People’s choice

Nice article in the West Australian, Feb 12:

By Vic Crossland

AUSTRALIA’S TOP 10
1. Little Creatures Pale Ale (WA)
2. Murray's Icon 2IPA (NSW)
3. Mountain Goat Hightail Ale (VIC)
4. Knappstein Reserve Lager (SA)
5 Little Creatures Bright Ale (WA)
6. James Squire Golden Ale (NSW)
7. Coopers Sparkling Ale (SA)
8. Coopers Pale Ale (SA)
9. Holgate Mt Macedon Pale Ale (VIC)
10. James Squire Amber Ale (SA)

Little Creatures Pale Ale has been named Australia’s favourite craft beer. The US-style, hoppy, 5.2 per cent ale, which has been copied by most microbreweries in recent years, came out top in the inaugural poll to find the “Hottest 100 Aussie Brews”.

The Fremantle brewery can be doubly proud because Little Creatures Bright – its 4.5 per cent summery ale - was the only other WA beer to make the top 10 of the voters’ choice.

The on-line poll run by Melbourne’s The Local Taphouse was open for almost three months and, while Melbourne’s cosmopolitan aficionados probably provided a majority of informed responses, hundreds of craft beer lovers from elsewhere in Australia were able to vote for their favourite tipple.

Some small-brewery beers don’t get much beyond their neighbourhood while bigger brands enjoy inter-state exposure, and this must be factored in when considering the poll results.

“Obviously, the most widely distributed craft beers would be more familiar to many of the people who voted,” The Local Taphouse’s Steve Jeffares admitted. “Still, all we wanted to do was get a feel for what people prefer to drink across Australia.

“The idea of the poll came when I was having a few drinks with friends on Australia Day eve in 2007. We were listening to The Top 100 songs on the radio and I thought it would be nice to get the public to vote for a similar list of their favourite beers. We have 20 craft beers on tap at any one time, and as it turns out we’ve already served more than 70 of the top 100.”

The top 10 “hottest” line-up reveals some interesting indicators. Most noticeable is the dominance by South Australian rather than WA craft breweries – helped by the popularity of the big Coopers’ brewery in SA and the presence there of a Lion Nathan brewery which makes some James Squire beers. Then, considering the poll was centred on Victoria, that State has only two representatives.

A nation awash with lagers may be astonished that nine of the 10 favourite brews are ales. Only one lager makes the elite list – the unique Knappstein Reserve, from the revived Enterprise brewery at a South Australian winery. Regular readers will recognise it as the one I’ve repeatedly named as the best domestic lager by far. Perth’s most savvy retailers agree and report that Knappstein’s reputation has grown so much that customers no longer need nudging towards it.

The poll results were announced at Melbourne’s Summer SpecTAPular beer festival late last month. Among the rest of WA’s brews, Nail Stout at No.16 and Nail Ale at 25 led the way, with Feral faring next best with White at 27th and Hophog IPA joint 72nd.. Colonial IPA (53), Gage Roads IPA (55), Little Creatures Rogers (57) and Little Creatures Pilsner (joint 82nd) were the others to register with voters. For the full 100 hottest beers list, visit www.thelocal.com.au