White Rabbit Dark Ale

Beer

I’m not one that’s really up with all the new technology and whizz-bangery that’s out there now days. But I do know enough abbreviating for SMS to realise that OMG was in order when I first washed down the White Rabbit Dark Ale, this is a little beauty.

White Rabbit Brewery is the latest addition to the Little Creatures empire, a brewer whose offerings I often find quite session-able. It’s located just a stone’s throw from Little Creatures founder, Phil Sexton’s winery, Giant Steps in Healesville, Vic who sold the brewery to set up his winery (check out his Giant Steps Harry’s Monster Red!!).

With a setup that was spared no expense, featuring brewing equipment trucked in from both Little Creatures Fremantle brewery and from all over Europe, the framework was laid for some seriously fine beer. The brewing process sounds more like classic winemaking than beer brewing. Which may just be lingering touches of the Phil Sexton days, but call me a cynic, it does make me wonder if Phil still has a hand in at Little Creatures…..

It has no preservatives or additives, is made using a traditional open fermentation method (which any one that’s tried home brewing may find very interesting), using whole hops and a general hands-off method, only using modern techno-whizz-bangery to ensure consistency. This is a beer that has been tweaked and refined over its lifespan to become one of the best dark beers in Australia, as evidenced by its gold medal in the 2010 Australian International Beer Awards.

The result is a beer that has a touch of fruit and florals in the smell. It’s quite creamy on the tongue, full of dark chocolate and light roast characters yet still with a touch of that fruit aroma. There’s a solid bitter finish and a great after taste that really allows the malt to come through.

White Rabbit is a rich, smooth, full-flavoured, full-bodied dark ale. It sits somewhere between the Little Creatures Roger’s Ale and the James Squire Porter. I tended to hear the word sessionable go off a lot in my head when I tried this beer, as opposed to a ‘quiet contemplation’ beer. This was probably because of its lightness, taste and mouthfeel. More likely though it was to do with how quickly my glass emptied.

One of my mates made the comment that it wasn’t an ultra serious beer. He’s right; it’s not a big serious beer like Chimay Red, Guinness, Murphy’s Stout or Coopers Vintage.

But this beer that is made very seriously, and that makes me want to spend a lot of time getting to seriously know it

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