Little Creatures Puffing Billy - Little Creatures Brewing Company

dgilks

Australia

3.08/5  rDev -9.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

A deep mahogany colour with a small off-white head. Poor head retention.

Light smokiness. Some wood and a touch of malt.

Bits of sweeter malt. Lightly smoky. Some earthiness and even a touch of fruit character.

Medium-light body with moderately-high carbonation. Okay.

Disappointingly light on. This real could pack a bit more smoke character and a bit more body. With that it would be a much better beer.

Serving type: bottle

11-12-2012 08:17:52 | More by dgilks

PolarBear3

Australia

3.18/5  rDev -6.7%
look: 2.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

A - Pours a darkish copper colour wit ha off white head that dissipates fairly quickly.

S - Woody, smoky aromas with sweet /candy sugar.

T - Definate smoky flavour comes through. Sweet candy malts with some toffee with a slight bitterness at the finish

M - Light to medium bodied with medium carbonation

O - Not a bad beer this one but nothing special. Has a nice smoky character that is balanced nicely.

Serving type: bottle

05-01-2013 11:02:01 | More by PolarBear3

doktorhops

Australia

3.18/5  rDev -6.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

Another Little Creatures Single Batch has graced us with it's presence, this time a smoke beer (the bottle says it's a Bock whereas a smoke beer is known as a Rauchbier in German, oh well doesn't really matter as long as the beer is good). Let's recap the Single Batches; so far The Quiet American has been my favourite followed by The Dreadnought and Day Of The Long Shadow. Let's see where this one lands.

Poured from a pint bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Pours a deep brown bordering on ruby body with a thin tan lacing. No real head to speak of, which is just as well as I ran out of glass whilst pouring.

S: Alright there is a bit of smoke to it - hickory chip aroma blends with a toffee biscuit base, light bread yeast, and slight tangible fruity hops. Detecting this as more of a dry/smoke driven Bock than anything else.

T: This brew has quite a woody character to it - straight off there is an oak cask flavour, followed by the smoke, though not as bold as expected, toffee base and finishing with hops that are more medicinal than fruity which lends a medium bitter finish. Sugar content is minimal for the ABV, this brew relies on the interplay between oak, smoke and hops.

M: Medium bodied with light, almost flat, carbonation - though I had this one warming up a little before opening.

D: Not impressed overall by this, seems to be a more calculated (i.e. boring) brew from Little Creatures after their chaotically interesting and much shunned Quiet American... Bring back Quiet American as a full-time flagship ale I say. Stand out from the crowd rather than appease the masses. Amp up the flavours and they might have been on to a winner, a guess it's a moot point as they are impossible to get a hold of once the release runs out. Average effort.

Food match: It's just the right amount of smoke to compliment a good Cuban cigar. Apart from that it would light cuts of roast red meats, char-grilled asparagus, eggplant, zucchini and game meats like venison.

Serving type: bottle

01-16-2013 09:26:21 | More by doktorhops

pin

Australia

3.5/5  rDev +2.6%

01-09-2013 01:41:53 | More by pin

lacqueredmouse

Australia

3.08/5  rDev -9.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Little Creatures' Single Batch pint bottle, purchased for me by Sarah.

Pours a clear, but rather thin amber colour, with a mess of bubbles forming a timid off-white head. Carbonation is fine, and belies the apparent lightness of the body, showing that it stays rather thickly in the glass. Minimal lacing. Overall, it's a decent looking beer.

Nose is sweet, malty and thin, with a disappointing resemblance to mass-produced English styles—thin honey characters, watery grain and a slight cloying apple sweetness. There's a hint of smoke, but it gets caught up with a carbonation acidity, and a tweaking hint of aniseed. It's a bit odd, and slightly wayward.

Taste is similar. More thin sweetness, with a spicy aniseed note towards the back that morphs into rosemary, or something sharp and biting on the finish. In reality, it's probably the very mild smoke, which turns up unannounced and unwelcome, and just skews everything in odd directions. Finish is slightly bitter but cloying, like super-sweet liquorice.

Overall, I was unimpressed. There was much that was weird in this beer, and almost exclusively, the weirdness seems to have detracted from the beer. Perhaps worse, it seems to have been done without purpose—at least, it's hard to see how this beer was meant to make a coherent whole. It seems distracted and fractious.

Serving type: bottle

12-24-2012 06:47:01 | More by lacqueredmouse

ladofmanor

Australia

4.75/5  rDev +39.3%

12-16-2012 09:49:42 | More by ladofmanor

CrazyDavros

Australia

3.68/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Pours copper with a lasting head.
Nose shows sweet bready melanoidin malt, caramel, toffee. Pretty tempting! The smoke is faint though.
Similar flavours. Big sweet toasty and bready melanoidin notes. Some smoke comes through too.
Could use more carbonation.

Serving type: bottle

12-03-2012 10:38:18 | More by CrazyDavros

heygeebee

Australia

3.7/5  rDev +8.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Interesting - two pours with a shared bottle. One pours a one finger head that stays nicely, the other half finger head that dies. Over a lovely dark mahogany brown hazy / clear body.

Slight smoke on nose, but the rest is all rich malts

Taste is primarily dark rich malts with a hint of bonfire / smoke and bushfire char. Slight hop bitterness.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and a slight alcohol warmth is noted, not really needed either.

All in all an interesting beer, but neither a great nor a bad one. Does not fit any real style guidelines, which is what the single batches are all about.. Keep it up, I say, better than my expectations.

Serving type: bottle

11-29-2012 22:37:23 | More by heygeebee

eric5bellies

Australia

2.98/5  rDev -12.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Drank from my my Gulden Draak Tulip

A - Pours a clear dark Copper colour with a large bubbled off White head that dies quickly.

S - Slight sweet smokey aromas and caramelised sugar.

T - Up front some nice malts that are quite nicely balanced between sweet and smoke. The finish remains a little smokey

M - Light to medium body with light to medium carbonation. A little thin

O - Not a bad brew this one, Not one of my favourite style buts it is true to the style, and better than the Marzen

Serving type: bottle

11-10-2012 10:44:01 | More by eric5bellies

dansmcd

Australia

3.35/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A - ruby red amber. quite dark. actively effervescent. one finger of cream coloured bubbly head. decent streaks of lacing.

S - pretty bland malt forward lager aroma. some hazelnut and smoke.

T - smoke. brown bread and sugar. nutty. nice.

M - quite thin. medium carbonation.

O - not the worst single batch. Nice combination of typical brown ale flavours with the addition of smoke.

Serving type: bottle

11-04-2012 09:02:28 | More by dansmcd

foles

Australia

3.48/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a clear dark amber with very little head. Slight lager like aroma. Bitter up front, a little harsh. Body probably a little thin for a bock, Light hint of malt and smoke on the follow through. A higher abv lager, clean, crisp, but probably a little undercarbonated and not malty enough.

Serving type: bottle

11-01-2012 04:20:55 | More by foles

ADZA

Australia

2.93/5  rDev -14.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

Another single batch from little creatures and pours a light clear amber hue with a fluffy two finger head and similar lacing everywhere,the smell is abit light on for a smoked beer with aromas of caramel and chocolate malts,a touch of beechwood,herbal hops and a slight grassiness,the mouthfeel is light bodied with minimal carbonation and way too light for a smoked Bock and has tastes of chocolate malts,caramel candy,burnt toffee,herbal earthy hops and finished with a milk chocolate bittersweetness and overall im left a little weirded out about what this is spose to be as it clearly doesnt have the mouthfeel or body of a bock or the smokieness of what a good smoked beer should have and overall im glad ive tried it but wont buy it again cheers.

Serving type: bottle

10-31-2012 11:15:42 | More by ADZA