Beer arrived in Australia at the beginning of British colonisation. In 2004, Australia was ranked fifth internationally in per capita beer consumption, at around 110 litres per year,[1] though considerably lower in terms of total per capita alcohol consumption. The most popular beer style in modern day Australia is lager.
The oldest brewery still in operation is the Cascade Brewery, established in Tasmania in 1824. Except for the family-owned Coopers, all of the large breweries are now owned by the Australian company Foster's or Japanese-owned Lion Nathan. Foster's Lager is made mostly for export or under licence in other countries, particularly the UK.[2]
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Within an alcoholic beverage market worth some $16.3 billion, beer comprises about 48% compared to wine at 29% and spirits at 21%. Within the beer sector, premium beers have a 7.8% share of the market; full strength beer has 70.6%; mid-strength holds 12%; and light beer has 9.6%. 85% of beer is produced by national brewers, the remainder by regional or microbreweries. Microbreweries manufacturing less than 30,000 litres receive a 60% excise rebate.[3]
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 –
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 severe 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"
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 top fermented and quick maturing ales. 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 –
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 –
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 act's introduction or soon afterwards. The remaining breweries began a process of consolidation with larger breweries buying out the smaller ones. Within 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 owned and run; Boag's, previously owned by San Miguel, was sold to Lion Nathan in November 2007.
Before federation in 1901, Australia was a patchwork 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.
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).
While the overwhelming proportion of beer produced is lager (approximately 95%), dark beers and stout are still made.
Guinness has a strong following in many states, based on the growth of Irish theme pubs and the Irish roots of many Australians, and is increasingly available on tap. Guinness made and sold in Australia is around 6%, considerably stronger than that in Ireland and Britain.
In general, despite the fact that most Stouts 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.
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.
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. While many of these companies choose to feature subversive brand names, this is not an exclusively Australian characteristic, as some US and Canadian microbreweries use the same marketing strategy.
In recent years imported premium beers have started to gain market share in Australia.[4] The two Australian corporate brewers responded to this by signing licence agreements with foreign brands to brew their beers here. Foster's Group brews Guinness, Stella Artois, Kronenbourg and Carlsberg in Australia; while Lion Nathan locally produces Heineken, Beck's and Kirin. Brewers claim that their locally produced product tastes better because it is fresher; and that their local operations are carried out under strict guidelines overseen by the parent brewers. However groups such as the Australian Consumers Association say that such beers should have clearer, more prominent labels to inform drinkers.[5]
There are different names for different sized beer glasses in each state. As young Australians travel more, the differences are decreasing. Most pubs of the 2000s no longer have a glass smaller than 285 ml (10 imp fl oz). Many pubs outside of Victoria now have pints (570 ml or 20 imp fl oz), possibly because of the popularity of themed Irish pubs in Australia, which have always used pints.
Many imported beers will be served in their own branded glasses of various sizes, including 330 millilitres (12 imp fl oz) for many European lagers, and 250 millilitres (9 imp fl oz) for Hoegaarden White.
A request for a "Pot of Gold" may sound like a joke, but in Brisbane it is a valid order of a 285 ml glass of XXXX Gold.
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Names of beer glasses in various Australian cities[n 1][n 2][n 3] |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity[n 4] | Sydney/Canberra | Darwin | Brisbane | Adelaide | Hobart | Melbourne | Perth | ||
| 115 ml (4 fl oz) |
– | – | – | butcher | small beer | – | shetland | ||
| 140 ml (5 fl oz) |
pony | – | pony | pony | – | horse/pony | pony | ||
| 170 ml (6 fl oz) |
– | – | – | – | six (ounce) | small glass | bobbie/six | ||
| 200 ml (7 fl oz) |
seven | seven | seven (ounce) | butcher | seven (ounce) | glass | glass | ||
| 225 ml (8 fl oz) |
– | – | – | – | eight (ounce) | – | – | ||
| 255 ml (9 fl oz) |
– | – | – | schooner | – | – | – | ||
| 285 ml (10 fl oz) |
middy/half pint[n 5] | handle | pot[n 6] | schooner | ten (ounce)/pot | pot | middy/half pint | ||
| 350 ml (12 fl oz) |
schmiddy[n 7] | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 425 ml (15 fl oz) |
schooner | schooner | schooner | pint | fifteen/schooner | schooner[n 8] | schooner[n 8] | ||
| 570 ml (20 fl oz) |
pint | pint | pint | imperial pint | pint | pint | pint | ||
Notes:
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Until relatively recently, there were no Australia-wide standard measures for serving beer. South Australia in particular used two unusual measures, these are :
Note that the SA "schooner" is considerably smaller than the measure of the same name elsewhere, as is the SA "pint"; the 425 ml (15 imp fl oz) "pint" is 0.75 imperial pint.
Usage and understanding of these names is now generally restricted to people born before about 1960. (i.e. "Baby Boomers" and before.) In contemporary SA pubs and restaurants, the most frequent measure is now the up-sized "schooner" of 285 ml, (an "imperial half pint"), while "imperial pints" are also popular, particularly in bohemian, artistic and "theme" venues such as "British" and "Irish" pubs.
Most bottled beer in Australia is sold in either 375 mL (Stubby) or 750 mL (Long Neck) sizes. Carlton United briefly have "upsized" to 800 mL; however, this has since been reduced to the original 750 mL. Bottle sizes of 330 mL (and to a lesser extent 345 mL and 355 mL) are becoming increasingly common, particularly among microbreweries. In the Northern Territory, the once-common "Darwin Stubby", a large (2.0-litre) bottle, is now sold largely as a tourist gimmick, but very successfully. Most bottles are lightweight "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.
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