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!
Red Duck Groak / Ginger Frog / Sour Chips
Published April 30, 2014
In our most recent back and forth with Scott Wilson-Browne, head brewer at Red Duck, he revealed that he has more than 60 beers available for tasting at his forthcoming All In events as part of this year's Good Beer Week. Sixty-plus of his own beers, that isâ?¦ Little wonder, then, that this month there is not one, not even two, but three limited release beers coming out in bottle at the same time. Among them is Groak, a Barrel Aged Golden Gruit Ale, with gruit beers being those that traditionally… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Beers
- ABV
- 6.3% / 7.2% / 7.2%
- Stockists
-
The usual Red Duck stockists, such as:
Press Cellars
More stockists...
Bridge Road Brewers Enigma New World Pilsner
Published April 28, 2014
The new and experimental hop lovers at Bridge Road Brewers have managed to snag a swag of the latest variety to be put into commercial production by Hop Products Australia. Enigma has been rushed through the development process, which can usually take a decade or more, faster than any other hop variety in HPA's existence. You may recall reading about it a few months ago on this site when HPA's hop breeder Simon Whittock let slip about Enigma in an interview at a time when it was still supposed to… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- New World Pilsner
- ABV
- 5.0%
- Stockists
-
Two Row
[Scratch Bar](http://craftypint.com/beer/bar/the-scratc
More stockists...
Hargreaves Hill Fresh Hop Ale
Published April 23, 2014
With former Hargreaves Hill head brewer (and regular Crafty Pint blind tasting panellist) Glenn Harrison having upped sticks after six years to join Temple, the Yarra Valley brewery has brought in a replacement from just a few kilometres away. Kai Damberg joined Hargreaves recently from White Rabbit and was given free rein to design their 2014 fresh hop beer. The brewery secured some fresh Ella hop cones ' shipped directly from Tassie by Hop Products Australia on the day of harvest ' and decided… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Fresh Hop American Wheat
- ABV
- 6.8%
- Stockists
-
[Brother Burger & The Marvellous Brew](/beer/bar/brother-burger-and-th
More stockists...
Bridge Road Dark Harvest 2014
Published April 21, 2014
The second of Bridge Road's annual wet hop releases is back. First brewed with Mikkeller in 2012, it's called Dark Harvest for two reasons. The beer was originally brewed at night, partly due to the Danish gypsy brewer's schedule while in Australia (including this and this for newcomers to The Crafty Pint), and is also deep brown - almost black - in colour. The original beer used an experimental hop variety from Hop Products Australia that gave the beer an incredibly distinctive choc orange aroma… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Wet Hop Ale
- Stockists
-
Kegs:
Brother Burger & The Marvellous Brew
Two Row
[The Local Taphouse Darlo](/beer/
More stockists...
Moo Brew Harvest Ale 2014: Rye IPA
Published April 17, 2014
Traditionally, for the most part at least, when breweries have turned their attention to creating fresh hop harvest ales they have tended to favour pretty straightforward base beers that allow the hops to shine. Last year, Moo Brew took a rather different approach and released a fresh hop Robust Porter. It was one of the best beers we sampled in the whole of 2013. And now, for its 2014 harvest release, they are trying something a little different again. It is the first harvest release with new head… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Rye IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
- Stockists
-
Saint John Craft Beer
Lark Distillery
Preachers
Peppermint Bay
Prince of Wales
Knoppies
New Sydney
More stockists...Custom House Hotel
Jack Greene
Blue Eye
MONA
Quarry
Barcelona
[The Alehouse
Grifter Brewing Co Marnie's Majority Ale
Published April 16, 2014
Having any beer brewed to mark your arrival in the world is a pretty special thing. But having a beer as good as Marnie's Majority Ale brewed for the occasion is pretty damn special (apart from the fact you technically have to wait 18 years to drink it). First created in 2013 as a celebration of Grifter's head brewer's transition to fatherhood, this beer found its way into the Hop Bomb section of our list of 50 top Australian beers in the 2013 end-of-year James Halliday's Wine Companion Magazine.… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- American IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
Morrison Brewery English IPA
Published April 16, 2014
Across the land, brewers have been slaving away creating their entry for the Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular. Among them is Paul Morrison, co-owner and head brewer of Launceston's Morrison Brewery. But not only has he been creating a new beer for this year's event, he's also brewed a fresh batch of last year's entry. His 2013 GABS beer was an English IPA, in keeping with his love of additional British and Irish ales. The new version features a different yeast and Paul tells us we should be looking… Read more
Golden
- Style
- English IPA
- ABV
- 6.8%
- Stockists
-
Preachers, Hobart
Cromer Cellars on growler
New Sydney, Hobart
Saint John Craft Beer, Launceston
More stockists...
Australian Brewery Mexican Lager (Can)
Published April 15, 2014
Now this should prove interesting in beer geek land. It almost feels like rolling a hand grenade into the midst of a group of beer aficionados and waiting for them to spot it and cry out in horror. Why? Well, the latest beer to appear in cans from the Australian Brewery is its Mexican Lager, "inspired by the hot plains of Mexico", decorated with psychedelic skulls, and essentially the lager designed with the brewery's home crowd in NW Sydney in mind - those who might shirk from the brewery's… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Mexican Lager
- ABV
- 4.5%
- Stockists
-
In cans nationwide
Women of Beer Unite
Published April 14, 2014
For International Women's Collaboration Brew Day 2014, female brewers and beer industry types around the world were called upon to join together in their respective countries to brew a beer and help raise awareness of women in the beer industry. The said beer was to be brewed on the same day, to the same recipe - a four per cent pale ale using Cascade hops - and released under the same name: Unite. Australia's participants in this celebration were the Women of Beer collective who assembled for their… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Brown Ale
- ABV
- 5.2%
Feral Brewpub Series: Barrique O'Karma
Published April 11, 2014
Fresh kegs of the latest batch of Feral's Barrique O'Karma have been hitting taps around Australia for a couple of weeks now. However, with one of the brewery's staff telling us the bottled version ' the latest beer in their occasional Brewpub Series ' is the best beer they had ever put into a bottle, we thought we should wait until we could get our hands on a stubby. Well, now we have, and... First, a recap of the beer. Initially brewed for last year's Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular, Barrique… Read more
Black
- Style
- Oaked India Black Ale
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Stockists
-
At good bottleshops and craft beer bars nationwide
Bridge Road Harvest Ale 2014
Published April 10, 2014
The annual Bridge Road Harvest Ale release has become an event of note for both beer lovers looking for a hoppy new drop and the hop growers at Hop Products Australia, who learn much about how some of their experimental hop varieties will perform. Each year, head brewer Ben Kraus selects a different, as-yet-unnamed hop variety from the Rostrevor Farm just down the road from his Beechworth brewery, picks the entire crop and throws it into a beer as it is, still fresh and wet from the bines. This year,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Wet Hop Ale
- Stockists
-
Unblended kegs:
Raccoon Bar
Builders Arms
Spotted Mallard
More stockists...Bottles a
Mash Brewing Bon Scotch & Copy Cat
Published April 8, 2014
Although maybe not attracting as much attention as many of their peers, the brewing team at Mash has been steadily knocking out some intriguing seasonals in recent years. From the Rye The Hop Not ESB to the smoky DeVille to the unique Grasscutter, a lawnmower/session beer gently fermented on two toasts of French oak, their beers are always worth keeping an eye out for. Now they're back with not one but two limited release beers: a Scotch Ale and a West Coast IPA, and both, according to head brewer… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Scotch Ale & West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 7.5% & 6.8%
- Awards
Copy Cat was named Champion Australian Beer at AIBA 2014
Young Henrys Hop van Damme
Published April 3, 2014
Since rolling up the doors for the first time in early 2012, the team at Newtown's Young Henrys brewery have managed to effortlessly ingratiate themselves into their local community to the point where it's actually a little difficult to remember what life was like without them. Now, as the brewery approaches two years of beer-fuelled rock & roll fun, they can take a brief moment to take stock of a journey that's seen them grow in every regard; doubling their brewing capacity three times already… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- English / Australian Double IPA
- ABV
- 7.2%
- Stockists
-
Transit Bar, Canberra
Others TBC
More stockists...
Mountain Goat Fancy Pants (Can)
Published April 2, 2014
Following the runaway success of their first can, Summer Ale, Mountain Goat is back for more. This time around, it's not a new beer but the return of an annual release that's been doing the rounds for a few years now. Fancy Pants is the amber ale that they've always said is the beer Hightail would be were there no need to balance the books. What that means is a richer burnt toffee malt body and a cranking up of the Galaxy hops to create a dark copper-coloured beer in which fruitiness ' and a touch… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Amber Ale
- ABV
- 5.2%
- Stockists
-
Nationwide throughout the cooler months
Mornington Peninsula Brewery Pale Ale (cans)
Published April 1, 2014
The cans keep on coming, with Mornington Peninsula Brewery following in the footsteps of the Australian Brewery and Mountain Goat by popping craft beer into cans. They've installed their own canning line and first to make an appearance, in rather fetching black and gold livery, is their Pale Ale. Already an appealingly aromatic, balanced and flavoursome beer, it has received its first tweak in the three and a half years since it was the brewery's launch beer. The tweak takes the form of dry hopping… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.7%
Feral Beral
Published April 1, 2014
The current craze for craft brewers to put their product into cans continues unabated. Latest to get involved is the reigning Champion Medium Brewery of Australia, Feral. The arrival of their first can has come almost unheralded and, most surprising of all, it is also their first cider. Feral Beral is launched following extensive research by the Swan Valley brewer which showed that, while Feral's core beer products appealed to discerning drinkers of both genders, they where missing out on a significant… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Extra Sweet Cider
- ABV
- 5.0%
- Stockists
-
Nationwide at good bottleshops
Bright Brewery Saison de Varleí¨ (plus variations)
Published March 31, 2014
We make little secret here at Crafty Towers of our love for saisons and accompanying belief that they are a wonderful beer for the Aussie climate. So it's always nice to see another one appear, especially it's one that is being released in three different formats. On our last couple of visits to Bright in the Victorian High Country, we've been lucky enough to have a nosy around the back of the brewery where head brewer Jon Seltin has all manner of experimental programs underway. He has involved a… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Saison
- ABV
- Various
- Stockists
-
Others TBC
Morrison Brewery Imperial Wit
Published March 30, 2014
It looks like a case of "giving something back" here as former home brewer-turned-brewer Paul Morrison has opened up the doors of his brewery to another home brewer. This Imperial Wit was originally brewed by Stuart Grant for the home brew comp at Launceston's Esk Beerfest. It took home first place, earning him the chance to brew it on a commercial scale. That he did with a local brewery that has proved itself rather adept at Belgian style brews with its fine limited release Saison. This… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Imperial Witbier
- ABV
- 7.5%
- Stockists
-
Saint John Craft Beer
Others TBC
Feral Brewing Nan's Driving
Published March 24, 2014
It's all go out Feral at the moment, it seems. No sooner had a fresh batch of Watermelon Warhead made its way from the Swan Valley brewery than the German IPA Hopfen Fahrt followed, and now this limited release too. Nan's Driving is a tea-infused Amber Ale that we are told has "a slightly sweet malt body and an easy going bitter finish." The tea comes into play at the end of fermentation when the brewers add jasmine and green tea leaves to the fermenter, leaving the beer with an earthiness… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Amber Ale
- ABV
- 3.2%
- Bitterness
- 26IBU
- Stockists
-
Others TBC
More stockists...
Van Dieman Harvest Ale 2014
Published March 22, 2014
Recently, we were lucky enough to sample again the last vintage of Van Dieman's barrel-aged sour take on their Hedgerow Ale, a beer that was great when it was straight, utterly wonderful soured, and seemingly getting better with age. Hopefully, there will be a new release soon, but in the meantime Will Tatchell has been keeping busy, with the latest cab off the rank a rather unique Harvest Ale. It's a 7.1 percent ABV white IPA brewed with fresh hops grown on the brewery farm in Evandale and added… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- White IPA
- ABV
- 7.1%
- Bitterness
- 55IBU
- Stockists
-
Keg only release around Tasmania
First keg at Saint John Craft beer ' March 22
