1st Choice Liquor Sneaky Trick

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Bribie G

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SWMBO and I went up to Maroochydore for a quick WOTIF break last week (part of my softening up process for when the kegs arrive :ph34r: ) also to see some grandkids, and rather than take HB along I just grabbed a carton from 1st Choice. They had a pallet of Stella Wifebeater for $34 and on top of the pallet they had positioned a six pack. I read it, all in Flemish, ja, and euro signs all over it in six languages and I thought 'goodo, the imported article'.'

Got back to the resort and opened the carton to stick some in the freezer... "Brewed under licence by Fosters Australia....."

Bastards. Couldn't be arsed to take it down to the car and drive back through the Sunny Coast Gridlock at that time of the evening, and it wasn't too bad as a quaffer... but heck. 1st Choice Maroochydore you are named and shamed.
 
you thought you'd get a slab of imported stella for $34? joking, I havent even seen BUL stella for $34!

fairly shady if they meant to do it. Half the time they have drongos there who woudllnt know the differance.
 
In Feb we stayed at Woolgoolga on the way back from Sydney and in the little bottlo on the front street they had a tall pallet of Pilsner Urquell for $35. You've never seen plastic get whipped out so quick in your life :p
 
that would be right. give all the other states cheap BUL except for the state in which its brewed in!

Urquell for $35. even if it was out of date its not a bad buy
 
SWMBO and I went up to Maroochydore for a quick WOTIF break last week (part of my softening up process for when the kegs arrive :ph34r: ) also to see some grandkids, and rather than take HB along I just grabbed a carton from 1st Choice. They had a pallet of Stella Wifebeater for $34 and on top of the pallet they had positioned a six pack. I read it, all in Flemish, ja, and euro signs all over it in six languages and I thought 'goodo, the imported article'.'

Got back to the resort and opened the carton to stick some in the freezer... "Brewed under licence by Fosters Australia....."

Bastards. Couldn't be arsed to take it down to the car and drive back through the Sunny Coast Gridlock at that time of the evening, and it wasn't too bad as a quaffer... but heck. 1st Choice Maroochydore you are named and shamed.


....shoulda dropped in here for a beer and a chat...

Scott
SCB
 
Just leave it in the sun for a bit... voila! Imported Stella.
 
My brother in law was bragging to me how he got fully imported Stella, after I looked closer at the bottle, it was fully imported alright, from the UK where it was brewed under license !
 
My brother got some Stella from the little bottlo round the corner @ Lalor Park.
Can't remember how much he paid, but it was $40 or under.

However he said, "look at the used by date". Someone had scribbled over the date with black marker!
He mentioned the case had been opened & taped up.
It must've been months out!!!

It still tasted..... alriiiight... but I would've taken it back demanding a refund.
Can't remember if it was local or imported...
 
Unfortunately they aren't the only ones that do that...

I have seen a few large chain stores that do the exact same thing. The singles and six packs are the imported stuff(is they stock it altogether) and the cases are the local stuff....

Thankfully ive gotten into home brewing and i am much more aware when i walked into a Liquor Store.

I did have a quiet laugh though at their sneaky tactics for the unsuspecting customers who would be none the wiser....
 
Unfortunately they aren't the only ones that do that...

I have seen a few large chain stores that do the exact same thing. The singles and six packs are the imported stuff(is they stock it altogether) and the cases are the local stuff....

Thankfully ive gotten into home brewing and i am much more aware when i walked into a Liquor Store.

I did have a quiet laugh though at their sneaky tactics for the unsuspecting customers who would be none the wiser....

Whats worse is many australian microbreweries do not even label use by date. Given the turnover is low, your more likely to get a bad one than a good one. No wonder nobody is buying them.
 
Local BWS had the 5 litre kegs at 2 for 35 bucks. THey had a weizen ( Franziskaner ), and a dunkelweizen from memory ( also franziskaner ). Hmmm this was looking good. Until i checked the dates on them. About 2 months out of date. The "dude" who worked there saw me looking, and tried to sell them to me. When i mentioned the date, he tried to hint that it didn;t matter. I didn't bother trying to explain to him. I didn't want to risk it for old wheat beers.
 
My brother in law was bragging to me how he got fully imported Stella, after I looked closer at the bottle, it was fully imported alright, from the UK where it was brewed under license !

There is an Australian importer, or at least there was a year ago, who is bringing the stuff in from its country of origin. It's intended for the greek or turkish market from memory (of the label). I'll take a look next time I'm my local bottleshop (an independant store, not a Murphey's, First Choice etc).

But eh, I agree Bribie, that's really sneaky. I would at least call the manager and give him a serve.
 
Speaking of BUL beers, I learnt today that Coopers brewery are/were looking at brewing Budweiser here under license (probably old news, but hey, I don't emerge from my cave all that often.....). I thought it was weird that in the foyer of their Regency Park brewery they had a display of many of their beers, with a bottle of Bud sitting in the midst. Anyhoo, that would have to be one of the only situations where, upon being handed a bottle of imported beer, you might actually be more pleased realising it was brewed here (by the Cooper family no less)!
 
Speaking of BUL beers, I learnt today that Coopers brewery are/were looking at brewing Budweiser here under license (probably old news, but hey, I don't emerge from my cave all that often.....). I thought it was weird that in the foyer of their Regency Park brewery they had a display of many of their beers, with a bottle of Bud sitting in the midst. Anyhoo, that would have to be one of the only situations where, upon being handed a bottle of imported beer, you might actually be more pleased realising it was brewed here (by the Cooper family no less)!


if they add a bit of real flavour to the s#@t it might almost be drinkable :D
 
Urquell for $35. even if it was out of date its not a bad buy
Sigh... :rolleyes: I used to get Pilsner Urquell for 10 pounds a slab in the UK. That's a touch over $20.
Needless to say I bought quite a few cases while that deal lasted.
 
I scored a carton or Urquelle for $35 once at Uncle Dans.

It tasted nothing like i remembered. No hops, a bit cardboardy

Date had 3 days to go till it was out of date.

I check the date on every bottle i buy now and i also check to see if its actually import beer or tooheys new relabeled as becks or the like.

cheers
 
Along the same lines I managed to get a box of imported Kronenbourg 1664 from uncle dans in canberra for $20. It was used by this month but to their credit they acknowledged this and had a taste test for those who were a bit sketchy about the fresness or otherwise of the product. Tasted fine, especially at $20 a throw. Should have bought me a few.
 
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