New Beers
There has never been a time like now: more breweries releasing more new beers than ever before. Here, in The Crafty Cuppa, and in our weekly newsletter, we'll bring you details – and, if we've sampled them, our honest, independent take – on as many of them as possible. Enjoy!
Stomping Ground Hallion
Published March 17, 2023
2022 was a bog year for Oktoberfest beers and celebrations in Australia, is 2023 the year of St Paddy’s Day? Maybe, or maybe it’ll be 2024 with just a small number of craft breweries ensuring there is the goodness of a locally-made option when anyone walks into a pub asking for a big black pint.* Stomping Ground’s nod to the classic seems a little extra cheeky with the Hallion name literally being Irish slang for rascal or scoundrel. The Irish dry stout is dosed with nitro and watching it… Read more
Black
- Style
- Irish Dry Stout
- ABV
- 4.2%
Banks Brewing Follow The Festoons, Blackberry Parfait & Good Times
Published March 17, 2023
As a general rule in this country, if you see festoon lighting in the distance, you know you’re near one of two things: a brewery or a wedding. If you’re really lucky, you might even be at a wedding in a brewery and drinking a West Coast IPA. Banks Brewing’s Follow The Festoons is a tribute to the omnipresent lighting and features the American hop trio of Simcoe, Columbus and Mosaic. Together, they bring deep berry flavours, sweet ruby grapefruit and light pine while the yellow colour has shades… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast IPA, Blackberry Cream Sour & Hazy Pale
- ABV
- 7.4%, 6.5% & 4.7%
Swell Brewery Mid-Length
Published March 17, 2023
Mid-length is a session-friendly hazy that serves two purposes: proving drinkers with a schooling about the mid-length surfboard; and delivering a lesson on how to use Galaxy and Mosaic in a low ABV beer. Mid-length boards sit between 6'8" and 8'0" while the beer itself registers at 4.2 percent ABV. Despite its smaller size, Mid-Length shines through the Galaxy and Mosaic hops. Pouring a very hazy light orange, first impressions are good: juicy tropical mango and passionfruit riding high… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy Session Ale
- ABV
- 4.2%
Sailors Grave & Friends Let Them Eat Cake, The Fruit Thereof & Double Sunk
Published March 17, 2023
Now, I was well aware that this year – recent weeks, in particular – had been insanely busy, but it took the arrival of a third Sailors Grave limited release in my fridge at once to realise that, gee, it was even impacting my beer-drinking. And that simply won't do... In typical Sailors Grave fashion, there's little to obviously link them – except here they're all collaborations of one sort or another. Let Them Eat Cake sees them become the first Aussies to trial innovative infused malts from… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Variou Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- 7.0% & 6.5% & 5.0%
Barossa Valley & Friends Limoncello Sour & Lotus Pale
Published March 17, 2023
The folks at Barossa Valley are always working alongside local artisan producers, with Ambra Spirits joining the gang here. They're South Australian spirit producers that use old Italian recipes passed down over generations. For Limoncello Sour, their Limoncello was added to a lightly soured base beer, bringing bright, zesty lemons to the party. The rind comes through on the nose alongside a little rosemary, while there's some initial syrupy lemon sweetness within the light body which harmonises… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Limoncello Sour & Hazy Pale
- ABV
- 5.0% & 5.8%
Molly Rose Brewing East of Kent
Published March 17, 2023
For all that the global craft beer revolution has brought lost styles back to the fore and hungrily created new ones, there is plenty of collateral damage, in part due to a growing willingness by brewers to be led by the wild fancies of the noisiest corners of the market. Among the beers that nobody seems to want to brew or drink anymore are traditional English ales, at least outside the British pubs that retain the passion and knowledge to treat them properly. But Molly Rose, love a classic and… Read more
Golden
- Style
- English Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.0%
Bodriggy Brewing LoJo Mojo
Published March 16, 2023
LoJo was once Abbotsford’s sleepier corner but these days, it’s where all the fun is. Range's taproom, The Park Hotel, The Retreat, Dr Morse and Lulie Tavern all help make lower Johnson Street a delight for the senses – and that’s without talking about its nurseries, cafĂ©s and the best place in Melbourne for a shotgun wedding. In honour of this community, the City of Yarra is bringing back [LOJO Festival on March 26, an occasion for businesses to team up for a Western-themed celebration… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Cucumber Mojito Gose
- ABV
- 4.0%
Felons Land At Last & Red Sky At Night & Wild Cherry & The Depths
Published March 16, 2023
More than 20,000 litres of beer ageing in barrels in the middle of a bustling capital city, wedged between the sparkling Brisbane River and pumping live music. Is there anything else like that in Australia? Is there anything else like that in the world? I don’t think there is. The team at Felons have been nurturing beer in their unique Barrel Hall for almost two and a half years now, and finally they’ve reached the point where they have a range of barrel-aged beers to release. Most beer is made… Read more
Red
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- 8.0% & 8.0% & 6.6% & 10.8%
Noisy Minor Rosie The RIIPA
Published March 15, 2023
For International Women’s Day 2023, Noisy Minor concocted a ripper of a red IPA. The brew was organised by Tiph (sales manager), made by Lottie (legend brewer), celebrates women everywhere, and can be enjoyed by anyone who gets their mitts on it. Red IPA is the style that inspired Lottie to start brewing, so this brew is infused with her excitement – as well as with native hibiscus flowers, sourced from The Farm in Byron Bay and harvested fresh the day she put them in the beer. The hibiscus adds… Read more
Red
- Style
- Red IIPA
- ABV
- 7.2%
BentSpoke Brewing x Teeling Whiskey Brewers' Share
Published March 15, 2023
St Patrick’s Day has a long history in Australia and goes back to when some of the very first Australian convicts arrived. For Paddy’s Day 2023, BentSpoke brewing have brought a bit of Dublin history to Australia with their “Tandem” collab with Teeling Whiskey. The distillery opened in the heart of Dublin in 2015 - a stone’s throw from Guinness - and while it was the first new distillery in the city in more than 125 years, the Teeling name is deeply tied to the city’s whiskey-making past.… Read more
Black
- Style
- Whiskey Infused Stout
- ABV
- 7.0%
Stomping Ground Smash Zero Pine Lime
Published March 14, 2023
Stomping Ground’s Smash series of sours have featured many fruits, many colours and the odd bit of inspiration from cocktails. But this Smash is different - it's the first free from alcohol. Well, it has less than 0.5 percent anyway with Smash Zero Pine Lime following the brewery’s core range non-alc Footloose Pale Ale that came out late in 2022. If your aim is to mix juicy notes with tartness, then you can’t go wrong with pineapple and lime. The former of these brings juicy tropical notes… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Alcohol-Free Sour
- ABV
- <0.5%
Lost Palms Everything Apple Cranberry Crumble Sour & Rouge Awakening
Published March 14, 2023
Always keen to keep playing around with flavours, the folk from Lost Palms have brought us two sours done quite differently. Everything Apple Cranberry Crumble Sour is a stylish drop that shines like rosĂ©; pour it into a wine glass and raise a toast to refreshment. The smell wafting from the top of this liquid is a sugary decadence, like berries coated in sugar crystals. But this isn’t a pastry sour, and the flavour isn’t sugary; the brewery describes it as “a sour so crisp, it crunches,”… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruit Sour & Flemish Style Sour Red
- ABV
- 4.4% & 6.0%
Working Title Trial Run NZ Pilsner
Published March 11, 2023
"We’re known for doing big beers, but we want to do everything. Literally every style… but done well. If we’re going to make a lager, we’re going to make a three-month lager." So began the thinking for Working Title’s first take on a lager. A well-made pilsner is pretty much the gold standard for any brewer, and the Working Title guys weren’t about to cut any corners. “Lagers are a little bit petrifying,” brewing company co-founder Mark Howes says. “It’s so hard to make… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- NZ Pilsner
- ABV
- 5.0%
- Bitterness
- 32 IBU
Holgate Brewhouse Hefe Weissbier
Published March 10, 2023
Back at the start of the 1990s, there was a cult TV comedy show in the UK called Vic Reeves Big Night Out in which one of many catchphrases was: "You wouldn't let it lie." It would have been around the same time that Paul Holgate was a regular traveller to northern Europe as a result of his pre-brewing career. It was on these trips, sampling English cask beer and Belgian and German wheat beers, that he was inspired to launch Holgate Brewhouse in 1997. One of the first beers he released… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hefeweizen
- ABV
- 5.1%
Bodriggy Brewing Stingrays XPA
Published March 9, 2023
The Stringray story continues its rise. Not content with being a person, a bar and one beer, Bodriggy introduced Stingrays XPA in early 2023. The sidekick to the crisp and effortless Stingrays Draught may be quite a hoppier affair but again, the focus is on keeping things simple and easy drinking. Crack into Stingray The Second and you’ll find a mix of tropical fruit, citrus and pine. With a soft haze and gentle bitterness, it’s a beer that sits comfortably in the modern XPA camp too so don’t… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- XPA
- ABV
- 4.0%
Cornella Brewery Cosmic Slop & Jolly Joker
Published March 8, 2023
These two beers from Cornella Brewery make for an odd couple. They share as many similarities as they do differences: the artwork on the labels comes from the same artist and both put hops at the fore, yet both the style and execution are nothing alike... If the psychedelic branding on Cosmic Slop gives you a funky 70's vibe, then you’re picking up what’s been put down by the Cornella crew with the name coming courtesy of funk rock pioneers, Funkadelic. Where the name resonates most with co-founders… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy DIPA & Amber Lager
- ABV
- 9.0% % 5.2%
Eumundi Brewery Sparkling IPA with Raspberry
Published March 8, 2023
“Looks like a pink sparkling wine, tastes like a beer with raspberry.” Yep, nailed it. In the glass, this beer’s a florid hue with a head that bubbles and crackles away almost immediately, leaving the vibrant liquid to speak for itself. It’s interesting tasting a raspberry beer that isn’t a sour, since most are nowadays; there’s a touch of tartness from the raspberry itself, but without the lactic acid we’ve come to expect from raspberry beers. This makes it a little more grounded than… Read more
Red
- Style
- Raspberry Brut IPA
- ABV
- 6.0%
Reckless X Akasha Helen Red XPA
Published March 8, 2023
We are Reckless, hear us roar, With every glass of beer we pour, You taste our values as you sip, and sip again. Brewed by women, drunk by all; Equality is at our core. No matter who you are, come drink with us as friends. Reckless is a woman-led-and-run brewery that’s never been afraid to fly the equality flag high, whether that’s in the form of this blog post or a beer paying tribute to the singer of one of the great anthems of feminism. Helen Red XPA* is a collab between Reckless and Akasha… Read more
Red
- Style
- Red XPA
- ABV
- 4.2%
Rocky Ridge's Latest Septet
Published March 8, 2023
Hops feature heavily in this septet of limited releases from Jindong’s favourite (only?) brewery, six of which can comfortably call themselves hop forward in nature. A Margarita sour makes up the gang, providing a fitting change of pace. Starting pale is Lone Palm (5.5%), a collab with Bungalow Social: a pale ale with a generous dose of grapefruit that ensures grapefruit zest, orange, lemon, and grassiness feature on the nose before tasting reveals, surprise, a stack more grapefruit. A medium body… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- ABVS As Indicated
Gage Roads Sunset State WA IPA
Published March 8, 2023
Now in its fourth year, Gage Roads’ International Women’s Day release once again celebrates women in beer with proceeds from the beer's funding a Pink Boots Australia $10K scholarship program. This year’s all-female brewing team have drawn from the WA native Geraldton Wax – part of the myrtle family – in creating their Sunset State "WA IPA". As Gage Roads Fremantle’s head brewer Simone Clements explains: "Jambinu Zest Geraldton Wax is a West Australian native plant and… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast IPA with Geraldton Wax
- ABV
- 6.0%
