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!
Bad Shepherd x Boilermaker House The Beauregarde Effect
Published February 22, 2023
It’s been a great summer for berries of many shapes and colours but the blueberry has enjoyed a particularly good season and, as a country, we’ve benefited. You might have enjoyed them with yoghurt, in a smoothie or in a sour beer; here Bad Shepherd and Boilermaker House are serving them with a side of hops. The collaboration by the two Melbourne booze outfits is The Beauregarde Effect, which pours about as vibrant a colour as the Roald Dahl character.* But rather than purely purple, this hazy… Read more
Red
- Style
- Blueberry Hazy Pale
- ABV
- 4.5%
Dainton Beer Apocalypso III
Published February 22, 2023
Do you remember those days? In Melbourne at least, 2020 was a year of daily press conferences people couldn’t look away from, Tiger King (which people couldn't look away from), and a lack of toilet paper that is still, frankly, a little weird. But the COVID apocalypse also brought a constant stream of limited releases and inspired Dainton Beer to brew some juicy, heavily-hopped Apocalypso beers. Now that it's 2023, we’ve all moved on: Joe Exotic is yesterday's man, Joel and Ellie have our eyes… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- NEIPA
- ABV
- 7.5%
Holgate Brewhouse Breakfast Club Non-Alc Lager
Published February 21, 2023
It's not hard to understand why the team at Holgate sent a photo of their second non-alc beer featuring a can being poured onto a bowl of Weet-Bix*. After all, the beer is called Breakfast Club and is alcohol-free so, technically, could be consumed in the morning without any adverse effect on the remainder of one's day. The cans also sport a cassette tape titled "Beer of Champions" that, in tandem with the name of the beer, suggests they're aiming for beer drinkers who grew up with Molly… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Non-Alc New World Lager
- ABV
- <0.5%
Curly Lewis Brewing Lay Day Red IPA
Published February 21, 2023
When you think of beer and Bondi together, your next thought might not be red IPA. But Curly Lewis is all about bringing a variety of beer styles to their home on the beach and Lay Day Red IPA was among their first Wildcard releases. The beer is smooth, rich and filled with raisin and caramel notes, while its American hop combo brings further touches of citrus and resin. If you're a red(IPA) head, then your choices in Bondi are looking a little brighter.… Read more
Red
- Style
- Red IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
Curly Lewis Brewing Coffee Stout
Published February 21, 2023
Bondi has many cafes but just one brewery. However, if those myriad coffee houses don’t provide enough of a caffeine hit, Curly Lewis might have you covered with their Coffee Stout. As a member of the brewery’s Wildcard range, it might not be a beer that sticks around for long but when it's available, there's more than enough to entice you to walk past those cafes and grab a seat at a bar instead. Brewed with a healthy hit of single origin coffee, effectively the beer is a classic dry stout… Read more
Black
- Style
- Coffee Stout
- ABV
- 6.0%
Atomic Juicy Lager
Published February 21, 2023
Colourful, creative and to the point, Atomic have released Juicy Lager, a self-explanatory beer that's also the first to be canned at their Redfern brewpub rather than via parent company Good Drinks' main facility in WA. Such facts aside, this one kicks off with an aroma that escapes the can like it’s fleeing the law. They've looked to load their lager with "juicy tropical hops" and here they hit your nostrils in a manner that leaves you in no doubt it’s a hazy. With a respectable foamy… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Juicy Lager
- ABV
- 5.2%
Blackman's Brewery How's Your Day?
Published February 20, 2023
They don’t seem like easy days but Same Day IPA days at Blackman’s Brewery always look like a whole lot of fun. The frequent event sees the brewery crew start early, dress up, launch their freshly-packed beer with style and spend hours travelling across Victoria to get a beer into venues and bottleshops so it can be enjoyed that very night. So the arrival of How’s Your Day? was always going to be a good one but the colourful can bring an extra wave of vibrancy. So too do the tropical and juicy… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.0%
3 Ravens Wild Ravens: Methode Ravens 2022
Published February 20, 2023
3 Ravens' celebration of the house mixed culture inhabiting many of the barrels at their Thornbury brewery continues its "evolution not revolution" mission with the arrival of the 2022 vintage. This blend of the four barrels the brewers felt showcased the best expression of said culture was bottled back in February 2022, a full 12 months before release. And it brings the sort of delights only such patiently-curated beers can bring. For a start, it couldn't look any more like such beers… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Mixed Culture Ale
- ABV
- 5.8%
- Bitterness
- 32 IBU
Reckless Brewing Queen Bee-r Bush Lager
Published February 17, 2023
You’ve got Reckless Brewing, a proudly female-led brewing company that started life in the Inner West of Sydney. You’ve got Queen Bee DJs, a collective of female and non-binary DJs who spin vinyl at monthly sessions at The Hive Bar in Erskineville. Why has it taken this long for them to collaborate? Well, it doesn’t matter. They’ve joined forces now, and the result is Queen Bee-r Bush Lager: a corn lager brewed with finger lime. It’s a spritzy number that won’t be backed into a corner… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Lager with Finger Limes
- ABV
- 4.5%
Molly Rose Definitely Maybe
Published February 17, 2023
If you like either oxymorons or Oasis, then here is the beer for you. If you like both, then tie your Converse shoes up tight, take issue with the nearest Blur fan* and run as slowly as you can to Collingwood to grab a can of Definitely Maybe. The “half double IPA” from Molly Rose is a 6.4 percent West Coast made with a mix of Australian and New Zealand hops. In Definitely Maybe, they definitely bring waves of grapefruit, nectarine and tropical notes and but stick around and just maybe, you'll… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Half Double IPA
- ABV
- 6.4%
CoConspirators Brewing Lager
Published February 17, 2023
After a long day of disreputable dealings and committing fraud, what beer do you think underworld figures turn to? We should ask the people running the banks am I right? (I’ll see myself out). Whether you yourself are a shadowy figure or just a normal, innocent person CoConspirators Brewing's Lager is more than ready to welcome you. The classic lager adds to the brewery’s Usual Suspects lineup and brings with it a refreshing and easy-going drinkability. There’s the lightest touch of sulphur,… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Lager
- ABV
- 4.5%
Good Land Brewing Schamozzle
Published February 17, 2023
Schmozzle: A disorganized mess. Schamozzle: A chaotic, but organised delight. The pastry sour by Victoria’s Good Land Brewing certainly packs it all into one can. Indeed, reading the list of ingredients is like giving a child your wallet and letting them run loose in a supermarket: strawberries, kiwifruit, lime marshmallow and soft-serve vanilla ice-cream. Given the lactose sour base was conditioned on a particularly large collection of strawberries, the first thought unsurprisingly goes to strawberries… Read more
Red
- Style
- Pastry Sour
- ABV
- 6.0%
Ocean Reach Dream Lover
Published February 16, 2023
As far as timings go, this feels like a fitting beer to be out so close to Valentine's Day. Whether they’re awake or in a deep sleep, Ocean Reach seem to always be dreaming of hops. In the case of Dream Lover, their method of choice for the oat cream IPA are Citra Cryo, Zamba and Talus. Together, they bring candied tangerine, fresh orange juice and pineapple with floral undertones. Combine those vibrant hoppy notes with a lush and creamy base and you have the kind of beer that could make even… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Oat Cream IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
New England Brewing Co Gorge Drop Double West Coast IPA
Published February 15, 2023
Yikes. The last few IPAs I’ve had from New England have been snuggly. This one is snuggly in the way that wrestling a brawny red kangaroo is snuggly. It’s thick in the mouth, but not syrupy. Thanks to New England’s natural conditioning of their beers, the carbonation here brings a certain amount of the heft in the body; it sort of unfurls in your mouth as you drink. The malt is relatively lean: they’ve use a stripped back malt bill to let the hops do the talking without the padding of specialty… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Double West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 8.2%
- Bitterness
- 104 IBU
Sailors Grave Biru Sake & Satsuma Plum 2023
Published February 15, 2023
It's been a while – three years, if our record-keeping is in decent shape – since we last made our acquaintance with Biru from Sailors Grave, a beer fermented on sake kasu (lees*) and finished with satsuma plums. The beer returns slightly altered from its 2020 iteration, a little higher in alcohol content and now in 440ml cans too. While the liquid started out as a "pale tart beer", it's testament to the impact of the fruit that by the time it reaches your glass Biru pours a crimson… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruited Sour Ale
- ABV
- 5.3%
The Mill Brewery Oishii
Published February 15, 2023
Occasionally a beer name comes along that just perfectly captures the drink at hand. Oishii, which refers to nice, tasty or delicious in Japanese, is just such a name. The Mill Brewery’s Japanese rice lager is restrained but filled with delicate flavours and that balance is perfectly captured by the accompanying artwork of Yue Yamanaka. The incredibly pale straw lager is dry, refreshing and easy-drinking thanks to the heavy use of flaked rice with only a gentle wave of floral notes and flavours… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Japanese Rice Lager
- ABV
- 4.5%
Tar Barrel Walk Between The Raindrops & Electrical Signals
Published February 15, 2023
Sure, neither of these beers are exactly what brewers would consider traditional but Tar Barrel have brought us a touch of the old(er) and the new(er). First up, Walk Between The Raindrops is a hazy pale the Mornington brewery has regularly returned to thanks to layered hops aromas brought by Talus and Amarillo. Those move between orange, grapefruit, peach and pine while the soft and smooth base feels like diving into a couch once you've successfully dodged all those raindrops. Electric Signals… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Pale & Cold IPA
- ABV
- 5.0% & 6.0%
Beaches Brewery The One Oh One & Interstate 95 IPAs
Published February 14, 2023
The first limited releases from Sydney-based Beaches Brewery deliver an American road trip in a couple of cans, inspired not only by the regions but the journeys themselves. Let’s start on the West Coast (because that’s the closer flight from Sydney)... The One Oh One West Coast IPA pours with the familiar gold of beer in a cartoon, with a lingering head to match. There’s an aroma that slaps you with hops, in this case Citra and Talus, while to taste there's a quaffable, almost sessionable… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West & East Coast IPAs
- ABV
- Both 6.2%
Barrel Farm by Blackman's Barrel Aged Golden Sour
Published February 14, 2023
The Barrel Farm project from Surf Coast-based Blackman's has been running since early 2019, when it was announced via a Sour and Sour IPA. They've touched many bases over the intervening four years – an array of styles, ingredients and barrels – yet for all the tasty drops to drop along the way it feels like this is the sort of beer they've been working towards all that time: a milestone release years in the making and a reminder you can't cheat time. Golden Sour is a blend of three-year-old… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Golden Sour
- ABV
- 5.5%
Lost Palms Tallebudgera Nights Sour Ale & Magnets IPA & Second Rodeo Affogato Pastry Stout
Published February 14, 2023
They took a breather over Christmas and January, but Lost Palms are making up for it now with three limiteds. First up is Tallebudgera Nights, a sour ale with kiwifruit, mango, lychee and feijoa.* Pour it out and you’ve got totally opaque nectar. The head disappears quite quickly, but who’s here for foam when it comes to a glass of purĂ©ed fruit? We’re here for the fruitiness and the sourness. The sourness is definitely there, but fairly easygoing, laying the foundation for the fruits to be… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Fruited Sour & Hazy IPA & Affogato Pastry Stout
- ABV
- 6.0% & 6.5% & 9.0%
