Little Creatures Original Pilsner
Little Creatures Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LC Original Pilsner is a solid easy drinking sessionable ale!!! It poured a clear golden color with white head that is leaving a lace. The scent when opened was a little skunky....but after it was poured into a glass it evened out. The taste was evenly balanced with good bread base. The mouthfeel was lighter in body with good carbonation. Overall.....YUMMY.

How did this one slip under the radar?! Little Creatures is still one of my favourite Aussie craft brewers - even if their recent Export Stout Return Of The Dread was a tad average, I still love ‘em. Now we come to their Pilsner (the spelling of which would suggest it is done in the vein of the Czech not the German style) which I have indeed tried before on a whim, though I never really thought much of it, time to put digits to keyboard to word processor and review this puppy (which isn’t really a puppy).

Poured from a 330ml bottle into a Stein (DAB branded).

A: Presents with a typical clear pale golden body, excellent clarity which is a hallmark of the style, and a 1 cm foamy white head which dies down to a thin lace covering. Good looking Pilsner. 8/10.

S: The aroma is much more German than Czech with overbearing bread dough notes, a crisp dry cracker background and hints of malt grains... perhaps they should have left the first “e” in Pilsner (the German spelling). Other than that it doesn’t have much going for it, certainly missing that spicy Saaz hop note that one expects from a Czech Pilsner... maybe it’s just hiding in the flavour? 6/10.

T: Coming from Little Creatures this is a surprise - there’s no hops to be noted! Overall flavours are: Bread dough, sweet grainy mid palate and a dry cracker finish with a hint of herbal bitterness to assist cutting through the sweet/dry characters. Aftertaste is a bit doughy but at the same time refreshing. 6/10.

M: Mid to light bodied with a sharp carbonation, smack dab in Pilsner territory here, good. 8/10.

D: It’s OK as far as a Lager goes, but OK just doesn’t cut it when it comes to Little Creatures - it has to be excellent, and this is not. You can’t help but get the feeling that Little Creatures could have packed this to the gills with spicy Saaz hops and produced a Pilsner that sits alongside their Pale Ale as a big tasty and complex example of a brilliant brew, however they seem content settling for a lighter more boring Pilsner that may bring macro Lager drinkers to their fold. Stuff them - I want a big tasty Pilsner Little Creatures - I’m your target demographic, not the unwashed VB-drinking masses... *ahem* err, yes, that was the beginning of a solid rant, I’ll leave it there. 6/10.

Food match: Light BBQ fare - hamburgers, sausages (“snags” in the Aussie parlance) and the usual BBQ sides; coleslaw, potato and noodle salads.

Clear golden with a white head. Aroma is clean and crisp, lightly grassy, noble hops. Fresh, dean palate. Flavor is mostly of the saaz hops, with light grain and a bit of grass. Very much in the classic pils style. Clean and crisp and the makings of a great summer refresher.

An outstanding Pilsener is still Pilsener.