Little Creatures Brewery was founded by Howard Cearns, Nic Trimboli and Phil Sexton, all of whom previously worked with the Matilda BayBrewing Company. In 1997 Cearns, Trimboli and Sexton discussed the possibility of brewing an American styleIndia Pale Ale. Sexton having worked in the United States and was involved in the development of the BridgePort IPA. 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. The brewery released its first beer, Little Creatures Pale Ale, in 2000. 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 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."
Brewery
The brewery building, was originally constructed to house the Taskforce '87 yachts 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.
Brands
The original Little Creatures Pale Ale is an American Pale Ale, brewed with Cascade and Chinook whole hop flowers, self-propagated yeast with a secondary bottle fermentation, and Australian malts.
Little Creatures Pilsner', a Pilsener, brewed with Tasmanian Helga, New Zealand Pacifica and Saaz hops.
Little Creatures Bright Ale, a golden ale, brewed using a selection of four malts including Pale, Carapils, Munich and Vienna.
Little Creatures Dog Days, a Sessions ale, hoppy beer that marries bright peachy, juicy-fruit hop flavours with a soft malt backbone. 4.4% alc/vol, 355ml can.
Furphy Refreshing ale, an ale made with 100% Victorian ingredients. 4.4% alc/vol, 375ml stubbie.
For the flagship Pale Ale, cool bottle fermentation is carried out with a lager yeast.
Awards
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.
People's Choice
Little Creatures' beers have also featured highly in the annual GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of the Year event.
