Top Notch

As the Spring Racing Carnival has concluded and we wind the turn towards the holidays, it’s a good chance to see what the Australian premium beer market will offer us for the silly season. Odds are good that the competition will be fierce as the premium beer ‘yearling’ has shown good form on a slow track all year. Look for value this season both in the bar and the bottle shop, but be willing to take long shot for pure enjoyment; life’s to short to be entirely driven by the almighty dollar.

Down in the Apple Isle the ‘Beer Wars’ continues like a family feud. This real life North vs. South conflict has intensified with J. Boag & Son to the north expanding their brewery and announcing a new beer for the mainland – Boags Draught. While Cascade to the south continues to go from strength to strength with their Four Seasons specialty beers with Summer Blonde making its third seasonal appearance, and Cascade Premium Light continues to hold the title of premium light beer of choice on the market.

Strong sales growth of its premium beers has led J. Boag & Son to invest in a major expansion program which will double the capacity of the Launceston Brewery
The first stage of the expansion was to install a new $15million high speed packaging line, completed in October. The addition of this new bottling line has enabled J. Boag & Son to launch their oldest brand, Boag’s Draught nationally. Director Lyndon Adams, said, “In the last six years our sales have doubled with the phenomenal growth led by James Boag’s Premium, which is now Australia’s second largest premium beer brand.” “Our growth has led to the situation where we have outgrown our current facility. Following a review of all possible expansion options open to us, the company felt that maintaining the authentic Tasmanian origin of our brands was critical to our ongoing success, and thus we chose to upgrade our existing brewery in Launceston.”

Meanwhile to the south, Cascade continues to score goals with their Four Season range of beers. Created especially for the Australian Summer, Cascade Summer Blonde is a refreshing and zesty blonde wheat beer using the freshest wheat, hops and pure soft water from the slopes of Mount Wellington. The master brewers at Tasmania’s Cascade Brewery have used the highest-grade wheat and barley to ensure the beer is pure and clear. Cascade hops are used to give the beer its distinctive citric aroma and zesty palate.

Back on the mainland, Carlton & United Beverages has launched an advertising campaign with their premier premium beer Crown Lager. Crown Lager is one of Australia’s most iconic brands, launched in 1953, and continues to outsell any other premium beer on the market. The new Crown Lager campaign, created by George Patterson Partners Melbourne, taps into Australians’ positive outlook on life through a combination of still lifestyle images and temp-mort sequences. The photographic images featured in the campaign are in fact ‘real’ people (the majority provided direct from Foster’s employees’ personal photo albums) celebrating the memorable, the important, the exhilarating and the fun moments because as the ad says… “There’s a lot in life to celebrate”.

Matilda Bay Brewing Company has launched their latest specialty beer Roof Top Red Lager. The name "Rooftop Red Lager" gets its inspiration from Paul Kelly's song 'From a 727' where he sings about looking over the roofs of Sydney from a plane. As you approach Sydney’s Kingsford-Smith airport from the west, you fly over areas of Balmain and Leichhardt. Many of the traditional homes of these areas have red tiled or red corrugated iron roofs. Rooftop Red Lager’s distinctive red hue and full, refreshing flavour are created by small-batch brewing using specially selected and lightly-toasted carared and melanoidin malts. The aromatic Hersbrucker hop - added to the kettle late in the boil - softens and balances Rooftop’s malts to deliver a smooth, delicate palate rich with hints of toffee and caramel. Rooftop Red Lager is currently available in selected outlets in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and with that terrific red hue should put a rosy red glow on all beer loving Santas.

Speaking of Sydney, Tooheys Australia has put their efforts behind the Hahn Premium and Hahn Premium Light brands and the Hillross Australian Golf Tournament. Sign up over the net at www.hahn.golf.com.au to compete for the ultimate golf experience. The competition offers the opportunity for four mates to attend and compete in the Pro-Am tournament, attend the champion’s cocktail party, a free coaching clinic and a signed golf bag. The Hahn beers will also sponsor a National Pub Golf Championship which will involve 4,200 competitors on 42 golf courses around Australia. Entry is simple, requiring contestants to purchase 9 middies or stubbies of Hahn Premium or Hahn Premium Light over a four week period at participating pubs and clubs. Each venue will hold a draw to select their 4 golfers.

The Malt Shovel Brewery has enjoyed continued success with winter and summer limited release brews, and their latest drop is no exception. James Squire Golden Ale has been brewed as a real flavoursome quaffing beer for the forecast long hot summer months ahead. Golden Ale follows the release of James Squire Australian Strong Ale this winter and James Squire Colonial Wheat Beer last summer.” Golden Ale is a lighter bodied beer with an alcohol content of 4.5%. Fresh toasted grains of Barley and Wheat give it a rich orange-amber colour and the pleasing tropical stone fruit aroma comes from the new season Amarillo hops,” said Head Brewer, Doug Donelan. "Often thought of as an English-style summer beer, this brew demands cold fermentation. It has a restrained bitter finish, mild carbonation, a firm head and a dry cracking finish and is an ideal thirst quenching session beer,” added Donelan.

As a special bonus for beer lovers, Golden Ale will also be available on tap at the James Squire Brewhouse 115 Russell Street, Melbourne and at the James Squire Brewhouse King Street Wharf, Sydney. The Malt Shovel Brewers are passionate about their handcrafted beers and are committed to educate discerning drinkers to the delights of matching quality beer and fine food. "Golden Ale would make a great accompaniment for fresh cold prawns, chicken Caesar salad, white-bait fritters, laksa or marguerita pizza,” said Brewmaster, Chuck Hahn.

No review of Australian premium beers would be complete without a look at what’s happening at Adelaide’s Coopers Brewery. We were pleased to discover their annual launch of their Vintage Ale will continue in 2004, and the release of a new mid-strength ale.

The 2004 Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale, described by Coopers brewers as the best yet, has a hefty 7.5% alcohol by volume and is expected to develop a more complex and interesting flavour for up to two years. Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale was first released in 1998 and was sold out within five days .Other brews followed in 1999, 2000, 2002 and now 2004, with each brew becoming a collector’s item. Some 5000 cases of the 2004 Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale, about 25% of the total brew, are being sent to the US to meet orders from American wholesalers. Coopers Chairman and Marketing Director, Mr Glenn Cooper, said that 2004 Vintage Ale had been ordered by a number of exclusive restaurants in the US, including Rubicon in San Francisco, jointly owned by actors Robin Williams and Robert de Niro and film producer Francis Ford Coppola.

Coopers Brewery has launched a new mid-strength premium beer to its range of premium quality, naturally conditioned ales .Coopers Mild Ale is a full flavoured ale with an alcohol content of 3.5%, designed to meet the growing demand Australia-wide for mid-strength beers. Coopers Managing Director and Chief Brewer, Dr Tim Cooper, said “Mild Ale is a smooth, easy-drinking ale that was very similar in flavour profile to Coopers Pale Ale and Sparkling Ale, but slightly softer.” Dr Cooper added “The idea was first conceived about two years ago when a number of publicans at a trade day suggested that Coopers look at developing a lighter brew to cater for the demand for flavour, but with lower alcohol. We experimented with a number of different brews last year to try and find the right balance between malt and hop characters,” he said. “We then tested what is now known as Mild Ale in market conditions before looking for an appropriate name.”Dr Cooper went on to say “Mild Ale is a distinctive category of ale in England, created in the nineteenth century as a restorative for labourers and heavy manual workers. It remains popular in the Midlands and Northwest of England, as a beer full in flavour but with a slightly lower alcohol content and hop bitterness. Mild Ale is the product of brewing with a selection of barley and wheat malt and with no added sugar,” he said. “This traditional brewing approach provides the smooth malt character which is balanced by a triple hopping with Pride of Ringwood and Saaz hops. “It is fermented similarly to its stablemates, Pale Ale and Sparkling Ale, with the customary secondary fermentation in the bottle and can.”

Brew Masters

With the Galaxy of beers available, the truly bright stars fall into the Premium and Boutique beer category. We’ve seen meteoric sales for our wine and RTO (Ready to Drink) markets, but with beer it’s only humdrum same old same old. Part of the problem is inherent in the drink. When we think about beer we think boring stuff like consistency and tradition. Beer doesn’t have a spectacular epicurean entry like the Sommelier offering a sniff of the cork and approval first taste, or the bartender with his swirling twirling dervish dancing performance when mixing a cocktail. No, this is an alcoholic beverage where the pizzazz is in the product, and an understanding attentive barperson, but breweries can still learn a lot about presentation and the leaders in this direction have come from the small breweries and premium product producers.

In part, the pleasure of grape grazing in the wine districts of Australia is the ‘winery experience’. The scenic ambience, guided tours of the grounds, plus top class snacks and meals is a heady experience that results in important ‘cellar door’ sales. Some small breweries have caught on to this and are reaping the rewards, while the big guys have learned that creative packaging of unusual styles of ale is quite profitable. Here are some of the stars to look for in your bottle shops and beer tour guide books.

Out west, two breweries showing the way are in Fremantle, Matilda Bay Brewing, at the old Ford Motor complex, and Little Creatures along the wharf. Little Creatures has spent more than $10 million to develop a first class brewery and bottling plant. Included in the plans is an ample tasting room and restaurant which spills to the upstairs balcony and out onto the deck overlooking the bay. Only two of their beers are available Australia-wide, being their Pale Ale and mid-strength Rogers Ale. Both are well crafted ales with the accent on hops and more hops. Matilda Bay Brewing has been around for two decades producing such Aussie classics as Redback Wheat and Dogbolter dark ale. With the popularity of mid-strength beers, CUB has had the pleasant problem of selling more beer than a brewery can produce, so along with the closing of the Masthead brewery at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland, Matilda Bay is combining the best products from both breweries. Available in bottle along with Redback is Beez Neez, an amber honeyed wheat beer, and Bohemian Pilzner, a Czech styled lager with plenty of saaz hops for a spicy floral aroma and flavour. Dogbolter and their Alpha Pale Ale are presented as part of their ‘Brewers Reserve” a series of specialty ales on tap at designated locales. If you’re down Margaret River way, why not stop in to the Bootleg Brewery to experience one of the very best country/winery style watering holes in Australia, and in Perth stop in to the backpacker style Wentworth Hotel on Murray Street to sample some Nail Ale.

What’s a discussion of South Australia without mentioning the perennial Aussie battler, Coopers Brewery? The re-branding and packaging of their draught lager now includes their new brewery location Regency Draught, and their Premium Ale has been replaced with Heritage Premium Ale, a ‘chill-filtered’ dry lager’ish styled pale ale with a pleasing hop aroma from late hopping and crisp finish with moderate back bitterness similar to European imported beers. Add to that a clever outdoor advertising campaign in Victoria and New South Wales “If it’s not at your local, sell your house” and you have a stylish modern approach that signifies the marriage of Coopers with Premium Beverages including Budweiser is operating on all cylinders. The sales figures around the country reflect this assessment on average; sales nationwide are between 40-50%, with a whopping 152% in the Northern Territory. In Adelaide?, why not stop into The Port Dock Hotel and Pub-Brewery to taste test their award winning ales including the country’s best milk stoat.

In Tasmania the best brewing bragging rights continues the North vs. South family feud. According to J. Boag & Son Director of Sales & Marketing Lyndon Adams, “James Boag’s Premium Lager is now the second largest selling domestic premium beer and we aim to consolidate this position with a new marketing and promotional activity including a new television commercial will be released mid-year. We will be looking to release another Limited Edition beer following the successful 1881 Traditional Ale in 2002 and Boag’s Honey Porter in 2003.” Mr Adams also said, “The popularity of the company’s latest tourist venture, the Boag’s Centre for Beer Lovers, has far exceeded expectations, welcoming over 10,000 tourists in its first year of operation.” “Feedback from our visitors has been very positive, meaning that we are not only spreading the “Boag’s word” nationally and internationally, we are contributing to growth in our beer business as well”. Mr Adams continued, “We are also excited that the Boag's Centre for Beer Lovers has gained accreditation in the National Tourism Accreditation Program that endorses best practices in the tourism industry. Accreditation provides the consumer and the industry with an assurance that our business is committed to quality practices and professionalism.” Meanwhile the southern Tasmanian tiger Cascade has undergone an upgrade of the new six-pack and carton design featuring imagery that reinforces purity and Tasmanian heritage. The bottles now have a foil neck label that finishes just below the bottle lip to stop any grating on the lips while slugging back a stubby. Cascade Premium took top honours at last years Australian Good Taste Beer Awards, plus their highly successful ’ Four Seasons’ Limited Edition beers will continue to challenge the epicurean palate.

Australia’s ‘King of Beers’ Crown Lager continues its amazing run as the number one premium beer for fifty years. Crown Lager was the best kept secret of diplomats and visiting dignitaries, until 1953 when CUB officially launched it to the public to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. ‘Crownies’ cone-shaped bottle and foil label haven’t changed much over the years, so the cosmetics are slight highlighting a bolder red and gold crown. The packaging artwork and point of sale changes should start to appear in the bottle shops in April.

Chuck Hahn’s gang from the Malt Shovel Brewery have made a quiet entrance into the hotel industry with the opening of their James Squire Brewhouses in Melbourne and Sydney. At the Portland Hotel in Melbourne, some quality in-house brews are on tap including the award winning 3 Weissmen dark wheat, the Craic stout, and Portland Pale Ale. Word has it that the Craic and Portland Pale will make an appearance at the new Sydney Brewhouse at King Street Wharf. Malt Shovel continues to offer seasonal beers such as the Colonial Wheat and the winter warmer Australian Strong Ale, and to add to drinkers education, they offer beer and food matching nights titled ‘Ales & Tales’. All this has helped them achieve in increase of 40% in total sales last year.

Other breweries to keep a look out for are Grand Ridge Brewery from country Victoria with their 9 award winning ales and newly opened Blue Tongue Brewery in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. Grand Ridge has made significant in roads in New South Wales and Queensland this summer with their Natural Blonde wheat beer proving very popular. Its flavour profile of orange and coriander is very refreshing on a hot day. Blue Tongue has hit the ground running with Bondi Blond & Red brewed under contract, a budget beer Brewery Bitter, an in-house pilsener and a Ginger Beer.