Little Creatures Single Batch Ipa

[jbowers]

Tastes like their pale ale should taste.

I really like their pale, but I agree that it's more like an apa than an ipa.

 

[Will88]

Certainly a nice beer but I've got to agree with the above sentiments.

I suppose they didn't want to be too adventurous at the risk of making something their regular drinkers would not like but for a single batch it would be nice to see LC go out of the box a little.

 

[bum]

Tastes like their pale ale should taste.

What? Did they take the rust out?

 

[jyo]

What? Did they take the rust out?

Thats just the twang of the Perth water Bum!

I thought it was a great drop, but was expecting a more decided hop hit. I didn't perceive the supposed 55 IBU's though.

 

[Effect]

What? Did they take the rust out?

I have always found their beer to be quite bland and watery...similar to the JSGA...was quite good, but then got worse and worse.

This beer is very nice, but not a WOW beer...would be great if they slowly changed the pale ale to be this beer...

Have got 2 of these in the fridge for me and Miles to taste this afternoon!

Cheers
Phil

 

[jbowers]

I have always found their beer to be quite bland and watery...similar to the JSGA...was quite good, but then got worse and worse.

This beer is very nice, but not a WOW beer...would be great if they slowly changed the pale ale to be this beer...

Have got 2 of these in the fridge for me and Miles to taste this afternoon!

Cheers
Phil

Maybe you've had a LTS?

http://www.russianriverbrewing.com/LTS/

 

[eamonnfoley]

JSGA is just plain horrible at the moment - Squire's dont really seem to care about their reputation. My $10 pint on friday night at the Generous squire was left on the bar unfinished. Hate to say it, but a megaswill is much more appealing. Don't know what is going on over at JS - especially with hops being cheap at the moment (exchange rate)?

Does Perth water really give the twang that is present in little creatures beer? What component of the water profile is doing it? For a cascade driven beer, the IPA and pale to an extent is quite different to something like SNPA (a fresh bottle).

 

[kegpig]

Had a few myself should be a regular drop not just a one off thing, great ipa

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Had this a couple of times now, both in the bottle and on tap (Fox Hotel in Collingwood) - Perhaps my imagination, but the bottled version left me a little underwhelmed... the tap version however was really good. Typically Creatures, and so it should be - Full of flavour and most importantly for an IPA balance. An actual balanced and drinkable IPA, not something that simply caters to the crowd that want their palate burned out by hops at the first mouthful. I had a session on it, and normally I'm over IPA after one or at most two pints.

I just don't get where everyone is coming from about Australian beer being so far behind everyone else.... I taste every new beer I see. It took my wife some dedicated searching to find me 8 beers she thought I hadn't tasted yet for my birthday... and I had in fact tasted two of them already... and the overseas stuff is just no better, no more exciting, no more advanced than the good beers available from Aussie brewers. Sure - 9 out of 10 local beers are either not that great or perhaps no better than competent versions of quite standard beers - But what is it you are expecting? Every brewer to make every single beer an experience that will knock you off your barstool? Even if you do - where are you supposedly getting that in the OS beers? The Rogue, Brewdog, Mikkeler, Nogone, DFH etc etc etc - yeah they're frequently good - and just as often not so great either. And this is the best of the beer that someone thought was worth dragging across an ocean to experience ??? And I have had nothing, not one single beer out of all of them that is out of the league of the local brewers. The great stuff from here, is every bit as good as the great stuff from OS.

 

[pbrosnan]

I'd say there's a bit of groupthink going on around the "Perth water twang" meme. As to this beer not being an IPA, I'd like to find out why. It appears to be a very good example of West Coat US interpretations of the style. Very hoppy, a little darker than an APA (possibly because of roast or cara malts) and a balancing malitness so as not to make it too thin. Thank god LC chose make something bold and not some insipid UK bitter clone.

 

[manticle]

I just don't get where everyone is coming from about Australian beer being so far behind everyone else.... I taste every new beer I see. It took my wife some dedicated searching to find me 8 beers she thought I hadn't tasted yet for my birthday... and I had in fact tasted two of them already... and the overseas stuff is just no better, no more exciting, no more advanced than the good beers available from Aussie brewers. Sure - 9 out of 10 local beers are either not that great or perhaps no better than competent versions of quite standard beers - But what is it you are expecting? Every brewer to make every single beer an experience that will knock you off your barstool? Even if you do - where are you supposedly getting that in the OS beers? The Rogue, Brewdog, Mikkeler, Nogone, DFH etc etc etc - yeah they're frequently good - and just as often not so great either. And this is the best of the beer that someone thought was worth dragging across an ocean to experience ??? And I have had nothing, not one single beer out of all of them that is out of the league of the local brewers. The great stuff from here, is every bit as good as the great stuff from OS.

Not out of the league and there are some great beers available here. However I have found that we do seem to cater for hopheads while trying to please the majority which ends up with a lot of American style pale ales. Hopheads are like chilli fiends - nothing is ever hoppy enough unless you can't taste it, which makes commercial hoppy beers somewhere in the middle of the road between beer nerds and consumers.

However look outside pale ales - what do we have that's spectacular? Most of the belgian style attempts we make fall far short of the mark. My last dubbel tasted better than Bridge road's attempt and I'm a long way behind when it comes to brewing dubbels (current one is the most promising yet).

English bitters - there's a couple but they fall wide of the target when compared to a classic English bitter.

What about a good rauch or flanders red or even a Breton style cider?

I will suggest there are some great stouts out there - Holgate and Coldstream produce a couple.

The breweries and brews that seem cursed with infections and off flavours but the brewers insist that it's part of the style? Should taste like butterscotch?? Should taste like vegemite???Grand Ridge super shine is one that people mention often in association with diacetyl. I've tried many GR beers and enjoyed them (not tried the supershine) so I can't comment exactly on that beer but the reputation is out there.
I need not mention Buckley's because that's probably the exact chance they have of making me try any more of their beers. Same with Two brothers (although I don't know if it's infection that plagues them or just no idea about recipe formulation).

Understand my perspective- the attempts we are making with both bigger commercial offerings (Squire, Matilda Bay, LC etc) and smaller offerings is above and beyond what used to be out there and it's a young industry and Australian perception of what beer is and what it can be is even younger but the commercial offerings of international breweries (and I'm thinking old, small established breweries from Belgium, UK and Germany rather than US craftbrewing mainly) does beat us hands down. As they should - they've been doing it for a while.

The final thing is - what about developing more of our own style? That's one thing the US have done well - taking UK and Belgian styles and (pun not intended) mashing them up. We've only just begun with indigenous ingredients in Baron's and a vague notoriety with Coopers thanks to Michael Jackson. there's also the stuff you make (and I actually like a cold pint or two of CD or a can of MB so don't take me for a snob) but it's not really what I'd like to see defined as a style exclusive to Australia. Belgium gives us Rochefort 8 or Westmalle dubbel and we give them...................................Hahn light??

By the way - After typing that rant I realise I may not have read your post properly. You're right - I'm sure there's a lot of highly regarded beers that are not out of our capabilities and a lot of highly regarded beers that aren't that special.

 

[mika]

LC has lost a lot of the rust twang in recent times, though it does still creep through at times.
They've got a pretty flash RO system since the new brewery went in and thus uild the water from scratch. I tend to think now it's perhaps in the hops they're using ?
LCPA fits right in with the BJCP guidelines on American Pale Ale, anyone who think it's not hoppy enough needs to look at themselves. I haven't tasted the IPA, so won't comment. JSGA is a joke, thin watery and bland tasting, I won't buy it and only be-grudingly drink it if there's nothing else around. Most of the JS beers seem to be like that now. Bit of a shame really. Brink back the rum rebellion porter !

Also agree with Thirsty. There's a whole bunch of local beers that are really good, perhaps not fantastic, but certainly way better than megaswill. And in the same vain, I've had a whole bunch of unbalanced, syrupy American beers that I've paid a lot of $$ for and been very unimpressed.

It's great that LC have gone to the trouble of creating this 'single batch' IPA when they could have just kept plugging away with what they had and watch the sales keep rising, if only a few more breweries would take the same sort of risks. From what I'm led to believe we could see some more adventurous brews from LC in the future as their latest brew system allows them some more scope, I certainly hope so.

 

[manticle]

Can't say I've ever noticed the rust twang. I have on occasion found LC to be all promise with the hops but lacking in malt character to balance but as a readily available and reasonably popular beer, I think they do a great job promoting some different flavours that average beer drinkers in this country might not be used to.

They seem to be passionate about the way beer is perceived rather than just bowing down to commercial dictates and they seem to be making it work OK.

Decent enough commercial offering in my eyes (prefer the PA to the BA) but I agree with another poster - would be great to see them do a seasonal porter or something outside their current range.

 

[Alex T]

Hey Guys,

Great to see some good debate going on about our IPA.

Could have been hoppier? Probably.... Could have also achieved a little more attenuation and that bitterness would have screamed through (it finished at about 1.016 - you do these things once and sometimes they just make their own mind up!). But anyway, I think the beer tastes good, and I feel very happy with how things turned out (basically sold out except for a few cartons around the country).

Anyway, the next beer will be brewed in late May/early June with release late in that month. And yes, will be something we have never done..... a rendition of a Brown Ale....

Cheers,

Alex

P.S. I was lucky enough to be a judge at the World Beer Cup in Chicago last week. It was followed by the Craft Brewers Convention.... Amazing experience; lots of huge, huge, huge beers.... by the end I just wanted a quality Pilsner (which I could not seem to find for the life of me!).

 

[neonmeate]

by the end I just wanted a quality Pilsner (which I could not seem to find for the life of me!).

hey Alex
on that point -
how about throwing a few more hops at your pilsener!?

 

[Alex T]

Yes, we have been throwing more and more hops in the Pilsner. I am stoked with how it has been tasting.

If anyone can get to the brewery or one of our draft accounts, have a go.... I'm not saying it is going to be the most hoppy Pilsner you have ever had, but me, along with all of the brewers, are getting more and more stoked with the beer. We have tweaked aeration rates, yeast counts, final gravity, BU's (increased from ~20 to ~26), fermentation temps, et. We are basically putting as many hops into the beer without having the BU's/perceived bitterness get too high. We have settled on a blend of Tassie Hallertau, NZ Pacifica and Cz Saaz.

Anyway, have a go....

And I know that for the hardcore Pilsner fanatics we aren't going to be at the 40IBU mark - but hey, it still tastes good.

But look for more recent batches - it takes a long time for these things to filter through the supply chain. If the beer has the new packaging that is a good sign. (there is still some out there with the old packaging)

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Snow]

Hey Guys,

Great to see some good debate going on about our IPA.

Could have been hoppier? Probably.... Could have also achieved a little more attenuation and that bitterness would have screamed through (it finished at about 1.016 - you do these things once and sometimes they just make their own mind up!). But anyway, I think the beer tastes good, and I feel very happy with how things turned out (basically sold out except for a few cartons around the country).

Anyway, the next beer will be brewed in late May/early June with release late in that month. And yes, will be something we have never done..... a rendition of a Brown Ale....

Cheers,

Alex

P.S. I was lucky enough to be a judge at the World Beer Cup in Chicago last week. It was followed by the Craft Brewers Convention.... Amazing experience; lots of huge, huge, huge beers.... by the end I just wanted a quality Pilsner (which I could not seem to find for the life of me!).

Oh man I'm jealous. That sounds like an awesome experience! Percs of the industry hey?

Well done on the IPA. I think it's perfectly in balance and goes great with curry

Looking forward to the brown ale .... Keep up the good work guys!

Cheers - Snow.

ps - you guys must be doing something right, because my LWB shares keep on just going up!

 

[BrenosBrews]

"Anyway, the next beer will be brewed in late May/early June with release late in that month. And yes, will be something we have never done..... a rendition of a Brown Ale...."

India Brown Ale?

 

[eamonnfoley]

Brown ale sounds very exciting, especially if its an american style brown!

 

[Dazza_devil]

Anyway, the next beer will be brewed in late May/early June with release late in that month. And yes, will be something we have never done..... a rendition of a Brown Ale....

Would it be asking too much to have a few palates sent down to Tassie?