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!
CBCo Barrel Projects: Aurum
Published December 21, 2022
After close to a year, CBCo have a new addition to their Barrel Projects series with the arrival of Aurum. OK, so “fresh” might not be strictly true: the third release under that banner has been barrel-aged for 24 months in a combination of chardonnay and pinot noir barrels. It was then blended then, proving that you can showcase a bit of agriculture and terroir wherever you are, bottle-conditioned with honey sourced from bees close to their Port Melbourne home. The mixed culture golden ale… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Mixed Culture Golden Ale
- ABV
- 5.3%
Urban Alley Rolling Fog
Published December 21, 2022
The rain clouds have lifted (for now at least) and Melburnians can at long last enjoy a taste of summer. Like a fog lifting, everything looks clearer and Urban Alley’s Rolling Fog is a hazy IPA destined for those warm and sunny days. It’s the Melbourne brewery’s final hazy for the year and they’ve approached the style with a mindset of delivering those juicy notes craft beer drinkers so readily embrace. To do it, they’ve brought together Mosaic, Ekuanot, and El Dorado hops for a rolling… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.4%
Swell Brewing Chilly Bin, Southport Sunset 2022 & Reef Break
Published December 21, 2022
Swell are finishing off their year with a flurry of new releases leaving their McLaren Vale home. Chilly Bin is, as the name suggests, a New Zealand-hopped session ale featuring a hefty load of Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka, Motueka and Waimea upon a simple malt base. Those hop varieties are showcased to perfection in a beer that doesn't drink like a 4 percenter. Familiar crushed white grapes, some gooseberry and rockmelon star, while bitterness is restrained. It’s choice as, bro. If the Southport Sunset… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- NZ Session Ale, Fruit Sour & Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 4.0% & 4.0% & 6.3%
Nowhereman New Zealand IPA & Friends
Published December 21, 2022
Nowhereman round out 2022 with another colourfully-clad can, simply-labelled release. On the surface, the reserved naming convention for New Zealand IPA could be seen as a sign of the energetic pace surrounding the West Leederville brewery – see the three other recent releases below – but it is also indicative of NZ hops’ charisma, as there’s little need for a quippy name when the liquid speaks this loudly. Caramel malt carries Nectaron’s pineapple / passionfruit vibe, while swirls of Nowhereman’s… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- 6.4% & 4.8% & 4.0% & 4.0%
Newstead Brewing Seventh State NEIPA & Zoo v10 Golden Sour
Published December 20, 2022
It’s always a pleasant surprise for me when a hazy IPA has more than just tropical fruit going for it. In Seventh State NEIPA, I got a distinct dankness on the nose along with sweet stonefruit; that dankness continued on the palate, with the stonefruit swapped out for notes of mango and a slow rising bitterness that almost certainly won’t bring about doomsday.* With nine out of ten hazies being described as fluffy, it can be hard to describe the feel of one that hits that mark without resorting… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- NEIPA & Barrel-Aged Golden Sour
- ABV
- 7.0% & 7.4%
Catchment Brewing Silly Saison & Oh Crumbs!
Published December 20, 2022
Catchment are keen to capture those traditional Christmas flavours and feelings with a couple of keg-only releases, available at Catchment in West End and Fortitude Brewing on Mount Tamborine. Silly Saison is a mid-strength saison with cherry and star anise. The brewer’s tasting notes describe it thus: “Dark cherries provide a complex fruity undertone that develops as the beer warms in the glass. The high carbonation coupled with the spicy character presented by the yeast combine to provide an… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Spiced Saison & Gingerbread Ale
- ABV
- 3.4% & 6.0%
Wheaty Brewing Corps & COMA The Real Bock Vol 1
Published December 20, 2022
The Real Book or the Fake Book is well known in jazz circles and provided the perfect pun for the Wheaty Brewing Corps' 2022 collaboration with COMA (Creative Original Music Adelaide). The book was created in the 1970s by two students who attended Berklee College of Music, providing enough basic information about melody, chord symbols, structure and lyrics for musicians to be able to fake their way through a song. As for the beer inspired by the book, it's a strong red lager containing a long list… Read more
Red
- Style
- Bock
- ABV
- 6.2%
Rocky Ridge & Friends Retro Beer Fest Collabs
Published December 20, 2022
Retro Beer Fest went down as one of the greats within the 2022 Australian craft beer calendar – a festival where the brewers not on colluded to produce a great time at Rocky Ridge HQ, but also on the creation of five collab beers, including an all-in, cross-border, 18 brewery effort. That beer is Herding Cats, a triple dry-hopped DIPA featuring a shopping list of hops including Wakatu, Strata, Meridian, Zamba, Sativa, NZH 101, NZH 107 & Lorien atop a medium body. Rich, fragrant hop character… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Various Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- 8.5% & 7.0% & 6.5% & 5.0% & 8.0%
Ocean Reach Cosmic _Dip
Published December 19, 2022
They have a knack for making IPAs at Ocean Reach and to celebrate turning six, they’ve naturally marked it with another. That birthday beer is Cosmic _Dip, a 6.4 percent ABV IPA that makes the most of dipping hopping and while the space-age, trippy can might suggest that drinking it will send you to a place spinach seems to take you to, the technique is really a little more straightforward. Effectively the brewing method takes away less desirable myrcene qualities of hops and leaves behind the… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Dip Hopped IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
Matilda Bay Cherry Saison 2021 Vintage
Published December 19, 2022
On a visit to Matilda Bay's Healesville home in early autumn, an hour had passed before the conversation with brewery founder Phil Sexton moved onto what was ostensibly the main reason for the visit: a chat about the release of their Rejects. That was because he was more eager to talk about their ongoing saison project, one that had been evolving slowly in barrels in an attempt to explore the space between beer and wine. Versions of their Cherry Saison were already pouring at the brewpub bar and… Read more
Red
- Style
- Cherry Saison
- ABV
- 6.7%
Big Shed BruChocs 2022
Published December 18, 2022
For the past few years, two very South Australian businesses have worked together on a unique collaboration to celebrate a very special occasion: FruChocs Appreciation Day*. For those asking: "What on earth are FruChocs? And ahy do they warrant their own day?", they are little morsels of milk chocolate surrounding the Fru – dried apricot and peach. The collaborators here are lolly-as-beer maestros Big Shed and Menz, with elements of the FruChoc used in the brewing process. Prior to 2022,… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Smoothie Sour
- ABV
- 6.2%
Boatrocker Flux Capacitor, Wildeberry 2022 & Mojo
Published December 18, 2022
Such was the nature of the final delivery of samples from Boatrocker – both large in number and manifold in choice – there was no obvious way of deciding in what order to take them on. So this trio can be categorised as "Where Crafty's taste buds took him on Friday night." With Flux Capacitor, it's hard to think of a more honed example of seeking a target market. Sure, the Back To The Future trilogy has formed part of The Crafty Pot's ongoing movie education (this year's Christmas movie… Read more
Red
- Style
- Various Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- 9.2% & 6.2% & 4.8%
Jervis Bay Summercloud & Love Boat
Published December 17, 2022
Summercloud Bay is one of those places that’s held onto its natural beauty: a gorgeous beach enjoyed by those in the know, but hidden from the masses; sheltered, but still close to great surf spots. Summercloud Hazy Pale Ale could do worse for a namesake. Of course, as JBBCo point out, it does’t hurt that Summercloud Hazy Pale is cloudy in appearance and perfect for summer. The tropical hops roll in like lazy waves, the mouthfeel is a light sea foam, and the carbonation patters and spatters across… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy Pale & Raspberry Wheat Beer
- ABV
- 4.7% & 3.8%
Sunday Road Summer Samba Mango Vanilla Sour & Spectrum of Light Hazy IPA
Published December 16, 2022
This is the third Summer Samba sour from Sunday Road, a series in which the Sydney brewers been putting out fruited sours that aren’t monotonous. Don’t get me wrong: simple sours have their place. But these beers manage to offer a little bit more. With Summer Samba Mango Vanilla, the brewers have again used Philly Sour yeast – which produces acidity during fermentation – rather than souring the beer with lactobacillus in the kettle, and the acidity goes deep into the mouth. The flavour of… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Fruit Cream Sour & Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 5.0% & 7.0%
Lost Palms Laid Back Beat & Cardinal Lava (with Seeker)
Published December 16, 2022
Lost Palms are closing out the year with a couple of fruit sours. They describe Laid Back Beat as tasting like watermelon Chupa Chups*, and I can’t beat this description. (Actually they also said "pineapple popsicles" but I’m mostly tasting the watermelon.) It has the clean flavour of watermelon Chupa Chup, but instead of the sugary sweetness there’s a straightforward sourness and a crisp and quick finish. I want to drink it in the pool. Laid Back Beat pours a blush colour like a… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruited Sours
- ABV
- 4.4% & 6.0%
One Drop Fairy Floss II, Vibration Positive & Three Cubed
Published December 16, 2022
Ding dong merrily on bloody high, it’s a One Drop Christmas. To be honest, I’m a little unsure if One Drop Claus has put me on the naughty or nice list this year. Under my Christmas tree, I’ve got a little West Coast IPA all wrapped in cute Australian animal-themed wrapping paper, a lovely-looking stocking that appears to be leaking a viscous purple liquid, and a large, nondescript cardboard box that appears to only contain orange fairy floss. A few weeks ago I suggested that there might have… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fairy Floss Sour, Fruited Sour & West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 8.5% & 8.1% & 6.9%
Otherside x Copper & Oak Primo Imperial Pilsner (& Others)
Published December 15, 2022
They were far from the first WA retailer to get in on the act of collaboration, but since starting the team at Copper & Oak have proven to be among the most eager. Here, they enlisted the help of cross-river pals Otherside to bring punters a vivacious, imperial spin on a classic Euro pilsner. Landing somewhere between a standard pils and a Belgian tripel in terms of demeanour, Primo Pils is a beer centred almost entirely around malt and yeasty esters: clean and creamy on the palate, with a big… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Imperial Pilsner
- ABV
- 8.2%
Blackman's Brewery Super Wonderful Hazy
Published December 15, 2022
Given the speed of new releases, sometimes it feels like the crew at Blackman’s Brewery collectively bleed West Coast IPAs. But as 2022 comes to a close, the Victorian brewery have produced a hazy filled with a hoppy punch in Super Wonderful Haze. Those super wonderful hops are Cryo Idaho 7, El Dorado, Citra and New Zealand’s Motueka and Taiheke which the brewery double dry hopped with. Pouring with a pale golden haze, there’s an immediate wave of nectarine nectar, while that’s joined… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
Bright Brewery Mystic & Cucumber & Basil Ale
Published December 14, 2022
Mystic Park might be a fantastic place to go if you like mountain biking but, to me at least, it’s burnt in my memory as a warning. There I was, going past the spot just outside Bright while on holiday in Victoria’s High Country and wondering if I could try my hand at mountain biking. That fleeting idea lasted all of three seconds until I spotted the number of ambulances out the front waiting to collect the injured. Turns out it’s a dangerous pastime, which the crew at Bright Brewery know… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- DDH DIPA & Sour
- ABV
- 9.0% & 4.0%
Holgate Brewhouse Cherry Sour
Published December 14, 2022
We've seen brewers and their graphic designers become ever more creative, outlandish even, with their approach to capturing drinkers' attention as the craft beer industry has expanded apace. Here, however, Holgate have decided to take a rather more literal approach: it's a cherry sour so you're getting a predominantly red can with cherries on it. It first appeared in autumn 2022, but has returned for summer – surely such a beer's natural stomping ground (if one ever comes in Victoria – with the… Read more
Red
- Style
- Cherry Gose
- ABV
- 4.5%
