VB which is probably Australia’s most iconic beer’s has brought back a bit of its rich past with the launch of a special edition 1958 style can. Now the can design and 1958 were significant as it was the first time a can was used to hold beer. Sure it wasn’t the smooth thin aluminium we know today it was a fairly crude steel can where the drinker had to puncture the can before being able to taste the refreshing taste. Now for can collectors you need to keep your eyes out, as this isn’t the last of VB’s heritage cans, over the next 12 months Carlton and United plan to bring out a few more commemorative cans to celebrate the beer can. For those wondering, the beer in the can is the current 2011 VB as fresh and as crisp as ever. Look out for it in your local bottle shop and keep a couple as reminders of the simpler times.
Hahn Super Dry has a incredible new ad. Its been dubbed, by Hahn, “the most epic beer comercial ever”. Well to say the least this ad has to be right up there with the best. It show an interesting production line including even a ferret checking the beers coming out of the production line- now that is hard to top! The ad has been pretty successful for the huge Lion Nathan brewer with it uploaded to just about everywhere it has had over a million visitors to You Tube alone in only a week.
Shipstone’s Crew Fine Amber Ale is another one of Aldi Supermarkets great beer lines and is sold in 330ml bottles either in 6 packs or slabs of 24. This 5.0 alc/vol ale is very nutty and somewhat fruity and has great taste with some real delecate flavors and great value at a fraction of the cost of a similar beer with a known name. The beer is brewed using super alpha hops which leaves the beer with a nice bitterness complementing the fruit and malt. The beer we get in Australia Aldi Supermarkets is sourced from New Zealand, and i’m not sure if a similar product is sold in Aldi stores around the world- we would love to hear from you if you know.
Brewed in South Australia by Coopers the Coopers Premium Light is a all malt light beer which has a very refreshing crisp taste and is one of the best light beers on the Australia market at the moment. Unlike the US beer market where light refers to the low carb qualities of the beer, in Australia light refers to a lower level of Alcohol, in this case the beer is 2.9% instead of the usual 4-5% in average normal strenght beers. The beer is available in can, bottle and in draft form although not readily available. Coopers have made great inroads with their Sparkling and Pale Ale into pubs around Australia and with a few more people catching onto the Premium Light as a genuine competitor (and in my eyes winner) to the Cascade Premium and Hahn Light and Boags Light. With its great malty taste ans crispness I’m sure we are going to see a lot more of it. If you have tried the Coopers Premium Light we would love to hear from you on your thoughts!
We came across this unique label from a beer that was brewed in the late 196o’s and early 70′s Australia’s Carlton and United breweries. The Carlton Pilsener was brewed at the CUB in Melbourne Australia and was marketed as a lighter style of beer “Light in Colour and Light In taste, A bubbling aide to light conversation”. The beer was sold in steel cans and a 26lf bottle, as trends changed and newer recipes came onto the market the Pilseber was pulled from market during the mid 1970′s who knows- it might pop it’s head back one day as one of the breweries special runs. Over the past few years they have brought back a few of the favorite old names for a short while like Abbots and Richmond Lager a few months back.
Since 2008 Fosters has been releasing a special limited edition version of their Crown Lager. Known as Crown Lager Ambassador Reserve, the pricey beer comes in a special box with each hand crafted bottle numbered in a similar way to some of the more collectible wines are sold. 5000 bottles were made in 2008 and 6000 of the 2009 vintage beer have been released today. The very first bottle of the 2008 vintage was given to the Queen as a present on the anniversary of her coronation, so if you don’t want to pony up the coin for a bottle you may need to pop past her place and ask nicely for a taste. The 2008 Vintage sold for around 60 bux a bottle, it may seam a bit rich for a 750ml bottle of beer but we have noticed a bottle of the 2008 stuff on eBay already up to 100 dollars, so it may be a good investment. Check out the Crown Lager site below for the full story on how this beer is put together.
Back in May nearly 2000 people including some of Australia’s best known celebrities turned up in the streets of the historic gold town of Ballarat in Victoria to star in what is probably Australia’s biggest ever beer commercial. The shoot took two day and took over Lydiard and Sturt Street in Ballarat’s centre. The ad featured a parade with plenty of Australianisms, brass bands, cricketers, rugby and footy stars even a streaker all for one of Australia’s most popular beers VB. VB or Victoria Bitter is brewed by the huge Fosters Group and is Australia’s biggest selling beer and found on tap in most pubs around Australia. In recent years Australian’s started trying some of the more boutique beers and many imported brands, but VB has remained strong. A short while back the brand was grown to include a lower alcohol version called VB Gold and there are stories doing the rounds of a new low carb version not far away. The new VB commercial has just hit the Australian airwaves- take a look at our YouTube version and be on the lookout for someone famous.
Virgin Blonde Beer was introduced onto the Australian market a few months ago and is the first of what is hoped to be a range of beers by …… using organic products with no nasty chemicals or synthetic products. This tasty blonde dosen even have extra sugar added to the brew it uses just barley, yeast, New Zealand grown hops and water- Nothing else. Brewed by the Steel River Brewery in Mayfield, New South Wales, which is near Newcastle north of Sydney. This beer contains 4.0% alcohol volume and is very refreshing and lets not forget dosent’ contain any of those nasties so many other beers contain with all the big words like Polyvinylpolypyrrolidinone or Rhoiso-alpha acids or Di-Ammonium Phosphate – their names alone are bad for you.
Recently Australia’s Carlton & United released a limited run of 5000 slabs of Richmond Lager. The lager is one of the heritage brands they are bringing back in limited editions. The beer has a 4.5% alcohol volume and has a good hoppy flavor with a slight bitterness similar to VB one of the breweries more popular brands. The original Richmond Lager was produced by the Richmond NS Brewing Company which dissapeard in 1962 to become part of the CUB group of companies after the death of Grant Hay who owned the brewery and about a 6% share of the Victorian beer market. The original brewery was located in Church Street Richmond one of the inner suburbs of Melbourne. Reports show that when the brewery was closed down by CUB in April of 62 the workers were treated to half an hour’s free beer at the brewery owned Prince Alfred Hotel in Church Street as a parting gift- barely enough to drown their sorrows. Richmond NS Brewing was known for using only natural ingredients with no flavoring or perservatives. – Do some hunting and look for a the Richmond Tiger next time you are at the bottleshop- before it becomes extinct again.
This is one of the best beer ads we have seen for a while. Its advertising the beautiful Boags Draught from Tasmania Australia. Tasmania has some of the most pristine waters and wilderness in the world, im not sure this hole is one of them though, and im pretty sure its not the one they use to make their beautiful crystal clear beers, we believe it was shot near Norfolk to the west of Devonport. Sit back and enjoy, the soundtrack is pretty cool to it is sung by a guy called Elliot Wheeler. Look out for the giant teddy bear on the car roof. Read the rest of this entry »
