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!
Akasha Black Smith
Tapped May 23rd, 2019
It was fun for a while but at some point we just have to acknowledge what doctors have been saying for decades: “Too much juice will kill you.” And, by God, I’ve been at death's door for a while now. It may be too much to hope for but, over the last few months, drinkers have been throwing open the curtains to find that the haze blanketing IPA Town for the last two years appears to be lifting. Dave Padden and the Akasha brewing team have been releasing finely honed IPA variants since the brewery's… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Black IPA
- ABV
- 6.8%
Last Rites Hi-Viz Tassie Tradie Ale
Tapped May 23rd, 2019
Tasmanian brewery Last Rites has been a good example of an operation keen to explore many realms of the beer spectrum since first firing up its brewery, subsequently releasing a steady stream of colourful – and often even more colourfully named – beers in recent years: the Yamburglar, The Puddle Maker, Big Smelly Doona and their ilk. Yet, while this aspect of the craft beer landscape is arguably the defining feature of this moment in time, there's also been a push from many brewers to add a… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Beer
- ABV
- 4.5%
Nail Brewing Stout (Cans)
Tapped May 22nd, 2019
The transition into cans for the Nail range – and the introduction of the Nail Brewing Test series, which may or may not replace Nail Ale – led to some design challenges for graphic collaborator Zendoke: how to welcome a hop-focused beer into the canned range when the obvious colour choice is already taken? Et voilà, Nail’s multi-award-winning oatmeal stout, labelled plainly as Stout, is now smartly dressed in purple as opposed to its earlier outings in green. Its contents remain the same… Read more
Black
- Style
- Oatmeal Stout
- ABV
- 6.0%
- Stockists
-
Find it at Nail stockists nationwide
Bad Shepherd Jaffa Milkshake IPA
Tapped May 21st, 2019
The broad congregation of beers gathering under the IPA banner seems to get broader with each passing month. And it's something reflected by Bad Shepherd's ongoing IPA series, under which the Cheltenham brewers have released the expected (The Almighty IIPA, for example), the experimental (the Citrus & Cedar IPA for one), and now the "Did anyone ever foresee IPA becoming this?" that is their second milkshake IPA. The first featured strawberry; here, in collaboration with Grounded Pleasures,… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Milkshake Black IPA
- ABV
- 5.6%
- Bitterness
- 29 IBU
Sauce Brewing O Oh! Cascadia
Tapped May 21st, 2019
The term black IPA has always been one that defies logic. How can it be black and pale at the same time? Madness! It’s one of the reasons some people prefer the name Cascadian dark ale for what's essentially the same style of beer.* Another reason for the name is pride in Cascadia itself, a proposed region made up of the American states of Oregon and Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia. And what a region it would make... The majestic Cascade Mountains reaching above the clouds.… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Double Cascadian Dark Ale
- ABV
- 8.0%
Sauce Brewing Dark Rice Lager & Fresh Hop Sauce & Imperial Stout 2019
Tapped May 21st, 2019
As much as we love our dark beers when it’s cold, it’s still important to have sessionable quaffers to keep us going on those long winter nights. The Dark Rice Lager brings floral, herby, and bready notes to the table, and carries a complexity that summer lagers aren’t interested in. The dark malts in this whippy little number give a reddy brown hue, as well as a hit of dry fruit and toffee, but the 30 percent of rice making up the grain bill keeps it from getting sticky. After a couple of… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Various styles
- ABV
- 4.0% & 6.5% & 10.7%
Rocky Ridge Plum Intended
Tapped May 21st, 2019
Collaborations, sours, puns and rejected fruit... Just a few things Rocky Ridge won't shy away from and have successfully been serving up to punters since their beers first hit taps in 2017. This beer is one that ticks all the aforementioned boxes but, in classic Rocky Ridge fashion, it's a beer like no release before it. This fruity, punny, sour collaboration was brewed with the team at the Royston Hotel in Richmond and is loaded with 150kg of not-supermarket-worthy plums, and the can is embellished… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Sour Plum Marzen
- ABV
- 4.0%
- Bitterness
- 4 IBU
Feral Brewing King Brown 2019
Tapped May 21st, 2019
In amongst a wave of Biggie Juice iterations and a riff on a Japanese whisky High Ball, Feral have released a Cognac barrel-aged brown ale that deserves more attention than it’s likely to get. The original 2011 release (the first keg of which was tapped at The Crafty Pint's first birthday, trivia fans) was rated by both former owner Brendan Varis and innovation brewer Will Irving as one on the top five Feral releases ever, so perhaps it’s worth looking behind the wave of haze and hype. "Solid",… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Cognac Barrel-Aged Brown Ale
- ABV
- 6.8%
- Stockists
-
From the Swan Valley brewpub
Beerland Brewing Calvin & Hoppes
Tapped May 17th, 2019
Described as the last great newspaper comic, Calvin and Hobbes traces the relationship and adventures of six-year-old Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes who, for the young boy but no one else, is animated. Commenting on Beerland’s latest release, brewer Andrew Dean says that Calvin and Hoppes plays on this "imaginary" element in the form a classic Belgian Blonde – the Calvin of the concept - which is dry-hopped with US hops – the anthropomorphic Hoppes in this case. The implication… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Belgian IPA
- ABV
- 6.4%
- Stockists
-
And select WA venues
More stockists...
Philter Haze
Tapped May 16th, 2019
Philter have joined the haze craze and done so in the typical fashion, calling their new IPA, simply, Haze and giving it a lively retro feel with cans inspired by 80s soft drinks but also recalling a casino. And, as is their wont, they've aimed to produce a beer that checks the boxes you'd expect from the style. Double dry-hopped with Mosaic, Galaxy, Simcoe and Citra, it's golden and hazy with a dense head that crawls down the glass. There's paw paw and passionfruit aplenty in a beer that sits in… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.3%
Balter Brewing Handsome Elvis
Tapped May 15th, 2019
The brewery might be better known for its hoppy releases but darker malts have been an important part of the Balter story too. Alt Brown was part of the original core lineup, the very first 500ml tinnie sent into the world was the luscious and sweet Black Metal Disco, while the nitro milk stout Handsome Elvis has regularly made guest appearances at the Currumbin taproom. Inspiration for the name comes from how closely the jet-black beer reminded Balter’s head brewer Scotty Hargrave of Elvis before… Read more
Black
- Style
- Nitro Milk Stout
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Stockists
-
Track down Handsome Elvis here while stocks last
Seven Sheds Wildebeer
Tapped May 14th, 2019
The Wild Mersey Mountain Bike Trail is an ambitious biking track that aims to connect more than 100 kilometres of tracks in Tasmania’s north. Once it’s fully operational, part of the track will also guide you straight to (or from, or around) Railton and the home of Seven Sheds. It's led the brewery’s co-founder Willie Simpson down his own path, one of developing a nutritious session ale: a beer for riders to enjoy following hours in the saddle touring northern Tassie’s impressive countryside. Launched… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Amber Hemp Ale
- ABV
- 4.4%
Seven Sheds ELF & Cherry Saison 2019
Tapped May 14th, 2019
If you've followed the Seven Sheds story in any way over the years, you'll know they enjoy telling the tales and celebrating the flavours of their home in Tasmania's north-west. Sometimes, those flavours are drawn from their own brewery and hop garden; sometimes they're sourced from neighbours. These beers do both. ELF is an annual release that makes use of freshly harvested homegrown hops, including the Leggett variety Willie Simpson has helped keep in commercial use, although unlike many harvest… Read more
Red
- Style
- ESB & Cherry Saison
- ABV
- 5.9% & 5.9%
Urban Alley The RRIPA
Tapped May 14th, 2019
With their sweet yet often reasonably light malt body and a decent whack of flavour sourced from the hops department, red IPAs naturally feel like the kind of beer brewers should release in autumn: a bridge between the lighter, flightier beers of summer and the brooding ales of winter. And that’s precisely what Docklands’ Urban Alley have done as part of their Alley Series, which sees the brewery’s limited releases make their way into the world in rather eye-catching jet black tinnies. Not… Read more
Red
- Style
- Red Rye IPA
- ABV
- 6.3%
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Sticky Nectar
Tapped May 13th, 2019
Stone & Wood launched their Counter Culture series of tallboy tinnies filled with beers a far cry from those upon which they've made their name and built a craft beer empire. Killer Kween was a 7 percent-plus raspberry Berliner Weisse of remarkable drinkability and now has a partner-in-fruity-crime. That said, release two is a beer that predates the Kween, with Sticky Nectar first appearing on taps in 2018 and subsequently appearing in our Best New NSW Beers Of 2018 list, picking up more individual… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Mango IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Bitterness
- 45 IBU
- Stockists
-
Join the team for the Sticky Nectar national launch at the Great Northern as part of Good Beer Week 2019
Then find the beer here
2 Brothers & Great Northern Hotel Northern Haze Cashmere IPA
Tapped May 13th, 2019
We typically don't trade in exclamation marks here at Crafty Towers, so when one's tasting notes end with: "So much hop depth!" it must mean a brewer has really gone to town on the little green marvels. And that's certainly the case here – and from a brewery you don't always think of first when it comes to punchy, hoppy beers. 2 Brothers' Northern Haze is their take on the West Coast hazy IPAs they encountered in the States on a recent visit, beers that look to combine the haze and heavy-handed… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.8%
- Bitterness
- 85 IBU
- Stockists
-
2 Brothers Beerhall
Other VIC stockists to follow
More stockists...
Boatrocker Nexus IPA
Tapped May 13th, 2019
Boatrocker have come relatively late to the world of the hazy IPA, albeit there was the Jeepers Creepers sour NEIPA towards the start of 2019. So, given the brewery's reputation – not to mention their fine recent run on the hoppy beer front – you can imagine there was some pressure to get it right. Indeed, at their 2019 Good Beer Week event, Vrolijke Boot, founder Matt Houghton admitted to trouble sleeping in the lead up to the release of Nexus IPA. Given the beer's early reception (and the fact… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 7.7%
Prancing Pony The Piper West Coast IPA
Tapped May 13th, 2019
In this era of new, new, new, you see more and more beers hit the market once and once only. You have to question what this says about overall quality as no brewer can expect to nail every beer they attempt first time, but it does seem to be what retailers and drinkers at the pointier end of the beer world demand. The Piper, however, is not one of those beers. A few months ago, Prancing Pony released a batch of beer called E1. It was a West Coast IPA and, once they had feedback, they tweaked the… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 7.2%
Otherside Brewing Co Experimental Series: DDH Super Dry IPA
Tapped May 13th, 2019
For all the hype, questions and criticism that surrounds 2018’s Brut IPA craze, one that seems to have vanished as quickly as it appeared, the lasting impact has been broad experimentation with low carb enzymes, particularly amylase. The science behind their use, in very simple terms, is that they help break down malt starch into more easily fermentable sugars for the yeast to consume, creating a drier beer. Here, eschewing the "Brut" term in favour of something more literal, the Otherside… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- DDH Brut IPA
- ABV
- 7.5%
- Bitterness
- 25 IBU
- Stockists
-
Available from the brewery, Freo.Social plus select Otherside purveyors
Otherside Brewing Co Experimental Series: BBA Imperial Stout
Tapped May 13th, 2019
Otherside’s barrel projects continue with a seasonally appropriate, imperial stout release; certainly more seasonally appropriate than the last bourbon barrel-aged number from them: the BBA Scotch Ale released during Christmas week in 2018 as Perth temperatures hit 41C... Aged in Woodford Reserve bourbon and rye barrels as well as Heaven Hill bourbon barrels for good measure, the stave contact has imbued a gripping oak prickle and licks of vanilla rather than any high-end Kentucky moonshine influence.… Read more
Black
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 9.2%
- Bitterness
- 70 IBU
