Beer Flights Down Under in Perth, Australia

In late February - early March 2016 I spent 10-days in Perth, Western Australia. This was a great opportunity to re-acquaint myself with some superb Oz craft beers (and also to spend time with my lovely sister !).

My last visit was in 2013 for my fiftieth birthday. Back then my favourite beer was Little Creatures IPA. I was looking forwarded to more craft beer from down under and hoped that Oz would not let me down (it didn't!).

In 2013, my beer bible was The Critics Choice Australia's Best Beers (2011 edition) - a great little book with a full page for each of the beers. The No. 1 beer then was Hop Hog (Feral Brewery).

This time around I used GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of 2015 and over 10 days I tried 21 of the top 100 on my (ultimately tatty, beer stained) copy of the list!

Where to start? The Sail and Anchor pub in Fremantle is at one end of the Cappuccino strip directly opposite Fremantle covered market. I enjoyed a beer flight with the following beers:

It was hot, hot, hot when this photo was taken in the Brewseum bar in the Sail and Anchor. Not sure why (to make me drink more beer maybe?!) but they served spicy peanuts with the beer, I certainly didn't need the extra heat !.


Of the four beers on the beer paddle, the Copycat (6.8% ABV from @MashBrewing) was my favourite. A strong, citrusy American-style IPA just the way I like them. One for the hop heads.

The Lucky Shag bar (no sniggering at the back!) on the Swan River is a stones throw from Perth central business district and is a must visit pub for the dedicated beer drinker - a perfect riverfront location. Its a popular watering hole for locals and tourist alike with boats moored alongside on the Swan River.


Yes that's a half pint of Little Creatures IPA in the photo, my excuse was that it was lunchtime, too hot for much drinking in the middle of the day (and everything in proportion!).

Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle which is a working brewery-bar-restaurant, is something of an institution and my favourite place in Fremantle for a craft beer and food (including Kangaroo!)

My favourite beer from Little Creatures is still their IPA (6.4% @LtCreatures) - the classic citrusy, American-style IPA (which reminds me of Brewdog's Punk IPA back when it was slap-in-your-face-citrusy!) - certainly another one for the hop heads!





Feral Brewery Company in the Swan Valley, approx. 30km east of Perth, fits the bill if you are looking for an 'out-back' bar-restaurant with a wide covered decking overlooking the obligatory vineyard. This was easily one of the most laid back breweries I've ever visited, I could have stayed all day, seriously cool (in such a hot country!).

I had the A$20 beer flight 'taster' which consisted of:

• Sly Fox (4.5% ABV summer ale)
• BFH (Barrel Fermented Hog) (5.8% American-style IPA - my favourite Feral)
• Watermelon Warhead (2.9% ABV sour wheat beer - made with half a tonne of watermelons and it really made my 'tabs laff' !)
• Karma Citra (5.8% ABV black IPA)
• Nice Guy Dud Root (5.6% English brown ale - straight out of the UK)
• Warhog (8% ABV IPA - seriously strong beer which was excellent)

The Boheme bar, Perth - a lunchtime stop (yes its another half pint!) - one of the more European bars in the shopping district of central Perth. A welcome stop for the thirsty foot-sore shopper (as pictured!).

Only a few days left in Perth, so time for a pub crawl which took in the following pubs and bars in the centre of Perth:

• Petition Beer Corner in the State Buildings, St. Georges Terrace - a hyper-trendy beer bar which reminded me of a BrewDog pub but on a larger scale with 18 craft beers on tap, some weird and wonderful varieties - here is a sample list.

• Bob's Bar above the Print Hall, Brookfield Place - a 'must visit' roof top terrace, accessed up some narrow, print-newspaper lined flight of stairs, what a great venue surrounded by the skyscrapers of downtown Perth with a truly stellar atmosphere below the stars and plenty of craft beers - a winner! (the Bob in question was Bob Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia 1983-1991).

• Print Hall - back down the stairs into this cavernous bar which attracted a lot of hen and stag groups the night we were there, good range of beers though.

• The Generous Squire on Murray Street - this was our last stop of the night, was very busy and reminded me of a Wetherspoons back home in the UK - the one redeeming feature were the Beer Flights.

Petition Beer Corner

Bobs Bar

The Generous Squire

That's all folks!

Clive Mitchell, BeerFlights Blogger, 13th June 2016
Twitter @BeerFlights