Little Creatures Brewery

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Little Creatures Brewing Pty Ltd
Industry Alcoholic beverage
Founded2000;24 years ago (2000)
FounderHoward Cearns
Nic Trimboli
Phil Sexton
Headquarters
Fremantle, Western Australia
,
Australia
Products Beer
Owner Little World Beverages
Parent Lion
(Kirin)

Little Creatures is a brewery based in Fremantle, Western Australia, operating as a subsidiary of the Japanese firm Kirin Company. It is owned by Little World Beverages, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lion which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Kirin. [1]

Contents

Little Creatures was originally established in 2000 by the original brewers of the Matilda Bay Brewing Company. The name "Little Creatures" is inspired by a song lyric from Talking Heads' album Little Creatures and refers to the live yeast cells that turn the sugars in malt wort into ethanol.

History

Little Creatures Brewery was founded by Howard Cearns (marketing specialist), Nic Trimboli (restaurateur) and Phil Sexton (master brewer), [2] all of whom previously worked with the Matilda Bay Brewing Company. In 1997 Cearns, Trimboli and Sexton discussed the possibility of brewing an American style India Pale Ale. [3] Sexton having worked in the United States and was involved in the development of the BridgePort IPA. [4] Cearns came up with the name after reading about little creatures wandering from ale house to ale house in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and at the time thinking that it sounded like yeast fermentation. [4] The brewery released its first beer, Little Creatures Pale Ale, in 2000. [5] The Company sponsors the Fremantle Print Award. In 2008 the company established a second brewery in Healesville, Victoria. In 2012 the company was bought by Lion Nathan [6] In 2013 another brewery was opened in Geelong, Victoria, at a cost of $60 million. Brewing capacity is reported as "10 million litres a year, or 80 kegs an hour." [7]

Brewery

Little Creatures Brewery WTFr Nov 2011 gnangarra-9.jpg
Little Creatures Brewery

The brewery building, was originally constructed to house the Taskforce '87 yachts (Kookaburra) participating in the 1987 America's Cup and subsequently as a crocodile farm before being converted to its current use. The brewery is open to the public and contains a café/restaurant. [8]

Brands


For the flagship Pale Ale, cool bottle fermentation is carried out with a lager yeast.[ citation needed ]

Awards

Making pizzas in Little Creatures Little creatures gnangarra 001.JPG
Making pizzas in Little Creatures

The brewery has won a number of Australian International Beer Awards. In 2002, Little Creatures Brewery was named Champion Australian Brewery, and its Pale Ale crowned as Champion Ale. The beer also won Choice magazine's 2003 Best Australian Ale and the 2004 BBC Good Food prize for Best Ale. [9]

People's Choice

Little Creatures' beers have also featured highly in the annual GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of the Year event.

See also

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References

Notes

  1. Spooner, Rania (19 September 2012). "Little Creatures shareholders drink to success". The Age . Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  2. Williams, Peter (18 September 2012). "Cheers to Little Creatures sale". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  3. Nielson, Yvette (14 May 2008). "Success on tap: Little Creatures brew up a global storm". Nett. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  4. 1 2 Tierney-Jones, Adrian (2011). 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die. United Kingdom: Hachette. ISBN   9781844037162.
  5. Waters, Cara (19 June 2012). "Little Creatures founders gulp down $256 million deal in brewing takeover: Seven secrets of their success". SmartCompany. Archived from the original on 23 August 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  6. "news.com.au". 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  7. Eli, Greenblat (11 December 2013). "Lion has big plans for Little Creatures". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  8. Donald, Darroch; Katrina O'Brien; Andrew Swaffar (2002). Footprint Australia Handbook. Australia: Footprint Handbooks. p. 541. ISBN   978-1-903471-42-5.
  9. Hart, Cath (8 December 2008). "White Rabbit flies Little Creatures flag". The Australian . Retrieved 15 February 2013.

Bibliography

  • Deutsher, Keith M. (2012). The Breweries of Australia (2nd ed.). Glebe, NSW: Beer & Brewer Media. ISBN   9780987395214.

32°03′33.43″S115°44′40.79″E / 32.0592861°S 115.7446639°E / -32.0592861; 115.7446639