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!
Fox Friday Training Day, Let It Go, Heading Stateside & Noise Cancelling
Published October 24, 2022
Fox Friday have built a name for their heavy use of hops and this quartet is no exception. Training Day is a West Coast made with Centennial, Vic Secret and Strata, that’s orange, clear and is essentially a true classic for fans of the style. By “essentially” we mean that alongside heavy hits of grapefruit, dank pine and candied orange, therere is also a ripe rush of berry notes and mix of tropical fruits that wash across the palate before the bitterness sinks in. Let It Go lets go of any… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- IPAs
- ABV
- 7.5%, 7.5%, 7.5% & 8.0%
Whitelakes Brewing Pale Ale (cans)
Published October 23, 2022
In some ways, the ever-expanding new beer release pace that shows little sign of slowing in late 2022 could risk eroding the very enthusiasm it's designed to serve. How many new and slightly different variations on a theme can anyone in that consumer niche really desire or, indeed, have time to sample? If punter-excitement fatigue builds, at the same time as many budgets tighten while the wider economy rights itself, what's likely to take its place? For one, the evergreen tenets of quality and dependability… Read more
Golden
- Style
- American Pale Ale
- ABV
- 5.2%
- Bitterness
- 38 IBU
Rocky Ridge's October 2022 Quartet
Published October 23, 2022
Sure, they've got a stack of top brewers heading to their Jindong farm for the first Retro Beer Fest in early November, but something as trifling as that isn't going to stop Rocky Ridge from knocking out another four new releases beforehand. Jack’s Jam is a lemon lime cream sour brewed in collaboration with Singapore's American Taproom that, as you'd expect, is heavy on the citrus character. Reminiscent of a citrus-laced cheesecake or panna cotta, the fruit sweetness here is tantalising when set… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Various Styles As Indicated
- ABV
- 6.0% & 4.0% & 7.0% & 4.5%
The Mill Brewery Pink Motel
Published October 21, 2022
Here’s a little lesson you probably don’t need. Cheap motels in summer: bad. However, Pink Motel in summer: good. The beer by The Mill Brewery is a warm weather favourite they’ve brewed before but has returned in time for summer 2022 in 375ml cans with a new look and recipe tweak. It's a sour that's been made with sweet cherry, raspberry, key lime and blackcurrant to recreate the fruity flavours you’d find in a Rosé. Even though it might be what’s on the inside that counts, the beer… Read more
Red
- Style
- Rosé Sour
- ABV
- 4.1%
Local Brewing Coffee Citrus Sour
Published October 21, 2022
It’s funny how quickly a beer can take you to a time and a place. In this instance, that transportation is summer 21/22 after living through another long Melbourne lockdown. As the omicron wave swept through the country a favourite treat was a tonic and coffee spritz from my local cafe that proved the perfect panacea for hot sunny afternoons. That brings us to Local Brewing’s Coffee Citrus Sour, a beer that instantly connects to that delicious afternoon caffeine hit. The beer is a collaboration… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Coffee Sour
- ABV
- 4.5%
One Drop On Your Feet & Keep Up
Published October 21, 2022
Two hoppy monsters from One Drop here, and of particular note is a DIPA utilising a super-cool experimental hop out of Aotearoa known officially as NZH102. NZH102 has come out of NZ Hops’ Bract Brewing Program in which 60 breweries from around the world have been given exclusive early access to some varieties to see how they perform on the way to finally becoming a fully-fledged, commercially available variety with a good name that won’t have to be changed shortly afterwards due to some sort… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- DDH DIPA & DDH IPA
- ABV
- 8.0% & 5.9%
Cheeky Monkey Mid-Strength Hazy IPA
Published October 21, 2022
And now for something rather different from Cheeky Monkey: a beer that's void of fruit, lactose or an abundance of hops. Instead, what we have here is what it says on the tin: a mid-strength hazy IPA designed for spring's warmer weather; still, of course, hoppy leaning but far more restrained in character than many of the South West brewers' past hazies. Despite the tempered approach, Cheeky Monkey’s hazy mid still holds true to type, with ripe stone fruits and guava featuring heavily alongside… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Mid-Strength Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 3.5%
Bowden Brewing BYO Cheese & Das Ist Crisp
Published October 20, 2022
What’s the perfect beer to pair with a cheese board? It's a question many of us have asked but rarely, if ever, have we had a cheese festival to partner with on such a conundrum. Bowden Brewing aren’t like the rest of us, with the Adelaide operation teaming up with their local celebration of all things cheese, CheeseFest. For 2022’s celebration (which ran October 14-16) they created the Berliner weisse BYO Cheese, which was made with additional quince paste and crackers. Even with those unusual… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- 3.8% & 5.0%
7th Day Brewery Kook Juice
Published October 20, 2022
Does liking a hazy pale ale make you a kook? No, but reading a write up about one on the internet might. Sorry. Spare a thought for the kook writing it though, he’s really got some issues. Kook status withstanding, the seventh limited release in 7th Day Brewery’s Making Waves series is Kook Juice Hazy Pale Ale. Pouring like a fizzy pineapple juice, Kook Juice is suitably hazy and suitably juicy in appearance. The balance of aromas is insane: mango, pineapple, orange and a flicker of pine all… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.5%
Sunday Road Summer Samba '22
Published October 20, 2022
When Sunday Road brought out their first Summer Samba last year, I said it was the kind of beer that can sling you into party mode. This year’s Summer Samba is the beer you drink once you’re at the party, starting conversations with strangers. The appearance alone is more than enough to break the ice. It’s deeper in colour than last year’s watermelon pink; I’d call it neon coral, and it glows as brightly as a leotard worn in an early 90s exercise video. Who could look at that velvet-scrunchie-hue… Read more
Red
- Style
- Berry Sour
- ABV
- 5.0%
- Bitterness
- 60 IBU
Bridge Road New Sky IPA Vol. 2: Spectrum Super Cold
Published October 19, 2022
What is a Triple Dry-Hopped Super-Saturated Cold IPA? It’s a fair question to find on the side of a beer can and you can’t blame someone for not knowing the answer. The solution to that riddle is the second instalment in Bridge Road’s New Sky IPA series, with Vol. 2: Spectrum Super Cold. The IPA makes full use of Hop Product Australia’s Spectrum -a hop liquid specifically designed for dry hopping. Here it features in the shape of Eclipse, Citra and Mosaic, while further doses of Citra, Mosaic,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Cold IPA
- ABV
- 6.9%
Modus Beer Pacific Dream
Published October 19, 2022
If you’re a regular Modus-head, chances are you’re already well acquainted with Pacific Dream. The longstanding tap beer has built a cult following with those fans making it clear that it’s the kind of beer they don’t ever want to see not on tap. In time for summer 22/23, Pacific Dream’s made its escape from being taproom-only and got itself into 375ml cans, with Modus hoping the hazy wave will delight further afield. On cracking the beer, it’s not hard to see what Modus fans have been… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Pale
- ABV
- 5.0%
2 Halfs Oldrich, Keller Hell, Weisenbier & Festbier
Published October 18, 2022
As a weird old lager-loving freak, the September-October period is basically my Christmas. Oktoberfest celebrations have been increasing in number over the last few years but, in 2022, I’m certain there has never been another time in history when so many different freshly brewed lagers are freely available to all and sundry. More breweries than ever now count lagers among their regular offerings – and one just took at top gong at the Indies – but during the Oktoberfest period this turns into… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- European Lager Variants
- ABV
- 4.8% & 5.1% & 5.9% & 6.1%
- Stockists
-
2 Halfs have just opened their online store
Order all these beers here
Bright Brewery (& Pocketbeagles) The Spicy Beagle & Halloween Ale
Published October 18, 2022
We’re in close proximity to the spookiest time of the year and I’m not just talking about Halloween. On October 15, the designer behind Pocketbeagles, Clint Weaver, celebrated his booze (and non-booze) clients at CoConspirator’s home in Brunswick with a Pocket Party. OK, so maybe it wasn’t so frightful† and more delicious, with canned cocktails served, delicious snacks enjoyed and four different beers made just for the event. Among them was The Spicy Beagle, a mango, lime and chilli sour… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Mango, Lime & Chilli Sour & Pumpkin Ale
- ABV
- 4.5% & 6.0%
KAIJU! & Dr Colossus The Dank Shelbyville IPA
Published October 17, 2022
A week or two before receiving this collab with Dr Colossus – brewed to mark the fifth anniversary of The Simpsons stoner rockers' album, The Dank – I'd sampled another IPA from KAIJU! Immortal Jellyfish was a hazy which felt "like something of a counterpoint to the sort of IPAs upon which they built their reputation; sweeter rather than dry and bitter". Who'd have thought the return to type would come so soon? With The Dank – tagged a Shelbyville IPA and wrapped in the album's moody… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
Revel Brewing Cashmere, Cryo Daze & Muscat Red IPA
Published October 17, 2022
It’s been just over a year since Revel Brewing opened their second venue at Rivermakers, and with their limited releases coming out at a rate of knots they’ve been making very good use of all their extra brewing capacity. Case in point: no less than three IPA variants released in the first half of spring. Cashmere is a double dry-hopped single hop IPA that doubles down on, you guessed it, Cashmere hops from the US. There's a solid bitterness alongside notes of coconut and citrus that punch through… Read more
Red
- Style
- Single Hop DDH IPA, Hazy IPA & Red IPA w/ Muscat
- ABV
- 6.9% & 6.5% & 6.5%
Wolf of the Willows Inner Vision Strata & Double Vision Microdosed
Published October 15, 2022
You can't accuse anyone involved in hops of standing still. Whether it's breeders developing new varieties, growers planting ever more acreage, manufacturers finding new ways to deliver the best bits of the little green cones to brewers, or brewers using them in new and different manners, it's a fast-moving world. And here, via their Inner / Double Vision series, Wolf of the Willows get to play around too. With Inner Vision Strata, the new comes in the form of using nothing but relatively new, and… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Single Hop Hazy IPA & Microdosed Hazy DIPA
- ABV
- 6.0% & 8.0%
- Stockists
-
Melburnians can join the team for a launch party and masterclass on October 21
Nowhereman 123 Days Later & Birra Negroni
Published October 14, 2022
Extended cold conditioning, or lagering, provides pilsners with an opportunity to settle, develop nuance and, ultimately, elegance. While the Czech archetype typically spends around 40 days cold chillin’, Nowhereman have tripled that, in what another brewer noted as very pleasing "lagering arms race" going on in WA. And why not put some zombies on the can for a little cinematic contagion? Originally brewed back in July, 123 Days Later there’s inviting clarity, and a bready nose flecked… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Pilsner & Negroni Beer
- ABV
- 5.4% & 5.8%
Matso's Nightlife Strong Ginger Beers
Published October 14, 2022
Australia first alcoholic ginger beer gets a tune-up ahead of summer 2022/23 as the Matso's flagship welcomes some of Broome’s after dark humid energy. Tropical Strength nearly doubles the mid-strength OG’s ABV, and in the process the ginger bite feels more harmonised with a fuller body to work with, before a lengthy dry conclusion awaits another sip. Meanwhile, its Nightlife sibling muddles the glass for a riff on Bermuda’s unofficial national drink, the Dark and Stormy. As with the former,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Strong Ginger Beers
- ABV
- 6.0%
- Stockists
-
Available nationally from October 20 via Matso's stockists
One Drop Double Take Boysenberry
Published October 14, 2022
As soon as I cracked a can of this iteration of One Drop's Double Take series, it occurred to me that I have no idea what a Boysenberry is. So, like a bad Jerry Seinfeld impersonator with a keen interest in pomology, I said: “I wonder what the deal with boysenberries is?” They’re pretty cool as it turns out. Boysenberries are a cross between four different species of the Rubus genus: European raspberry and blackberry, and the American dewberry and loganberry (which itself is a hybrid of a raspberry… Read more
Red
- Style
- Imperial Boysenberry Sour
- ABV
- 10.1%
