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!
Nomad Brewing Budgy Smuggler Pale Ale
Tapped November 18th, 2019
This beer is beautiful inside and out - a series of eye-catching label designs on a deliciously drinkable beer. You might even say this beer’s got the whole package. [And you had the gall to accuse me of making dad jokes earlier - Editor] For context, this beer is the collaboration between Nomad and Budgy Smuggler Swimwear in Manly. Both are family-owned businesses; both began in the Northern Beaches and export to the rest of the world; both enjoy loud patterns and having a laugh. The beer itself… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Pale Ale
- ABV
- 5.0%
- Stockists
-
Join them for a launch at Manly Wine on Nov 23 – details here
Wolf Of The Willows XXXPA
Tapped November 17th, 2019
It's been a big few weeks for Scott and Renae from Wolf Of The Willows, what with securing their own brewery site that's set to open in 2020 and marking a half decade of beers. And they've celebrated the latter with a suitably big beer, one that takes their debut XPA and ratchets it up to double the size and throws in a triple dry-hop with Mosaic, Galaxy, Kahatu and Nelson Sauvin for good measure. Oh, and it's in big black cans too, complete with bold red lettering, the XXX perhaps intended as a… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Imperial XPA
- ABV
- 9.2%
Little Bang Brewing Schwangermelon
Tapped November 17th, 2019
The Little Bang crew have utilised loads of different fruit in their beers to date, largely across their sNEIPA and Schwang range. In the past, it's mainly been berries and citrus fruits but here it's watermelon’s chance to shine within the aptly named Schwangermelon kettle sour. The schwangermelon takes on a perfectly clear, extremely light-yellow appearance, gaining little in the way of colour from the fruit additions. Certainly, the watermelon is dominant in the aroma, but it also brings with… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Watermelon Sour
- ABV
- 3.0%
Little Bang Brewing Rabbit Hole #1: Gin/Shiraz Barrel Saison
Tapped November 17th, 2019
Rabbit Hole #1 begins a barrel-ageing adventure for the Little Bang crew, this time in conjunction with Adelaide spirit gurus Prohibition Liquor. Ever since their new venue was opened, a large display of barrels has graced the brewery, but with little communication as to what lay inside. A clever ploy, one might say, amping up the hype of their barrel-aged brand. Rabbit Hole #1 is the first release an experimental series that will never see a beer repeated. They started with a barrel that originally… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Saison
- ABV
- 4.4%
Blasta Brewing Rampant Raspberry
Tapped November 17th, 2019
What began as a beer for GABS 2019 has returned plumper than ever. It’s no secret Blasta’s owner Steve Russell has an affinity for fruited beer but this takes things to a new level. Four fruit additions were made throughout Rampant Raspberry’s creation and it shows. The gloriously hot pink beer leads with raspberry, masses of it, before being joined by passionfruit and suggestions of cranberry from the hibiscus addition. Although brightly acetic, there’s a whipped fruit smoothie creaminess… Read more
Red
- Style
- Fruited Kettle Sour Wild Ale
- ABV
- 4.7%
- Stockists
-
Available in limited release from the brewery and Blasta stockists nationally.
Rocks Brewing Short Session IPA
Tapped November 17th, 2019
Short Session started life as a small batch trial as a session IPA, bringing fruity punch but with a little less oomph than most IPAs. Butm as it started to win people over - not least the brewers - it got re-brewed on a larger volume, with an extra blast of hops, and a jump in ABV, bringing it from its original 4.6 to up to 5.8 percent. So, what can you expect from a session IPA that’s no longer a session IPA? It’s managed to keep its clean profile and approachability. Its flavours are citrus-forward,… Read more
Golden
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 5.8%
Seasonal Brewing Co Gourdgeous Gose
Tapped November 17th, 2019
To celebrate the 2019 Maylands Street Festival, the Seasonal team brewed a beer that was perfectly timed for weather in the mid-30s: a watermelon and cucumber gose. Having attended on the day, head brewer Brody Watts' prescience for this level of refreshment was both welcome and quite astonishing. Juice from both fruits was added to the lightly kettle soured base, which translates initially as something almost lolly-like in its vibrant expression before the acid and light spritz provides balance.… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Watermelon & Cucumber Gose
- ABV
- 4.2%
Wildflower St Henry 2019 – White Peach
Tapped November 15th, 2019
St Henry is to be the last of the Saint series of Wildflower fruited beers for 2019. In devastating news for the beer lovers who can only experience joy through vertical tastings, 2019 is unfortunately substantially different to 2018. For starters, it’s a completely different fruit. A hailstorm in late 2018 destroyed the apricots at the Thornbrook Orchard in Orange and partially damaged a good proportion of peaches. So, in keeping with the Wildflower ethos of sustainability, 400kg of otherwise… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Australian Wild Ale with Peaches
- ABV
- 5.6%
Bright Brewery M.I.A. IPA (2019 onwards)
Tapped November 15th, 2019
Way back in the Paleozoic era (well, something like 2012, anyway), the first release of M.I.A. was the moment that tipped us off that Jon Seltin was a brewer to watch. He'd not long been plucked from homebrewing and put straight into the head brewer role at Bright and this IPA – named after an incident that saw him crash land his paraglider and go missing in action the day before it was being launched – was a real statement of intent. The beer, brewer and brewery have all undergone change since… Read more
Golden
- Style
- West Coast IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Bitterness
- 50 IBU
Bright Brewery Spring Fling Tropical Pale
Tapped November 15th, 2019
Passionfruit is a potent little bugger, isn't it? And Bright's head brewer Reid Stratton has got his hands on some and isn't afraid to us it. Here, it's been added to a pale ale base beer, thus boosting its tropical fruit juice aromas. More than that, the fruit addition also gives the beer a really distinct tang; if you didn't know better, you'd swear you were drinking a fruited lacto sour. James Smith… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Pale Ale with Passionfruit
- ABV
- 4.7%
3 Ravens Wild Ravens Methode Ravens 2018 & Pastry Sour: Strawberry & Rhubarb
Tapped November 15th, 2019
The Wild Ravens series has been kicking around the Thornbury brewery for a few years now, but is back as the decade nears its denouement with a new look and a seemingly even broader palette with which the brewers can create. Methode Ravens is their "homage to the great lambic blenders of Belgium" – a blend of liquids with an average age of 22 months and, arguably, the purest expression of the Wild Ravens ethos. Built upon a base beer of a wild ale from 2017 that was the brewers' favourite… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Mixed Culture Beers
- ABV
- 6.0% / 7.1%
- Bitterness
- 16 IBU / 11 IBU
- Stockists
-
More stockists...
3 Ravens Brewery
The Vin
Section 8
Fredericks Bottleshop Richmond
Regent Cellars
Dexter
Ferdydurke
The Great Beyond
Plus a small amount of the pastry went to WA stockists
3 Ravens Nat Rav Series: Grampians Pinot Gris & Heathcote Muscat
Tapped November 15th, 2019
The brewers at 3 Ravens love pretty much all booze that's interesting, not to mention anything fermented. But they're particularly fond of natural wines and have been working on developing a line of beers of that ilk. After a lengthy gestation and a few small batch trials, the Nat Rav series made its official debut late in 2019, complete with bottles that aren't just decorated with violently appealing labels that would make them welcome additions to the funkier wine sections of a high end bottleshop… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Beer-Wine Hybrids
- ABV
- 7.0% / 7.8%
- Bitterness
- 12 IBU / 25 IBU
- Stockists
-
More stockists...
3 Ravens Brewery
The Vin
Fredericks Bottleshop Richmond
Green Mans Arms
BentSpoke Brewing Co How's It Gosen?
Tapped November 15th, 2019
For a brewery (and brewer) that's put out some of the most complex and, on occasion, confronting sour beers to grace Australia palates, BentSpoke's punsome How's It Gosen? is something of a surprise. It's a beer that's been a popular drop on tap at the Braddon brewpub for some time and here becomes their latest Drifter can release in time for summer 2019/20. And why is it a surprise? Well, mainly because it's so straight down the line, clean and easy-going (which, presumably, was the aim). The fruit… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Tropical Gose
- ABV
- 4.0%
- Stockists
-
Blackhearts & Sparrows Braddon
More stockists...BentSpoke Brewpub
And heaps more here
Blackman's Brewery Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time Hazy IPA
Tapped November 15th, 2019
They've released plenty of IPAs over the years, launching with Reg, souping him up to Angry Reg, popping out a sour NEIPA under their Barrel Farm offshoot, creating the delightful Superhop and more. But this is their first hazy IPA, one they tell us comes loaded with "copious amounts" of US hops Mosaic, Simcoe, El Dorado and newcomer Strata. It sits at the sweeter, stickier end of the burgeoning hazy world, with sweetness a trait we've noticed in a couple of the early adopters of Strata.… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 7.0%
Red Hill Temptation (new look)
Tapped November 15th, 2019
Temptation is one of those Red Hill beers that's been around so long it feels like it predates the entire Aussie craft beer scene. And not just because of its longevity. The fact it's such a classically-inspired Belgian style beer makes it stand apart, especially as they've resisted the (shit, I've done it...) temptation to play around with it and bastardise it for contemporary times (even if the 2019 release is 8.5 rather than the past 8 percent ABV). What's more, like the Imperial Stout, it's a… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Belgian Strong Golden Ale
- ABV
- 8.5%
- Bitterness
- 30 IBU
Red Hill A Crazy American Lost In Belgium
Tapped November 15th, 2019
Having just written, ooh, five minutes ago about how Red Hill had resisted playing around and bastardising their classically-inspired Belgian strong golden ale Temptation for contemporary times, we come to this: a bastardisation of a classically-inspired Belgian strong golden ale for contemporary times. How very meta... This Trump-coated beer was first released at GABS 2018 and combines the hopping rates of an American IPA with an estery Belgian golden ale base. It's back in cans for 2019 and delivers… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Belgian IPA
- ABV
- 7.5%
Otherside Brewing Co Creative Series: Feedback India Helles Lager
Tapped November 15th, 2019
Otherside’s final Creative Series release for the year swells with summer vibes, although the stunning artwork by Tapped By Otherside grant winner Liam Dee may well conjure thoughts of an endless, although verdant, dystopian version. His piece was chosen by a panel including Art Gallery of WA curators and now sees him with a residency at Freo.Social during the beer’s release, not to mention with some prize money in his pockets. Beer wise, the India Helles Lager joins a welcome trend of clean,… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Indie Pale Lager
- ABV
- 6.5%
- Stockists
-
Otherside Brewery
And Otherside stockists nationally
More stockists...
Nowhereman 3 Speed Session IPA & Maracujá Sour
Tapped November 15th, 2019
Mid-strength beers can be a tricky proposition. The challenge of achieving enough flavour and aroma while keeping the booze low and everything in balance is a fine art, something that deserves respect, especially if they line up as well as happens here with 3 Speed. It comes with three versions of Keanu Reeves characters riding a bike on the decal – we’ll let you work out who they all are but will say there’s also a nod to a fourth, dude. While joining those dots, the Cascade, Motueka and Idaho… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Session IPA / Fruit Gose
- ABV
- 3.5% / 4.5%
TWØBAYS Brewing Co Gose Against
Tapped November 15th, 2019
After receiving a positive reception when it appeared in the brewery's early days at the end of 2018, Gose Against returned to the TWØBAYS taps as summer 2019/20 approached. A gose featuring not just the salt and coriander of the Goslar originals but a dash of lime too, it's certainly a beer with warm weather drinking in mind. Very pale and relatively light on the palate, each of its non-traditional ingredients is clearly detectable, with the salt contributing to a refreshing finish in a beer you… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Lime & Coriander Gose
- ABV
- 4.6%
Sailors Grave Skull Rock Gose
Tapped November 14th, 2019
Sailors Grave launched with a gose as part of their initial lineup, back when the beer style was still starting to gain traction in Australia, and have returned to it many times since. Here, with Skull Rock, they do so again, albeit in a manner that's rather different to those that have gone before. Sure, they've used the beer as an opportunity to showcase East Gippsland's bounty, with locally grown Alestar malt joined by indigenous Karkalla (AKA pigface) and Mentha australis (AKA native river mint).… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Gose
- ABV
- 4.5%
