Little Creatures Brewery On Landline

[Kai]

Landline did a piece on the Little Creatures Brewery on the ABC today. It was only a short piece, but touched on the craftbrewing industry, LCPA winning beer of the year in some BBC lifestyle magazine last year, and on Australia's malting and hops industry.

I had a bit of a chuckle when the LC brewer diplomatically answered the question about why they don't use Australian hops.

There was some serious brewer's porn at the start of the piece, those of you who caught it will know what I mean.

Anyway, for those that didn't catch it, the transcript should be up at http://www.abc.net.au/landline sometime in the next few days.

 

[Hoops]

Yeah was funny watching him politically say POR would be shite for LCPA :lol:

 

[homebrewworld.com]

Interesting to hear that W.A is leading the way with the number of Micro Brewerys popping up too.
I thought to myself, re the Cascade Hops, they must feel that it is an integral part of their beer to go to the expense and trouble(quaranteen) and availability, to use import hops. Sure POR wont do the trick, but you think they would keep open minds and try use something locally available.?
So......is it part of marketing this beer ' Imported Hops'....?.hmm
Or is it brewers keeping control over their product and insisting on imported to get the profile and quality they want ?

 

[Kai]

Maybe Cascade simply isn't grown here in the quantities they require.

Other thing I would have liked would have been if they placed more emphasis on
naming hop varieties. People are used to different grape varieties, we should be trying to do the same for our hops.

 

[keng11]

Yeh it was an interesting segment particularly refering to the number of micro breweries in WA & another 9 to open later this year.

 

[Wortgames]

I love LCPA, but the quality is probably wasted on a lot of drinkers. I doubt they would get much market advantage by using imported hops - the truth is that Aussie and NZ hops just aren't up to scratch. I don't know enough about the industry to say why, but I suspect that the lion's share (or should that be the lion nathan's share?) of hop customers are processors who care more about AA than anything else.

As for Aussie hops - well I hate paying 'premium' prices for beer that is brewed locally using Aussie hop pellets. Sorry JS but when, for about the same price, I can buy the genuine article that was brewed in Europe with the finest whole hops and authentic malt and that has been transported half way round the world, something is very wrong IMO.

 

[homebrewworld.com]

Wortgames.....
You say 'quality wasted on a lot of drinkers' ??........ as Pauline would say 'please explain'.........
I thought it would be quality that would turn your Lion Nathonites into beer appreciators of quality products, in-turn creating a fresh market of drinkers.......
Like you, i appreciate the quality of LCPA but cant say i love it.
A tonne of Cascade in the finish doesnt balance in my book. I tend to agree that imports at the same price are cutting to the chase.
cheers

 

[Wortgames]

hbw - if only you were right! Mr Average VB Drinker wouldn't even recognise quality, let alone be impressed by it. If you put a gold label on it and call it 'premium' in fancy script you might stand a better chance...

The beer drinking public is becoming more enlightened, but it's happening slowly. At the moment it's just all about being seen to be more discerning - people are buying lots of boutique beers but I suspect that many of them can't really tell the difference between them - and in fact, what a lot of them are looking for is beer that tastes the same as it's always done but has a better image. Crown Lager is a prime example.

The point I was making was that the sheer expense involved in producing a beer like that would be unlikely to convert favourably into sales - from a purely business standpoint it would probably be a better move to spend the money on marketing and buy cheaper ingredients (sound like any breweries we know?)

 

[Gerard_M]

"the truth is that Aussie and NZ hops just aren't up to scratch. I don't know enough about the industry to say why, but I suspect that the lion's share (or should that be the lion nathan's share?) of hop customers are processors who care more about AA than anything else."

Can't say the Europeans have anything to brag about. I just had a delivery of 30 kgs of pellets various types & origins. UK Fuggles, Czech Saaz, Hallertau Hersbrucker all very low in alphas.
Plenty of good fresh local stuff available though
Cheers
Gerard

 

[Jazman]

Wort have u actually used nz hops as a lot of them are dual purpose hops, well i have a whole heap to try and i haved used some in apa

i used southern cross( nz )to bitter and amarillo (usa) to finish

plus i h ave had some very good beers in new zealand using nz hops

like emersons and wanaka beer works

 

[Wortgames]

Gerard - I don't understand your point - you don't think European hops are anything special?!

My point about AA is that LOW IS GOOD - most if not all 'genuine' hop varieties are low in alpha acids, but for some reason Aus & NZ hops contain two or even three times the level. Is this supposed to be a good thing?! No! It suits processors who are going to mash them up into 'isohop' and brewers who are looking at cost first.

Personally I avoid pellets as much as I can but that's another story. My best beers have always been the ones made with European plugs. Yes they're pricey but I'm not in this to make the cheapest beer possible.

At the risk of digressing even further (and apologies to the OP for the hijack), I sometimes feel that as brewers we are often guilty of trying to recreate great works of art by using a standardised piecemeal approach. We seem to think that using a base malt and then some specialty grains is somehow the same as using the original malt, which was kilned, not blended, to its particular colour. We take the same approach with hops ("dual purpose"? Yum) in that we seem to think it's OK to throw in whatever's cheapest to get the bitterness then later on use something different for flavour and aroma. Personally I don't believe brewing is as modular as that - if you want to brew a great Pilsner, for example, you need to use the malt, the hops, the yeast and the water that built the style. We put all this effort into the yeast, we adjust our water, and then we use local unimalt and NZ robohops. Madness.

My ultimate point being, if I'm going to spend 'premium' dollars on a domestic beer, it needs to be brewed with character and confidence by a brewer who is creating a great beer - not by using the cheapest ingredients to try and simulate a great style. I think that Little Creatures does the former, and James Squire the latter.

OK, I'll get down now...

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Keep ranting, wortgames!

Jovial Monk

 

[beertime]

wow what a hijak... wort why is it tha every time I read a post by you it seems to be negative... It makes for a very unpleasant read...

Beer doesn't need to be styled on what others say it should be just what we beleive tastes good,unless your in marketing, and we use the ingrednts available to us. Imported grains and hops aren't better just different, use them for what they are.

 

[Jazman]

wort im planing on experimnet with these hops not all nz hops are high alpha my nz halletua aroma is 5,5 % based on the mittafrau
plus u can g et nz saaz around the same aa it may not be the same but i have had good beers in nz using these and othe hops.
I also dont think that being narrow minded to different hops and grain until u have tried them to really know if it is worth it ( personal opion)and i know a few brewers who have had success with the nelson sauvin hop too,So it doenst hurt to experiment a bit as u may stumble on good product like a lot of us aussie brewers like some usa hops that others that.but if u dont like em then we at least have a good range of import hops ect to use i love using the weyermanns malts btw

 

[Gerard_M]

Got to agree that this is getting away from the original topic. My apologies for the hijack.

Wort, I love the European hops, why else would I use them in such quantity. How can you make a Czech Pils without Saaz? I just think that the drop in the A/A content over the past few seasons due to drought or whatever else ( the Euro, war on terrorism, Japanese whaling, Andrew Johns jaw) shows that they are struggling to put out the product they are aiming for. You said that the local hops are not up to scratch, well I feel that the inconsistent product from overseas shows that they are falling short of the target.

BeerTime, I wouldn't call Wort negative, just enthusiastic!

Cheers
Gerard
Edited the spelling

 

[shmick]

Landline is repeated tonight at 7pm and 9:45pm on ABC2 (for the digitally enhanced )

 

[kungy]

7pm? Are u sure. I thought 7pm was the time for their flagship news program with Juanita

Will

 

[shmick]

7pm? Are u sure. I thought 7pm was the time for their flagship news program with Juanita

Will

[post="59185"][/post]​

ABC now runs a second TV channel on their Free To Air digital service.
Need a set top box to see it.

They mainly run repeats of their popular shows, heaps of kids TV & the odd ABC2 exclusive program. They also run 2 x 24hr digital radio channels - 1 easy listening & 1 jazz - if you ever have trouble sleeping...

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/


Was worth the $150 for the box just to keep the kids happy.

 

[Gough]

My TV guide says it is to be repeated at 11 am today on standard ABC. I'm planning to tape it.

Shawn.

 

[Wortgames]

OK I'll keep this brief (well I'll try):

Beertime - sorry, I'll try to keep you happy in future.

Regarding local malt & hops, when I brew I try to make a beer as good as or better than anything I can buy (I'm not saying I achieve it, that's just what I try to do), and local hops and malt don't do it for me on the whole. There seems to be improvement and that's awesome, and hopefully those brewers that are experimenting with the new varieties will share their experiences here.

I think one of the problems is a lack of clearly defined 'Australian' styles that showcases these ingredients - aside from Coopers, I'm not aware of any uniquely Australian quality beer - they are all copies of Euro Pilsners mostly, and the 'ales' we see generally lack ale-ish character (probably 'cleaned up' for the general Aussie palate). As I said, if you are a pro brewer copying a great Euro style with local ingredients you will fall short of the mark. It's good to see Little Creatures going with their tastebuds to create the beer they want to create, that's all.

Gerard - I misunderstood your comment re: Euro AA%, I thought you were comparing it to the elevated levels of the local varieties.

One final thought regarding pellets - how many of the great beers of the world are made with them? I remember turning up to an early Malt Shovel soiree where they handed round a glass full of pellets and proudly told the audience "this is what hops look like".