Australian beer brands

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Australian beer brands

Answer 1

Castlemaine XXXX

X X X X(pronounced for-ex) is a brand of Australian beer brewed in Milton, Brisbane by Queensland brewers, Castlemaine Perkins (now a division of the Japanese-owned company Lion). It enjoys wide popularity in the state of Queensland, where it is commonly found on-tap in pubs and bars.

The XXXX brand was first introduced in 1924 and is a throwback to the long-standing tradition of using Xs to indicate the strength of an ale. The brand name also built upon XXX Sparkling Ale introduced in 1878.

Currently sold brands include:

Previously sold beers, currently not available, include Thirsty Dog (Wheat Beer) XXXX Draught/Original Draught, and XXX Sparkling Ale which is only sold at the XXXX alehouse next to the brewery.

The XXXX brand was launched in 1924 by Castlemaine Brewers, named after the town of Castlemaine, Victoria where the company was born in 1857. The yellow-and-red label still bears this town's name. XXXX has been brewed in the Castlemaine Perkins Milton Brewery since its introduction, and has featured an artist's sketch (later very stylised) of this brewery on the label of beer bottles and cans. In the 1950s the prominent 'XXXX' illuminated sign was erected on the brewery. "XXXX" itself refers to a traditional grading system for strong beer.

In 1992, Castlemaine Perkins was acquired by Australian beverage and food company Lion Nathan, who in turn were taken over by Japanese beverage conglomerate, Kirin, in 2009.

XXXX contains 4.8% alcohol by volume (ABV).

XXXX was brewed under licence in the UK by InBev Ltd until 2009. It was commonly available in cans in British off licences and sometimes on tap in British pubs. At 3.7% alcohol, the British brewed XXXX was somewhat weaker than most of the Australian variants. Castlemaine XXXX was withdrawn from the UK at the end of June 2009 when InBev's licensing agreement expired.

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Wikipedia

Answer 2

Chopper Heavy

Chopper Heavy, is a 6% Australian Lager that is named after Australian ex-con Mark "Chopper" Reid. Brewed by ???, the beer is marketed as the strongest lager] produced in Australia. The beer is brewed in Rutherglen, Victoria, which was chosen due to the region's link with another infamous character, the bushranger Ned Kelly.

The beer was also produced at Steel River Brewery at mayfield west. Near Newcastle NSW.

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Answer 3

Colonial Brewing Company

Colonial Brewing Company is a microbrewery in Bramley Brook Valley, approximately 8 km north-east of Margaret River, Western Australia, and is set on 30 hectares (70 acres). Colonial produces a range of beers including several award-winning varieties which are sold on the domestic and international markets.

The brewery was established in 2004 by Ross Smith, with head brewer, Steve Plowman, and was one of only three breweries established in the Margaret River area. In late 2006 the brewery was purchased by a group of investment bankers, the Empire Beer Group for $15M (AUS), who subsequently arranged a $30M (AUS) public float, to bankroll plans to open another outlet (with a larger brewing and packaging facility) in Fremantle. In July 2007 the Empire Beer Group purchased the Royal Bar and Brasserie in East Perth for $3.5M (AUS), a departure from the plans outlined in the company's prospectus (which was to develop a second pub in Fremantle). In August 2008 the Empire Beer Group agreed to sell 'The Royal on the Waterfront' and the Colonial Brewing Company to the Colonial Leisure Group for $4.5M (AUS), a company owned by Chris Morris (the founder of Computershare).

In 2008 Colonial appointed Mal Secourable as the head brewer (formerly the head brewer at Matso’s in Broome and a brewer at Fremantle’s Sail & Anchor), replacing Dean McLeod (who previously worked at the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel and Malt Shovel Brewery). In 2009 the Colonial Kolsch won 'Best Ale Draught', Best Commercial Beer' and the Premier's Trophy for 'Best Western Australian Beer' at the Cryer Malt Perth Royal Show. In March 2013 Secourable left Colonial and was replaced by Justin Fox (Swan Brewery and The Generous Squire Brewpub).

In 2006 the Colonial Brewing Company was awarded 'Champion Small Brewery' at the Australian International Beer Awards, the following year it was awarded 'Champion Australian Brewery' and 'Champion International Small Brewery'.

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Answer 4

Coopers Brewery

Coopers Brewery Limited

Coopers Brewery Limited, the largest Australian-owned brewery, is based in the Adelaide suburb of Regency Park. Coopers is known for making a variety of beers, the most famous of which are its Pale Ale and Sparkling Ale. The brewery sold 69.7 million litres of beer in the 2013 financial year. It is also the world's largest producer of homebrewing equipment. Its shares are primarily owned by the extended Cooper family, and the company's constitution and classes of shares makes it difficult to sell shares outside the family.

The brewery was established by Thomas Cooper in 1862 at his home in the Adelaide suburb of Norwood. He brewed his first recorded batch on 13 May 1862.

In 1881 the brewery relocated to larger, commercial facilities at Leabrook.

Thomas died in 1897. In his will, after bequests to his wife, daughters and youngest sons, he left all his property to his four eldest surviving sons, (John, Christopher, Samuel and Stanley), under instructions to "carry on my business as Brewers under the form of 'Thomas Cooper & Sons' as partners".

Each time one of the partners retired or died, a new partnership agreement needed to be drawn up. This became unwieldy, so in 1923, the partners decided to incorporate with limited liability. An agreement was drawn up where the capital of the company was declared as £39,000, and 39,000 £1 shares were distributed. 15,953 of the shares were designated as class "A", and 15,953 as class "B". Directors were to be appointed equally by holders of "A" and "B" shares.

The company went through the doldrums during the recession of the late 1880s, a boom time in the 1920s, the doldrums during the Great Depression, and mixed fortunes through World War II and the 1950s. By the 1960s, the brewery was still producing much the same products as in the 1880s, but the brewing environment, and consumer demand, had changed.

There had been much consolidation of breweries in South Australia since Coopers was established, and the South Australian Brewing Company and Coopers & Sons were the only breweries remaining in Adelaide. As both were attractive takeover targets, in 1962 (after 100 years of Cooper family sole ownership), the two companies decided to do a mutually beneficial share swap in order to reduce the risk of takeover. The traditional South Australian market leader had been the South Australian Brewing Company. The share swap gave SA Brewing a 25% interest in Coopers ("C" and "D" class shares), and Coopers received 291,404 SA Brewing shares (2.65%). The Coopers board of directors was increased from four to five, with SA Brewing's "D" shares having the right to elect the fifth director. After consulting the SA Brewing board and receiving their support, Coopers sold their SA Brewing shares in 1984, (at a substantial profit). SA Brewing continued to hold their 25% interest in Coopers.

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Answer 5

Crown Lager

Crown Lager

Crown Lager is a 4.9% premium Australian beer originally made by Carlton & United Breweries (CUB), a subsidiary of Foster's Group. The beer was first brewed in 1919 under its former name, "Foster's Crown Lager".

Carlton & United Breweries has promoted Crown Lager (known colloquially as a "crownie") with the story that it was originally brewed in 1919 as "Foster's Crown Lager" and was initially only available to visiting dignitaries that visited Australia. During the first royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Australia in 1954, Carlton & United Breweries marked the occasion releasing Crown Lager. The company is currently re-investigating this history following claims that Foster's Crown Lager was brewed prior to 1919 and that it was widely available to the public prior to 1954.

Crown lager is recognisable by its uniquely shaped bottle and by its 1954-trademarked logo that has only changed four times in the history of the beer, and remains one of Australia's most popular premium lagers. The unique bottle shape and label was designed by Eveline Annie Harvey (22 May 1910 — 5 August 2008), a commercial artist working in Melbourne who was also responsible for many other well-known labels during the period, such as Monbulk Jam and others. Harvey was the artist chosen by General Douglas McArthur to draw critical and highly secretive maps during the war. Harvey produced the Crown Lager artwork at print size using only a (single haired) paintbrush and exceptional skill as were the methods of the time.

In 2003, former Foster’s President and CEO Ted Kunkel declared that in that year in a speech that 2003 would be the 50th anniversary for Crown Lager. Kunkel had also announced that the beer continued to show high growth, concluding the beer was still Australia's leading premium beer. Crown Lager was originally produced as an export beer—the current bottle shape and label remain mostly identical to Harvey's original artwork except that the word 'Export' has been removed. Crown Lager has marketed itself as a premium beer in the Australian market. As such it has formed an affiliation with Golf Australia to create the Crown Lager Social Golf Club.

In 2006 CUB released two alternative types of beer under the crown banner.

"Crown Gold" is a Mid-strength beer, available only in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The ale was launched in 2014 to hold its market share in an increasing competitive beer market. Crown Lager sales in the March 2014 results had shown that it had declined in the past year.

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Answer 6

Crown Pilsner

Crown Pilsner is a 5.4% Australian beer made by the Carlton & United Beverages (CUB).

Crown Pilsner was first brewed in 2006 as Foster's Group sought to extend its beer market share. Initially, this beer was only available at selected restaurants in Australia. The initial limited release was 10,000 cases.

Crown Pilsner is highly recognisable by its uniquely shaped bottle and by its Crown trademarked logo that has changed only four times in the history of the beer.

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Answer 7

Emu (beer)

Emu is a beer brand name now owned by Lion. It was originally brewed by the Emu Brewery in 1908 until the brewery's sale to the Swan Brewery in 1927. The production of the Emu branded beer continued from a separate autonomous brewery in Perth until 1978, and then was relocated to a combined brewery in Canning Vale. In 2014 Lion Nathan moved production of both the Emu and Swan beer brands to the company's West End Brewery in South Australia.

Emu Bitter is a mild bitter lager that has a strong hops taste, which was introduced in 1923 as one of Emu Brewing Companies flagships. The alcohol by volume content of the beer is currently 4.0%. The man pictured on the label is former Swan Brewer Ken Arrowsmith. He oversaw the introduction of Emu Draft and was head brewer during the brands popularity boom in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. Colloquial names for the beer include:"Bush Chooks", "EB" or "Kenny".

In the mid to late 20th century, when Emu Bitter came in large brown bottles with green labels, it was also called "green slime", "green stuff", "green poison" or "kero". These names were frequently used tongue in cheek, or in a derogatory way by those who preferred Swan lager, (often the only readily available alternative), and were a reference to Emu Bitter's green coloured label and its very bitter taste ("kerosene like taste" Swan Lager drinkers would claim). Post WW II, power kerosene in Western Australia was often coloured green and came in brown 26 oz. bottles similar to those used post war for Emu Bitter. These old colloquial names are still sometimes used with affection by some older generation Western Australians who recall the days when beer only came in large brown bottles or out of a keg.

Prior to the late 1970s, the Swan Brewery had a virtual monopoly in the Western Australia beer market. Therefore, outside of the Goldfields where the original Hannan's Lager and Kalgoorlie Stout (Kalgoorlie brewed by the Swan Brewery owned Kalgoorlie Brewing Company) still held their own, the choice for beer drinkers was often only between Emu Bitter and Swan Lager, and both brews had their loyal consumers who would make fun of the opposing brew. Emu Bitter drinkers, in response to the "kero" name calling, would often claim that Emu Bitter was "a real man's drink", while Swan Lager was "a drink for women and young men not tough enough to appreciate the bitter taste of Emu Bitter". And in those less than politically correct days, any young Perth man who did drink an imported beer, or the locally bottled Skol, or Swan Special Bond, was likely to get comments from his drinking friends suggesting his choice of brew indicated something questionable about his sexuality. The Kalgoorlie Brewery closed in 1982 and Hannan's Lager eventually disappeared from Swan's list of brews (but lately, a facsimile Hannan's Lager was launched by the Ironbark Brewery).

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Answer 8

Emu Brewery

The Emu Brewery was a brewery in Perth, Western Australia, which traced its history to the first decade of the colony. Founded in 1837 by James Stokes as the Albion Brewery, it was located beside the Swan River on a block bounded by Mounts Bay Road, Spring Street and Mount Street. The business changed hands — and names — several times, until its ultimate acquisition by competitor the Swan Brewery in 1927.

New brewery buildings were constructed over the years. The most notable of these was an imposing Art Deco building erected between 1936 and 1938. This building continued to be used to produce Emu-brand beer until the late 1970s, when production was shifted to a new factory in Canning Vale. Emu beer continues to be produced as a brand of Swan Brewery owner Lion Nathan.

In the early 1830s, the Swan River Colony was in its infancy and did not have a substantial local beer industry. Preachers from the Temperance League lobbied against the drunkenness prevalent in the Colony, however the lack of locally produced beer meant that they focused their attention on spirits drinkers.Governor James Stirling believed that the construction of a local brewery may reduce the Colony's drunkenness problems by allowing the men to drink beer instead of spirits.

Scotsman James Stokes had arrived in Western Australia in 1834 at the age of 24. He saw the opportunity in the market for a brewery, and investigated potential sites. Surveyor-General John Septimus Roe had set aside a small triangular lot for use as a brewery; this block was bounded by Spring Street, Mount Street and St Georges Terrace. Stokes preferred the much larger block across Spring Street, which extended almost all the way to the riverfront. The site was more suitable because it featured a natural spring, there was a sufficient different in elevation to enable the use of gravity in the brewing process without the need for a large tower. The proximity to the river also made river transport an attractive option. Stokes bought this land from George Leake, and was operating his brewery by 1837. Although the brewery was named the Albion Brewery after the ancient name for Great Britain, it was more popularly known as Stokes' Brewery. It was the colony's first major stand-alone brewery.

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Answer 9

Gage Roads Brewing Company

Gage Roads Brewing Co Ltd

The Gage Roads Brewing Company (Gage Roads Brewing Co. Ltd) is an Australian craft brewery located just outside the city of Fremantle in Palmyra, Western Australia. It is one of Australia's largest independent breweries. In 2016, it's New World Pale Ale - Little Dove - was awarded the Trophy for Champion Australian Beer at the 2016 Australian International Beer Awards. In 2015, it was runner-up Champion Large Brewery at the Australian International Beer Awards.

Gage Roads was founded by Bill Hoedemaker, John Hoedemaker and Peter Nolin in 2002. The brewery is named after Gage Roads, a sea channel in the Indian Ocean between Fremantle and Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia.

Gage Roads was listed on the ASX (stock code: GRB) in 2006 and remains Australia’s only remaining listed brewery. In 2009 Woolworths Limited acquired a 25 per cent share in the brewer for $2 million. The investment allowed Gage Roads to purchase a state-of-the-art 100 hectolitre brewhouse from German manufacturer Krones, with its installation increasing capacity to 2.2 million cases per annum.

In 2015 the brewer executed a comprehensive refresh of its core craft beers, adding three new beers to its year-round lineup. The refresh proved to be extremely successful, with increased sales now making Gage Roads one of the largest craft brewers in Australia. On the back of sales success, the brewer announced in 2016 that it would execute a 5-year strategy to enter untapped independent and on-premise markets nationally.

Year-round Craft Beers

Year-round Small Batch Beers

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Answer 10

Feral Brewing Company

The Feral Brewing Company is a brewery in the Swan Valley, Western Australia.

Feral Brewing first opened in October 2002 and was founded by Alistair Carragher and Brendan Varis, with a vision to "craft beers that ... were a little on the wild side". Varis has a degree in brewing and fermentation science and Carragher's background was in hospitality and sales.

In January 2012 the Feral Brewing Company and Nail Brewing formed Brewcorp Pty Ltd developing a brewhouse and warehouse facilities in Bassendean.

Feral Brewing Company brews a range of beers. They bottle five year-round beers: the Feral White (also known as the Belgium White), the Hop Hog (an American IPA), Smoked Porter (a smoked beer or Rauchbier), Sly Fox (a Session Blonde Ale) and the Karma Citra (a Black India Pale Ale). Beers are available for purchase from retail outlets.

The brewery doubles as a restaurant and distributes beers in Australia.

The brewery's beer list includes various styles including Belgium white Ales, Pilsners, American IPAs, and Lambic style sour beers as well as other barrel-conditioned and fermented styles.

The Feral Brewing Company has won a number of awards including From the Australian International Beer Awards:

From the Perth Royal Beer Show:

From the Beer and Brewer People's Choice Awards:

From the Hong Kong International Beer Awards:

From the Western Australian Tourism Awards:

From GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of the Year

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