Cory’s Top 20 – #1 Last Rites Brewing

Rank: #1

Location: Cambridge, TAS (Hobart)

Favourite Beers: Puddlemaker Imperial Red, Dead Man’s Revenge Black IPA, Big Smelly Doona IPA

Previous Blog Appearances: Puddle Maker, Last Rites Brewing Co

And we’re finally here!  Nineteen fantastic breweries (plus honourable mentions) down, and just one to go.  So without further ado, my favourite brewery in all of Australia, from down in Tasmania, Cory’s Top 20 – #1 Last Rites Brewing.

I was lucky enough to stumble across my first Last Rites beer at my favourite craft beer bottle shop down in Berry, NSW.  It just so happened to be the magnificent Puddle Maker Imperial Red.  It’s like someone gave you a mouthful of caramel and then shoved your face into a vat of hops.  It’s full-on and brilliant and one of my top 5 beers I’ve ever had.  Unfortunately, it was also a limited release.  So here’s hoping for a revival someday.

But the point is, after Puddle Maker I was hooked.  I kept buying every Last Rites variety I could get my hands on (which was unfortunately not, the easiest exercise and they’re a bit difficult to track down in NSW).  I have yet to be disappointed with any one of them.  My favourites are (unsurprisingly to anyone who’s read this blog) the hoppy ones.  They’ve got an excellent range of BIG IPA’s, red IPA’s, hazy IPA’s, and just about any other variant you can think of.  But their darker beers like the Boozy Ditch Smoked Porter and Tell us the Time Tom Stout are just as good.

Last Rites is more of the ‘hole in the wall’ mold for breweries.  It’s in a small industrial estate out towards Hobart airport.  I was able to get down there a couple of years ago now to try it for myself.  And I’m very glad I did.  My disappointment at finding out the Puddle Maker was only a limited release was quickly balanced out by the variety and brilliance of what was on offer.

I know I’ve used phrases like ‘I’ve never had a bad beer from them’ or something like that when describing breweries before.  But with Last Rites, I can honestly say every beer of theirs I’ve had has been stellar.  Nothing where I was like ‘Eh, that’s ok’.  Just ‘Oh, that’s good!’ or better every time.

Make no mistake, Last Rites make massive, and sometimes unsubtle beers (which is not a negative in any sense as far as I’m concerned).  They might not be everyone’s cup of tea (schooner of beer?).  But they tick every single box for me.  I love the boldness of the flavours.  I love the unashamed hoppy blast that several of their beers feature.  And I love the riffing on the IPA theme over a dozen different takes on that particular beer genre alone.

My only knock on Last Rites is how hard it is to get their beer out of Tassie.  Even online craft beer specialists are often out of stock. My advice would be if you get down to Hobart, get to Last Rites.  And if you do happen to see their beer in a bottle shop, just buy whatever they have.  I know that’s what I do.