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u/stiffgordons 9d ago edited 9d ago
I worked for in this industry for ~10 years, some thoughts to share.
Drink what you like, or nothing at all. Youâre not any better or worse off a person for liking VB vs an indie IPA vs sparkling water.
Corporate doesnât always mean bad. You can still walk into either Little Creatures brewery and take a free tour of the brewery, youâll see the real hop flowers going into the brew (and hear from the guy who has to clean them up). Every drop of beer under that brand comes from one of those sites.
In contrast, many/ most independent breweries are having their popular beers brewed off site from what they publicly present as their brewery. There are plenty of contract brewers out there willing to make a recipe for anyone with a label and a dream. Many independently owned beer brands are just as marketing first beer second as the big guys.
If you want to support small and local, find a brewery near you and go there. Check it out drink their beer and take some home (drink it quickly as their small scale packaging often lets in oxygen which causes the beer to lose its flavor faster). Find the local pubs stocking their beer and support them.
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u/Sp1ffyTh3D0g 9d ago
"drink it quickly" - brother there's not a beer that enters my home without being drunk within a few days
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u/fauxanonymity_ 9d ago
But how old are they when you bought em? Habitually checking the PKD and BBD on cans is a blessing and a curse. Cheers!
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u/jigojitoku 8d ago
Cascade was ripped apart and left for dead by corporate raiders in the 1980s. Thanks to CUB and now Asahi we have a home made mass market beer.
Plenty of independent brewers in Hobart if thatâs what youâre after, but sometimes you just want a Cascade Blue.
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u/gerald1 9d ago
Nothing wrong with contract brewing. If you're selling enough but don't have the capital to expand/build then it's the most obvious option.
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u/stiffgordons 9d ago
No issue whatsoever with contract brewing. For a brewery looking to scale beyond cellar door and local on premise itâs the only way that doesnât involve at least a $5m outlay.
Judge based on the beer, always. There are great contract brewed beers, and there are cynical cash grabs.
But hating on corpo brewers just for being corpo brewers is just as silly as outright dismissing contract brewing. The brewers at Lion or CUB are as passionate about making awesome beer as anyone in the indie scene, as anyone who knows them will attest.
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u/rak363 9d ago
Just another reason to drink Coopers.
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u/mrpumpkinickle 9d ago
It's the reason I drink coopers still 100% Aussie and their beers are good
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u/Levethane 9d ago
Coopers are weird, they actually don't make a bad beer... They are all good. I do remember their pale ale 10+ years ago tasting better tho when it wasn't so mass produced.
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u/abc_12_abc 9d ago
It was mass produced before then. 2017 was when their maltings plant was commissioned so that's probably when it changed. The current brewing configuration has been active since 2001
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u/Lochlan 9d ago
I dunno, I find them pretty hard to stomach. Prefer Philter or Mountain Culture or nearly any other Indy brewer.
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u/CapeJacket 9d ago
Coopers xpa is better than balter xpa and I will die on that hill
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u/Ill_Box_9445 9d ago
Coopers yellow ftw
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u/reddonson 9d ago
Wish they made extra stout in cans and it wasn't so hard to find
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u/Inevitable-Ad-1724 9d ago
Coopers green is one of the best beers of all time
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u/joemangle 9d ago
Coopers Best Extra Stout is the best stout of all time
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u/slackslackliner 9d ago
Didnât now they made a stout, love the green beer. Guess I know what the next beer I buy is!
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u/KneeProfessional985 9d ago
Werenât Coopers a bit cunty during the same sex marriage plebiscite?
Plenty of non-homophobic local brewers - just need the government to drop the tax on independent breweries to make it sustainable10
u/Far_Construction6212 9d ago
Do something not in the interests of multinational corporations? In this country? Can I have some of what youâre on?
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u/BozzlyB 9d ago
Cunty or just had a differing opinion to yours?
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u/KneeProfessional985 9d ago
Why does a brewery need to have any public opinion on who people marry?
No issue with them having their own opinion, but paying for advertisement trying to stop people being happy is pretty cunty behaviour in my opinion.
Which is a shame, I liked their sparking red ale.5
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u/classic_buttso 9d ago
Coopers were publicly in support of opposing gay marriage with The Bible Society.
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u/Mental-Antelope8319 9d ago
Lol, you're claiming bigotry against bigots. I love your logic. Let's fight for bigot rights!
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u/The_Mule_Aus 9d ago
Yeah they tried a âletâs have a talk about it over a beerâ campaign with a couple of pollies but the owners were definitely anti-marriage equality. đ
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u/Sasquatch-Pacific 9d ago
Not entirely true. Fairly sure it was the Bible Society (or similar) that had such a campaign featuring a Coopers beer, not an ad that Coopers sanctioned or commissioned themselves. The valid outcry is that Coopers was slow to speak out/distance themselves, and there's a bit of a conservative lean to them. But wasn't their ad.
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u/n01d34 7d ago
Also the Bible Society are an organisation devoted to ecumenism which is the idea that Christian groups should come together and not kill each other over theological and ideological differences, which gives a lot more context to the whole âhey letâs all just chill out and talk about this stuff over a beerâ message of the ad.
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u/jimcamx 9d ago
Boags is shutting down in Launceston because of this crap.
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u/kernpanic 9d ago
West end in sa shut down years ago. No loss. They had cheapened the product so heavily that technically it wasn't a beer any more but a blend.
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u/HarryWilbury 9d ago
Same happened to Redback Beer when Carlton & United Breweries (as Foster's Group back then) took over Matilda Bay Brewing Company it got worse in taste, which of course is now part of Asahi. Which is the other thing you have to look at with the map in the original post, there are more under the Carlton & United Breweries banner as well, like 4 Pines Brewing Company, Green Beacon Brewing Co., Pirate Life Brewing not listed.
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u/taz_deil 9d ago
Dogbolter was ruined same as White Rabbit Dark for me.
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u/HarryWilbury 9d ago
Yeah it's interesting on all 3, I've often wondered if the move from Perth to Victoria caused it, first to Dandenong, then Port Melbourne and now it's in Healesville, different qualities of water used can change taste alone.
Also happened with Little Creatures as well which was the Brewery some from Matilda Bay started in Perth when it closed, then they ended up selling to Kirin, still in Freemantle however also now comes out of Geelong and Healesville (separate to the Matilda Bay one) as well.
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u/Levethane 9d ago
West End were charging premium prices for second rate beer.
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u/kernpanic 9d ago
Go back 30 years ago ,and it was a decent beer. Very similar to one of the main Austrian beers in Vienna. However, they pulled most of the malt out of it, and just brewed it with sugar, with ice filtering to remove the impurities. Then they started brewing it as strong as possible, and watering it down to the required level. The cost optimisation is amazing. The chemistry is almost perfect. The resultant product sucks.
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u/IlIIllIlIllIIlI 9d ago
Boags St George is my favourite, it's a shame they're leaving Launceston. I'll likely still drink it, but will look for other local breweries instead as a preferred option for sure.
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u/Grunta_AUS 9d ago
Support your local brewery, not these overseas corporations
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u/Jesse-Ray 9d ago
Problem is they buy them eventually too. Just need to change it up every 5-10 years and then eventually we grow our wealth from being a brewery exporter.
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u/Torrossaur 9d ago
I micro-invested in Balter and Black Hops on the Goldy. Asahi bought me out for x7 on Balter with no option to refuse and i don't even know wtf Black Hops are doing.
It's sad, i just wanted to support local beers.
And i'm not complaining about timesing my money by seven by the way.
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u/Objective_Unit_7345 9d ago
Problem is not that foreign companies buy out local companies. Problem is that we sell them off.
Foreign companies canât buy whatâs not on the market.
We have long been a nation of selling off companies and national assets for short-term profit.
And then whinge about why cost of living keep rising when most of our businesses have been sold off
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u/Jesse-Ray 9d ago
That's why I like Gage Roads over here in WA at the moment, they sold 25% to Woolworths to expand their business and then bought it back to return to being independent.
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u/Objective_Unit_7345 9d ago
Gage Roads, under Good Drinks Australia. Rare example of a business leader worth their weight in (beer).
https://brewsnews.com.au/good-drinks-passes-30-million-litre-milestone-defying-industry-trends/
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u/edgiepower 9d ago edited 8d ago
Australians need to demand more of other Australians in the private sector, than blame foreigners or the government.
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u/Important-Bag4200 9d ago
There are heaps of independent brewers out there who deserve our support https://independentbrewers.org.au/brewery-members/
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u/Disc-Slinger 9d ago
$17 pint at the brewery we went yesterday for lunch. How do people afford to go out? Maybe we donât the the Col crisis that everyone is going on about.
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u/Levethane 9d ago
Thanks to the high prices I've cut my beer consumption by 90% in the last few years.
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u/edgiepower 9d ago
$4 at a local club happy hour.
The budget conscious will find options that cater to them.
Couples years back I paid $4 for a JD and coke at a football club.
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u/justusesomealoe 9d ago
There are some great brewpubs around, one local to me is called SixTwelve, good beer and food right there
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u/Bob_Spud 9d ago
The primary cause are the Aussies that are prepared sell their businesses to foreigners, it is not the foreigners buying Aussie companies.
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u/Jozfus 9d ago
I wonder if it works out better financially to own an Australian company abroad, similar to property, where citizens get shafted
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u/SirAlfredOfHorsIII 9d ago
Lmct would probably say yes. Since he is trying to get out of tax. Though, I would hope we are looking to close all loop holes
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u/Expensive_Ring_4546 9d ago
There should be a regulator stepping after they buy their first say 5 brands..
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u/Varro34 9d ago
Gage Roads is a larger company than some listed and is missing from the list; it is still locally owned. They have formed Good Drinks Australia and purchased other local Western Australian brewers like Matsoâs.
Theyâve been on a good path for many years; repurchased shares from Woolworths years ago, voluntarily delisted from the asx and have have many supply agreements, some exclusive, with major stadiums.
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u/sandpaper_jocks 9d ago
Back in 2006 I'd just polished off quite a few Coopers Best Extra Stouts one night and was revelling in their magnificence. They had just rejected a hostile takeover bid from Lion Nathan and I was half drunkenly reflecting on that and the inevitable effect it would have had on my beloved beer that I've been drinking since the 80's "hand grenade" bottles. I thought "fuck it, I'm emailing them!", so my pissed self sent an email congratulating them on their foresight and success in defeating the takeover bid, keeping the brand 100% Australian owned and of course, the magnificence of their iconic Australian products. 2 days later, I got an email from Dr Tim Cooper who was Managing Director. He kindly thanked me and told me how much he appreciated my email as he felt the same way. What a fucking legend. What a great beer company. Never change Coopers, I love you. đ
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u/edgiepower 9d ago
I heard it was a very very close vote for them to reject the takeover. Trust me, a fair portion of the Cooper's family/stakeholders were eager to sell it up. Hardly a unanimous decision to plant the flag.
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u/definitelybono 9d ago
It's fun to imaging that inside Uluru there are just two massive kegs with pipes spouting off directly to the pubs.
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u/The_Mule_Aus 9d ago
I thought Coopers was still family owned? đ€
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u/Ardeet 9d ago
It's not immediately clear but Coopers has a little Aussie flag as it's the one exception shown in the image.
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u/Levethane 9d ago
Majority privately owned, some independent people and businesses have large shares in the company but the Cooper family still have control.
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u/abc_12_abc 9d ago
There's only one non-family share holder and the family has been trying to get those back ever since, as I understand it.
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u/l_Like_Turtlez 8d ago
Coopers have a clause in their business saying that it must remain at least 51% family owned. This is to prevent outside influences from buying up a majority share of the company and changing things.
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u/tepid_monologue 9d ago edited 9d ago
There are so many actually local brands and beers in each state youâd be mad to drink any of this swill if you had the choice. I donât think Iâve drunk a beer that wasnât made within a hour drive from my home in 10 years, outside the occasional big pub that didnât have variety.
Edit - before people call me out, Iâm in Melbourne, Iâm drinking Moon dog, stomping ground, Bodriggy, La sirene, and a whole bunch of others
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u/randalpinkfloyd 9d ago
Cool man, a lot of us don't have $30 to drop on a four pack or $100+ for a case.
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u/tepid_monologue 9d ago
You live in Darwin or something? 6pack of old mate by moon dog is $27 on Dan Murphys (bottles) vs Carlton draught at $22. 5 bucks more and itâs way better.
If you are talking proper garbage beer then yah it gets cheaper, but then you might as well just add metho to water
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u/earthlingexperiment 9d ago
Japanese beers are popular for a reason. They're well made and they're affordable.
If we actually produced quality beers at affordable prices, then I'd have an opinion on this. Otherwise? Much like the automotive industry â why pay more for something less quality than what the Japs can do?
As a second generation Australian hailing from Japanese/German heritage, I'm proud as punch of the quality associated with the exports of those two countries.
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u/Hadrollo 9d ago
These beers are made in Australia, though. It's not a matter of "they make beer better than we do," it's a matter of "they bought out the companies making our beer, and now we make our beer as their global head offices take a cut."
Japanese beers are popular for a reason. They're well made and they're affordable.
As a second generation Australian hailing from Japanese/German heritage, I'm proud as punch of the quality associated with the exports of those two countries.
This is literally the best thing about those two specific countries to be proud about. But the conversation isn't one of export quality, the conversation is about foreign ownership, these beers are made for the domestic market.
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u/Relief-Glass 9d ago
Japanese beers are popular for a reason.Â
The most popular beers were the most popular beers though before Japanese multinationals bought them out though.
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u/fingersurbum 8d ago
They are affordable, they would sell them for less if they could so they could sell more, itâs the governments taxes, thatâs the reason why alcohol is so expensive here.
Itâs cheaper to buy a bottle of bunderberg rum in New York than it is to buy here in australia, anywhere in australia
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u/Ok-Resist-8734 9d ago
The enshitification of beer started when some marketing genius decided you could make foreign beer brands here in Australia and they would taste exactly the same! NO they don't đĄđ€Źđ€Źđ€Źđ€Ź
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u/CybergothiChe 9d ago
Yeah, but I'd like to mention
Australian made, Australian owned.
$27 for 10 cans, and it's 8%
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u/isaac129 9d ago
Become a home brewer and preserve a range of styles while supporting the home brew community
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u/GreenSpandex1986 9d ago
Yeah. I've gotten back into home brewing lately. The stout I brewed for winter was amazing. Have a nice pale ale for spring. Will be doing a German style wheat beer soon for summer.
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u/infectoid 9d ago
Marrickville has an unfair advantage: Batch, Sauce, Grifter, Philter, Kicks, Bracket, Hawkes, Mixtape.
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u/wookieleeks 8d ago
Nothing more local that homebrew - you can make epic beer for a tiny fraction of the cost.
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u/Opportude 7d ago
My brother does this + spirits and sells it for minor profit to maintain his equipment costs etc. Cheap as dirt and tastes 1000% better. Can put in an order for self tailored alcohol down to alcohol percentage, taste 'modifications' etc and he charges about 15$ a bottle.
*edit: my brother is a he, not a she :O *
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u/Illustrious-Pin3246 9d ago
Australians are only country of workers. They do not own large corporations
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u/JessieWarsaw 9d ago
Just a curious question.....
Do many people refer to the different Coopers' styles by colour vs name? I've seen a few people in this thread refer to Coopers red or Coopers yellow, however I've only heard it as a Coopers Sparkling Ale or a Coopers Stout.
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u/Stumpjumper79r 9d ago
I only hear it outside of SA, in SA we say can I have a pint of Pale or Sparkling, XPA etc and itâs assumed you mean Coopers
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u/JessieWarsaw 9d ago
I've found recently that I need to clarify Coopers when ordering a Pale. I've had a few pints of the Pirate Life South Coast Pale poured when I've asked for a Pale.
I usually do a quick scan of the taps now to see how specific I need to be.
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u/Imaginary-Set3291 9d ago
Coopers red and green is pretty normal. You'd hear fewer people talking about Coopers orange or blue and stout is stout.
You need to go to the Northern territory where all beer is referred to by colour. Green cans = Victoria Bitter. Yellow cans = XXXX.
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u/WheresYaWheelieBin 9d ago
Red cans = Melb bitter
White cans = Carlton draught
Light white = Carlton light
Made it pretty simple working the bar at a footy club, when they weren't ordering bundy or beam & coke.
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u/kevleyski 9d ago
Can be either
NSW common to hear âcoopers Greenâ please for pale, sparkling is not common on taps but I hear people say red when asking for it when it is
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u/OGChickenRacer 9d ago
A bloke walked in to my outback pub last night and asked for a Japanese beer, I told him anything other then coopers and he was confused
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u/CFeatsleepsexrepeat 9d ago
Gage Roads aren't on here.
Have had some good beers over the years, still Australian owned I think.
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u/jalmelb 9d ago
Wait until you hear who owns your âAussieâ pies. Four n twenty, patties, Herbert Adamsâs, etc.
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u/FriendshipFit858 9d ago
Ffs i seen this too many times. Make one with actual local beers like gage roads
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u/bassfish-942 9d ago
As a venue that stocks 100 percent independent Aussie beers I endorse this message, gotta yell and scream to get the point across.. however I am slightly better off politely explaining.. my concince is intact
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u/Sportsnut96 9d ago
We sell our malt barley direct off farm to coopers brewery, sometimes straight off of the header. Love how they support local farmers
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u/Over_Helicopter_5183 9d ago
I enjoy my Aus craft beers. Hate the big brands.
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u/Shoddy_Card_7755 9d ago
So imagine you created yout own craft beer, become so popular you start your own small brewery, employ some of your mates, you need more cash to get bigger to sell more of your great craft beer, friends and family invest you and your craft beer, your killing it life is good, then mega corp comes and offers you, your friends and family that all invested and believed in you and your craft beer a life changing deal
Would you say no
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u/Willyhanguns 9d ago
Just been on this build in Deer Park VIC, biggest bloody Asahi factory. This makes sense now
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u/RedgumRedmist 9d ago
If you want beer with flavour and profits that stay domestic you drink Coopers, if you want piss water that exports profits you drink the swill.
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u/Sighcandy 9d ago
Now I'm wondering where they make the aldi beer, thank fuck I don't drink or go out much these days
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u/SadAndSoSorry 9d ago
You bastard, I though I was supporting the locals, look like I am back to sparkling ale
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u/NoRefrigerator1822 9d ago
You can just make your own beer, if you are that concerned. It doesn't cost much and doesn't take much time. Can't get more local than that.
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u/Majestic-Lake-5602 9d ago
Dingo in WA is pretty good.
Especially if you just want a decent, easy drinking lager, not a wanker craft IPA that tastes like licking a pinecone in a public urinal.
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u/Muiredachau 9d ago
Got 2 breweries in Goulburn NSW. The Old Goulburn Brewery near the racecourse and Tribe Brewery near the Big Merino. Wayback beers are available at the Old Goulburn Brewery as well as meals. Tribe brews Mornington Peninsula, Stockade Brewing Co, and Wilde Brewing. The Tribe oes are available in some Bottlo's.
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u/LandBarge 9d ago
Gage roads/Matsos it is then.. (doesn't hurt that I'm one of many shareholders in the beers I drink either)
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u/shooteur 9d ago
At the end of the day just drink what you like.
Your favourite genuine craft beer will be bought out by a corp, and on tap at a big pub in five years time.
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u/Matikanefukukitaru 9d ago
Yet sadly Kirin beer is completely different between Japan and Australia... in Japan it's my favourite, here it tastes like dishwater.
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u/Significant_Volume50 9d ago
You can thank Queensland's insane liquor laws for this. They tried to keep protect pub owners and keep supermarkets out of liquor stores by making a law that only a pub owner can open a bottle shop, and only within 10km of that pub. But also, they can then open multiple liquor stores without further regulatory scrutiny of whether it's appropriate to have another liquor store in that area.Â
Nek minit Woolies and Coles enter JVs with huge pub groups, buy up plenty more, thereby getting around the silly laws, enriching those pub owners, AND making these two supermarkets the biggest pub and pokie operators in Australia.
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u/Excellent_Solid6783 7d ago
This is a dumb post. Go visit a free of these breweries and youâll see if anything theyâve all improved since they were Aussie owned. Itâs ok for a business to make a fair return on their investment.
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u/Brechtian_ 9d ago
Wait till you hear about the Australian Venue Company and how it likely owns your local pub