Top 10 Australian Made Craft Beers For Summer 2021
‘Tis the season to get hoppy!
With the weather heating up, it’s time to crack open a cold one and surround yourself with your mates. And while you could stick to the classic ale or lager, we recommend spicing up your afternoon tipple with a craft beer. You’ve got taste buds to swoon!
Below you’ll find a collection of our 10 favourite Australian made craft beer brews for summer 2021 ‒ from the fruity to the marvellously malty. We’ve even snuck in an alcohol-free pale ale!
Image via Beer Cartel
Willie the Boatman Crazy Ivan IPA
India pale ales are a stark balance of fruit and bitter hops, perfect for sipping in the humid climates of India where this brew was initially exported to. Now it’s made for the hot summers of Australia, just like Willie The Boatman’s newest drop, The Crazy Ivan IPA, named after inner Sydney’s historical Tempe resident, Ivan Smith. It’s Scottishly malty, plenty of hoppy and just a little bit crazy.
Image via Liquorland
Smithy's Easy Drinking Beer
Smithy’s Easy Drinking Beer is inspired by one of the pioneers of footy, Thomas Henry Smith, who drafted the first Rules of Australian Football. As the name suggests, this Victoria made ale is easy to drink thanks to the clean, crisp, refreshing taste that is brewed using local ingredients. Smithy’s pairs well with a variety of dining options, from BBQs to tacos. Summer sorted.
Image via Beer Cartel
Kaiju Krush! Tropical Pale Ale
When you need a fruit explosion, the Kaiju Krush! Tropical Pale Ale will easily deliver it. It exudes a bright malt profile balanced with juicy, citrusy aromas and flavours that are quintessential for those ridiculously warm summer days. Unashamedly intense, this Tropical Pale Ale is for those daring enough to offer their tastebuds something weird and wonderful.
Image via Beer Cartel
Batch Brewing Company West Coast IPA
Sydney’s Inner West is teeming with class-A breweries, just like Batch Brewing Company who have solidified themselves as a popular local brand. And if there’s one brew that helped establish their business, it would have to be the West Coast IPA, which has become a permanent fixture on their menu. It’s shiny on the eyes and dry on the palate, with strong hints of pineapple and other tropical notes. Essentially we’d call it a real thirst-quencher!
Image via Dan Murphy's
Balter Hazy IPA
Hazy is the newest craze in beer and is, in essence, an over-hopped IPA to bring forward more of those juicy characteristics and soften the bitterness ‒ just like the fruit-centric Balter Hazy IPA. With its cloudy appearance, this brew offers quaffable sweetness, perfect for those supple summer afternoons by the poolside.
Image via Dan Murphy's
Zytho Brewing Tropical Haze
Sticking with the haze craze, Zytho Brewing’s Tropical Haze is just what it sounds like: a punchy craft beer that’s best sipped alongside crashing waves and waving palms. It features citra, amarillo and mosaic hops by the bucketload to create a fruity, juicy mouthful of tropical sunshine. Another citrus bomb to drive your summer vibes.
Image via Young Henrys
Young Henrys From Where You'd Guava Be
Sydney’s favourite craft brewery, Young Henrys, have released a brewers B-side concoction, From Where You’d Guava Be. The limited-edition brew is a session passionfruit and guava sour, striking the perfect balance between the punch and tartness of tropical fruits alongside the sweetness of premium German pilsner and wheat malts. It is currently available in venues, bottleos, their online store and the Newtown Tasting Bar.
Image via Dan Murphy's
Pirate Life Açaí & Passionfruit Sour
Sour beers ‒ as the name implies ‒ are tart in flavour as a result of a brewing method in which wild yeast strains are added to the brew. The Pirate Life Açaí & Passionfruit Sour embodies just this with their amazing, super refreshing, mid-strength brew. Expect dripping flavours of passion pulp, raspberry sherbet and finally a tangy lemon to sharpen.
Image via Dan Murphy's
Hughie Pale Lager
Brewed in Goulburn, southern New South Wales by award-winning Tribe Breweries, Hughie Pale Lager is a light, refreshing lager made from 100 percent Australian-grown hops and malt and, to no surprise, makes a great, easy-drinking, thirst-quencher at the end of a long hot day. What’s better is that $2.00 from every case is donated to the charity GIVIT to help bring much-needed funds and equipment for those living in drought-affected communities.
Image supplied.
Mornington Free Pale Ale
Mornington Peninsula Brewery’s (MPB) Free Pale Ale is the first alcohol-free pale ale to hit Australia, perfect for this growing trend that allows designated drivers a taste of tippling without the negative effects. It is brewed using a unique recipe and fermented with a special yeast, where instead of producing regular alcohol it produces esters, which are extremely important in giving beer its distinctive taste and texture. Due to the hops distinct profile of citrus and passionfruit in Mornington Free, these bold flavours stand out and help minimise the taste (or lack thereof) of the alcohol.
Looking to appease your tastebuds? Why not visit one of Sydney’s and Adelaide’s top 10 places to drink craft beer? And forget 99 bottles of beer on the wall – Craft Cartel has released one of Australia’s biggest cases of beer this year…
