Winter IPA
Little Creatures Brewing Company

Annnnd they’re back folks! Little Creatures are suddenly making decent beers again. How do I know? Well I’ve already tried this beer on tap and it was so lip-smacking good I had to take home a squealer of this goodness. Look, we all know I hate macros (in breweries and spreadsheets) but I’m all too happy for the multinational corporation-owned craft brewer Little Creatures to be doing well again after what can only be described as “a two year plateau of mediocrity”. After all Little Creatures Pale Ale was the first beer to make me sit up and notice craft beer was an actual thing back in 2010, hooray for this once small Fremantle brewer for coming back with a cracker like this Winter IPA – and it is indeed a cracker so let’s get into it.

Poured from a 900ml squealer into a nonic pint [I do love a good squealer of beer – it’s the anti-social persons best friend next to owning an actual home beer tap].

A: Presents a clear copper body with a 1 centimetre off-white head and chunky lace inside the glass as it goes down. I would love to know what the malt bill involves as the colour is quite rich and darker than most IPAs. Cloudy is best though. 7/10.

S: There’s a nice cannabis-like/herbal and woody hop character on the nose, reminds me of an old-school American IPA, something that Sierra Nevada might make. Also a hint of butterscotch – Diacetyl perhaps? Not something that is normally considered acceptable in an American IPA, but here it melds well with the hop notes, it’s almost like an English/American aroma combo. Slight lingering floral note in the background and biscuit malt hints. 8/10.

T: All of the above: Cannabis/herbal/floral/woody hop character, biscuit malts, touch of butterscotch, with a slant towards malt sweetness. Normally you might question “well the malt sweetness is there but where is a bitter foil towards the end to cut through that sweetness?”. It is there, with a mild herbal bitterness, and the balance is excellent despite the low bitterness – this is a real flavour-bomb of an IPA that is quite moreish – I keep thinking “just another sip”. Great stuff! 9/10.

M: Tap beers always have nice mouthfeel and this one is no different with a medium body and dense carbonation this IPA went down too easy for its 7.2% ABV. 8/10.

D: Given the intriguing flavour profile I was surprised at how much I liked this Winter IPA – it’s a bit of the best of both worlds with an English/American vibe. Told you that Little Creatures is back and boy are they back! If I could get this in cans I would gladly keep a few in the fridge for a rainy day. 8/10.

Food match: These flavours would go down well with a roast lamb and veggies.