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!
Beerfarm Passion Pils & Pump Up The Jam
Published February 9, 2023
Fruit is the theme of the month for Beerfarm’s passionate brewers, as they pump up the jam with a duo of fruit-spiked beers in the form of Passion Pils – a passionfruit Pilsner – and a raspberry, blackberry and pink peppercorn sour. Passion Pils, pouring pale and slightly cloudy, brings everything good about a classic pilsner but with the added refreshment of a tight, light acidity courtesy of fresh passionfruit. Light bitterness and some earthy, citrusy hop notes linger in the background while… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruited Pilsner & Fruit Sour
- ABV
- Both 4.2%
T-Bone Brewing Czech Please & The Naked Truth
Published February 9, 2023
They might be quite different beers but these two from T Bone Brewing are classics when it comes to hitting the style on the head. First up, Czech Please is a pilsner inspired by the best and brightest from Central Europe, with the clear and golden orange beer one balanced lager. The pilsner makes Saaz hops and its distinct earthy and floral combination the star while joining it are malt-led biscuity notes. The Naked Truth meanwhile is a returning hazy that made it onto our Best of Beer list for… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Pilsner & The Naked Truth
- ABV
- 5.6% & 5.2%
Green Beacon Mr Sparkle & Cannonball & POG IPA & Journey X TDH IIIPA
Published February 9, 2023
Disclaimer: I’m going to get nostalgic in this write-up. Damn. Ten years. That’s a fair chunk of time that’s passed since I went and checked out that new craft brewery in Teneriffe called Green Beacon. “It’s in this cool old brick warehouse, and everything’s maritime themed, and the beer tanks are literally right behind the bar!” (That first visit also played a role in my then burgeoning love of amber and red beers. RIP Anchor Amber – I miss you.) Green Beacon’s getting nostalgic,… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Various Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- 4.5% & 6.0% & 6.5% & 10.0%
Molly Rose Brewing Smile With Your Eyes & Tan on Tan
Published February 8, 2023
They have smiles as wide as their ears at Molly Rose, with the Collingwood brewery’s brand new bar and beer garden having just opened and their new kitchen nearly ready to pair with their eclectic beers. But there is also an extra glimmer in their peepers thanks to Smile With Your Eyes, a gose with peaches, grapefruit and sea salt that all make for a fresh, fruity and tart beer ready for a (newly-opened) garden beer. Tan On Tan meanwhile was brewed with another beer garden in mind; the indoor-outdoor… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Gose & Italian Pilsner
- ABV
- 3.5% & 4.9%
Wolf of the Willows x Original Pattern Latitude 37.8
Published February 8, 2023
You may not know it but it pays to be aware of your latitude. Without it, how can you possibly work out how short your winter days are? Or what vegetables stand the best chance to flourish in your backyard? As it turns out, Melbourne and Oakland, California are both as far from the equator as one another, with the former Latitude 37.8 South and the latter 37.8 North, which might explain the two cities' shared love of West Coast IPAs. Well, Wolf of the Willows and Original Pattern certainly share… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 6.2%
Bright Tank X Bonehead X Daniel Loves Beer Into The Sun '23
Published February 7, 2023
Back in April 2021, a cross-continental trio made up of Perth’s Bright Tank, Melbourne’s Bonehead Brewing and WA-based beerstagrammer Daniel Loves Beer saw the two breweries trade hazy recipes. The memories surrounding the subsequent collaboration are more cherished than many from that moment in time most would rather forget, and the second iteration of Into The Sun arrives just as the sun itself is melting the bitumen outside Bright Tank's home in Brown Street, East Perth. In refining the OG… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Pale Ale
- ABV
- 5.5%
Newstead Brewing Zoo v11: Brett Red IPA
Published February 7, 2023
Which is your favourite two-word phrase from Newstead’s Facebook post about their Zoo v11? endogenous Brettanomyces tertiary metabolites microbial fermentation Sour neicht non-canonical microbes (I’ll confidently call that two words) Sweaty socks Other: I’m gonna have to go with tertiary metabolites, partially because I’m now in my ninth year of writing about beer and I’ve never heard the word metabolite before. Sounds like a diet Gatorade rip-off. Anyway, this beer is not… Read more
Red
- Style
- Brett Red IPA
- ABV
- 7.5%
Hargreaves Hill Sunshine and Roller Skates California IPA
Published February 7, 2023
Although this isn't the first beer tagged a California IPA we've written about, given they appear to be arriving in greater frequency it's worth dropping in a brief explainer. Not least as those of you with some knowledge of styles might ask: "California is on the West Coast of the US so isn't it just a West Coast IPA?" Well, it's not far off, but there are some differences (at least if the brewer sticks to the Platonic ideal of the style variant). California IPAs are typically built upon… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- California IPA
- ABV
- 7.2%
Akasha Project Hopic Thunder
Published February 7, 2023
For the hop grower, surely the most important moment in a hop’s life is when it’s given a name. Prior to that, when a new variety is just a collection of numbers and letters, its chance of never getting a proper release is always present and with no fun title, how is the beer drinker meant to connect with it? But brewers don't hold such concerns and instead love getting their hands on new hop types whenever they can. HBC 586 is the kind of hop that seems like its best days might be ahead, with… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- West Coast Pale
- ABV
- 5.0%
Clifton Hill Brewing Kiwi IPA
Published February 7, 2023
Beer and brewing can be a bridge between people places and Clifton Hill Brewing’s Kiwi IPA is a cross-continental connection in a glass. On the one hand, there is much about the orange and slightly chewy IPA that resembles a classic, old school American IPA given how earthiness and spice are hallmarks of craft beer’s early hops. But those hop notes come courtesy of New Zealand’s Motueka and Riwaka and aren't alone in this IPA, with fresh and juicy guava and lime joining the party too. Will… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Kiwi IPA
- ABV
- 5.7%
All Inn It’s Just Not Cricket IPL & Summer Fruits Sour
Published February 6, 2023
“Tell me you don’t follow sports without telling me you don’t follow sports.” I’ll go first: someone had to explain to me that IPL also stands for Indian Premier League. But I’m not ashamed of that. Nor am I ashamed to admit that I have a soft spot for IPLs. All the biting hop character of a West Coast with the refreshing crispness of a lager? Sign me up! It’s Just Not Cricket IPL – that’s India pale lager, not India Premier League – is loaded with Galaxy and Comet hops, and features… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- IPL & Fruit Sour
- ABV
- 5.8% & 4.2%
TWØBAYS Brewing GFB Ginger Beer
Published February 6, 2023
Welcome to the age of ginger beer. Sure, both the alcoholic and boozeless versions of ginger beer have long had a presence in Australia - Queensland we’re looking at you in particular - craft breweries appear to be approaching them with gusto. Take the most recent GABS Hottest 100, no less than six made it into the countdown which suggests that not only are they being made but embraced too. The gluten-free maestros at TWØBAYS Brewing have brought their own into the world, with the limited-release… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Ginger Beer
- ABV
- 4.0%
Urban Alley Brewing Low Carb Lager & The Quarter
Published February 3, 2023
Urban Alley Brewing have released two quite different summer beers at once with both quite different but united by their easy-drinking antics. That’s particularly true for Low Carb Lager, with the 4.0 percent ABV beer rice lager with Tettnanger hops from Germany. Crack into the bright, straw-coloured beer and you’ll find notes of fresh dough, dry biscuits, lemon and a soft touch of spice. The Quarter meanwhile is a celebration of Urban Alley’s forthcoming brewpub in Chadstone. Yes, the fashion… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Low Carb Lager & Hazy Pale
- ABV
- 4.0% & 5.0%
Dainton Beer Island Jam
Published February 2, 2023
Dainton Beer like to take IPAs in whatever direction they can and Island Jam is their latest hoppy soin. The “tropicana milkshake IPA” doesn’t just feature lactose and Columbus, Warrior, Ekaunot, HBC 568, Citra Cryo hops but a few less common additions. OK, maybe in this day and age, toasted coconut and vanilla beans aren’t all that unusual but bringing all those elements together with hemp does make for a particularly adjunct-laden beer. That hemp seed flour was thrown in during the boil… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Tropicana Milshake NEIPA
- ABV
- 6.7%
Burnley Brewing x Duckpond x Pours Clover Club
Published February 2, 2023
A Clover Club might be an old fashioned cocktail but this sour beer spin of the pre-Prohibition drop is a fitting display of the modern beer industry. It’s a collab that’s heavily fruited and features faces from not just adjacent booze industries but another creative field too. OK, so we might be cheating here because although Duckpond Brewing’s founder might be a punk rocker, he’s is a brewer too and well and truly embedded in Sweden’s beer industry - as you can read more about Nikola… Read more
Red
- Style
- Cocktail Sour
- ABV
- 6.0%
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Disco Queen
Published February 1, 2023
One more queen to go and Stone & Wood's Counter Culture series will have a full set of liquid playing cards to hand, with Disco Queen joining series debutant Killer Kween and spring 2020's Tequila Queen as their opening gambit of 2023. And in keeping with her predecessors, Disco Queen is a fruity affair. At a time when the boundaries between drinks categories have become increasingly blurred, and more people drink across different categories even in a single session, she's also a transgressive… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Pink Lemonade Sour
- ABV
- 6.0%
King River Brewing IPA Series: Galaxy
Published February 1, 2023
It’s not often you see an IPA can from King River Brewing but, if you do, there’s a good chance it’s thanks to the hop harvest happening around the corner. However, this beer represents the start of something new from the brewery as they kick off their IPA Series. Each beer is set to feature the same malt base with a new hop selection in every batch and it’s hard to think of a better one they could have launched with than Galaxy, much of which is grown in the High Country. Here that hop… Read more
Golden
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
White Bay Beer Co Bendy
Published February 1, 2023
They've already got the 2022 Australian Champion Beer title in the back for their core range Lager and put out arguably the best Czech style pilsner in Australia in the shape of Gantry Crane, but for the brewers at White Bay there's a real fondness for Bendy. The backstory is that the "tiny pilsner" was brewed in honour of Bendy the crane and her operator John, who helped get all of their tanks into place, and also that it was an attempt to create a lower ABV version of the aforementioned… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Czech Style Pilsner
- ABV
- 4.1%
Reckless Brewing Cumquat IPA
Published February 1, 2023
I’ve finally done it. After a lifetime of knowing nothing about cumquats, I’ve researched them, so now I finally know what they are. It’s not that I’ve never interacted with cumquats before. I’ve eaten cumquat marmalade. I’ve tasted gin with cumquats in it. I’m even fairly sure I’ve seen cumquats on a tree. But somehow they remained a mystery to me. Anyway, now I’m an expert in cumquats.* Onto this beer. It comes out of the tinnie gold, bright, and ready to party. The upfront impression… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Fruited IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
Sauce Brewing Chill Factor 2023
Published January 31, 2023
During the initial cold IPA boom, I had to put my hand up and admit I was confused. It’s an IPA but it’s also a lager somehow? Am I meant to drink it cold or drink it when it’s cold? Is it even a style? For those that missed The Crafty Pint's article and subsequent blind tasting focused on such beers, then Sauce Brewing have provided a handy explanation on tins of their new version of Chill Factor. If we use that as a source, a cold IPA consists of crisp malts typically found in lagers, hopping… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Cold IPA
- ABV
- 6.0%
