Little Creatures opened in Fremantle in 2000 in a converted boat shed on the Fishing Boat Harbour, and it changed what Australians thought craft beer could be. The Pale Ale became the country's defining craft beer for a generation — hoppy, aromatic, actually interesting — and the brewery grew into a destination in its own right. The building is magnificent: soaring industrial roof, polished concrete floors, enormous fermentation tanks visible from the dining area, and a view across the harbour to the working boats. It feels like someone designed a brewery specifically for the Instagram era twenty years before the Instagram era existed.
The food has always been good rather than great — wood-fired pizzas, sharing plates, salads — but it works well with the beer, which remains the main reason to be here. The Pilsner and Rogers' Amber Ale are worth trying alongside the Pale Ale if you want to make an afternoon of it. The atmosphere at lunch on a sunny Fremantle day, with the doors thrown open and the harbour visible, is about as good as eating and drinking in Perth gets. It is busiest on Sunday afternoons, which is worth knowing either as a reason to go or a reason to avoid it. Reservations are possible but the bar area does not require them.