Any time you write about a craft beer in a can, it seems you need to explain that it’s now a thing.
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This is even though craft beer in cans have been a thing in Australia for a good couple of years now.
It’s such a thing that some breweries have replaced the large bottles known as growlers – which they fill for the punters at the brewery door – with big cans that they fill and seal in front of you.
While I’m sure you’re already aware that cans are actually a really good way to package beer, let’s go over the reasons just in case.
The cans keep light away from the beer, which degrades the hops and therefore the flavour.
They’re lighter than bottles and, if you drop them, they won’t shatter and make you curse the loss of good beer.
The metal means they chill faster and they can be crushed and more easily recycled than bottles.
Okay, now that’s out of the way, lets move onto this beer in cans – Dog Days from Little Creatures.
It’s a beer that first saw the light of day around this time as Little Creatures’ summer seasonal.
Back then it was in bottles and it seems it was so well-received that they decided to bring it back in cans – and make it part of the permanent range.
I’m pretty pleased about that. While I hate the descriptor of “Summer Beer” (it’s a pale ale) I do like this beer.
And, yeah, it is a good beer on a hot summer’s day. And, at 4.4 per cent, you could have a few in the afternoon without getting too squiffy.
There’s some nice, juicy fruit flavours here – enough to get you interested but not so much that it overloads the beer – with a grassy character in the background.
I reckon you should pick up some cans of this and try it when the weather gets warm. I know that’s what I’ll be doing.
Glen Humphries is the 2016 AIBA Australian Beer Writer of the Year.