In The Sail & Anchor International Craft Beer Showcase about 40 beers from 13 breweries - Belgian, British, Scandinavian, German, Kiwi and American - were served on tap in February in Fremantle.

In April The Monk Kitchen and Brewery served up a festival of tonsil-numbing Californian beers from 108 kegs it had sent to the US to be filled at craft breweries then shipped back in refrigerated containers to “introduce local people to some excellent beers served on tap in WA for the first time,” by then brewer Justin Fox.

In November The Sail again wowed us with “tappings” of special craft delicacies including Feral King Brown cognac-barrel-aged ale, Mash’s over-the-top “500” (bitterness units, that is) and wood-aged Little Creatures super India pale ale The Big Dipper.

On the last weekend in November the WA Brewers Association presented its own Craft Beer Showcase, in the Urban Orchard, central Perth. While many of the State’s smaller microbreweries were represented, the hit of the event came from heavyweight Little Creatures: again, its bitter seasonal The Big Dipper, pulled by handpump, won plaudits from the public as well as the brewing fraternity.

One-off batches provided highlights. Infinium (10.5 per cent), a sensational collaboration between the 1000-year-old Weihenstephan brewery of Bavaria and the modern Boston Brewing Company, fermented  with both lager and ale yeasts, was launched by importers Phoenix Beers poured into flutes from champagne-style corked bottles.

Annual Australian releases were on song this year: Cascade First Harvest (5.5 per cent), made with three experimental hops tipped fresh and “green” into the kettle, was a deep-copper, rich ale; Coopers 2011 Vintage Ale (7.5 per cent), with zesty citrus, spice and herbal notes from US, German, NZ and British hops will remain a beautiful drink for a year or two; Malt Shovel’s Mad Brewers Stout Noir (7 per cent) spritzed up chocolate and wheaty flavours with licorice root-influenced bitterness.

In WA’s South-West, where Cowaramup Pilsener was crowned Australia’s Champion Lager, Bootleg brewery aged extra strong malty barley wine in American oak shiraz barrels before releasing unfiltered, ruby-coloured The Grandfather (9.2 per cent) in 800ml bottles. Colonial Brewing researched and reproduced a medieval Bavarian ale called Mumme on tap. Colonial brewer Mal Secourable turned to German malts for most of his beers, even changing Pale Ale (5.2 per cent) from English style to Dusseldorf- style Alt dark ale.

It’s been another big year for Feral in the Swan Valley. Head brewer Brendan Varis was invited to make a cask-conditioned version of The Runt 4.7 per cent US pale ale at a traditional real-ale brewery in England in February and in May his beers took over all 20 taps at Australia’s top craft beer showcase, The Local Taphouse, in Melbourne and Sydney. Feral Golden Ace (5.6 per cent), made with a peculiarly lemon-impact Japanese hop, became the third of the brewery’s beers to go on sale in bottles.

Feral’s trophy cabinet continued to swell: The Beer & Brewer Awards named Varis Brewer of the Year and his Hop Hog IPA Best Beer; the Perth Royal Beer Show judged Fantapants (7.4 per cent) Best Ale and Hop Hog took the Premier’s Trophy as Best WA Beer; and  Hop Hog won its third consecutive Australian International Beer Awards Champion Ale trophy. Hop Hog was placed third in the Critic’s Choice Australia’s best 100 beers, which also listed Feral White Belgian wheat ale (No. 41) and Feral Dark Funk (5.3 per cent) draught-only sour ale 75^th.

WA’s Little Creatures Pale Ale was judged second by the book’s panel. The winner, Stone & Wood’s golden, cloudy Pacific Ale (4.4 per cent), brewed in NSW by former Matilda Bay brewer Brad Rogers, went on tap at Clancy’s and The Sail & Anchor in Fremantle.

Beer of the Year

LITTLE CREATURES BIG DIPPER (7.8 PER CENT)

Little Creatures created a new template for Australian pale ale with its US-style, hop-backed version: this Single Batch limited release is similar - but on steroids. The Big Dipper, a “double India pale ale” muscled-up to a 55-unit bitter punch not experienced in Fremantle since the Sail and Anchor’s early IPAs, gained its name from the initials DIPA. The brew team noted the Big Dipper constellation’s seven stars, adding galactic amounts of seven US hops - Columbus, Cascade, Chinook, Stella, Centennial, Citra and Simcoe. Extravagant  throughout, it starts with a nostril-hit of grapefruit, a mouthful of passion fruit, citrus and pine nuts, then a palate-tingling lemon-edged bitterness stretching to a big malt-backed bitter aftertaste. Bliss.