By Vic Crossland

Australia’s Hottest 100 craft beers of the past year have been named in The Local Taphouse annual online poll. Fremantle’s Little Creatures Pale Ale, winner for the previous two years, was edged into second place by McLaren Vale Ale, from South Australia’s wine region. Feral Hop Hog IPA was voted fourth and altogether 13 WA beers made the Hottest 100 list.

The poll results show craft beer is booming nationwide, with votes for nearly 500 different brews and the number of people registering their five favourites was double 2009’s – “skyrocketed beyond the hardcore craft beer fans”, say the organisers. They also say some breweries, including McLaren Vale, were “canny” in utilising social media and email databases to bump up their chances.

All Little Creatures permanent beers featured in the list, but particularly encouraging was how enough people recalled the superb one-off Single Batch IPA to place it joint 95^th.

Feral, too, has multiple listings including its perennial Feral White witbier. The only other of the State’s breweries to score is Nail Brewing, with Nail Ale and Clout Stout.

WA’s influence is evident elsewhere: Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, No. 3 on the popularity scale, is brewed at Byron Bay by former Matilda Bay brewer Brad Rogers, and two White Rabbit ales in the top 20 come from an open-fermenter brewhouse set up in Victoria by the Little Creatures organisation.

Some anomalies in appreciation are evident. Murray’s of NSW was among the most prolific breweries with six beers in the 100, but its flagship US-UK hybrid Nirvana Pale Ale was 64 places behind its hefty Icon 2IPA. Matilda Bay Fat Yak pale ale came in sixth - 13 positions ahead of Alpha Pale, despite being decried as its lesser stable-mate. And White Rabbit White, a wheat beer, lagged 12 places behind White Rabbit Dark Ale, despite being regarded as more suited to Aussie tastes.

The No.1 beer, Vale Ale, is a 4.5 per cent brew designed as an alternative to wine with food. Pouring lively from secondary fermentation in the cool-looking, understated bottle, it presents a sudsy head of loose bubbles and is very pale in colour. Citrus and nuts aroma - from US Cascade hops and European-style Brewers Gold and Saaz varieties from New Zealand – is reflected in the flavours on a dry palate.

The Local Taphouse is renowned for serving top beers at its Melbourne and Sydney bars. Feral’s Brendan Varis is currently brewing an astounding 20 different - even extraordinary - beers to “take over” the Taphouse taps later this year.

On Saturday 12^th February, the two Taphouse venues held the Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular XI festival, raising funds for Queensland Flood Relief. Among the 22 Australian breweries invited to concoct special one-off batches for the event are three from WA.

Feral’s contribution was Karma Citra, a 5.8 per cent Black IPA named for the US hop Citra and with choc roasted malt.

Last Drop Keller Beer is a traditional German cloudy lager. Mashed with Bohemian Pilsner and Munich malts, hopped with Hallertauer Hersbrucker, brewed in an open fermenter for 12 days and matured on roasted oak chips for nine weeks for distinctive flavour, Keller Beer will be released in WA only after SpecTAPular, says brewer Jan Bruckner.

Mash Brewing has brewed a Rye IPA, well-hopped and with malted rye grain adding to the US profile, for the festival.

These were served alongside beers ranging from traditional bitter to Belgian red ale with cranberries and whiskey-soaked cherries, from four other States and the ACT’s famous Wig & Pen.

“To have a line-up of beers from these breweries any day of the week would be a treat, but to

have them all brewing a festival beer just for our summer SpecTAPular is nothing short of

phenomenal,” The Local Taphouse co-founder Guy Greenstone said.

From Fresh, The West Australian, 3^rd February

Written by Vic Crossland