Case in point: this new beer from Nowra’s HopDog BeerWorks which brewer Tim Thomas made for the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular.

That’s where a load of brewers make a beer they’ve never made before and tap it at the festival.

What did Tim make? A graff. What’s a graff? Well, two months ago I was asking the same question. I’d been into this craft beer thing pretty heavily for the last few years and figured I knew every beer style under the sun.

Nope.

Never heard of graff. Not even once.

So what it is? It’s a combination of beer and cider. It uses the process of making beer but uses cider instead instead of boiled water.

The result isn’t really a beer. Or a cider. Instead it tastes like its own beast.

HopDog’s is a 7.6 per cent beer called Electrostatic Graff and, believe me, it tastes way less alcoholic than that.

The graff is soured in the kettle (which means lactobacillus bacteria is added to the wort and apple juice before it is boiled) and then fermented with those Belgian yeasts Tim Thomas loves so much.

Then it’s dryhopped with  US and New Zealand hops.

While it does have cider present, you can forget about it tasting anything like those uber-sweet kiddie ciders that are all the rage.

The graff carries a sharp tang from the apples across the top and back end of the palate. There’s also a decent hit of sourness there too.

For mine, there’s a bit of saison action here and even maybe a few wine-like flavour reminders.

If you’re looking for a bottle, I picked up mine from Crown West Cellars in Wollongong. Or you could buy it from the source at HopDog’s Nowra brewery.

Glen Humphries is the 2016 AIBA Australian Beer Writer of the Year.