Aussie Beer Drinking Champions

Australian's love beer

Australians are great beer drinkers!

End of post.

Seriously though, Australians hold a reputation around the world (having spoken to people from many different countries) as big beer drinkers, able to drink almost anything in vast quantities.

Some of us have made serious achievements in their beer drinking lives, I want to highlight some of them and let you know why they should be in some sort of beer hall of fame.

David Boon

This guy is already awesome because he is from Tasmania and has a pretty cool name. This Australian is famous because of his great cricketing career. Why I’m interested in him is because of his known love for beer, particularly VB (yuck!). In 1989 on a flight to England, David drank 52 beers (according to witnesses) and went on to beat England 4-0. It takes around 21.5 hours to get to England so he was obviously doing more than two an hour. I myself have downed four beers on a Melbourne to Launceston flight (about an hour), but have never consumed more than a carton a day. Boonie has never admitted to it but if he did he is possibly the best Beer Drinking Aussie we can mention here.

Bob Hawke

An Australian Prime Minister from 1983-91, he was a beer drinker from way back. In 1955 while at University College, Oxford, he drank 2.5 pints in 11 seconds, it went on to become a world record. There is a video of him more recently in 2012 sculling a beer at the cricket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5mBShX9fdU

Paul Hogan

Famous Australian actor Paul Hogan has had a drop or two of beer before no doubt, he makes this list because of characters he portrays that are known to be pissheads.

Super Dag I think is one of his funniest performances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkGNJWw9Hj4

This is not a final list, if any other Australian’s come along with beer related achievements then I will add them.

Until then,

Dave

Foster's Lager/ Classic

A real Australian beer that sells more overseas

From Crocodile Dundee to the Simpsons, people from all over the world must believe that Australians only drink Foster’s.

The iconic blue label on cans and stubbies is the international symbol for Australian Beer.

Probably knocking them back between takes

The irony is, Australian’s don’t drink it, or they haven’t been until recently.

This is a standard sized can in Australia!

Fellow Aussie beer enthusiasts have always known about Foster’s, but it hasn’t been available in Australia in large quantities until 2014.

Its resurgence has now given Australians the opportunity to see what real ‘Australian Beer’ is meant to be – it has recently had a name change from Foster’s Lager to Foster’s Classic.

Foster's is the iconic Australian Beer

It was good to try, it has the hallmarks of a decent Australian beer, but it does not stack up to the big beers in Australia, VB, Carlton Draught and of course I will say it the Boag’s brand of beer (Go Tassie!)

If you can find some of this in Australia good luck, it is worth the wait.

It all makes sense now!

Cheers,

Dave

If you get a few free minutes have a look at Foster’s advertising over the years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzJVODm25kk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw8J0rkAVs4

Carlton Dry

Good beer, bad colour

A great beer that shares a name and a colour with a team I don't like.

Carlton Dry, brewed by Carlton and United Breweries has been around since 2007 and is still available in bar fridges today.

Different to Carlton Draught and Carlton Cold made by the same company, Carlton Dry is unique because of a longer brewing process that removes excess sugars meaning it is lower in carbohydrates and therefore better for you.

VERY DRY

A part of the reason I like this beer is because of their social media advertising, recently they posted on Facebook a picture of the dictionary definition of the beer.  

It must be good if Chuck Norris is involved

They have also made some great ad's featuring the always awesome Steven Seagal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYtIbPmgKGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r33ZjL7Fr2Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbqJPB-jRpc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgXXC7OTD3g

Whether people care or not I believe the name of the beer along with the colour of the brand associates to some extent with the Carlton Football club, the biggest Carlton Dry drinker I know is also one of the Blues biggest supporters, I hope he is cured one day.

2015 Wooden Spooners!!!

If you want to try something a little bit more different, try the Carlton Dry infused with lime - it has a much better colour on the bottle.

I have had plenty

Keep drinking... responsibly.

Cheers,

Dave

Crown Lager

Feel like royalty and drink Crown Lager

For when the time calls to drink like royalty.

A commonly seen beer in Australia, the history surrounding Crown Lager seems to no longer be a talking point, surprisingly since it was originally only brewed for royalty.

According to online sources, the brewers (Carlton & United Breweries), promote the history that the original product formerly known as Foster’s Crown Lager was made from 1919 to only be available to visiting dignitaries that visited Australia.

I'm sure the royals knocked back a few of these!

When Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia in 1954, the brewery marked the occasion by releasing Crown Lager. This version of history seems to be up for debate due to confusion whether the public had access to it or not prior to 1954.

Fifty years later, ‘Crownies’ as they are now nicknamed can be bought by anyone (over 18 years old), almost anywhere in the land down under.

A very distinctive, easy to spot beer, it glows gold!

Crown Lager is one of the first beers I ever tried, something about it felt special, even though at the time I didn’t know the history of this product.

Crownies bring me back to my university days – not so long ago! 

Where my Japanese lecturer would talk about beer, he would joke about how he loved crownies. As a gift after each semester I would give him a six-pack to thank him – he was an amazing teacher and put up with us for four years after all. I saw him shortly after graduating and he finally admitted to me that he had in fact always preferred Cascade Premium Light, we would still joke about crownies though every time I saw him.

Crownies sponsor events such as the Allan Border Medal. 

Over the years in hospitality I have heard many comments that the quality of Crownies has changed, they don’t seem to be as popular anymore.

While living in Japan I could visit my favourite bar – TK6 – and there would always be cold crownies for sale to remind me of home.

This beer has been there for me and it is one I think that still deserves recognition.

Brendan Fevola enjoying some Crownies at the 2009 Brownlow Medal night.

Go on, feel like royalty and smash a carton of crownies!

Cheers,

Dave

Wizard Smith’s Ale

One of my all time favourite local beers

The History

Let me tell you a story about how a special local beer got its name.

Wizard Smith, a Tasmanian living in the 1920’s, had his dream job, working at the Boag’s Brewery. His job was a drayman (a person who delivers beer for a brewery) and also to collect the malt, to do this he had James Boag III’s heavy draft horses in his charge.

A severe flood came through and wiped out most of the low laying infrastructure around what is now known as Invermay, in Launceston. The horses stable was going to go under, so Wizard waded through the rising flood waters, rescued the horses, moved them to higher ground and saved them.

In recognition of his actions, Wizard Smith was granted by James Boag’s III a job for life, and later on a beer in his name, Wizard Smith’s Ale.

https://www.jamesboag.com.au/james-boags-wizard-smiths-ale/

Named after the hero, Wizard Smith

The Beer

A legendary pale ale in the English style, crafted from a traditional malt brew and dry hopped process. 

This is very unique compared to the many amazing beers that Boag’s has released in recent times. It has a beautiful rich pale ale flavour and leaves a fruity after-taste in your mouth.

It is only found in Tasmania and is considered one of the finer quality beers you can find here.

https://www.jamesboag.com.au/james-boags-wizard-smiths-ale/

Such a strange and awesome animal

Wizard has now helped more than horses

In 2007, on the year of its launch, J. Boag & Son pledged to donate $1 for every carton of Wizard Smith’s sold for the first 8000 cartons to fund a devil enclosure to help increase the population in Northern Tasmania after a deadly facial tumour disease swept across the state and decimated the population.

http://www.cmaa.asn.au/ContentFiles/CMAA/Documents/Magazine/2007/mag09-07.pdf p.48

The Tasmanian Devil is unfortunately still suffering from this plight; their numbers are low but many people are working hard to make sure that we don’t lose another irreplaceable Tasmanian icon.

I encourage you to drink Wizard Smith’s Ale and do what you can to help keep the Tasmanian Devil above ground.

Cheers,

Dave

Fresh Hop Beer Festival 2016

Hops, what make beer great!

Launceston has earned itself a new beer festival to add to your calendar. The Fresh Hop Beer Festival, held on April 23-24 was created to celebrate the first harvest of hops for the year is a unique kind of Beerfest, similar in feel but definitely has its own hoppy flavour.

The Festivals website gives a run-down of what was to be expected: “First Harvest beers from craft brewers around the state a weekend of fresh hopped beers from the 2016 harvest. An all Tassie line up of limited releases, with Hop Education, Q&As, live music, food, hop garden and hop brownies.” http://www.freshhopfestival.com.au/ 

Due to work commitments I got to see an hour of the Festival late on Sunday evening – I have to fund my drinking habit somehow.

The festival was held behind Saint John Craft Beer

I thought the festival was AMAZING!

Around fifteen craft beer brewers used their first hops of the season to make some great beer to try at the festival.

There was more than enough beer to try but because I was driving I had three (little) samples.

The beers that were available

Winston Brewing Co. First Harvest – Brown Ale

I had this first while sampling a HOP BROWNIE, more on that later. The beer was what I was hoping for, crafty, powerful and hoppy at 7%.

Van Dieman Steam Punk Ale

I got this for two reasons, I love Van Dieman and the name Steam Punk Ale, which I thought was an interesting name for a brew. Lower in content at 3.5% it still had a nice flavour and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Morrison Brewing Harvest IPA

For my last choice I had to go with the most local brew, and I was glad I did as this was my favourite, only wish I could have had more than a cup of it.

Morrison was the best! - They spelt it wrong

Some familiar food tents/ trailers were there to give us something to mix with the beer. The Morrison Smoked Chilli IPA Boozehound Hot-dog went down well.

Some of the food

The Boozehound with chilli beer sauce

HOP BROWNIES!!!!

HOP BROWNIES: A featured item for sale at the festival were harmless looking brownies, at first taste they seem like normal chocolatey goodness, by the time it hits the back of your mouth you get the green hoppy after taste. I took a couple home to try later, I wish I knew the recipe, they go down well with a beer.

I understand that this festival will be an annual event, it seemed to meet crowd expectations and is a great idea. I’ll have to book in the date for next year’s event and give it a proper effort.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Dave

Another great Tassie Beer Festival 

Tecate

Another Mexican beer for review

Look out Corona, Sol and Dos Equis, Mexico has another beer, which has been around since the 1950’s but has only just arrived in stores in Tasmania (Australia?)

First of all, there is a big difference between this and the other Mexican brewed beers we can get, it comes in a can.

It has a familiar Mexican beer taste like its buddies, a bit hard to drink at first but I think all Mexican beer I've had so far tastes a lot better with lemon or lime added (I had it without any fruit).

I recommend drinking it like this!

I also approve of this!

It’s weighs in at 4.5% so it falls in line with Mexican and Australian full strength beers.

Price wise it is a little cheaper than a carton of Corona, Tecate is supplied to Australia through a Woolworths owned business and sold in BWS stores.

It has received mixed reviews online, some people love it, others would only touch it if it was the last beer in the world – people seem to say that about every beer at some stage.

Hellboy approves Tecate

Best drunk on a hot day – don’t expect many more of those in Tasmania this side of 2016.

It has some nice advertising

This is also nice!

If you are looking for a different feel when you are in a Mexican mood then pick up some Tecate, just don’t forgot the limes!

Huh?

Cheers,

Dave