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!
Blackman's Brewery Just Another IPA: Mosaic + East Kent Golding
Published November 14, 2022
The Blackman’s Just Another IPA series is all about unlocking uncommon hop combinations and it doesn’t really get more uncommon than Mosaic and East Kent Golding. The former is one of the quintessential American hops and is used extensively in IPAs across the world. While the latter has been around for centuries, is seen as one of England’s greatest and is often found in traditional cask beer and ales. So while they might have distinct personalities and have once fought a war with each other… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
Deeds Brewing Night Life, Aspects Of Nature & Wallbanger
Published November 13, 2022
Deeds may have chosen the closing months of 2022 as the time to enter the non-alc space with Zero but that doesn't mean they're going to forego the opportunity to indulge their fondness for experimentation. Night Life is another entry in their ongoing, and typically top notch, series of limited release lagers and is as straightforwardly drinkable as its labels are complex. The latter capture the feeling of Tokyo at night, the former keeps things simple; even the Sorachi Ace hops that proved a curveball… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Japanese Rice Lager, NZ IPA & Fruit Sour
- ABV
- 5.2% & 6.9% & 4.0%
3 Ravens Nevermore Springtime Sun Tea
Published November 13, 2022
3 Ravens have rather a lot of different ranges within their range, from CAW on the one hand to Nat Rav on the other, and others in between. With Springtime Sun Tea, it feels like something of a crossover episode: it's been slotted into their Nevermore lineup of not-to-be-repeated releases yet is in the character of their Wild Ravens series of blended barrel-aged liquids. And it's also the first such beer from the Thornbury brewers to appear in a can. In typical Wild Ravens fashion, it's the result… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Blended Wild Ale
- ABV
- 7.0%
Shelter Brewing Outdoor Shower Sour
Published November 13, 2022
Never slow to push their seafront credentials, the crew at Shelter offer up what could be viewed as something of a companion piece to last year's Hillzeez Surf Wax Sour. Outdoor Shower Sour is inspired by the moment you wander off the Busselton beach and rinse off before heading inside their towering brewpub for a post-swim refresher. It's something of a back-to-basics sour too, especially when compared to the imperial pastry and smoothie sours favoured by some of their near neighbours in the South… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Sour Ale
- ABV
- 4.6%
Brick Lane Hi-Fi Dry
Published November 11, 2022
There's clearly never a quiet moment at Brick Lane. In 2022, they've completed a major expansion, become a registered B Corp and unveiled their ambitious plans around sustainable brewing. As the year comes to its end, they've also added a new beer to their core range lineup – and Hi-Fi Dry has them pretty excited too. The zero-carb Japanese lager is targeting beer drinkers looking for a “better for you” option when it comes to beer and, beyond the lack of carbs, Brick Lane state each one contains… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Zero Carb Japanese Lager
- ABV
- 4.2%
Hop Nation The New Dawn
Published November 11, 2022
Way back in 2016, Hop Nation wanted to celebrate the launch of their Footscray brewery and taproom with a beer to fit the occasion. That beer was The Dawn, one of the country’s very first hazy IPAs and one that - if memory serves correctly - was absolutely filled to the brim with a distinct juiciness that wasn't found in beer at the time. Since then, a bigger take appeared to much acclaim and now a new version has risen like the sun with the arrival of the 8.1 percent imperial hazy, The New Dawn.… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Imperial Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 8.1%
One Drop Blackcurrant Imperial Slushy Sour
Published November 11, 2022
One Drop are regularly pushing the boundaries of what can be considered beer, and heading along to their Botany brewery will only further muddy the waters. Case in point: a concoction served up at the recent Crafty Cabal event there involved two different fruited sour beers that had been run through a slushie machine piled high with a soft serve made from their double vanilla custard pancake imperial thickshake IPA. Just that beer alone throws into disarray centuries of zythological theory, but mix… Read more
Red
- Style
- Imperial Slushie Sour
- ABV
- 10.4%
Palling Bros Beeldwit Witbier
Published November 11, 2022
In Dutch folklore, Beeldwit is a white witch that watches over the souls of those who have departed this mortal coil. Occasionally that witch is seen as a malevolent force but there’s another side to Beeldwit where she acts as a guide that looks after those restless souls that wander the fields. It’s Beeldwit the shepherd that inspired Palling Bros Brewery when naming their witbier, which follows closely in the footsteps of the classics of Belgium. As such you’ll find a touch of coriander,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Belgian Witbier
- ABV
- 4.2%
King Road Brewing Beedelup Pilsner
Published November 10, 2022
Discovered growing wild, then nurtured by Preston Valley Hops, the hop variety featured in the small grower's latest colleb with King Road Brewing carries unique provenance in an age of proprietary hop production. With space to showcase across King Road’s classy, clear, flaxen base beer, this hoppy Eliza Doolittle’s character is more delicate than most may assume. The Beedelup hops lend the beer notes similar to the noble varieties of Europe, with hints of banana bread, vanilla, spice, and soft… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Single Hop Pilsner
- ABV
- 4.5%
Jervis Bay School Of Hops: Nelson Sauvin
Published November 10, 2022
Our man Judd waxed lyrical on the School of Hops theme with the first beer in this series, so I won’t re-tread old ground there.† But here’s the second School of Hops beer: a pale ale with Nelson Sauvin hops and a simple malt bill. It’s not quite clear, but it’s not hazy either. I probably wouldn’t even call it cloudy. What do you call the level of haze below that? Misty? Fogged-up mirror? Traces of vapour in the air because someone boiled the kettle recently? While Nelson Sauvin is distinctive,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Single Hop Pale Ale
- ABV
- 5.1%
Deeds Zero
Published November 9, 2022
The idea with Coke Zero, before it was renamed Coke No Sugar, was to recreate a taste as close to the tooth-rotting original but without the sugar. Now, if you were to take that concept and apply it to Deeds, what do you think they'd want to recreate without booze? I imagine most of you would go for "hazy IPA", or at least something hazy. And you'd be right. On cans of Deeds Zero, their entry into the non-alc space is labelled an "Alcohol Free Pale" although elsewhere it's tagged… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Non-alc Hazy IPA
- ABV
- <0.5%
Firehouse 51 New Era
Published November 9, 2022
Firehouse 51 is a brewing company dedicated to making positive change and while a big part of that is raising money for first responders, it’s not the whole story. Founder Haz Chinniah also wants to recognise those important members of the first responder community and New Era does just that, with the NEIPA inspired by women in the beer industry and those who work as firefighters, as well the amazing women in Haz’s own life. The beer inside the stunning can is a pillowy affair that was designed… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- NEIPA
- ABV
- 6.3%
Moffat Beach Party Mix Raspberry Swirl Sour, 7-Inch Nectaron & Seek & Enjoy IPA
Published November 8, 2022
The other day I explained to my 16-year-old brother-in-law how mix tapes worked: waiting beside the radio with bated breath, accidentally but inevitably capturing snippets of ads between songs, developing perfect timing from much practice of synchronising the "play" and "record" buttons when you transferred songs from cassette to cassette. He listened with wide-eyed wonder and nostalgia for a time he’d never known. Moffat’s Party Mix series beers are energetic fruit sours,… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Fruit Sour, Single Hop Pale & Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 4.0% & 5.2% & 6.0% ABV
Akasha Barrel Aged Belgian Quadruple & Triple Amber Ale
Published November 7, 2022
If you're a regular reader of this site, you'll know Akasha opened a second venue in spring 2022 – The Barrel Room by Akasha. It's designed in part to showcase their barrel program – it's the only place you can buy their barrel-aged beers as things stand – and also a venue promising high end drinks (and pizza) across the board. When we called in ahead of opening, we nabbed a couple of bottles of the first two beers to be ready (if you swing by now they're open there's a Sour Blonde and Wee… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Barrel Aged Belgian Quad & Imperial Amber Ale
- ABV
- Both 10.5%
One Drop Slow It Down & Cali Bud
Published November 4, 2022
Among the never-ending parade of pastry beers and IPAs with at least three Ds in their name, One Drop seem to have accurately predicted the longest period of decent weather Sydney has experienced in about two years with a couple of absolute banging beers practically made for schooeys in the sunshine. Incredibly, Slow It Down is their first DDH pale ale. Not only are they debuting the style on their roster, it’s being used to showcase one of the stars of NZ Hops’ Bract program, the as yet formally… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- DDH Pale Ale & California IPA
- ABV
- 5.4% & 6.7%
Tallboy & Moose Transwarp Conduit & Q Continuum
Published November 4, 2022
You can always rely on Tallboy and Moose to tinker with beer ingredients but it looks like this time they've gone too far and caused a rip in the fabric of reality. Transwarp Conduit is one side of that wormhole and while its clear golden body makes the beer look like a classic American pale, it’s anything but. Instead, the “modern pale” makes full use of Citra LupoMax hops and Citra Spectrum, with the former of those concentrated hops pellets and the latter a hop liquid designed for dry hopping.… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Modern Pale & IPA
- ABV
- 5.0% & 6.3%
Cornella Brewery Cold IPA
Published November 4, 2022
Cornella Brewery are always keen to brew en vogue styles so it seems only natural for their attention to turn to one of IPA's coolest cool kids, the cold IPA. As we’ve explored here, the style is typically brewed with lager yeast, and fermented at above-normal temperatures. Does that make it an IPL? Detractors would argue yes but then advocates see it as more bitter than a classic lager and sitting more like a cleaner West Coast IPA than a hoppy lager. First brewed for Bendigo On The Hop, Cold… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Cold IPA
- ABV
- 6.0%
Little Bang Retro Feels New World West Coast IIPA
Published November 4, 2022
OK, there's a fair bit to take on board with this beer's title and descriptor. Sure, the West Coast and I for imperial part is simple enough, but retro and New World? Turns out the idea was to take the essence of an old school West Coast IPA on the larger size – 7.8 percent ABV so not craaaaazy big – and hop it to the eyeballs with a mixture of back-in-the-day US hops (Columbus) and newer, flightier offerings (Strata, Azacca and Cashmere) to create something with the punch of West Coasts of yore… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast IIPA
- ABV
- 7.8%
Mismatch Brewing Hazy Pale Ale
Published November 4, 2022
It's getting close to two years now since we figured hazy pales were set to have their time in the sun – dedicating a feature and blind tasting to the emerging style – and, as summer 2022/23 approaches, they're appearing in ever more brewers' lineups. Joining the party here are Mismatch, with the SA brewers pitching theirs as an "everyday version" of their AIBA gold medal-winning Imperial NEIPA – one featuring no less than seven hop varieties from the US and Europe as well as plenty… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy Pale Ale
- ABV
- 4.5%
- Bitterness
- 20 IBU
Holgate Brewhouse Mountain Mist
Published November 3, 2022
As summer 2022/3 approaches, it looks like it's going to be a race to the line between pale lagers, fruity sours and hazy pales for the title of most-brewed new release from the country's brewers. Industry pioneers Holgate already have two pale lagers in cans – one of them making the transition last month – while I've long been a fan of their Wild Berry Sour, back from when it was called Blush. And now they've added a hazy pale to the lineup in the shape of Mountain Mist. The last time I was… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Hazy Pale Ale
- ABV
- 5.0%
