following in the footsteps of the likes of the Big Dipper, Dreadnought and Quiet American, there's always a frisson of excitement to see what the team at Freo comes up with when given free rein to have a play in the brewery. This time around, they've brewed a… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Red IPA
- ABV
- 6.2%
- Bitterness
- 50 IBU
- Stockists
-
Find it here
Young Henrys The Real Thang
Tapped March 20th, 2013
The Real Thang, the latest release from Young Henrys, is a Cola-inspired Spiced Black Koelsch. Better read that again... The Real Thang is a Cola-inspired Spiced Black Koelsch. The first question is where would one find inspiration for such a creation? Being 2013, the answer is of course: they found it on the Internet. But being 2013, we're equally within our rights to respond with: 'WTF?'. Apparently the Young Henrys crew stumbled across the open source recipe for Open Cola and figured it was worth… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Spiced Black Koelsch
- ABV
- 4.6%
- Stockists
-
Others TBC
Australian Brewery Breakfast Ale
Tapped March 20th, 2013
"We wanted to see whether we could generate enough orangey character from US Cascade hops to make a beer that was like having a beer and orange juice together," says brewer Neal Cameron. "In other words like a normal breakfast but in one glass. Whether we succeeded or not doesn't matter: it's hoppy."… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hoppy Ale
- ABV
- 5.6%
Mornington Peninsula / Ale Stars Bonzer IPA
Tapped March 19th, 2013
The crew at the Local Taphouse Ale Stars clearly got a taste for the brewing lifestyle when they created their 13 Hours On A Bus beer with Bridge Road Brewers a few months back. Because they've been at it again, with the St Kilda crew heading down to Mornington Peninsula Brewery for a brew day and the Darlinghurst mob trotting along to Hunter Beer Co in the Hunter Valley to create another. First to hit the taps was the Bonzer IPA created by the St Kilda Ale Stars. The Bonzer is a Belgian IPA, of… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Belgian IPA
- ABV
- 7.7%
- Stockists
-
[The Alehouse Project](/beer/
More stockists...
4 Pines Keller Door Series 2013: St Pat's Stouts
Tapped March 14th, 2013
Despite having a flash new brewery in Brookvale, the brewing team at 4 Pines are making sure they still get time to play with the old set-up back in Manly by continuing to knock out their Keller Door releases. This latest release coincides with St Patrick's Day - surely of of the stoutiest times of the year - and the St Pat's Stout series. Where last year they served up four new stouts, this time they've gone for just the two; one big and one small. The small one is a Milk Stout which, at just 4.3… Read more
Black
- Style
- Stout(s)
- ABV
- Various strengths
- Stockists
-
Others TBC
Bridge Road / EDGE Waldo
Tapped March 12th, 2013
You may recall a story fairly recently about a new collaborative brewing effort that crosses hemispheres. It told the tale of how Australian importer and brewer Adam Betts, from Northdown Beer, had hooked up with Christian Skovdal Andersen of Beer Here to create a series of brews. You may even have tasted the beers they put out under the joint Northdown/Bere Here banner, such as the Cool Hops lager and Victoria's Secret wheat beer. Now the pair have launched EDGE Brewing Project, a new brewing company… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Berry Saison
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Stockists
-
Kegs
Fox Hotel
Belgian Beer Eureka
Bottles
More stockists...[
Red Duck Dude, Where's My Cherry?
Tapped March 7th, 2013
We'd imagine there are plenty out there who have become rather concerned for the well-being of Red Duck brewer Scott Wilson-Browne in recent weeks. Having released seemingly three new beers a day for a period last year, there's been radio silence recently. We're delighted to report that all is well, however, with the first limited release beer from the Ballarat brewery winging its way to shelves right now. Dude, Where's My Cherry? is described as something of a sister to the brewery's White Garden… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Fruit Wheat Beer
- ABV
- 4.1%
- Stockists
-
Press Cellars
Swords Select
Olinda Cellars
More stockists...
Indi Pilsener – RETIRED
Tapped March 4th, 2013
The first seasonal of 2013 for the Indi brew crew is this Pilsener. They describe it as a Bohemian style Pilsener: "Golden with huge grassy hop aroma , big, assertive malt on the palate and (another) big, dry, bitter finish."… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Bohemian Pilsener
- ABV
- 4.8%
Holgate Millennium Falcon
Tapped March 1st, 2013
There has been no holding back for the 1000th brew by Victoria's Holgate Brewhouse. Taking the millennium as the starting point, they spun a Star Wars-inspired tale and followed it through to the nth degree by throwing as many references as possible into the beer. It features Millennium, Falconer's Flight and Galaxy hops, is subtitled an "Empirial IPA" and was launched at the Village Brasserie with the entire brewery crew dressed as Star Wars characters, including a rather dashing Hans… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Imperial IPA
- ABV
- 10%
- Bitterness
- 100 IBU
- Stockists
-
Tap
Village Brasserie, Melbourne
Archive, Brisbane
Others tbc
Bottles in all good bottleshops
More stockists...
Young Henrys / Mountain Goat The Kid
Tapped February 28th, 2013
Having a kid isn't something to be rushed into. It's a serious commitment requiring planning, timing and a bit of luck. Richard Adamson from Young Henrys and Dave Bonighton from Mountain Goat are a model of responsible parenting. They talked about making a beer last year, thought very seriously through all the implications, then talked about it some more over the New Year - this wasn't going to be some awkward one night stand. So what happened when they did eventually get together? The Kid was born.… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Super Mild
- ABV
- 5.5%
- Stockists
-
Petersham Bowling Club
Royal Albert
Young Henry's (Growlers and Tastings)
Steve's Coo
More stockists...
Australian Brewery The Smoked IPA
Tapped February 27th, 2013
According to the team at AB, this beer was brewed "to celebrate the historically warm relationship between the English and the Germans over the decades. This is a Rauchbier/IPA hydrid. A striking smoky bacon aroma seasoned with spicy English challenger and Target hops; rich dark malt flavour and oodles of hoppy bitterness to finish."… Read more
Golden
- Style
- IPA / Rauchbier
- ABV
- 5.7%
Bright Brewery MIA IPA 2013
Tapped February 25th, 2013
This was a beer that really excited us here at Crafty Towers when it first appeared, being the beer that announced Bright's then new brewer Jon Seltin as one to watch (and watch out for overhead if strapped to his paraglider...). He's backed it up with many a fine release since and now is back with the latest take on the hoppy-as-hell IPA. It's not quite the same beer as last time around. Why? Because Jon "couldn't help ratcheting it up a couple of notches". Ah, good old temptation got… Read more
Golden
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 7.4%
- Stockists
-
Cookie
Temple Monsoon Ginger Beer
Tapped February 23rd, 2013
They're not afraid to play around with unusual ingredients at Temple. Since opening their brewery in December 2011, a few years after starting out "gypsy" brewing at breweries around Victoria, they've released a Soba Ale, made with buckwheat, the Scarlet Sour, featuring hibiscus and cranberries, and now a ginger beer. This might not seem so unusual, given the mini-explosion of interest in ginger beers in the past couple of years, yet it's a breed apart from the others on the market. For… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Ginger Beer
- ABV
- 3.5%
- Stockists
-
More stockists...
Lord Nelson Anileation 2013
Tapped February 21st, 2013
You know there's a cooler seasonal change on the horizon when some of the country's annual beer releases start showing a little more of their dark and roasty side. Case in point is the 2013 version of Anileation from the Lord Nelson Brewery in Sydney. It's a Dry Irish Stout that offers espresso and cocoa characters along with a malty, chocolate bitterness. As the name suggests, all of that rounds out to a dry finish. This isn't a big hearty stout designed for the deepest depths of winter - after… Read more
Black
- Style
- Dry Stout
- ABV
- 5.2%
- Stockists
