Beer Radar
By John Krüger
Big brown Creatures and little White Rabbits
(First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2010)
When a large cardboard box arrived at the Beer Radar office recently we were all in a tizzy. Especially when we realised it was from Little Creatures and White Rabbit. It’s not every day that we get a few beers in the post from Australia’s brewing rock stars. They’re not the kind of breweries that knock out a new beer every week, so we guess that these beers will be well thought out and executed.
First up, a big brown bottle of limited release Brown Ale from Little Creatures. It’ll be a solid, yet hoppy beer, we know that before we’ve chilled and opened it. What we got was power, balance and restraint. Powerful aromas in an American style but not in an ‘old-ladies’ perfume’ kind of powerful. There’s a solid blend of malts including a hint of spicy rye. Rye is rarely seen in Australian brewed beers and it adds a unique nutty spice and a little oilyness that suits darker beers. Each malt in the Little Creatures brown ale stands out instead of a forming a mish-mash of flavours and we’re guessing this beer has been through as much refining as a race-car does before it’s been released because it’s spot on. Kegs and open fires please.
White Rabbit had sent us a little potion sized bottle of their White Ale. We’d also tried it recently on tap at our local and while the draught version seemed a little light-on for us, the bottled version, maybe because of the small amount of yeast in each bottle, seems to have a lot more oomph for what’s still a pretty light kind of beer. There’s a hint of spice, the classic orange peel and coriander but again, very restrained. Belgian Wit is a fantastic style and so well suited to our hot summers, here’s hoping some venues cotton on to a little White Rabbit this coming summer.
*Mentioned beers were supplied by the breweries
