Cory’s Top 20 – #5 Little Rivers Brewery

Rank: #5

Location: Scottsdale, Tasmania

Favourite Beers: Detonate IPA, Kumma Gutza IIPA, SMASH IPA

Previous Blog Appearances: Detonate IPA, Kumma Gutza IIPA

As we crack the top 5 of the countdown, we head back to Tasmania.  But not to Hobart or Launceston, but to the small town of Scottsdale in the northeast of Tassie.  Cory’s Top 20 #5 – Little Rivers Brewery.

Prior to last year, I’d had a couple of Little Rivers’ core range and liked them quite a bit.  They were very much in that ‘good but not great’ category.  Then during the initial lockdown stages of the pandemic last year, I got a bit spendy and ordered cases direct from a few different breweries. 

Included in that, I took a flyer on a case of Detonate IPA (a beer I’d never tried) from Little Rivers.  And holy moly did that gamble pay off.  Without a word of exaggeration, Detonate is in my top 10 beers. Full stop.  No qualifiers.  The citrusy bite, the level and type of hoppiness, it’s all just completely spot on.

Needless to say, I went back for another case.  This time I went a half-and-half case with the Detonate and the Kumma Gutza IIPA.  And holy crap if Little Rivers didn’t hit another absolute homerun with Kumma Gutza.  It’s basically the Detonate kicked up a notch.

I’ve sampled a lot of Little Rivers’ range since then and they make a lot of good beers (SMASH IPA and the Dark Lager deserve special mentions).  But if we get right down to it, Little Rivers Brewery is in the top 5 of this list on the strength of the Detonate and the Kumma Gutza.  Those are two absolutely transcendent beers.

If I’m being honest, I’d love to put Little Rivers even a bit higher on this list.  I love their beer that much.  But at this point on the list things are getting exceedingly tight and there are nothing but absolutely brilliant breweries left.  And Little Rivers absolutely stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of them.