Little Creatures Brewery

A huge shed and former crocodile farm on the water’s edge in Fremantle is the home and birthplace of Little Creatures Brewing. It started with a group of mates, all hailing from the beer scene, who wanted to brew an awesome, hop-driven American pale ale with a distinctive aroma and delicious flavour.

Work began in 1999 and doors opened in late 2000. The Little Creatures Brewery is built on pale ale – so much so in fact, that it was designed specifically to brew it the right way. Slowly, gently and patiently, their pale takes nearly six weeks to brew, ferment, bottle and condition.

By 2005, people were getting the hang of the pale ale thing and they’d started bringing new drinkers into the craft market, not just in WA, but on the East Coast too. Little Creatures decided they needed to expand their little operation, so they spread their wings next door and opened a new brewhouse. It was the perfect time to take their love of hoppy beer further afield.

By 2013 they knew it was time to get brewing on the East Coast to ensure their mates on the other side of the country were getting their hands on the freshest – and therefore, tastiest – beer possible. Purchased back in 2011, but officially opening a couple of years later, their Geelong home was originally constructed way back in 1923 as a wool mill. They mashed in the first Geelong-brewed pale ale in October 2013 and haven’t looked back since. They’re pretty obsessive types, so whether they’re brewing in Freo or Geelong, the recipe, ingredients, processes and serious quality assurance are identical.

There are conflicting tales of where the name Little Creatures comes from. Some attribute it to the Talking Heads album of the same name – which also sports a cherub-like man on the cover – and others to J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit, where little creatures wonder from ale house to ale house, like the process of yeast fermentation of sugar into ethanol.