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Beer in Australia

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A bottling machine being used in 1945.

Australian beer is mostly now lager[citation needed]. Although Australia was settled predominantly by the British, it was found that, before the availability of modern temperature control systems, the brewing, distribution and storage of British style ale was difficult in many parts of Australia due to high summer temperatures and often sudden day-to-day weather changes in Southern parts of the continent. The introduction of refrigeration lent itself to lager production, as well as enabling beer to be served cold.

The oldest brewery still in operation is the Cascade Brewery, established in Tasmania in 1824.

The majority of the large Australian breweries are now owned by the conglomerates Foster's Group and Lion Nathan. Coopers is the only large brewery that is still privately owned.

Boutique brands of beer are fast becoming the flavour of the masses which is forcing the large brewhouses to change their ideas on what the drinkers want.[citation needed] Australia's numerous microbreweries are gaining decent market share.[citation needed]

Despite its heavy international presence, the so-called original Australian beer, Foster's Lager, has relatively low appeal throughout Australia.

Early history

The history of Australian beer starts very early in Australia’s colonial history. Captain Cook brought beer with him on his ship Endeavour as a means of preserving drinking water. On 1 August 1768 as Captain Cook was fitting out the Endeavour for its voyage, Nathaniel Hulme wrote to Joseph Banks recommending that he take -

"a quantity of Molasses and Turpentine, in order to brew Beer with, for your daily drink, when your Water becomes bad. … [B]rewing Beer at sea will be peculiarly useful in case you should have stinking water on board; for I find by Experience that the smell of stinking water will be entirely destroyed by the process of fermentation."

— Letter to Joseph Banks 1768

Beer was still being consumed on board 2 years later in 1770 when Cook was the first European to discover the east coast of Australia.

Although beer is now the most popular alcoholic drink in Australia, this was not always the case. The drink of choice for the first settlers and convicts was rum –

Cut yer name across me backbone
Stretch me skin across yer drum
Iron me up on Pinchgut Island
From now to Kingdom Come.
I'll eat yer Norfolk Dumpling
Like a juicy Spanish plum,
Even dance the Newgate Hornpipe
If ye'll only gimme Rum!
Traditional Convict Song.

Rum was so popular, and official currency in such short supply, that for a time it became a semi-official currency (see Rum corps) and even led to a short-lived military coup, the Rum rebellion in 1808.

Drunkenness was an enormous problem in the early colony.

"Drunkenness was a prevailing vice. Even children were to be seen in the streets intoxicated. On Sundays, men and women might be observed standing round the public-house doors, waiting for the expiration of the hours of public worship in order to continue their carousing. As for the condition of the prison population, that, indeed, is indescribable. Notwithstanding the sever punishment for sly grog selling, it was carried on to a large extent. Men and women were found intoxicated together, and a bottle of brandy was considered to be cheaply bought for 20 lashes... All that the vilest and most bestial of human creatures could invent and practise, was in this unhappy country invented and practised without restraint and without shame"

— Marcus Clarke - For the Term of His Natural Life, 1867

As a means of reducing drunkenness, beer was promoted as a safer and healthier alternative to rum.

"The introduction of beer into general use among the inhabitants would certainly lessen the consumption of spirituous liquors. I have therefore in conformity with your suggestion taken measures for furnishing the colony with a supply of ten tons of Porter, six bags of hops, and two complete sets of brewing materials."

— Lord Hobart in a letter to Governor Philip King on 29 August 1802

The first (official) brewer in Australia was John Boston who brewed a beverage from Indian corn bittered with cape gooseberry leaves. It is likely though that beer was brewed unofficially much earlier. The first pub, the Mason Arms was opened in 1796 in Parramatta by James Larra a freed convict.

It is worth noting here that although Australian beer today is predominantly lager, early Australian beer was exclusively Ale. Lager was not brewed in Australia until 1885. Early beers were also brewed without the benefit of hops as no one had successfully cultivated them in Australia and importation was difficult. James Squire was the first to successfully cultivate hops in 1804. The Government Gazette from 1806 mentions that he was awarded a cow from the government herd for his efforts. Squire also opened a pub and brewed beer though an epitaph on a gravestone in Parramatta churchyard casts some doubt on the quality of the product –

YE WHO WISH TO LIE HERE
DRINK SQUIRE’S BEER!

In September 1804 a government owned brewery opened in Parramatta followed by a rival privately owned brewery 3 months later. The government brewery was sold 2 years later to Thomas Rushton who was its head brewer. That Parramatta brewery remains the only government run brewery ever operated in Australia. Brewing rapidly expanded in all the Australian colonies. By 1871 there were 126 breweries in Victoria alone which at the time had a population of only 800,000.

Some notable events from this period include –

  • 1824 – Peter Degraves starts the Cascade brewery in Tasmania. The brewery is still operating and is Australia’s oldest surviving brewery.
  • 1835 – Tooth brewery is established in Sydney
  • 1836 – John Warren starts South Australia's first brewery
  • 1837 – James Stokes establishes Western Australia's first brewery. This will later become the Emu brewery.
  • 1838 – Mr Moss establishes the first brewery in Melbourne.
  • 1862 – Thomas Cooper establishes the Coopers Brewery. The brewery is still operated by the Cooper family and is Australia’s largest independent brewery.
  • 1864 – Carlton brewery opens in Melbourne
  • 1885 – Gambrinus brewery in Melbourne becomes the first brewery in Australia to brew Lager.
  • 1887 – The Fosters brothers arrive from New York with refrigeration equipment and establish the first Lager brewery to use refrigeration in Australia.
  • 1889 – Lager is first brewed in Queensland at the Castlemaine and Quinlan brewery.

By 1900 the number of breweries had begun to dwindle as a result of the recession of the 1890s. In 1901, just after Federation, the new federal government passed the Beer and Excise act. This act regulated the making and selling of beer and made homebrewing illegal. The provisions in this act, regarded by many as draconian, lead to the closure of many breweries. 16 of Sydney’s 21 breweries closed either immediately after the acts introduction or soon afterwards. The remaining breweries began a process of consolidation with larger breweries buying out the smaller ones. With in a short time there were only 2 breweries remaining in Sydney – Tooths and Tooheys. In Melbourne, 5 breweries merged in 1907 to form the giant Carlton and United Breweries.

This process continues today with only two companies – Lion Nathan and the Foster's Group owning every major brewery in Australia with the exception of Coopers which is still family run, Boag's having only recently been sold to Lion Nathan, previously owned by San Miguel.

Parts of this early history have been copied with permission from http://www.australianbeers.com

Brands by region

Before federation in 1901, Australia was a group of separate colonies, each with different laws regulating the production and sale of alcohol. In addition, until the late 1880s when the rail network began to link the capital cities together, the only means of transporting foods in bulk between the colonies was by sea. This prevented even the largest breweries from distributing significant amounts outside their home city. This allowed strong regional brands to emerge and although all but one of the major regional brands (Coopers) are now owned by multinational companies, loyalty to the 'local' brewery remains strong today.

In recent years, mixing of beer tastes due to a more mobile population, major campaigns by the larger breweries to spread their brands outside their home state and the growth of the ‘premium’ beer market have started to erode the traditional loyalties. Despite this, the brand loyalties are still strong with only Tooheys and Victoria Bitter gaining any significant market share outside their home state.

The premium beer market does not follow the state loyalties with the major premium brands being available nationwide. Popular ‘premium’ beers include Hahn and Crown lager.

With the notable exceptions of Coopers, and the dark Toohey's "Old Black", these are all mild-tasting commercial lagers.

The Brewery on the external Australian territory of Norfolk Island is one of few places left to brew and sell cask-conditioned ale. Its varieties include Bee Sting (a bright ale), Mutineer (similar to a British bitter) and Bligh's Revenge (a dark ale).

Australian stouts

In contemporary Australia, the overwhelmingly largest proportion of beer produced is of the lager variety, and most commentary on Australian beer reflects that predominance.

However, dark beers and stout have a venerable history in Australia, and good quality stouts are still made to this time.

Guinness has a very strong following among the music communities in many states, and groups such as the Brisbane Guinness Appreciation Society in the late 1990s promoted it as an alternative to the regular brews. Couple this with the growth of Irish theme pubs and a growing awareness of the Irish roots of many Australians, Guinness has become increasingly available On Tap in recent years.

Mainstream Australian stouts

The following list contains many of the extant brands of Stout in Australia. In general, despite the fact that most of these brands are produced by Australia-wide combines, they are not readily available beyond their State of origin, nor are they aggressively promoted even within their own region. As a result of this lack of commercial promotion, they may not be well known even within Australia, let alone internationally.

Most of these varieties claim to be made by “traditional” methods, using quality ingredients.

  • Abbots Invalid Stout (Vic)
  • Carbine Stout (Qld)
  • Cascade Special Stout (Tas)
  • Coopers Best Extra Stout (SA)
  • Sheaf Stout (NSW)
  • Southwark Stout (SA)
  • Special Old Stout (SA)
  • Swan Stout ( WA)

Boutique Australian stouts

  • Black Bart Stout
  • Colonial Mild Irish Stout
  • Ebony Stout
  • Flanagans
  • Grumpy’s Heysen Scottish Oatmeal Stout (SA)
  • Hat Lifter Stout
  • Iron Bark Amber Stout
  • Mountain Goat Surefoot Stout
  • Oxford Black
  • Russian Imperial Stout
  • SCB Extra Stout
  • Swan Valley Stout
  • Velvet Cream Stout

Speciality beers

Particularly in the cosmopolitan areas of the major cities, speciality brews produced by major brewers and by microbreweries, including a wide variety of ales, are increasing in popularity, as are many foreign beers.

Microbreweries

Innumerable microbreweries have taken root across the country, many in small towns. The availability of many such beers on tap is often limited to establishments with independent management.

Microbreweries of Australia include:

While many of these companies choose to feature grotesque brand names, this is not an exclusively Australian characteristic, as some US and Canadian microbreweries use the same marketing strategy.

Beer glasses

Australia is a diverse country, and one of the most notorious examples of this is the variation in the names for beer glasses in each state. As young Australians travel more, the differences are decreasing. Most pubs nowadays do not have a glass smaller than 285 ml/10 imperial fl oz (Pot or Middy). In addition, many pubs outside of VIC and WA now have Pints (570 ml/20 fl oz., possibly because the popularity of themed Irish pubs in Australia which have always used pints. Many inner suburban Melbourne establishments have also begun to serve schooners, not traditionally found in Victoria.

Many imported beers will be served in their own branded glasses of various sizes, including 330ml for many European lagers, and 250ml for Hoegaarden White.

A request of a "Pot of Gold" may sound like a joke, but it is a valid order of a 285 ml (10 fl oz) glass of XXXX Gold.

Names of beer glasses in various Australian cities[n 1][n 2][n 3]
Capacity[n 4] Sydney Canberra Darwin Brisbane Adelaide Hobart Melbourne Perth
115 ml (4 fl oz) – – – – - small beer foursie shetland
140 ml (5 fl oz) pony – – pony pony – horse/pony pony
170 ml (6 fl oz) – – – – butcher[n 5] six (ounce) – bobbie/six
200 ml (7 fl oz) seven – seven beer butcher seven (ounce) glass glass
285 ml (10 fl oz) middy middy / half pint handle pot[n 6] schooner[n 7] ten (ounce) pot middy / half pint
350 ml (12 fl oz) schmiddy[n 8] – – – – – – –
425 ml (15 fl oz) schooner schooner schooner schooner pint[n 7] fifteen / schooner schooner schooner[n 9]
570 ml (20 fl oz) pint pint pint pint imperial pint[n 7] pint pint pint
Notes:
  1. ^ Entries in bold are common.
  2. ^ Entries in italics are old-fashioned or rare.
  3. ^ Entries marked with a dash are not applicable.
  4. ^ The "fl oz" referred to here is the imperial fluid ounce.
  5. ^ Prior to metrification, the butcher was 6 fl oz.
  6. ^ "Pot" is also known as Pot glass
  7. ^ a b c Confusingly for visitors, South Australians use the same names for different volumes than in the other States.
  8. ^ A modern glass size, mainly used with European beers. While the glass may be 350ml, a 330ml or 300ml fill line is common.
    With the increasing popularity of European beers, glasses of size 250ml and 500ml are also becoming more prevalent, but as yet don't seem to have acquired "names".
  9. ^ Traditionally, 425 ml is a size rarely found in Western Australia.
References:
  1. The Aussie Beer Baron
  2. Buying Beer in Australia
  3. Guidelines at a glance
  4. Ordering Beer
  5. Liquor Merchants Association of Australia (via archive.org)
  6. Which Size Beer Do Ya Want, Mate? (via archive.org)
  7. Take a butcher's hook at the butcher glass


South Australian traditional beer glasses

Until relatively recently, there were no Australia-wide standard measures for serving beer. South Australia in particular used two unusual measures that were not used elsewhere. These are :

  • 170 ml (6 fl oz) known as a “butcher”
  • 255 ml (9 fl oz) known as a “schooner”

In addition, a 425 ml (15 fl oz) was (and still is) known as a “pint”; technically, as a “reputed pint”, being 0.75 imperial pint.

Note that the SA schooner is considerably smaller than the measure of the same name in NSW, as is the SA “pint”.

Usage and understanding of these names is now generally restricted to people born before about 1950. In contemporary SA pubs and restaurants, the most frequent measure is now the up-sized "schooner" of 285 ml (10 fl oz/half-pint), while “imperial pints” are also popular in bohemian, artistic and “theme” venues such as Irish pubs.







Beer Bottles

Darwin Stubby

Most bottled beer in Australia is sold in either 375 ml or 750 ml sizes. Carlton brands have "upsized" to 800 ml. Some minor brands are marketed in 330 ml and 345 ml sizes. In the Northern Territory, the "Darwin Stubby a large (2.0-litre) bottle is sold largely as a tourist gimmick, but very successfully. Most bottles are light weight "single use only", though some are still reusable, and in some cases, (e.g. Coopers 750 ml) breweries are reintroducing refillable bottles. In South Australia, mandatory deposits on beer bottles and some other types of beverage containers support a well established network of recycling centres, providing significant environmental benefits as well as generating employment opportunities for unskilled workers.

See also

References

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