Aussie beers

Australia and beer have been together since we were first colonized. Seems beer is our national drink or at least that's the way we advertise ourselves to the world.

We have a relative short history compared to the rest of the world when it comes to brewing.

Indigenous Australians were know to produce fermented beverages before the first fleet arrived, but traditional beer ingredients were not known here till then.

Whether they invaded or stumbled upon the place is for someone else to argue but in 1770 Captain Cooks fleet turned up using traditional brewing of beer as a means to preserve drinking water.

The main choice of drink at the time was Rum though soon the obvious problem with unregulated consumption of Rum by all new settlers including children resulted in the government promoting beer drinking as a safer alternative.

Enter John Boston, a former convict. He crafted the first Australian beer using corn, and bittered it with stalks from a local plant known at the time as love apple.

Hops were not able to be cultivated in Oz at this time and the yeast used was wild and airborne so a little hit n miss.

James Larra, also an ex convict opened the first legal pub - The 'Mason arms' in Parramatta in 1796, just after the government started issuing license's for alcohol sales.

Lagers dominate the Australian beer market today but the original recipes were based on English ales. Hops were not cultivated till late 1790's when James Squire, another convict, successfully grew the first crop. He too opened a pub, also in Parramatta in 1798 and is credited as making our first Lager style beers.

Excise

The whole industry went on for 100 years, licensed but largely unregulated, till the federal government introduce a beer and excise tax in 1901. Welcome to federation.

This tax and its enforcement made home brewing and the sale of home brewed beer illegal and forced small breweries to consolidate or close. The larger breweries bought out the smaller ones and only 2 breweries survived in Sydney, Tooth and co, and Tooheys brothers and 1 in Melbourne, Carlton and United.

The Oldies

Tasmanian Cascade brewery is the oldest 'continually running' brewery in Australia, going since 1824 , Swan in the west since 1857, Coopers in South Australia since 1862, Carlton since 1864, Tooheys since 1869, Castlemaine in 1878, Boags in 1882 and Fosters since 1887. Fosters were the first to use refrigeration in Australia, so we can thank them for that.

The Owners

All the above are currently owned by Japanese owners Kiren Company or Asahi group holdings except Coopers, who are still independently family owned.

Tooheys, Haan, Furphy, XXXX, Little creatures, James Squire , James Boags, Swan, White Rabbit, Stone and wood, Castlemaine, Malt Shovel, 2 birds all owned by Lion who are owned by Kirin Company.

Carlton , Cascade, Matilda bay, Balter, 4 Pines, Pirate Life, Mountain goat, Green beacon all owned by Carlton and United who are owned by Asahi Group of Japan

Coopers are still owned by the Coopers Family , there are a few small ones like Yenda and Feral owned by Amatil Coca- cola.

Europe and beyond

Of the American and European market, Ab inbev , an American/Belgian owned conglomerate, own most of the American and European brands and a few from Korea and Africa and China. Molsen coors owns a substantial chunk of the rest of the American market and a few Euro's like Peroni and Grolsch and Pils Urquell. The Heineken family, well they are the Heineken monopoly who brew their 1 or 2 beers in over 70 countries and sell over 20 Billion litres a year. They own brewers like Bintang, Newcastle brown and a bunch of Uk brands including cider brands, they also spread themselves widely in Mexico and the Latin American market putting their little red star on everything, though they don't own Corona. Ab inbev does.

In Australia, in 2025, the 2 foreign ( Japanese) companies currently own 83% of Australian beer volume. The remaining 17% split amongst Coopers at 5% and independent breweries collectively at 7% with a little recent ingress by Coles and Endeavour retailers of 5%.

Survivors

Survivors are the micro brewers, some notables are Young Henrys, Mountain Culture, Newstead, Moo, Nail, Gage road, Capital and Bent spoke, Batch and Ballistic and Black hops, all currently owned by local investment, along with all the small local factory unit and out of the way taphouses.

Home Brewing

The reintroduction of Home brewing, legalized in Australia in 1972 by the Whitlam government, has been the seed for the recent craft brewing or independent brewing revival in this country, and while these guys survive and resist the temptation to sell out to the conglomerates, we the drinkers can enjoy their product knowing our hard earned will stay in Australia. ( a little simplistic I know, but you get the vibe )

Personally, 80% of my total beer investment resides in my home brewing ingredients and gear, and most of what's left is spent on locally owned entities with the occasional Heinie or Guinness when I happen to wander into a pub with no Aussie beer on tap.

Brew Love