BREWING
from the west coast as it attempted to enhance its national reach. But the brand has since been con ned to the back shelf by CUB, which is now part of the Asahi empire. While Matilda Bay Brewing provided a platform for what was at time called ‘boutique breweries”, few others took the plunge in the 1990s, predominantly because of the dire nancial circum- stances across the country. But Matilda Bay Brewing would inspire two major craft beer developments. In late 1986, while back-packing around the world, a business grad- uate from San Diego stopped into Fremantle to watch his hometown’s yacht club strive to win back the America’s Cup that Australia had claimed three years earlier when backed by Swan Brewery money. Chris Cramer was so taken by the Matilda Bay Bitter Ale he enjoyed at the Sail and Anchor Hotel, the compa- ny’s headquarters, he returned home inspired to launch Karl Strauss Brewing Company. In 1999, Sexton, looking for new opportunities, believed the WA market was again ready for a new style of beer and brewing experience. After working with Bridgeport in the US northwest he returned to Australia and along with partners Nic Trimboli and Howard Cearns created Little Creatures. Ironically, the new brewhouse and hospitality venue was built just 500m from the Sail and Anchor Hotel and in the old dry dock used by Kookaburra III during its unsuccessful defence of the America’s Cup 12 years earlier. Using a US West Coast Pale Ale style loosely based on what Sexton, Cearns and Trimboli had enjoyed at Sierra Nevada in California, Little Creatures Pale Ale was a radical taste shift for Australian beer. But it worked. Little Creatures Brewery grew to accept almost one million visitors a year to its venue. And the second wave of Australian craft beer had broken around the Fremantle Fishing Harbour premises. This time, the idea of small, independent breweries succeeding would catch on around the State – and the country. Big time for the little guys and gals. Swan Brewery was bought by Kirin under the Lion banner (which would eventually also take control of Little Creatures) and by 2013 the business synonymous with WA had moved to a new base in Adelaide. It left WA without a macro-brewery.
Little Creatures Brew House in Fremantle’s Fishing Boat Harbour
Indeed, the State’s busiest opera- tor, Gage Roads, produces about 14 million litres of beer a year – a drop in the ocean of lager delivered by Swan at its peak. However, what the absence of Big Beer has allowed is the ourish of microbreweries to ll some of the void. Looking forward From the single presence of Swan Brewery in 1983, the western third of the Great Brown Land now boasts 75 microbreweries, stretching from Esperance in the south to Broome in the north. There is 1900km of Australian land and two million people in between. To add some perspective it is a similar distance from London to Kosovo. The vast expanses have forced the WA operations to be good com- municators and show some of the air imparted decades earlier by Sexton and partners. So it is apt that communica- tion is one of the key themes for the Institute of Brewing and Distilling Asia Paci c Conference in Perth next year. Modern technology has indeed helped. But the individual breweries have had to ensure they tell their unique stories to have a point of difference in a crowded marketplace. Apart from the beer makers within the State’s borders, there are another 500 to the east. Breweries such as Cheeky Monkey, Bootleg, Brewhouse Margaret River, Eagle Bay and Cowaramup have created an enthralling beer trail in WA’s south- west. On the edge of the Perth metropolitan area, the Swan Valley boasts champion breweries Feral
And the central business district has welcomed back beer producers for the rst time in half a century with Blasta, Northbridge Brewing Company, Bright Tank and the Generous Squire providing fare for of ce workers and those attending nearby major sporting events. However, one of WA’s most notable brewing developments has been the expansion of Little Creatures.
And it was achieved because so many tourists had visited the Fremantle venue over nearly 20 years – taking back home their appreciation for the beers and the brewhouse ambience. Under the guidance of
Lion, the brand marked by the beer cherub has enjoyed a worldwide journey. Indeed, Little Creatures could now be viewed as Australia’s agship international beer label. With brewpubs in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and San
Francisco plus a presence in Shanghai – even on tap at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC – Little Creatures is now a major deal. Its rise and continu- ing ability to produce high quality beers serves as an inspiration to more aspiring and existing WA brewers. They know that from little things, big beer things grow. * The term ‘sandgropers’ has a long history as a colloquial name for Western Australians and also denotes some very strange, wholly subterranean insects known to entomologists as cylindrachetids.
and Mash along with Mandoon Estate, Elmar’s and Duckstein.
november 2019 I BREWER AND DISTILLER INTERNATIONAL ● 43
i bd.org.uk
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