The full effects of last year's Lion purchase of Little Creatures will take some time to be seen. Yet, when the announcement was made last year, there were fears among beer aficionados that the Single Batch program could be something to suffer. Yet that's not proven to be the case; indeed, both Creatures and White Rabbit continue to play around with one-off firkins and tiny, tap only experiments at the bases in Freo, Healesville and Fitzroy. The latest Single Batch to make its way nationwide is Mr Obadiah. He's a rye porter, and he's a cracker. In fact, Mr O is very probably the Single Batch we've enjoyed most at Crafty Towers since The Dreadnought. It could be put down to a weakness for hearty dark beers, but more likely it's because it's a damn fine beer. Based on the traditional English style, weighing in at a hefty 6.9 per cent, and brewed with malted rye for a touch of peppery spice, it's a cracker from start to finish: it looks good in the glass, has an enticing dark chocolate, coffee and slightly spicy aroma and a full-bodied chocolate, dark caramel and coffee flavour that lingers long and soft on the palate. Time to stock up for winter...
Published June 24, 2013 2013-06-24 00:00:00
