Australian Max Beer

Pint of Australian MAX World's Best Strong Lager

Australian Max is an Indian brand of strong beer produced by International Breweries (P) Ltd. Australian Max has won the title of "The World's Best Strong Lager" at the World Beer Awards. Strong beer is defined as between 5% to 8% ABV (alcohol by volume) and this segment accounts for around 70% of the Indian beer market. Australian MAX is the strong beer extension of the company's popular Australian Lager brand and is often simply called MAX by its regular drinkers.^[1][2][3]

International Breweries (“IBL”) is a Canadian owned brewer, founded by Steven Judge and Peter Harvey, which produces and markets high quality beers. IBL was the first international brewer to enter the Indian beer market in the late 1990s and has helped pioneer the improvement of beer quality & craft brewing over the past decade. IBL’s strong beer, Australian MAX, is an exceptionally smooth, refreshing, premium strong lager that goes down easy but packs a real punch with 7-8% alcohol by volume.

Australian Max Wins The "World’s Best Strong Lager" Title

Australian Max, a premium strong beer brewed by IBL has won the titles of “Asia’s Best Strong Lager” and “The World’s Best Strong Lager” at the World Beer Awards - 2011.^[4][5] This is the highest award ever won by a beer brewed in India. With over 700 entries, it was a hard fought competition against the best strong beers from Germany, Britain, USA, Denmark and other countries.

Malted barley before roasting

The World Beer Awards is a global competition that evaluates beers from around the world and recognizes the most outstanding beers produced. The 2011 awards saw a huge growth in entries, with a record 700+ entries coming from 57 countries. All entries in the annual World Beer Awards are judged blind with regional style heats held in Europe, USA and Asia. Regional style winners are then tasted against other regional winners by an international panel of Judges, chaired by Roger Protz, in London to select the overall ‘World’s Best’. The final results were released on October 27, 2011.^[6]

Beer Industry in India

The Indian beer industry has been witnessing steady growth of 10 - 17% per year over the last ten years. The rate of growth has increased in recent years, with volumes passing 170m cases during the 2009 financial year. With the average age of the population on the decrease and income levels on the increase, the popularity of beer in the country continues to rise. India currently produces over 200m cases of beer per year and is expected to grow at 14% in 2012.

The Start of Craft Brewing in India

The quality of Indian beers was generally considered below average in the past. However, in recent years craft brewers such as IBL have entered the market with a focus on high quality brewing. As a result, the quality of Indian beer has improved dramatically over the past decade. This dramatic improvement has culminated in Australian MAX, winning the title of "The World's Best Strong Lager". This is the first time a beer produced in India has claimed a "World's Best" title.

Over the past five years many craft brewpubs have been built all over India and the quality of beer production is rapidly catching up with the best worldwide. Steven Judge, (IBL's CEO) has formed the Asian Craft Brewers Federation ("ACBF") open to all craft breweries across Asia. The ACBF seeks to advance the interests of Asian craft brewers in order to assist the continued improvement of beer quality in this region of rapidly growing beer markets.

References

1. ↑ Consumer Review|
2. ↑ Consumer Review|
3. ↑ Consumer Review|
4. ↑ World Beer Awards - Press Release|
5. ↑ World Beer Awards Website|
6. ↑ World Beer Awards 2011 - Results|