Our suppliers have certainly hit the ground running in 2011 and we are reaping the rewards with literally dozens of incredible new beers hitting the shelves every week. We’ll need more than one newsletter to cover everything, but in short we’ve received:
- Fresh stock of the entire Brewdog range, including extremely limited stock of Abstrakt 3.0 and 4.0
- Fresh stock of some amazing New Zealand beer including Epic, 8 Wired, Croucher, Emersons, Renaissance and Tuatara
- New beers from 8 Wired and Invercargill Brewing Co
- Portamarillo – a collaboration brew between Epic and America’s famous Dogfish Head Brewery
- Three fantastic new beers from New Zealand’s Yeastie Boys (see below for all new NZ and Brewdog beers)
- Lasko Club - a range of new Slovenian beers
- An alcohol free beer from Budvar Budejovicky
- Two brand new beers brewed by Fullers
- And a huge selection of fantastic Australian craft beer including
o Hargreaves Hill Pale Ale
o Hargreaves Hill ESB
o Mountain Goat Rare Breed Double Hightail Ale
o Little Creatures East Kent Goldings Ale Single Batch
o Kooinda Pale Ale
o Grand Ridge Supershine
o Boatrocker Alpha Queen
As well as new arrivals from Southern Tier, Mikkeller and Gwynt y dDraig.
We are also very pleased to announce the arrival of thirteen new beers from Denmark’s Amager Bryghus. It’s very, very exciting to have these fantastic Scandinavian beers on our shelves right next to Nogne O, Norrebro and Mikkeller! This is the first time that these beers have been available in Australia, and unfortunately quantities are very limited. Some lines are bound to sell out soon, so it is definitely a good idea to check out our Amager range online, or stop by the store soon if you don’t want to miss out. More on these next week!
NEW NEW ZEALAND ARRIVALS
Australian and New Zealand Craft Beer is sitting in a very happy place. New Zealand is brewing some of the best beer in the world. The quality and consistency of New Zealand craft beer is incredible, and we are very lucky to have occasional access to breweries such as Invercargill, Epic, 8 Wired, Emersons, Tuatara, Yeastie Boys and Renaissance. This stock is coming over in superb condition and should be enjoyed as fresh as possible (as in now!).
We have just received a small amount from each of the aforementioned breweries, including one or two brand new beers to the IBS. To understand why we’re so excited, check out our list of the best NZ and Australian beers released by ratebeer.com a week ago, then check out our list of new arrivals below: http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/table_2011.asp?title=Best+Beers+of+Australia+and+New+Zealand+2011&file=australia_beer_2011.csv
Big congratulations to all the breweries mentioned by ratebeer, in particular 8 Wired who we feel thoroughly deserves every accolade coming their way!
New New Zealand arrivals include:
- 8 Wired HopWired IPA – rated the best Australian / NZ beer by ratebeer 2011, due next week
- 8 Wired ReWired Brown Ale
- 8 Wired Big Smoke Porter
- Emerson’s Pilsner
- Emerson’s IPA
- Emerson’s Bookbinder Bitter
- Emerson’s London Porter
- Epic Pale Ale
- Epic Lager
- Epic Armageddon (ratebeer’s 2nd best Australian / NZ beer 2011)
- Epic Mayhem
- Tuatara APA Limited Edition
- Tuatara Ardennes
- Croucher Pilsner
- Croucher Pale Ale
Not to mention the following brand new NZ beers:
Epic / Dogfish Head Portamarillo
We love collaboration beers! This brew is a combination of all the brewing experience of Epic (NZ) with the might of the US brewing heavyweight Dogfish Head. What they created is fantastic - an Imperial Porter-ish ale fermented with Brazilian Rapadura sugar and a host of unique New Zealand ingredients. New Zealand tamarillos (sweet, fruity tree tomatoes) were smoked over Pohutakawa wood before being added to the boil. The smoked tamarillos lend an ethereal fruity, roasty depth to the one-off beer.
8 Wired Tall Poppy India Red Ale
Like the fantastic 8 Wired Hopwired IPA – which by the way we (like ratebeer) truly believe that everyone should try at least once – Tall Poppy is a heavily hopped US inspired ale. A greater proportion of specialty malts complements the intense, sharp and fruity hoppiness with a complex caramel malt structure. Bold and balanced, this is a stunning beer.
Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black
Cascadian Dark Ale (Black IPA) is a relatively recent revelation - a beer hopped like an IPA but brewed with a proportion of dark, roasted malt to give the colour and some of the flavour of a porter. Yeastie Boy’s further twist this emerging style by using even more ‘dark beer’ malts than is usual, giving luscious chocolate and coffee flavours. They also use New Zealand grown hops which add sauvignon blanc fruitiness to the beer. Sounds interesting? It is, and it comes together so well that PKB won champion porter and champion stout at the 2009 BrewNZ awards (the only beer to ever win two trophys), and was awarded the inaugural People’s Choice champion at the NZ Brewer’s Guild “Beervana” festival.
Yeastie Boys PKB Remix 2010
Since winning two trophies in 2009, Yeastie Boys celebrate Pot Kettle Black by ‘remixing and remastering’ a single batch of PKB each year. PKB Remix 2010 is a ‘US Mix’ – a touch stronger than its usual ABV, and brewed with several generous doses of US Cascade hops at the Invercargill Brewery. An intensely floral and hoppy beer, and one to try while you have the chance.
Yeastie Boys His Majesty
Another Yeastie Boys vintage release, this year’s model uses a base of English malt to provide a deep red hue, and rich biscuity base. A hefty combination of UK and US hops gives firm bitterness, and intense flavour to this ‘English Strong Ale’. A wonderful craft beer.
Invercargill Boysenbeery
A kind of hybrid Belgium-style kriek and Belgium wit, but with a NZ twist. A tart and refreshing witbier base is brewed with 15% by volume of boysenberries, lending full flavour and strong colour. It’s all berry upfront, with hints of spice and orange from the Belgian yeast, before a refreshingly tart finish.
BREWDOG
Brewdog certainly has no shortage of attitude. Their extroverted and subversive marketing has raised a few eyebrows over the past few years, as has their groundbreaking and excessive brews. This no holds barred attitude could so easily have been all smoke and mirrors, but there is absolutely no bluffing about anything Brewdog does. Their beers not only match the talk but often even exceed expectations as well. Check out this hilarious video to see what we mean: http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/341
Brewdog’s latest project is the Abstrakt brand – a series of small batch beers only brewed and released once. Not brewed to any existing beer style, the Abstrakt beers are all boundary pushing and wholly individual brews, coming bottle numbered and known only by their release code. We have just received a limited quantity of Abstrakt 3.0 and 4.0.
Abstrakt 3.0 is a 10.5% ABV Imperial Fruit Beer aged for over 2 years in whisky casks with raspberries and strawberries.
4.0 is a 15% ABV Imperial Stout brewed with generous additions of coffee, cacao, naga chillies (the hottest in the world) and champagne yeast.
That said, it isn’t just extreme beers. Brewdog complement these limited releases with a core range of sessionable yet interesting modern beers. We’ve just received fresh stock of the entire range, which includes:
- 77 Lager (New World Pilsner)
- Trashy Blonde (American Pale Ale)
- Punk IPA (US IPA)
- 5AM Saint (American Amber Ale)
- Hardcore IPA (Imperial IPA)
As well as limited amounts of the seasonal releases:
- Dogma – a strong ale, brewed with guarana, Californian poppy, kola nut and Scottish heather honey
- Paradox Smokehead Imperial Stout – Imperial stout aged in barrels from the Smokehead Distillery, giving a not-so-subtle mix of atlantic smoke, peat and oak adding to the rich, roasted, toffee fullness of the Imperial Stout
More information on all of these beers is up on our website.
