Chris Shanahan: Beer review — Matilda Bay & Little Creatures

Matilda Bay Grayston Reserve 07 750ml $17
Brad Rogers’s second vintage ale is bottle-conditioned and built to last. It’s a wheat ale combining five different barley and wheat malts. The combination gives Grayston a rich, chocolate-like flavour. But the wheat components add a spiciness and lift to the estery, fruity aroma and a vibrance and crisp acidity to the palate.

Little Creatures Bright Ale 330ml 6 pack $18.99
This is a small brewer’s response to demand for an easy drinking beer. Made in the image of the full-bore, cloudy Pale Ale, Bright Ale leads with the lovely citrus/resiny character of new season New Zealand hops in a moderately bitter brew built on delicious, subtle pale ale, carapils crystal, Vienna and wheat malts.