This is one of two limited release beers Little Creatures has sent out from the brewery recently.
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The other is the Single Batch release The Dreadnought – a revisiting of the great big foreign extra stout they last offered up in 2015.
That one is a little hard to get a hold of – it’s only available via the Lion online site Mocu.
But the other new release will be around for a few months, because it’s the latest in their seasonal series.
The Fire Falcon hoppy red is the brewery’s take on a winter seasonal and it’s a nice change from the usual idea of a “winter beer”.
That tends to mean a dark beer – a porter or a stout – which can be very tasty on a really cold winter’s night.
They’re big in colder climes – like England – but in Australia winters aren’t always that chilly.
We tend to get a bit more sun during winter and the Little Creatures brewers took that in mind when designing this seasonal.
There are six different sorts of malt used in the Fire Falcon, which gives it it a bit of a backbone and a strong biscuity note.
So that’s the part that allows it to stand up to cooler weather.
But it’s the hoppiness of the beer that tips the hat to the sunny winter’s day.
The beer’s name is even inspired by one of the hops used – Falconers Flight.
The result is a beer with strong pine and citrus characters but also some bulkiness from those malt varieties.
It’s a really well-constructed, well-balanced beer.
In terms of the Little Creatures seasonals, Dog Days has been my favourite.
Until now that is. Fire Falcon has definitely knocked it off that perch.
Glen Humphries is an award-winning beer writer and author of The Slab.