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!
Eagle Bay Brewing Nut Brown Ale
Tapped March 13th, 2019
Eagle Bay Brewery have never shied away from brewing the classic styles often forgotten by other brewers in search of wacky and on trend substitutes. Their coastal brewery has been pumping out well made and distinguishable beers for almost a decade now and, here, lead brewer Keegan Steinbacher and brewing manager/owner Nick d'Espeissis aren't looking to buck any trends with their latest Brewers Series release either. Instead, continuing to take inspiration from the seasons for such beers, their Nut… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Nut Brown Ale
- ABV
- 5.4%
Eagle Bay Brewing 6821 Gose
Tapped March 13th, 2019
Eagle Bay's Single Series features super limited, brewery-only releases that allow their brewers complete freedom to experiment with different ingredients, explore new styles and most importantly, have some good old fashioned brewhouse fun. The latest is a locally-inspired gose brewed with Geraldton Wax, saltbush and saltwater drawn from Eagle Bay Beach. The brewers reckon it's so local, simply naming it after their postcode is apt. 6281 Gose is a low IBU, 4.5 percent ABV sour ale that's full of… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Spiced Gose
- ABV
- 4.5%
Brewhouse Margaret River Sour and the Passion
Tapped March 13th, 2019
Brewhouse Margaret River can fly a little under the radar in the craft beer world, but that isn't to say they're not holding their own against the other brewers in the South West of WA; their on premise sales are significant and they've done a great job in capturing the family market in a region drowning in boutique wineries. The quality and consistency of their core range suggests they've got their brewhouse dialled in, but their limited release beers tell us that head brewer Ryan Ashworth has plenty… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Passionfruit Sout
- ABV
- 4.0%
Otherside Brewing Pilot Series: Distortion Kettle Sour
Tapped March 12th, 2019
In an earlier version, Distortion was a liquid resume that brewer Andrew Skipp provided as part of his interview with Otherside. Given Skipp got the job, the beer must have made quite the impression and now the beer has made its way from homebrew to commercial release. Part of their Pilot Series of beers, Distortion is a dry-hopped kettle sour with the emphasis very much on the dry hop. “It’s actually the biggest dry hop we’ve ever done,” says brewer Rhys Lopez. The beer pours a hazy pale… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Kettle Sour
- ABV
- 4.7%
Holgate Brewhouse 600 Above Citrus Saison
Tapped March 8th, 2019
Paul and Natasha Holgate have long been brewery owners keen to showcase their love for Woodend and its surrounds. Afterall, Mt Macedon Pale Ale was among the brewery’s first ever releases and was a beer that advertised the fact you can see the mountain range in question from Holgate’s historic pub home. It’s now 20 years since Holgate first released a beer and, though the brewery is now much larger, it still sits in the same corner of Woodend it's inhabited since moving out of the family home… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Citrus Saison
- ABV
- 6.2%
Stomping Ground Passionfruit Smash
Tapped March 8th, 2019
Stomping Ground’s Smash series has been smashing [That's it, you're fired, Ziebell – Editor] it out of the park since the Collingwood brewery sent tinnies of Watermelon into the world at the start of 2018. The colourful cans and impressively present watermelon flavour must have proved a popular choice for quenching a collective thirst at the end of summer, since a few months later it was followed by another, with Guava Smash putting an even more tropical fruit-heavy gose into the hands of drinkers. The… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Passionfruit Gose
- ABV
- 4.2%
Bruny Island Kindred Spirits
Tapped March 8th, 2019
Bruny Island's brewers continue to make full use of their home state's bounty with a new release timed for the start of autumn. Joining the hops from Bushy Park this time around is quinoa from Kindred Organics (as well as various other forms of specialty malts from home and abroad). Yet, like Tasmania itself in many ways, the resultant red ale is reminiscent of the old country. It's a beer that demands to be consumed a little warmer than most beers you'll pour into your glass in Australia, with those… Read more
Red
- Style
- Quinoa Red Ale
- ABV
- 4.9%
Modus Operandi Wippa Snippa
Tapped March 8th, 2019
With the move from 500ml to 375ml cans, Modus have made it easier for their fans to grab a four-pack off the shelf for a quiet night in. They’ve made it easier again by adding Wippa Snippa to their core range at the same time. Some of us remember this beer’s ancestor from 2016, the Whippa Snipa Session IPA. The new Wippa Snippa bears some similarities, but has also been tweaked in all the right places. It’s dropped from 4.1 percent to 3.8 percent ABV, officially bringing it into the realm of… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Session Pale Ale
- ABV
- 3.8%
Mountain Goat Rare Breed: Hello Humanoid Double IPA
Tapped March 8th, 2019
Given their success in picking up AIBA trophies for IPAs, it's around this time of year we've come to expect to see such beers make their way from Goat's Richmond HQ (although, given their brewers' love of IPAs, you can expect a dose of hoppy goodness coming out of North Street pretty much any time of year). This time around they've returned to double IPA territory, albeit at the lower end of the ABV scale for such beers. In many ways, however, this is a beer that, as the title and artwork suggest,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Double IPA
- ABV
- 7.5%
- Bitterness
- 70 IBU
- Stockists
-
Available nationwide from March 2019 until stocks run out.
White Brick Brewing Flinders Ale
Tapped March 8th, 2019
With a BBQ festival approaching at his brewery in Brisbane's north, White Brick’s Adam Gibb decided to release a smoked blend of his popular mid-strength ales. Using a specialty smoked malt, he designed an easy-drinking brew with the aim of accompanying the magnitude of BBQ offerings at the brewery's Bricks and BBQ competition (running from March 8 to 10, 2019). Adam describes his latest variation as an ale with smoke on the nose, which is more subtle on the palate and comes with a mild, lingering… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Smoked Mid-Strength
- ABV
- 3.5%
- Bitterness
- 20 IBU
Cheeky Monkey Cheeky Nannup
Tapped March 7th, 2019
In a world full of craft beer collaboration, it can be difficult to capture the attention of your average beer fan. In recent times we've seen an array of collaborative efforts, from the mild to the very, very wild. And here's another, with Cheeky Nannup a rarity in Australian brewing: a collaboration between a brewery and a music festival. Brewed at Cheeky Monkey with the help of the Nannup Music Festival organisers and performing artists for 2019, Cheeky Nannup is a combined effort to celebrate… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- New World Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.5%
Rocky Ridge Melon Collies
Tapped March 7th, 2019
Rocky Ridge's series of low ABV, fruited sours has quickly become a crowd favourite. Each release sees a seasonal fruit added to a clean, light malt base, which has been fermented with the brewery's own house strain of lactobacillus. This variant was brewed with more than 50kg of Caribbean gold melons and watermelons that weren't aesthetically pleasing enough for supermarket shelves. Initially created for the South West Craft Beer Festival with the help of staff from Rocky Ridge-associated craft… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Melon Gose
- ABV
- 2.6%
Rocky Ridge Golden Rise
Tapped March 7th, 2019
Craft brewers and rock musicians have plenty in common: beards, sticking it to The Man, passion in abundance and, perhaps most importantly, always ready for a beer after a hard day's work. When Mt. Mountain, a Perth-based psych rock band, wanted a beer to help them celebrate the release of their new album Golden Rise they didn't have to look to hard to find a brewery that could deliver. Rocky Ridge are no strangers to collaboration and they've nailed the brief once again with a very crisp, very… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Golden Ale
- ABV
- 4.6%
Blasta Brewing MyWay Amplified
Tapped March 6th, 2019
MyWay IPA has become something of a flagship for Blasta, a grapefruit IPA that helped put the Perth brewery on the map. So, when they celebrated their first birthday, head brewer Steve decided to take the beer to the next level by giving it more of everything: more hops, more malt, more ruby grapefruit, more blood orange and more booze. The original MyWay weighed in at 5.9 percent ABV and 45 IBU; big brother comes in at 6.7 and 53 respectively. It's easy to see why MyWay (original and Amplified)… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Grapefruit DIPA
- ABV
- 6.7%
- Bitterness
- 53 IBU
Blasta Brewing I Am The 1
Tapped March 6th, 2019
For their first birthday celebrations, Blasta have launched a new beer, with owner Steve Russell deciding to make it a special beer. Aptly named I Am The 1, it features more than 300kg of raspberries and the same amount of passionfruit, with the result a vibrant and very distinct bright red colour. Calling in shortly after it was tapped, sitting in the courtyard at the brewpub in Burswood, I looked around to find most people with a glass of this bright red liquid in their hands – how times have… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruit Sour
- ABV
- 3.8%
Bright Tank Chalkface Killah
Tapped March 6th, 2019
In contrast to the Michelin star stylings of the brewery’s home, there is one thing that’s becoming very clear about Bright Tanks beer release program: Matty Moore like hip hop. A lot. Mos Def featured on the first can release and, for the brewery’s third, Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah gets some affection as well as the noting the beer style’s chalk-like mouthfeel. In terms of its haze, Chalkface leans more misty IPA than juicy NEIPA. El Dorado and Galaxy hops drive proceedings with… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.4%
Felons Brewing Co Blueberry Gose
Tapped March 5th, 2019
Plonked firmly in the shadow of the Story Bridge, Felons Brewing Co. was always going to attract a pretty diverse crowd. Only a short stroll from the CBD and occupying the shore on arguably one of the more scenic points of the beautiful brown Brisbane River, the brewery happily caters to a mix of tourists, tie-wearers, and those who would just like to drink a nice beer somewhere nice — the same mix of punters at which Felons have aimed their first seasonal release, the Blueberry Gose. Brewed with… Read more
Red
- Style
- Blueberry Gose
Mash Brewing & Old Faithful BBBQ Alt Beer
Tapped March 5th, 2019
Mash Brewing have teamed up with Perth's Old Faithful Bar to create a beer designed to work alongside the venue's BBQ fare. Staff from the bar that serves some of the best smoked meats in Perth joined Mash head brewer Brad Nolen and decided a German-inspired altbier seemed like the best base from which to build before posing the question (one that seems to come up with incredible regularity when WA brewers get to collaborating): “What ingredients should we throw into the mix?” And they didn't… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Smoked Altbier
- ABV
- 6.0%
- Stockists
-
At Mash Brewing's venues and Old Faithful
Bright Tank Stoned Fruit Brut IPA
Tapped March 5th, 2019
While Stoned Brut IPA’s equivoque plays out on the can art, the “let’s put everything that’s happening in brewing right now into one beer” sensibility resides within. This zeitgeist-pilfering limited release plays with kettle souring, fruit puree adjuncts, New World dry-hopping and 2018’s ascendant IPA style. Heck, this only needs a vial of kveik, another of London Fog III and some lactose to summarise modern brewing at the tail end of the twenty-teens. Apparently, this is what we asked… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Sour Fruit Brut IPA
- ABV
- 5.1%
Glass House Brewery Red IPA
Tapped March 1st, 2019
Light shines through this beer with ruby brilliance, and the firm head boasts its stalwartness. This is not a "knock back a few pints" kind of beer. Drinking this is like drinking tree sap. Like tapping a tree, and drinking what comes out. Like hammering a spile (yes I had to look that up) into a pine tree, catching that dripping resin in a beer glass, and drinking it. As you may have guessed, lovers of piney IPAs will be all over this one. But it’s not a one-trick pony. There’s plenty… Read more
Red
- Style
- Red IPA
- ABV
- 6.8%
