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!
La Sirène & Carwyn Cellars Supernaturally Wild Ales
Tapped August 25, 2021
The crew at Carwyn Cellars have been working closer and closer with booze makers - even turning their hand at making their own - and La Sirène are an urban farmhouse brewery that likes to work closely with growers. So, it seems their 2021 Supernaturally collaboration might in some ways beer inevitable over supernatural. To find out more about how the beer came to be, you can read this story but in short: in February 2021 the collaborators headed to Sunland Fruit Orchards near Cobram to secure some… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruited Wild Ales
- ABV
- 4.2% & 5.8%
Newstead Brewing Bubble & Rendezvous
Tapped August 25, 2021
There is some real wishful thinking on display with these two releases from Newstead. For anyone particularly affected by the serious curbs on travel – which for some means going no further than their front door – these beers are either something you’ll be daydreaming over – or may require a trigger warning... Bubble is an unfortunately-timed name for a luminous New Zealand pilsner. It’s dry and crisp but has texture and a slight malty chewiness owing to the use of decoction mashing –… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- NZ Pilsner & French Saison
- ABV
- 5.0% & 6.5%
Bridge Road Brewers NEeD Vol.5: Cold IPA
Tapped August 24, 2021
Cold IPAs are making their way onto the scene as a clean style, bringing a touch of tidiness and refinement to the world of IPA – something like a cross between a lager and an IPA. But Bridge Road’s latest entry in the NEeD series shows that refined doesn’t have to mean dainty and delicate. It might have something to do with Bridge Road’s twist on the style; rather than using a lager yeast for this cold IPA, they’ve used an ale yeast but fermented the beer at a lager temperature. The result… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Cold IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
Beerfarm Big Hazy
Tapped August 24, 2021
Big Hazy sees Beerfarm lean into their penchant for brewing hop loaded, hazy ales. Big Hazy does as it says on the tin: pouring a hazy, charred orange hue, juicy citrus and ripe stonefruit aromatics emanate as soon as it hits the glass. A moderate body carries overripe mango and passionfruit flavours thanks to the generous use of Yakima Chief’s Cryo Pop blend, which is undoubtedly the star of the beer. Canadian malted oats from Cryer, on the other hand, add a malty backbone that underpins that… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Double IPA
- ABV
- 7.8%
- Bitterness
- 40 IBU
- Stockists
-
Available from WA, NSW & VIC stockists
Wild Hop New Releases – August 2021
Tapped August 24, 2021
Since launching in 2019, Wild Hop have released an ever-changing beer list that could well be on its way to featuring every recognisable style of beer on the planet. At any moment in time, their tap list features 11 original (in style and name) Wild Hop beers and one locally made cider, available for in house consumption and takeaway growler fills. July and August 2021 have seen hops well represented; of the seven hop-centric beers that feature, Meme Fatigue NEIPA easily stands tall, featuring huge… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Various Styles
- ABV
- Various ABVs
Stomping Ground Into The Wood: Whisky Barrel-Aged Barleywine
Tapped August 23, 2021
Stomping Ground’s barrel-aged Into The Wood series has seen the brewery quietly forge relationships with local distillers and their latest takes them to Bakery Hill. Well, not the literal Bakery Hill in Ballarat where the Eureka Stockade took place, but rather the well-regarded Melbourne distillery, known for their single malt whisky. Pouring with a golden and amber hue, even though Whisky Barrel-Aged Barleywine might be a 10 percent beer, its colour makes it resemble a classic American pale ale.… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Barrel-aged Barleywine
- ABV
- 10.0%
Burnley Brewing Brut IPA
Tapped August 23, 2021
Back in 2018, well before any of us had any idea about a novel coronavirus, there was quite a bit of excitement in both the local and international beer world about the arrival of a new IPA. Brut IPAs were designed to be incredibly dry hoppy offerings, made with an amylase enzyme for that drying purpose and with hte name borrowed from the world of champagne. While there was a bit of excitement at the time, the style never quite took off to become as popular as hazies and soon faded like tears in… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Brut IPA
- ABV
- 6.4%
Big Shed Brewing BruChocs Beers 2021
Tapped August 23, 2021
When it comes to cult icons in South Australia, we have quite a few: the Malls Balls, frog cakes and Stobie poles to name just three. So, when two top SA companies team up, the people of SA tend to go crazy. Big Shed and Robert Menz have been working together for a while; now, ahead of the ten years of FruChocs Appreciation Day, they decided to step things up a notch. Instead of just rereleasing the original BruChocs stout, they went all out and created four different BruChocs-inspired beers alongside… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- FruChocs-Inspired Beers
- ABV
- Various ABVs
Tallboy & Moose Spring Chicken & Crayzon
Tapped August 20, 2021
Well, here’s a couple of releases from Tallboy & Moose that let us know a seasonal change is on its way. Like the sun bursting out from behind a cloud, the Spring Chicken comes to life in the shape of the Preston brewpub's juicy pale ale, which was first brewed as a hazy IPA but has been given a little tweak. Here the focus is the hop BRU-1, known for pineapple and floral characteristics, and one of the few hops out there that offers precious little in the way of puns (that's not a challenge… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Pale Ale & Dry Hopped Saison
- ABV
- 5.5% & 5.9%
Wolf of the Willows Lark Barrel Aged Imperial JSP IV
Tapped August 20, 2021
As those who have visited the Wolf of the Willows taproom in Mordialloc would know, the brewery is serious about barrels. But while the oak from Lark and other local operations that lines the back of the brewery may provide a visual cue, the partnership between spirit makers and Wolf goes back to before they even had a taproom of their own. The Barrel Exchange Project with Lark launched in 2018 and, while it has since expanded and brought in other distilleries, Wolf's partnership with Lark remains… Read more
Black
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Smoked Porter
- ABV
- 11.8%
Bright Brewery El Grande Mole
Tapped August 20, 2021
There are precious few ways to keep yourself entertained in lockdown but one method I’ve been enjoying is by giving my housemate’s a new release beer, telling them very little about it, then making note of their response. With Bright Brewery releasing a Mexican Black Mole Stout, it seemed like a perfect beer for such brilliant entertainment (if anyone has any streaming shows to recommend, I’ll take them) and the reactions were along the lines of: “Look at how thick it pours, this is so rich.” and… Read more
Black
- Style
- Mexican Black Mole Stout
- ABV
- 7.0%
Nail Brewing Flaming Lamington (Cans)
Tapped August 20, 2021
Lord Lamington, or his chef, Armand Galland, birthed the eponymous treat back in the late 1800s, which raises an odd thought: just who would have been rolling vanilla sponge cake squares in molten chocolate, then desiccated coconut – an ingredient for which we have the chef’s Tahitian wife to thank – in Brisbane back then? Years ahead of the pastry curves when it first appeared, Nail’s 2015 liquid ode to the cocoa-choc cubes pimped the icon with the addition of bird's eye chilis, for reasons… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Chili Coconut Chocolate Stout
- ABV
- 5.2%
Future Mountain Dark Eyes, Born In Time & Ramble On Rose
Tapped August 20, 2021
The relationship between Future Mountain and the Yarra Valley’s Rayner’s Orchard has been around since before the brewery even launched and that partnership has been responsible for many fruited releases from the brewers and blenders. It’s one that only continues to blossom and this trio of releases is an impressive showcase of seasonality in beer - which you can read more about here. They've been brought out in a new format for the brewery too, with each beer encased in glass bottles with… Read more
Red
- Style
- Barrel-aged fruited sours
- ABV
- 5.8%, 5.8% & 6.0%
Philter Double Red Ale
Tapped August 20, 2021
Red IPAs might have mostly fallen by the wayside in craft beer over the last decade, but for whatever reason, double red IPAs remain one of the only original American IPA variants to survive to great IPA hazening of the last four years. Philter’s latest special release is officially labelled a Double Red Ale but I’ll be buggered if I can see how the two styles can be differentiated? Cast in the precise mould of one of Australia’s original Hype Beers™, Modus Operandi’s Former Tenant, Philter’s… Read more
Red
- Style
- Double Red Ale
- ABV
- 8.0%
Slow Lane Brewing Botany Weisse Pineapple, Simple Coercion & Frozen Sea
Tapped August 19, 2021
The city may be under a collective depression, but that won’t stop Sydney’s Slow Lane from releasing a cavalcade of delicious beers from their Botany home [A name change for the brewery might be in order at this rate – Editor]. This three-part release includes a new variant of a favourite, a not so simple, on-trend hazy pale ale, and a season appropriate Baltic porter. Slow Lane’s Botany Weisse is likely one of the only traditionally brewed Berliner Weisse in the country. Probably because… Read more
Black
- Style
- Fruit Berliner Weisse, Hazy Pale & Baltic Porter
- ABV
- 3.5% & 5.0% & 8.5%
3 Ravens Eclipse Juicy
Tapped August 19, 2021
3 Ravens might be a brewery that brews just about every beer style under the sun - and some beers that are barely beer at all - but one thing that's clear is that when it comes to Juicy, it's a series that's always on the mind. In fact, it seems that even when making one Juicy, the plan for the next round of hops on haze is already firing away. Back when they brewed Mandarin Juicy - which used Cascade, Centennial Cryo, Eclipse and Mandarina Bavaria hops plus mandarin zest and juice - the 3 Ravens… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Single-hop NEIPA
- ABV
- 6%
- Bitterness
- 17 IBU
Venom Beer & All Inn Brewing The Rhubarbarian
Tapped August 18, 2021
With a mighty axe and pet snake, like a hero from a television show designed to encourage people to eat more veggies, The Rhubarbarian cuts a striking figure. The rhubarb pastry sour is a collaboration between Melbourne’s Venom Beer and Brisbane’s All Inn Brewing, with the concept born in Brisbane back in March after both brewing teams were enjoying drinking sours in the hot sun. The collaborators came up with the idea of creating a winter sour resembling a rhubarb Danish that would be vegan… Read more
Red
- Style
- Rhubarb Pastry Sour
- ABV
- 6.0%
Moon Dog Conga Lines
Tapped August 18, 2021
If there’s one dance move you should probably not do anywhere right now - well, at least on the East Coast of Australia, Darwin, or New Zealand - it’s a conga line. It's just not the kind of dance that's conducive to social distancing and, furthermore, is it even something people do outside of weddings on long-finished sitcoms? Fortunately, Moon Dog's Conga Lines can be enjoyed from the comfort and safety of your own home, with the "Passion-Fruit-Pineapple-Imperial-Ice-Cream-Sour-Ale"… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Imperial Sour Ale
- ABV
- 7.5%
Dainton Beer Free S'Peach
Tapped August 18, 2021
Of all the fruits, peaches unmistakably most closely resemble a human butt. Such is the likeness that when used as an emoji, it’s almost always there to represent butts, which is why you might wonder why Dainton would release a beer that features a group of butts protesting. It’s not butts, however, with Free S’Peach instead a salted peach sour. So, why are those peaches protesting? Well it's probably best not to look too deeply into that and instead remember the brewery's longstanding love… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Salted Peach Sour
- ABV
- 4.5%
Hop Nation Better Distractions & Jawbone
Tapped August 17, 2021
Melbourne’s latest 2021 lockdown might be looking a little too similar to 2020’s but, fortunately, Hop Nation have released two distractions, with one in the shape of a new hazy IPA and the other a returning beer from life before COVID. The aptly named Better Distractions was originally brewed for Akasha Brewing’s IPA Invitational, which was scheduled for August 7 but has been postponed due to, well, you know why. Given the success the brewery has found with their core range J Juice and many… Read more
Black
- Style
- Hazy IPA & Stout
- ABV
- 7.1% & 6.3%
