Collection: BEER

Sippify stocks South Australian craft beer from Vale Brewing and Fox Hat Brewing. Vale covers the easy-drinking core — Vale Ale (4.5%), Crisp Lager (4.2%), Tropic Ale (4.2%), IPA (5.5%) and the mid-strength Mid Coast (3.5%). Fox Hat goes bigger and bolder with Metric IPA (7%), Red Pelt (7.8%), Phat Mongrel nitro stout (6.5%) and Full Mongrel imperial stout (10%).

Vale Ale has the strongest claim historically — it was an early winner of the annual Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers poll and helped establish McLaren Vale as a craft brewing destination. It's malty and toasty with citrus zest and a satisfying, lingering bitterness. For bigger flavour, Fox Hat Metric IPA and the Mongrel stouts are the picks.

The difference starts with yeast and temperature. Lagers ferment cool with bottom-fermenting yeast, giving a clean, crisp, refreshing result — Vale Crisp Lager is the example. Ales ferment warmer with top-fermenting yeast, producing more fruit and complexity, as in Vale Ale. An IPA is an ale brewed with substantially more hops for higher bitterness and stronger aroma, like Vale IPA at 5.5% or Fox Hat Metric at 7%.

A 375ml can of full-strength beer at 4.5% contains approximately 1.3 Australian standard drinks. A mid-strength like Vale Mid Coast at 3.5% is around 1.0 — which is exactly the point of the style. The stronger craft beers carry considerably more: Fox Hat Full Mongrel at 10% is around 3.0 standard drinks per can. An Australian standard drink contains 10g of pure alcohol.

No — beer is brewed with malted barley or wheat and contains gluten. Sippify does not currently stock a gluten-free beer, but the site has a wide range of naturally gluten-free alternatives, including most spirits and several RTDs that carry a gluten-free callout on their product page.