The all-Aussie Hazy DC returns for an exclusive Dan Murphy’s drop. 

People love an encore. That excitement of a greatest hit being pulled out of the vault. Our community has been whistling and clapping for a while to get another taste of one of our most popular special release beers, Hazy DC. 

We’ve held off, until now. 

Hazy DC is making a special return appearance at Dan Murphy’s stores across the country this week. It’s a chance for head brewer Scott Hargrave to salute all-Australian hops once more while returning to his first introduction to craft beer at home.

“Before I was even a brewer, I first got into craft beer through a Dan Murphy’s in Canberra,” says Scott. “That was my first exposure to beers made by people who I now consider friends and peers in the industry. It's one of those things that you don't think is possible at the start of the journey. So, to have our own beer going in there as an exclusive is pretty awesome. That’s one I'll tell mum about."

While American hops have dominated the craft beer market over the years, there has been a growing interest in Australian varieties, particularly from brewers and beer lovers from here. With this movement, there has sometimes been an expectation that Australian hops won’t always be as refined as other options.

However, this needn’t be the case.

“Aussie hops have these wonderful tropical flavours, but also have a wild streak with bittering and other characters that sometimes refuse to be tamed,” Scott explains. “The thing is, you can smooth out those edges a little by adapting malt profiles and bittering additions in the beer. That’s what we’ve done with Hazy DC. There’s still plenty of grunt and character. We’ve simply pushed the fruity notes to the front of the stage, so the behind-the-scenes stuff won’t offend your nanna. That’s probably been part of the reason why it was so popular the first time around."

The special re-release, delivered fresh from our cold-storage to 252 stores around the country, goes a little something like this:

Sometimes you’ve just gotta say cheers to homegrown talent. HAZY DC is born from an all-Aussie lineup of hops. Loveable larrikins Galaxy, Vic Secret and Enigma throw up the horns with mango and pineapple, all wrapped around smooth malt profiles and a riff of bitterness. For those about to slurp, we salute you.