Brew Review: Little Creatures Bright Ale

Russell W. Tan
Oct 17, 2015
3 min read

I had this beer at Bacon and Booze (you can find a list of all beers that they have on their webpage) at Punggol Ranch, a 5 minute walk from the Punggol Jetty. On a lazy Saturday after getting some work done, I called up my parents and decided to bring them out to dinner. Our dog, Tabby, came along with us. After walking the boardwalk, we went over to the very hipster restaurant/watering hole and got down to ordering the food.

The ale pours orangey, and immediately, the first impression that I got was, oh, lots of tropical fruits on the nose. This beer is really really reminiscent of a Gewurtztraminer and the nose comprises of bright notes like lychee, passionfruit, lemon (citrus component). Drunk cold, the mouthfeel was bright and smooth with a good lagom feel to it. Just out of the bottle, the head was small and the carbonation was very moderate. Nothing too heavy, and this takes some getting used to to get a nice fluffy head, if you're pouring from bottle to glass.

I thought it was weird for them to give a pint glass when this beer wasn't even a pint! The bottle contains 330ml of orangey Australian booze.

The beer is very unique given the very aromatic nose, and very refreshing indeed. It's good as a thirst quencher, which I expect the Australians need a lot given the heatwaves that they have there.

In the mouth, there is a top taste note of digestives, and the malt comes through weakly through that component. Here is a picture of me enjoying the beer with my dad at the ranch.

As the beer warms up, the nose changes drastically. All of a sudden, the notes of honey and lemon becomes very strong and almost dominate the beer nose. Taste wise, the hoppiness opens up to give a very raw, bitter kick that is very characteristic. I could recognize this beer in a blind taste test. This beer has a lot of character. The hops become insanely apparent and insist on being more than detectable throughout the finish. Even Little Creatures themselves admit that they throw loads of hops into it. The finish is well balanced with a very peachy and herby undercurrent, and the hops are the Pied Piper leading the orchestra of the finish. The hops are of a very high quality and it shows in the finish.

Parking is not impossible if you come during dinner time (7-ish) as I find that a lot of people drive off during dinner time; probably to eat at home. Moreover, the heat starts to die down and the place becomes very pleasantly cool with the sea breeze in your hair. It's family friendly and seems to make my dad happy (see picture below). "HULK... SMAAAASH!"

Overall though, it is a very structured beer that is unique amongst the beers that I've tasted, for the sheer raw power of the nose. It complements the body very well with the notes of honey lemon, peach and lychee balancing out the digestives very well. Very hoppy finish with the sheer bitterness leading the way, and the other notes slowly trailing behind. The hop component is transcendent and the bitterness is very pleasant because of the high quality of hops that is used.

The body, sadly, is very one dimensional with only the digestives showing up very shyly.

Best suited to hot days when your air conditioner has broken down and you've given up on fixing it. This beer both cools and refreshes you and helps you feel a little bit better about the broken AC unit - it gives you even more reason to drink up.

Prost!