THE Note has discovered the success behind Little Creatures’ Pale Ale, and it’s got nothing to do with marketing, distribution or any normal beer retailing strategy. Nope, it’s all to do with the hops flower, which comes from the same family as the cannabis plant.
According to Little Creatures director Howard Cearns, the brewery imports the hop flower from Oregon, US, at a cost six times greater than the everyday hop pellets that about 98 per cent of Australian brewers use.
"It does what most hops do which is to give the bitterness but using a whole hops flower like this one gives an increased intensity in terms of flavours like the citrus flavours that come through," he explained to The Note this week.
And it’s just a fortunate situation that the good folk at the Freo Ports have a liking for this little hop flower because those over east don’t let it in.
"There are quarantine regulations that prohibit it coming in from the east coast.
I think it’s just antiquated laws rather than it being related to the cannabis family," Mr Cearns said.
Given the great lengths Little Creatures have gone to secure the best and most intense ingredients, it’s no wonder that the UK’s BBC Good Food Magazine just nominated its Pale Ales as beer of the year.
Oh, and ok, there may be a little marketing and distribution genius involved in turning the small time brewer into an international beer house. It can’t all be about the cannabis descendant hop can it?