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!
La Sirène Urban Pale
Published November 8, 2016
The term "farmhouse" in brewing is one that can get purists' knickers in a twist. Some claim that unless you're brewing on a farm, using ingredients from the farm, then you can't make farmhouse ales, even if your inspiration and intention is to recreate historic beer styles that are often bundled together under that banner. Few could doubt that Costa Nikias at Melbourne's La Sirène takes inspiration from a particular time and place in beer's history: he obtained his original yeast strain… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hoppy Farmhouse Ale
- ABV
- 5.2%
Hargreaves Hill HOA 2016
Published November 7, 2016
What do you do when you get your hands on some juicy whole cone hops from New Zealand? In the case of Hargreaves Hill, use your mash tun as a hop back to drain all the goodness from them that you can – and throw in some flaked oats for good measure. Given it's tagged HOA 2016, one assumes the Yarra Valley brewers are enamoured of the result enough to want to bring it back in the future, so what exactly is it? They're calling it a pale ale, although given it's nigh on 7 percent ABV, don't go thinking… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Oatmeal Pale Ale
- ABV
- 6.9%
- Stockists
-
Hargreaves Hill, Yarra Glen
And on tap at select beer venues across Melbourne
More stockists...
3 Ravens Wild Ravens Purple Plum Ale
Published November 3, 2016
A few weeks ago, 3 Ravens unveiled a new line called Wild Ravens. One of many projects at the brewery instigated by head brewer Brendan O'Sullivan (who seems to be retrofitting gear or filling every available spare vessel in order to satisfy his long held passion for sour and mixed fermentation beers), it is to be a home for beers that have undergone various processes – such as souring, mixed fermentations, barrel-ageing – prior to release. First up was a rather tasty Old Brown and number two… Read more
Red
- Style
- Flemish Red Style Ale
- ABV
- 6.7%
Australian Brewery Seis Hermanos Lager
Published November 2, 2016
Since opening in 2010, The Australian Brewery hasn’t been afraid to put out the occasional beer in a style that beer geeks would have so little interest in that you'd be surprised if they noticed them at all. You’d gave to say that one of those is the Mexican lager, a beer that’s been around at the brewery since the early days, has always proven popular out at Rouse Hill and which even got a few runs through the canning line back when The AB was still the only small microbrewery to be packaging… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Mexican Lager
- ABV
- 4.5%
- Bitterness
- 16 IBU
Ocho Beer Primavera
Published November 1, 2016
Brewer's notes: Saisons are a beautiful (and traditional) way to brew with the seasons. Primavera captures the bright and breezy character of Spring in Tasmania. There are a few regions around the world where farmhouse breweries have continued production to this day, most notably the saisons brewed in Wallonia in Southern Belgium. These ales vary considerably, but they are all pale, highly carbonated, with fruity and spicy yeast and hop characteristics, and a dry finish. We love the style so much… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Saison
- ABV
- 6.3%
Nomad Brewing Long Reef Pale – RETIRED
Published October 26, 2016
Nomad has built its brand on a blend of beers that don’t always play things straight. In the main this is done by way of the addition of native Australian ingredients, something perhaps best seen in beers like the Long Trip saison and Freshie salt and pepper gose. Along the way, they’ve had a few attempts at nailing a beer that sits in the approachable zone between pale ale and session IPA while taking in some of the more esoteric elements of their overall vibe, but none has managed to command… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Australian Pale Ale
- ABV
- 5.2%
Nomad Brewing Saltpan Desert Gose
Published October 26, 2016
When catching up with Nomad brewer Brooks Caretta upon the release of Freshie, the brewery’s salt and pepper gose, he admitted that he’d never actually brewed a gose before but, considering he’d gone and dumped buckets of seawater in the beer, was pretty pleased with how it turned out. Some 18 months after that release, Freshie hasn’t left Nomad’s menu and it seems set to be the brewery’s sleeper hit, having already been exported as far afield as the UK, US, Italy and even Brazil. It’s… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Gose
- ABV
- 4.8%
Grifter Brewing Helles Lager
Published October 26, 2016
When the brewers at Grifter sat down with the folks from LP’s Quality Meats to nut out ideas for a beer to accompany a not-really-but-sort-of-Oktoberfest event at the Chippendale restaurant, the idea was simple: they wanted a simple beer that would be versatile enough to pair with all sorts of German sausage. And where they landed was Helles. Translated from its mother tongue, the traditional German style of Helles is some variation of ‘bright’, ’light’ or ‘pale’ and Grifter’s interpretation… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Munich Lager
- ABV
- 5.1%
Blackman's Brewery Festbier: Hopfen Weisse
Published October 25, 2016
Each year, Blackman's creates a beer for its Oktoberfest. The first was a lager that has gone on to become the unfiltered beauty that's part of the Torquay brewery's core range. And in 2016 brewer Renn opted to concoct a Hopfen Weisse, or hoppy German style wheat beer. If memory serves correctly, the first beer to take such a name was a collaboration between Brooklyn and Schneider-Weisse, while other Aussie versions have been seen in the past, such as Mad Brewers Hoppy Hefe and the one Brooklyn went… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Dry Hopped Hefeweizen
- Stockists
-
Blackman's Brewery
Select craft beer outlets
Burleigh Brewing Twisted Palm
Published October 25, 2016
Given they're located on the Gold Coast, perhaps it was only a matter of time before Burleigh Brewing entered tropical territory. They've done so with Twisted Palm that's inspired by head brewer Brennan Fielding's desire to "bottle a day on the beach at Burleigh Heads". To him, that meant opting for plenty of juicy hops, with Twisted Palm (named after the local pandanus trees) the sort of lively, refreshing beer you would want to grab out the fridge after a hot day at the beach. Pale golden… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Tropical Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.2%
Bad Shepherd Brew Crew Series 1: ESB
Published October 23, 2016
It's not unusual for brewpub operations to produce a wide range of beers in a short space of time; the ability to do so is often part of the appeal for the people behind them. It isn't that common to see a brewpub also package so many of its beers and send them into the wider world. But Cheltenham's Bad Shepherd – not quite yet a year old – has already popped around a dozen different beers into bottles and the concept behind this one suggests there will be many more to follow. It's the first… Read more
Golden
- Style
- ESB
- ABV
- 4.9%
- Bitterness
- 34 IBU
Pikes Sparkling Ale (2016 onwards)
Published October 22, 2016
The original Sparkling Ales was one of the beers in the Pikes lineup said to enjoy a heritage stretching right back to the very earliest days of Henry Pike's brewing in South Australia in the late 1800s. And you could easily pick out similarities with another rather well known Sparkling Ale from SA that also dates from the 19th century. But, in 2016, with the arrival of the new Pikes Pale Ale, the decision was taken to give it a new identity. The beer itself was considered somewhat confused stylistically… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Sparkling Ale
- ABV
- 5.2%
Sydney Brewery Pyrmont Double Rye IPA
Published October 21, 2016
Brewer's notes: Brewed with Chinook, Enigma and Columbus hops this new world Rye IPA has all the old world character of traditional German malts, combined with pure hunter valley water.… Read more
Red
- Style
- Double IPA
- ABV
- 8.0%
3 Ravens Juicy IPA
Published October 21, 2016
3 Ravens had already put out a couple of quality IPAs in 2016 before poking the bear with their latest. "How?" you ask. Well, you may have heard of a new style of IPA with origins in New England (US, not NSW) that's typically cloudy as, and with juicy hop character very much to the fore. To those who like their beers clear, it must send shivers down the spine to see something so murky in a glass; to many brewers, they're not "good" beers, given they can leave things such as yeast… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- Pilot batch was 6.5% – now 6.0%
- Stockists
-
More stockists...
Superbus (formerly Sun Moth Canteen)
Available nationwide
Bridge Road Brewers Yee Hah!
Published October 19, 2016
Always on the lookout for new ideas, it was while touring the States that Bridge Road Brewers founder Ben Kraus became enamoured with the idea of installing a foeder at his Beechworth home. These are large oak vessels, most famous in the beer world thanks to Rodenbach but becoming more popular elsewhere. While Rodenbach ages its base beer for up to three years in its 294 giant foeders before (usually) blending with younger beer, in the States Ben saw many brewers simply using them as an extra fermentation… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Brett Pale Ale
- ABV
- 6.0%
La Sirène Paradoxe
Published October 18, 2016
Given the founder of The Crafty Pint has a soft spot for saisons, it's been rather serendipitous that La Sirène decided to build its brewery around 900m as the crow flies from the rear of Crafty Towers. It allows for fairly regular trips to the brewery, usually when there's a new beer coming out. And, pretty much without fail, once the new beer has been sampled, founder Costa Nikias can't resist pulling out samples of as-yet-unnamed beers (and sometimes things other than beers) to tease. In the… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Sour Ale
- ABV
- 4.8%
- Stockists
-
Now part of the year round lineup
More stockists...
La Sirène Farmhouse Red
Published October 18, 2016
During the 2016 Good Beer Week festival, we got something of a surprise. Midway through a throughly enjoyable beer, cheese and whisky event at Boilermaker House featuring La Sirène beers, we picked up what we believed was the brewery's Farmhouse Red and found it had turned sour. Surely, they'd have noticed... It turns out this was a precursor to what became a new addition to the brewery's core range: a soured sibling to the Farmhouse Red, which then became the replacement Farmhouse Red. The original… Read more
Red
- Style
- Sour Red Ale
- ABV
- 6.5%
Wheaty Brewing Corps Corps Blimey!
Published October 16, 2016
The Wheaty ladies don’t just deal with good beer, they also tend to dabble in good whiskies. And why not? After all, to make whisky, you start out as if making beer. For the Corps Blimey! London Porter, the brewpub's Brewing Corps invited in two whisky experts to collaborate: Graham Wright and Dr Paul Gooding who previously worked on the Wheatsheaf Hotel’s very own spirit drop aptly named Wheaty Whisky. The resultant beer collab measures just 4.4 percent ABV but it is loaded with a selection… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- London Porter
- ABV
- 4.4%
- Bitterness
- 26 IBU
- Stockists
Wheaty Brewing Corps Wheaty Wheaty
Published October 16, 2016
When it comes to beer names, The Wheaty Brewing Corps crew generally deals in puns or witty jokes. So, when the time came to brew a wheat beer for the first time, what else could it be than Wheaty Wheaty? Instead of aiming for the banana / clove aromas of the wheat beers that originated in Bavaria, the Thebarton lupulin lovers opted for the American wheat style; thus this is a beer that comes hopped to the eyeballs, albeit added late to obtain aroma and flavour with little in the way of bitterness.… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- American Wheat
- ABV
- 4.2%
- Bitterness
- 12 IBU
- Stockists
Ocho Beer A Fox In The Cellar
Published October 15, 2016
Brewer's notes: Wily brewers once discovered the magic of cellaring strong, malty beers. This Bière de Garde is a rich red ale with bready malt and subtle fruit flavours. The Bière de Garde style hails from Northern France, along the Belgian border. It was a style brewed strong enough to be cellared for many months. Commercial examples come in a range of colours: blonde, ambrée and brune; ours is a foxy shade of red... We brewed A Fox in the Cellar in May 2016, so it’s had over four months'… Read more
Red
- Style
- Bière de Garde
- ABV
- 6.8%
