In Australia if your beer is not made by the Fosters Group it is probably made by Lion Nathan (see full product list below), Together they control over 90% of Australian beer market either via their own Australian brands or imports they either distribute or brew under licence. The Australian Beer industry grew out of several regional breweries that still hold a bit of dominance in their respective states today. In New South they love Tooheys or Hahn, XXXX in Queensland, Swan or Emu in WA, Boags in the top of Tasmania and West End or Southwark in South Australia. Victoria has always had a love of Fosters owned Carlton or VB despite a push by Lion Nathan to penetrate the Victorian market like Fosters did with VB and Carlton across Australia in the 1990′s. Currently Lion Nathan is 46% owned by Japanese brewer Kirin and according to this News.com.au report that may soon change as Kirin has launched a takeover bid of the company putting many of the brand names of Australia’s beer industry under Japanese control. According to the article, some of Australia’s beer drinkers have vowed to switch to switch to Carlton if sale goes ahead (nobody tell them Fosters is 19% owned by Asahi). We recon if the sale forces a beer to come out of Lion Nathan’s factory that tastes like Kirin we would be happy to see the sale go ahead. Read the rest of this entry »
Victoria Bitter or VB is about as Aussie as kangaroos and koalas, but it has raised criticism lately for trying to commercialize another great Aussie tradition, Anzac Day. The VB Raise a Glass Campaign aims to donate $1 from slabs of VB sold during the promotion, as well as funds from 1500 kegs donated to pubs and clubs, the money raised is to be divided between the Legacy family support charity and the Returned and Services League. A bunch of ad’s have been created featuring stories from Australia’s armed forces to promote the campaign but the campaign has come under fire as some people recon you shouldn’t commercialise Anazc Day in this way. The RSL don’t seem to mind and seeing they will be getting a good bit of coin for their cause we recon its an OK idea too. What do you recon cheap marketing stunt or good corporate citizens? drop us a comment below. Read the rest of this entry »
At Beer Deluxe in Melbourne’s arts and leisure precinct we found a very tasty beer with a very interesting but tragic story behind it. The beer was an ESB beer brewed by what was regarded as one of Victoria Australia’s best microbreweries Hargraves Hill. Hargraves Hill brewery was relatively new and was located at Steels Creek in the Yarra Valley but was completely destroyed by the horrific fires which swept Victoria in February killing over 200 people. The ESB or Extra Special Beer was a absolute classic and we were hoping that they would rebuild and start producing this fine beer at their brewery again soon. But after a bit of a chat with the bar staff we found that some of the local breweries are helping out letting the guys brew their beers on their premises, while they take on the hard task of rebuilding. So look out for the Hargraves Hill ESB you won’t only be drinking one of the best beers we have tasted in quieta a while, but supporting a great brewery that nature destroyed its facilities but not its spirit. Read the rest of this entry »
On a warm summers evening in the beautiful city of Geelong in Australia last night there was a strange sighting of what some people are saying is a UFB an unidentified flying beer. Fortunately they came in peace and there are no reports of probing or cows being taken. The giant Carlton Draught beer was one of the highlights of the Skandia Geelong Week, a huge weekend of sailing and family events to celebrate Australia Day. The beer is actually a hot air balloon and is part of Carlton’s fantastic Skytroop advertising campaign we featured a few months back – take a look at the cool ad. After the traditional fireworks at the end of the evening the giant yellow beer started to glow in the distance attracting the attention of the thousands of spectators. Unfortunately it wasn’t full of delicious beer but it sure did the job and made your mouth water for some of the tasty golden brew.
The 45th annual Schutzenfest in Adelaide Australia is about to kick of this Friday offering the Southern Hemisphere’s largest folk festival attracting 10s of thousands to a weekend of German inspired fun for all. The Schutzenfest celebrates traditions which date back to medieval times, its basically a shooting festival with heaps of beer and German delicacies, not forgetting plenty of entertainment including German bands, dance and song. Run by the South Australian German Association the event is one of the best on Australia’s event calendar. This years festival will feature over 40 stalls, the famous Strong Arm Beer Stein Lifting Competition will be back and there will be plenty of ice cold beers. As for the shooting, well its nothing to worry about around all the beer (and the people drinking it) its more a carnival style shooting arcade and at the end of the weekend a King and Queen Shoot are both crowned. So head on down to Bonython Park in Adelaide for some beer, plenty of Oompah music and maybe a shot or two. Read the rest of this entry »
Cascade the famous beer from Hobart, Tasmania now a subsidiary of the Foster’s Group has launched a wonderful range of premium brewing kits, where you can make some pretty tasty beer in your own home. One of our favorites is the Spicy Ghost Draught which has a real zesty spicy taste. The kits make 23 litres and all you need to do is add water and a kilo of sugars to the supplied can of extracts and yeast and a few weeks later you will be drinking a great beer. Cascade has a great range of beers to choose including a Chocolate Mahogany Porter, a pale ale and Golden Harvest Lager all which bring back some of the tastes of the Brewery’s long heritage dating back to 1824.
The guys at Queensland’s XXXX have come up with a amazing truck called the XXXX Gold Retreat to visit events with their beautiful XXXX Angels. The truck has been seen at many of the V8 Supercars this season and a few other big events around the Australia. As you can see from the YouTube video the truck transforms into a huge stage for the girls to perform and features double decker bar and even has a huge LCD television screen measuring over 6 x 3 metres where onlookers can see the motor car action and some great XXXX ads of course. The whole complex all folds into a huge B double truck and is moved from event to event, with the lovely Angels who perform entertaining dance routines.
Once again Australia’s most famous Beach Bondi will be booze free this Christmas. Up to 40,000 people flock to the beach for Christmas day many of them English escaping the freezing conditions back in the UK. Many of the crowd in the past have made Muppets of them selves drinking too much of the amber liquid and getting into trouble in the surf. Over a hundred were rescued on Christmas Day 2003 before the ban was enforced, many of them getting into trouble just because they had too much to drink. Authorities stepped in before there was a tragedy- several tourists die in the surf at Bondi each year so the addition of copious amounts of beer only ads to the risk. Police now patrol the beach both on foot and even horse back ensuring the beach is liquor free and everyone has a great Christmas day in the scorching Sydney heat. It might be a bit heavy handed but there’s a time and a place for everything- and Australian surf beaches are dangerous enough without inexperienced Muppets going for a swim with a belly full of booze.
Have your say- drop us a line and tell us if you think the local authorities are Party Poopers or are just looking after the best interests of the Christmas Crowd.
It looks like blonde will be the fashion statement of the Australian summer with yet another blonde beer hitting the market. This time Carlton has released another blonde after the huge success of their Pure Blonde, and now a newey- it’s simply called Carlton Natural Blonde. Again it is a low carb beer lager and if this six pack is any indication very tasty indeed. This isn’t the end of Carlton’s surprises for summer- there’s also a Pure Blonde Naked- we haven’t been able to get our hands on this yet- so watch this space. …. Anyway back to the Carlton Natural Blonde- it has a 4.2% alcohol volume, double hopped and 70% less carbohydrates than regular full strength beer- and carbs aren’t all its missing- there are no nasty additives or preservatives in what seems to be a theme to many of the new beers being released recently- which can only be a good thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Two years ago with the help of celebrity reinforcement from Paris Hilton, who came to Sydney to ‘find’ the face of Bondi Blonde who is Jaime Wright. Bondi Blonde hit the market brewed by Bluetounge another great beer from Sydney. The Beer has made quiet an impact in the low carb market with plenty of blokes thinking they will still look ok in their budgie smugglers on Bondi beach- but many of them need to get of the pies as well and put that shirt, and pants back on. Anyway the beer is great its a pale lager and contains 4.5% alcohol and as we mentioned a few lines up is a low carb beer and contains only about a third of the carbsfound in the normal full strength beer. It uses only natural ingredients and is preservative free so it’s the perfect beer for summer, well all year round. The beer is heavily marketed to the fit and beautiful with strong emphasis on the beach- being called Bondi it’s the perfect market. Look out for it in your Aussie pub or bottleshop and give it a try. Read the rest of this entry »
