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!
Modus Operandi Neon Nectar Hazy IPA
Tapped August 5, 2021
Modus Operandi 's August 2021 seasonal is a bit of a retro release for the brewery, with it being some time since they released a big hoppy beer in the big silver cans. There’s a certain irony to Modus calling this beer ‘Neon’ too, considering how light-blockingly hazy it is; seriously, you could wallpaper a room with the stuff. Don’t get me wrong - the oat-and-wheat-induced cloudiness doesn’t stop it from being bright orange but if you’re going to photograph it, make sure you hit it… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.5%
Ballistic Beer Sleep When You’re Dead: Juicy Double IPA
Tapped August 5, 2021
How would you describe a cat to someone who had never seen one, but had only seen dogs? Think about it for a moment. If you’re anything like me, you’d basically just compare them to dogs and point out the differences. And then if you asked them to draw one, they’d draw a picture of a very catty dog. Using this ridiculous scenario as a point of reference, hear me out: this beer is like a West Coast IPA made by someone who’d only ever had hazies, but had had West Coast IPAs described to them. “They’re… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IIPA
- ABV
- 8.0%
Moon Dog Jumping The Shark 2021
Tapped August 4, 2021
Moon Dog’s Jumping The Shark has taken us to many places over the years. For those unaware, the beer is the Melbourne brewery's exploration of beer at its most extreme edges and started out life in 2013 as an imperial stout with truffles, later included saffron, has been a concentrated IPA, and has spent time with many different spirit barrels too. The 2021 iteration, however, takes a journey to fermentation’s earliest days due to a period spent in an amphora: ancient ceramic storage and fermentation… Read more
Black
- Style
- Cherry, Chocolate & Coconut Rum Barrel Aged & Amphora Conditioned Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 12.6%
Brick Lane Sidewinder: Hazy Pale
Tapped August 4, 2021
Brick Lane have been brewing alcohol-free beers for a range of contract partners for some time, so when you look at the Melbourne brewery’s lineup, it seems there’s an ultra low ABV-shaped hole in their core range. That hole was filled midway through 2021, however, with the launch of the brewer’s Sidewinder series, named after the boats from the 1970s and featuring a can that takes you there too. Breaking a little from the norm, the first in the series isn't below 0.5 percent ABV but instead… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Ultra Low Alc
- ABV
- 1.1%
O'Brien Beer XPA
Tapped August 4, 2021
O’Brien Beer’s XPA was added to the brewery’s core range in 2021 and it’s one that sits in a unique position for the style. For one, like all of the brewery’s beers, it’s gluten-free, using millet and sorghum over the likes of wheat and barley. But also making it an XPA outlier is the fact at a rather modest 3.8 percent ABV, it's quite a bit lighter than many in the category. Where it’s still very much an XPA though, is with the hops leading out in front, with Citra and Cascade providing… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- XPA
- ABV
- 3.8%
Cheeky Monkey Silverback 2021
Tapped August 4, 2021
Cheeky Monkey’s famed Russian imperial stout has made a big return in 2021, both metaphorically and physically, landing in OG spec 750ml bombers to much fanfare. The South West brewers clearly decided bigger is better and that Silverback was worthy of a more prodigal aesthetic moving forward, with the new look capped off (pun intended) with crisp, white wax seals. The AIBA gold medal-winning 2021 vintage has received some adjustments within the bottle too, with minor brewhouse tweaks to the grist… Read more
Black
- Style
- Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 12.0%
Pikes Beer Co Whiskey Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout & Choc Hazelnut Porter
Tapped August 3, 2021
Pikes have crossed the beams of their beer and wine operations before, but this time things are a little different. In creating their second Whiskey Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, ex-shiraz barrels were sent to Starward in Melbourne to create whisky, before being sent back to the Clare Valley and filled with a Russian imperial stout. Now transferred to cans and, ultimately, the glasses of beer drinkers, it's a take on the style that showcases subtle barrel and liquor qualities, working in harmony with… Read more
Black
- Style
- Whisky Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout & Choc Hazelnut Porter
- ABV
- 10.0% & 6.5%
Brick Lane Avalanche Hazy IPA - Winter 2021
Tapped August 2, 2021
Brick Lane’s hazy exploration of hops continues in winter 2021, with the brewery looking across The Ditch for their latest Avalanche. The series first launched midway through 2020, followed by an IPA containing freshly-landed hops from the Northern Hemisphere, and now it’s New Zealand's Motueka, Wai-iti, Riwaka – plus some Strata from the US – who have a chance to shine. The hops see a mix of tropical flavours coming to the fore, with melon largely leading the charge followed by lime, green… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.7%
Mountain Goat Hog's Head
Tapped July 30, 2021
A hogshead is the name of a kind of large barrel, but when it comes to this Mountain Goat Rare Breed, the barrel is only part of the story. Sure, it's important this beer was aged in a rum barrel and the oak makes it tender and gentle even as the rum adds a spiritous sweetness and warmth. But the element that caught my attention first when seeing the can was the smoked cherries. I’ve had cherries fresh, baked in a pie, preserved in sugar, soaked in brandy… but never smoked. The dark cherries… Read more
Black
- Style
- Barrel-aged Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 11.5%
- Bitterness
- 22 IBU
Ballistic Beer Reef Pale & Reef Lager
Tapped July 30, 2021
You can’t spell REFRESHING without R-E-E-F. (And R-I-N-S-H, I suppose). Since expanding up north earlier this year, Ballistic haven’t wasted any time getting in and helping out - they’ve recently released Reef Pale and Reef Lager to support conservation and restoration efforts along the Great Barrier Reef. For every can of Reef Pale and Reef Lager sold at Ballistic Whitsundays, Ballistic is donating 10c to Eco Barge Clean Seas, who will use the funds to feed and medicate sick and injured turtles… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Pale Ale & Lager
- ABV
- Both 4.2%
Moon Dog In The Crumble: Blackberry Edition
Tapped July 30, 2021
Moon Dog have long drawn inspiration for their beers from things that aren't very close to beer at all, so it shouldn't be surprising that when they release dessert-inspired drop they tend to be fairly faithful recreations. As well as being wonderfully named, their In The Crumble, The Might Crumble series has always been impressively close to drinking an apple crumble and, in the case of the Berry Edition of 2020, apple crumble with blackberry and raspberry. For 2021, the last of those has been dropped… Read more
Red
- Style
- Dessert Sour
- ABV
- 5.8%
Bright Brewery Mixed Berry Sweetart Sour
Tapped July 29, 2021
Bright Brewery may be back open but when you're venue is as popular as the High Country brewpub is, leaving lockdowns causes some issues. Reduced capacity limits means bookings can disappear fast and while drinking at that brewpub is one of life's great joys, fortunately, you don't need to visit it to enjoy a taste of Bright. With Victoria's latest lockdown causing the brewery to postpone their Darker Days festival, the team quickly launched not one but two beer boxes featuring those producers impacted… Read more
Red
- Style
- Sour Ale
- ABV
- 4.3%
Morrison Brewery Smoked Chilli Black IPA
Tapped July 29, 2021
Writing from a purely personal position, Smoked Chilli Black IPA is certainly a fortunate release from Morrison Brewery. Having spent a lot of 2020 getting really into growing chillies and making hot sauce, one of the many varieties I bought and planted from seed was the Moruga Scorpion, but sadly the hot sauce I’d planned never came to be. It wasn't for lack of trying either as those seeds never sprouted, despite trialling many means of planting them, which makes me doubt they ever had much life… Read more
Black
- Style
- Black IPA
- ABV
- 6%
Eagle Bay Brandy Barrel Aged Belgian Strong Ale & Burnt Caramel Barley Wine
Tapped July 29, 2021
It’s a throwdown of epic proportions for Eagle Bay Brewing Co amid a particularly wet and wild winter in 2021 for WA’s South West. A burnt caramel barley wine as well as a brandy barrel-aged Belgian strong ale make up a decadent duo the coastal brewers envision warming many a cockle through the colder, darker months of the year. The Brandy Barrel-Aged Belgian Strong Ale was brewed in collaboration with Blind Corner; the stalwart Margaret River winemakers provided the ex-chardonnay barrel which… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Belgian Strong Ale & Barlewine
- ABV
- 6.8% & 11.7%
BentSpoke Brewing Co Budding Cells: Flemm
Tapped July 28, 2021
Joining BentSpoke’s well-loved core range, limited release Drifters, and the boundary-pushing Bending Spoke releases is a new series – and an old beer. Budding Cells looks to pay tribute to barrel-aged and mixed culture beers by giving them a chance to shine under their own banner. It’s a fitting name and series too, given the Canberra brewery has a history with utilising barrels that goes back further than most indie breweries have been in existence. The Flanders red ale named Flemm, for instance,… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- Flanders Red Ale
- ABV
- 5.0%
- Stockists
-
Take a look at the BentSpoke beer finder.
Hawkers Beer Hazy IPA
Tapped July 28, 2021
If there’s any doubt there’s some love for the Hawkers brand in the beer market, the addition of this new member to their core range should dispel it. Hazy IPA was released on the afternoon on July 26, 2021, and, less than 24 hours later, it was gone from the brewery’s webstore. Considering nobody had drunk the beer when it launched, it’s not a bad sign for the brewery’s reputation for consistency either and, fortunately, at the time of writing, it was still available from a wide range… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Hazy IPA
- ABV
- 6.2%
- Stockists
-
A number of retailers are offering a bonus tin of Hawkers' Hazy Pale with the purchase of packs of Hazy IPA. Participating retailers are here.
Helios Brewing Kronos 2021
Tapped July 27, 2021
Once again, Kronos proves himself worthy of the title king of the Titans - a godkiller of a brew that somehow takes an intense pantheon of flavours and beats them into submission for his own glory. After 2018’s big breakfast stout, 2019’s Belgian strong dark ale and 2020’s imperial nitro coffee stout, 2021’s Kronos is an imperial American porter that takes huge hop presence in one hand and malty brute strength in the other. If you received this beer while you were blindfolded, the first sniff… Read more
Black
- Style
- Imperial American Porter
- ABV
- 9.5%
- Bitterness
- 60 IBU
Feral Brewing Runt (2021)
Tapped July 27, 2021
Although it appears here in a shiny new can, Runt’s history stretches back a decade when it first appeared as a 4.7 percent ABV riff on Feral's then brewery flagship, Hop Hog. Despite collecting some accolades along the way, it’s since been in and out of the Swan Valley brewery's lineup, often appearing as a draught-only offering, a legacy which, perhaps unintentionally, aptly reflects its name. Well, that’s about to change because in mid-2021 Feral welcomed Runt to their core litter, now as… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Mid-Strength Pale Ale
- ABV
- 3.5%
Wayward Brewing Wayward Son Lupulin IPA 2021
Tapped July 26, 2021
It’s now four years since head brewer Shaun Blissett’s son Austin was born and little AB is now a walking talking human person. Similarly, while the 2021 has seen the stork has bring back the beer first brewed to mark Austin's birth back, Wayward Son isn’t the same beer it was four years ago. While Wayward still refer to this beer as a West Coast, it drinks like a hybrid between west and east. The first sniff hits you like a freshly cracked mandarin, which is no doubt thanks to the addition… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Lupulin IPA
- ABV
- 7.3% ABV
Fury & Son Padre Coffee Brown Ale & Shiraz Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
Tapped July 26, 2021
The continued cold of Victoria’s winter is being met by two warming releases from Fury & Son Brewing. Padre Coffee Brown Ale is a collaboration with the Melbourne coffee roasters, who provided single origin Ethiopian Chechele beans to the brewers. Those beans in turn provide substantial fruited notes too, with cherry and redcurrant leading the charge and joined by notes of burnt sugar and a touch of caramel in a dark brown ale with a biting bitter finish. From dark to darker, Shiraz Barrel… Read more
Black
- Style
- Coffee Brown Ale & Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 5.8% & 10.1%
