Carlton & United Beverages
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Carlton & United Beverages (formerly Carlton & United Breweries) is an Australian brewing company based in Abbotsford, Melbourne, Victoria. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Foster's Group. It produces many of Australia's most successful beverages, including Australia's most popular beer, Victoria Bitter.
[edit] History
The history of Carlton and United Beverages or CUB began when Carlton, Fosters, Victoria, Shamrock, Castlemaine and McCracken breweries formed into a cartel known as the Society of Melbourne Brewers in 1903. This allowed them to raise prices and remain profitable in what had been an unprofitable market. In 1907 this group merged into a single company known as the Carlton and United Breweries. The company became public in 1913 with the issue of 100,000 shares.
Over time it has bought out many other brewers, such as Abbotsford Co-operative Brewery in 1924 (a company set up by independent hoteliers to combat the anti-competitive nature of the Society of Melbourne Brewers.) Their first interstate acquisition was Northern Australian Breweries and the Cairns Brewery in 1931. Further acquisitions were the Ballarat Brewing Company, Queensland Brewery Ltd, Thos McLauchlin & Co Pty Ltd, Richmond Brewery and Tooth & Co.
In 1983 as an ironic twist of fate, CUB was wholly bought by Elders IXL, a giant Australian diversified conglomerate with Pastoral, Financial, Materials and Food interests. Elders Brewing Group (as it then became known as) continued to acquire brewing companies in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. Finally in 1990 Elders Brewing Group changed its name to Foster's Group, to reflect the name of their most internationally recognised product.
In July 2004, Carlton and United Breweries changed its name to Carlton and United Beverages (retaining CUB acronym), citing the company's diversification into pre-mixed drinks, juices, ciders and non-alcoholic drinks [1].
[edit] Products
- Carlton Draught, a lager beer
- Crown Lager (4.9% ABV) known informally as a "Crownie". Officially launched in June 1953 to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, previously only available exclusively to visiting dignitaries, diplomats and others. Since its launch, Crown Lager has held the title of most popular premium beer in Australia with an average of 1.8 million litres being consumed annually in Australia.
- Crown Gold
- Crown Pilsner
- Victoria Bitter
- Melbourne Bitter
- Carlton Midstrength
- Carlton Cold
