Little Creatures, Stone & Wood and White Rabbit are three of our leading local craft beer players across three different states and they are also intrinsically linked. Based in Fremantle, Little Creatures Brewing opened their off-shoot White Rabbit Brewery in the Yarra Valley last year, about the same time they acquired a significant stake in the Byron Bay outfit Stone & Wood.

In turn, Lion Nathan Breweries owns about a third of Little Creatures and White Rabbit and, obviously, controls a smaller slice of Stone & Wood. These days, though, you need a white board to keep track of the various inter-brewery shareholdings.

More importantly, the fore-mentioned trio continues to lead the way with some of the more intriguing new beer releases.

Little Creatures Brown Ale is the second in their “single batch” brews, released in squat 585ml “pint” bottles. Made with four different hop varieties and seven different grains, you’d be excused for thinking this might be the head brewer’s stock clearance effort.

“Aussie hops really formed the theme with this one,” says Little Creatures chief brewer Alex Troncoso. “We utilized Tassie Hallertau and Topaz in the kettle and whirlpool, along with Tassie Cascade, Galaxy and Topaz in the hop-back.” .

The grain bill includes two different types of rye alongside various shades of malted barley making it – well, a rather complicated recipe. No lack of flavour, obviously, and a boundary-pushing style which will undoubtedly have its fans.

Troncoso also oversees operations at White Rabbit and their white ale is the second cab off the rank to follow the signature dark ale.

“It’s our own take on a Belgian white beer,” he says. “We are using a very pale pilsner malt, wheat malt, raw wheat and flaked oats, all giving it a pale colour and ‘fluffy’ mouthfeel. In traditional Belgian style, we are also using orange peel and spices – coriander, juniper and a ‘secret’ spice.”

In an unusual twist, White Rabbit White Ale is bottle-conditioned with a pale Australian honey. Unlike the brown ale, this beer is an exercise in restraint and delicate balance, and I reckon it may well develop into a classic local take on one of the world’s more idiosyncratic beer styles.

Stone & Wood Draught Ale was launched a couple of years back and doesn’t really fit any existing beer style category. It was heralded as an unfiltered, unpasteurized tap beer sold through local pubs but now they have apparently bowed to much gentle prodding and released it in bottles.

It is a slightly understated experience compared to a freshly poured schooner in one of Byron’s laid-back bars, but the bottled version still packs in a surprising amount of fresh hop flavour.

TASTING NOTES

BULMERS PEAR CIDER (4.7%)

Watery straw colour. Aroma: hint of pear skin. Palate: slightly sweet initially; soft mid-palate which is gassy and watery; short finish. Overall: for timid palates only.

LITTLE CREATURES BROWN ALE (5.4%)

Dark copper-brown. Aroma: rich mixture of ripe hop and toasted malt notes. Palate: complex chocolate, dark fruit and toasted notes, interwoven with a swag of tangy hop flavours; the finish is long and dense. Overall: doesn’t disappoint on flavour and there is probably a little too much going on to satisfy purists.

STONE & WOOD DRAUGHT ALE (4.4%)

Pale straw, fine haze. Aroma: fruity/resinous hop notes dominate. Palate: fruit salad hop flavours upfront; some hints of honey and melon mid-palate which roll on through the moderately-bittered, crisp finish. Overall: flavoursome ale which neatly balances prominent hop flavours with clean drinkability.

WHISTLER PREMIUM EXPORT LAGER (5%; CANADA)

Pale golden. Aroma: clean, faint honey notes. Palate: some sweet malt notes upfront; moderate mid-palate with some citrus notes; malt-driven finish. Overall: just another global lager with little to recommend it.

WHITE RABBIT WHITE ALE (5.2%)

Hazy, pale lemon colour, fluffy white head. Aroma: hints of lemon sherbet and faint spice. Palate: soft malt/wheat upfront; lemon peel notes and delicate spice emerges in mid-palate; clean, citrus-edged finish. Overall: something of a “sleeper” which balances subtle flavours with a quenching finish, and leaves you wanting another.