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!

Bendigo Beer

Brick Lane Draught

Tapped August 27, 2020
Throughout 2020, the brewers at Brick Lane have been playing around with hops, fruit, haze and acid but their latest release has a rather different brewing tradition in mind: the Australian draught. The black and red label has a striking simplicity and given this is a beer that’s “high gravity brewed”, provides “superior crispness and “fuller refreshment”, it’s pretty clear this is one intended to be bought by the six-pack, if not the case. The brewery wants you to share it with mates… Read more
Style
Lager
ABV
4.9%

Eagle Bay Single Series: Pepita Porter & Sea Salt Sesame Stout

Tapped August 27, 2020
Eagle Bay’s head brewer Keegan Steinbacher clearly likes alliteration, as this pair of beers attest. But while smart names are one thing, the liquid inside always needs to be the main event, and he has delivered both with a mature outlook, while bucking the trend towards adjunct excess. Pepita Porter leads with dark chocolate and roast which segues into a slight late palate creaminess, before trailing off as bitter coffee and lager-derived, Baltic Porter dryness take over. Pepitas add a nutty quality… Read more
Style
Porter & Stout
ABV
7.0% & 6.0%
Stockists

Available from the brewery and online

Plus WA Eagle Bay stockists

Moon Dog Ogden Nash's Pash Rash (2020)

Tapped August 26, 2020
Moon Dog have done many things the vast majority of brewers wouldn't – or would consider too daft – over the years. Among them was creating Ogden Nash's Pash Rash, a flavoured imperial stout that first time around required the then far smaller team to unwrap 5,800 of the lollies formerly known as Redskins so they could be added to a big stout. Things have changed since. For one, the name of the confectionary is to change. Secondly, there's an entire subset of the industry on a frantic hunt for… Read more
Style
Raspberry Imperial Stout
ABV
8.2%
Stockists

On sale in VIC from Aug 26

Around Aus from Aug 31

Or via Moon Dog online

More stockists...

Bad Shepherd Saved By The Brett

Tapped August 26, 2020
For years, brewers have opted to let drinkers know they regard a particular beer as a little bit special by choosing a fancy bottle. For certain beers some even use a cork and cage or dip the bottle in wax, a practice whose key purposes seem to be threefold: to create pre-consumption frustration; to risk the slicing of fingers and/or thumbs; and the one positive – to prevent you opening a beer you've been cellaring for ages late at night when you're no longer capable of removing enough of the wax… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Brett Saison
ABV
8.0%

Black Hops & Mount Gay Rum Caribbean Haze IIPA

Tapped August 26, 2020
Let's be honest, if there's one thing the past few years have taught us when it comes to beer it's that sometimes, no matter how bizarre a concept sounds, it can actually turn out to be at least OK, occasionally delicious. That doesn't mean the words "fruit and rum-soaked" and "hazy IIPA" set next to each other doesn't still raise an eyebrow. Yet the beer those phrases adorn – Black Hops' Caribbean Haze, originally a collab with Mount Gay Rum for GABS 2019 – has become one… Read more
Style
Fruit & Rum-Soaked IIPA
ABV
7.8%

Fixation Mighty Boy, 100, Blues For The Red Sun & Social Space

Tapped August 25, 2020
When they sent samples of their August Incubator quartet, the Fixation team suggested an order in which to try the beers (not that I was planning on taking on all four at once, of course). It's the order they're listed above, but for the purposes of this write-up let's start at the end. Why? Because they've returned to the striking labels that were replaced temporarily by more generic decor with the previous trio and Social Space perhaps captures the moment – at least for a brewery based in the… Read more
Style
Various IPAs
ABV
4.8% & 6.4% & 7.0% & 8.5%

Burnley Brewing Grapefruit IPA

Tapped August 24, 2020
The team at Burnley have ramped up their can releases since March and Melbourne’s second lockdown only seems to have seen them push the pedal closer to the metal. As spring approaches (not that you'd know it from the weather in their hometown) the roster grows once more in the shape of the orange tin and orange-tinged Grapefruit IPA; a West Coast style of IPA with a citrus peel twist. Fans of the brewery’s recently canned IPA, The Flex, will find much to love about this beer as it maintains… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
6.5%
Bitterness
40 IBU

Malt Shovel Brewers & Club Brewing Dave's Extra Golden Ale

Tapped August 24, 2020
When Malt Shovel Brewers teamed up with Club Brewing Co to brew a beer, they were inspired by James Squire’s The Chancer Golden Ale - but with the malt and hops turned up a notch. The result is Dave’s Extra Golden Ale, and the name is apt - I’m not sure the gold colour could be any deeper without turning into bullion (or, you know, being described as a different colour). It’s no surprise the decal shows a pot of hops at the end of the rainbow. The magnified malt profile brings a golden syrup… Read more
Style
Extra Golden Ale
ABV
6.0%

Innate Brewers English & American Barleywines

Tapped August 24, 2020
If there have been beer gifts in what's been a challenging 2020, among them are the unlikely resurgence of black IPAs with modern finesse and, in this case, barley wine, or barleywine depending on your preference. Sure, they're not exactly lawnmower beers, for those that have lawn, but in the fermented nerd arc, this "ye olde" style is kind of like the final boss you encounter before telling everyone you’re done with beer – and that a well made lager is perfection. To which any friends… Read more
Style
Barleywines
ABV
Both 10.5%

Aether Brewing Nocturnal Imperial Stout

Tapped August 23, 2020
In a piece of exquisite team management I managed to receive two separate write-ups for the same beer in my inbox within an hour or two of each other on Friday. So, given it's a whopper of a beer, why not run them both side by side? Mick Wust: Though I don’t usually drink sugar in my coffee, when I decided to try drinking espresso for the first time, I was determined to do it "the Italian way". It’s fairly standard for Italians to stir a teaspoon or two of sugar into their tiny cup… Read more
Style
Imperial Stout with Maple Syrup
ABV
11.7%
Stockists

From the Aether taproom, online and reputable stockists around Queensland

Wayward Brewing Cashmere Cat Hazy IPA

Tapped August 23, 2020
The Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a mixture of wise and whimsical, crazy and cynical. It’s often quoted as some kind of patron saint of those wishing to break free of societal norms, with lines like: “I am not crazy; my reality is just different from yours” and “Imagination is the only weapon in the war with reality.” I can only assume Cashmere Cat is a reference to that iconic character, and this year we could all do with an ally in the war against reality.… Read more
Style
Juicy IPA
ABV
6.3%

Blackman's Brewery Needs More Sabro

Tapped August 22, 2020
Current circumstances dictate that the only beers passing my lips of late are those arriving at the doors of Crafty Towers, most of which come in the form of samples or care packages. As such, my personal checklist for the year isn't as extensive as when regular interstate travel for festivals and to catch up with beer world friends old and new was a regular occurrence rather than a wistful pipe dream. Yet, even if I'd managed to sample every beer coming out of Aussie breweries in 2020, it would… Read more
Style
Single Hop IPA
ABV
6.5%

Wolf of the Willows & Mörk Chocolate Kanelbulle

Tapped August 21, 2020
Not only have we got so many breweries releasing so many beers that even the unlikeliest of styles can land on one's doorstep twice in quick succession, we've even got beers with names that require guidance as to their proper pronunciation. Yes, just a few weeks after Two Birds released their twin Kalsarikännit beers, Wolf of the Willows tell us their latest nitro beer is to be annunciated "ka-kneel-bull-a". More importantly, however, what is it? Other than an excuse to pop the chef from… Read more
Style
Spiced Nitro Pastry Brown Ale
ABV
6.2%

Hargreaves Hill Fruitopia 2: Mango Crème Brûlée

Tapped August 21, 2020
Hargreaves Hill's second Fruitopia release has swapped berries for mango and thrown in a good percentage of the contents of the pantry too. The dessert-inspired sour Mango Crème Brûlée was brewed with the help of a literal tonne of fresh mango (which more than doubles the fruit content form Fruitopia 1), along with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and lactose for a soft and smooth(ie) beer ride. The mango certainly makes itself known, from the beer’s orange-yellow appearance to the intense aroma that… Read more
Style
Dessert Sour
ABV
7.0%

3 Ravens Wild Ravens Hay, Hops & Horehound & Nat Rav 2020 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir

Tapped August 21, 2020
The notes we receive from brewers when they release new beers vary greatly. Sometimes there's nothing more than what's on the label, sometimes there's a media release telling the story behind the beer. And then there's 3 Ravens, who like to detail every ingredient, every process, the age of liquids involved in any blending plus both short and extended notes. And, in Hay, Hops & Horehound they may have set a new record with the extended copy clocking in at 470 words. In short, it involves a family… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Blended Beers
ABV
5.9% & 6.6%
Bitterness
20 IBU & 19 IBU

Woolshed Brewery & Almondco Scorched Almond Porter

Tapped August 20, 2020
The Woolshed brewers in South Australian’s Riverland are well known collaborators, often working with other local artisanal producers. Local companies provide the wattle seed used in their Judas dark ale, coffee for the Firehouse Coffee stout, and a variety of fruits and juice extracts featured elsewhere. Now they can add almonds to that list, teaming up with Almondco to help them celebrate their 75th year of operation. The roasted crushed almonds were added to a sweet porter alongside organic… Read more
Style
Almond Coffee Porter
ABV
5.0%

Tallboy & Moose Un Poco Loco, Thunder Hammer & Nitro Snot Block

Tapped August 20, 2020
You really start to notice how long this lockdown’s been going when you realise that, outside of housemates and your partner, the person you see most is a sales rep from a local brewery. It also shows just how often Tallboy & Moose have been releasing new cans over the last few months, with three arriving at one time this week. Those three beers don’t come with a particularly clear drinking order either, with any traditional notion of starting with the lightest and heading to the biggest… Read more
Style
Various Styles
ABV
6.5% & 8.0% & 6.0%

Pirate Life & Sneakers & Jeans Kakadu Plum & Lemon Myrtle

Tapped August 20, 2020
Kakadu Plum has been described as Australia’s native superfood, with many unique properties, among them the highest vitamin content of any fruit and five times the antioxidant properties of blueberries. Whether these contribute any health benefits in this lemon myrtle-laden beer is unclear, however even if there's the of slightest chances, that's good enough reason to sample a can or two. In addition to the Australian adjuncts, a trio of NZ hops – Taiheke, Riwaka and Motueka – feature, although… Read more
Style
Spiced Australian Pale Ale
ABV
4.6%

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Tequila Queen

Tapped August 19, 2020
The Queen is back. Not the Kween, mind you, rather a new Queen as Stone & Wood's Counter Culture series returns, sorta, to where it began: with a twisted playing card queen wrapped around a beer inspired by a non-beer. Whereas Killer Kween's imperial raspberry Berliner Weisse was reminiscent of a rosé, Tequila Queen is, as you might guess, their malt, water, hops and yeast (and Arette Tequila, lime juice, Cointreau, salt and American oak) take on a margarita. And, while the titular queen sports… Read more
Style
Oak-Aged Margarita Sour
ABV
7.0%
Bitterness
9 to 12 IBU
Stockists

Find your Queen here

Pirate Life Zappa IPA

Tapped August 19, 2020
Pirate Life have a good track record when it comes to singling out new hops for single hop IPA treatment, most notably when they took Mosaic – not exactly shiny and new on these shores at the time but far from its current ubiquity – and turned it into a trophy-gathering, palate-delighting monster. They've also been among the most high profile mothers of invention within the Aussie beer scene since launching a little over five years ago, a habit that, if anything, has only become more far-reaching… Read more
Style
Single Hop IPA
ABV
7.0%

The Crafty Pint is an independent online magazine and resource for anyone interested in craft beer in Australia. We bring an honest, old-fashioned journalistic approach to beer's brave new world, telling stories because they're worth telling not because someone is paying us to write them.

Like many of the people who have changed the face of beer in Australia, we believe in authenticity, integrity, enjoyment and love. We hope to play a role in helping good beer, brewed by good people, find its way into the hands of more drinkers.

The Crafty Pint – Putting Class In Your Glass Since 2010

Get the Crafty App

INDUSTRY JOBS

Bring The High Country To Melbourne

Bright Brewery and Alpine Cider call Victoria's High Country home and now that life is slowly returning…

Black Hops Are Hiring A Gun Brisbane Sales Rep

Black Hops have been growing fast and recently announced they're launching a new brewery home in…

Mismatch Brewing Are Hiring A Brewer & Cellar Person

Mismatch Brewing are based in Lot 100, a former cattle pasture in the Adelaide Hills now the elegant home…

STAY IN TOUCH!



Hit enter to search or ESC to close