Australian Lost Beers

[Lilo]

Talking to me old bloke recently about beer (I am 42, he is 62). I grew up in Rockhampton, Central QLD, he Emerald CQ.

I was 12 Yrs old during the QLD beer strike but can remember it quite well. Since that, I can unfortunetleay remember through my formative years that beer came from Pubs that were Red (Castlemaine) or Blue(Carlton) Pubs.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5008700,00.html

Can anyone remember this and more importantly can anyone remember the early breweries, their brews and their demise/ circumstances of the breweries which each town/city in Oz had years ago. What did our forefathers here drink, was it good/ bad and why did id dissapear...

Lilo

Love to try and replicate a few Oz beers from the early 20th Century if I could

Lilo

 

[Screwtop]

Talking to me old bloke recently about beer (I am 42, he is 62). I grew up in Rockhampton, Central QLD, he Emerald CQ.

I was 12 Yrs old during the QLD beer strike but can remember it quite well. Since that, I can unfortunetleay remember through my formative years that beer came from Pubs that were Red (Castlemaine) or Blue(Carlton) Pubs.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5008700,00.html

Can anyone remember this and more importantly can anyone remember the early breweries, their brews and their demise/ circumstances of the breweries which each town/city in Oz had years ago. What did our forefathers here drink, was it good/ bad and why did id dissapear...

Lilo

Love to try and replicate a few Oz beers from the early 20th Century if I could

Lilo

Castlemaine beer came from Toowoomba when I grew up on the Darling Downs, the choices were Bulimba and Castlemaine beer, like you say Red and Blue pubs. The Toowoomba maltings used to smell soo good.

I remember my OM talking about Mac's brewery at Rockhampton, saying how bad their beer was during the war. Does your OM remember it. There was a Blue Pub in Allora in the 60's where XXXX drinkers would drink, story was that the lines were short and the beer was close to the taste of XXXX :lol: remember having a beer there with the FIL in the 70's and it was good (XXXX drinker at the time). Seem to remember white cans of death from Cairns too, think they were a CUB brewery.

Screwy

 

[bradsbrew]

I remember a beer that had a white label it was called Pilsener i think was the only beer my mum would drink and everyone else said it was crap. Late 70s. Anyone remember that one/

Brad

 

[Screwtop]

I remember a beer that had a white label it was called Pilsener i think was the only beer my mum would drink and everyone else said it was crap. Late 70s. Anyone remember that one/

Brad

How could I forget Bulimba Pilsener, my OM's staple diet. Also how about Ballarat Bertie, my brother talks about that beer he lives at Linton near Ballarat.

Screwy

 

[Bribie G]

In Queensland, Bulimba brewery moved to a location on the city side of the Story Bridge and were taken over by Carlton in the 1970s where they brewed Carlton Draught, Bulimba Gold Top beer and Pilsener. The Pilsener wasn't a bad drop and survived into the mid 1980s. The Brisbane version of Carlton Draught was very alpha hoppy compared to XXXX. (edit and extremely pale as well, about the colour of a modern blonde, prolly just a pale base malt plus a heap of cane sugar)

In the early 80s Gold Coast Businessman Bernie Power opened a big modern brewery at Yatala between Bris and the GC and the beers were very nice indeed, the main Powers Bitter was a more hoppy version of XXXX. CUB stomped all over them, bought them out, moved their brewery there and demolished the Story Bridge site and sold it off for high rise units. There is still a large hoarding there advertising Fosters brands. A few times a year Fosters issue Powers Gold in 30 can blocks for about a buck a can. Tragic.

CUB had breweries at Cairns and Darwin (Darwin Stubbies). They are both gone. CUB kept Cairns Draught going (Yatala Brewed) till about 2003 then killed it off.

Mac's beers at Rockhampton died in the late 60s. My father in law remembers wooden casks on bars with wet towels draped over them.

I think one of the real tragedies in the last twenty years has been the disappearance of Tooths beers.

IMHO one of the reasons we are more advanced in home brew compared to the UK and Europe is that there, you can walk out of the door and get a hundred beers. Here we are now down to about ten national brews on tap. Hence the rise of the micros, and our own HB community.

 

[BEC26]

I remember Powers, and Brewers ( I think Chuck hahn had something to do with this) stubbies in the 80's

Never bought a Powers as they sponsored the broncos back then, bur brewers wasn't too bad.

I still long for Tommy Raudonikis and "Sydney Something" beer that came out around that time as well.

I remember it being marketed as "bang for buck" which t was. Don't remember the taste though.

anyone recall what the name of the beer was?? Google didn't help.

Cheers
Bruce

 

[warrenlw63]

I went to school virtually a stone's throw from the long defunct Courage brewery in Barry Rd. Campellfield. The smell is still quite familiar. I remember my dad and most of his mates preferring Courage Crest not because it was better but because you got an additional 250ml (they came in 1 litre bottles) for the same price. By all accounts the Courage beers were virtually identical to the CUB stuff at the time.

I get a real sense of deja vu when I boil with POR in my kettle.

Warren -

 

[white.grant]

I remember Powers, and Brewers ( I think Chuck hahn had something to do with this) stubbies in the 80's

Never bought a Powers as they sponsored the broncos back then, bur brewers wasn't too bad.

I still long for Tommy Raudonikis and "Sydney Something" beer that came out around that time as well.

I remember it being marketed as "bang for buck" which t was. Don't remember the taste though.

anyone recall what the name of the beer was?? Google didn't help.

Cheers
Bruce

Sydney Bitter? Was one of the first beers I tried as an underage drinker at the Prince of Wales C1981. I don't remember the flavour so much but the brand didn't last very long.

cheers

grant

 

[Screwtop]

How about Eumundi Lager, the brewery opened in the Imperial Hotel Eumundi about 1988. Remember the beer taking off in popularity, hard to believe it came and went so fast, bought out and closed down, now made at Yatala.

 

[gap]

Sydney Bitter? Was one of the first beers I tried as an underage drinker at the Prince of Wales C1981. I don't remember the flavour so much but the brand didn't last very long.

cheers

grant

Sydney Bitter was brewed by Chuck Hahn in the early 1980's.

Regards

Graeme

 

[Millet Man]

How could I forget Bulimba Pilsener, my OM's staple diet. Also how about Ballarat Bertie, my brother talks about that beer he lives at Linton near Ballarat.

Screwy

The Ballarat Brewing Co. was bought out by CUB in the 50's and and closed down in the late 80's, Ballarat Bitter (Bertie) is now only made occasionally to keep the IP - same probably goes for Richmond lager and Power's brands.

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[Lilo]

Castlemaine beer came from Toowoomba when I grew up on the Darling Downs, the choices were Bulimba and Castlemaine beer, like you say Red and Blue pubs. The Toowoomba maltings used to smell soo good.

I remember my OM talking about Mac's brewery at Rockhampton, saying how bad their beer was during the war. Does your OM remember it. There was a Blue Pub in Allora in the 60's where XXXX drinkers would drink, story was that the lines were short and the beer was close to the taste of XXXX :lol: remember having a beer there with the FIL in the 70's and it was good (XXXX drinker at the time). Seem to remember white cans of death from Cairns too, think they were a CUB brewery.

Screwy

OM Remembers Macs well. Brewery was on the River Bank at the bottom end of Quay st, right on the old Wharves. Can't describe taste or compare it to anything now.

 

[Bribie G]

Yes Eumundi brewery, I'd forgotten about that. Unfortunately it opened at the wrong time and was a victim of "the recession we had to have". It was a very nice drop with some real hops in it. I haven't seen it around for yonks, might try a six pack if I see it again. It was briefly brewed by Powers at Yatala but then Fosters acquired the rights and leased them on to Castlemaine Perkins. The agreement expired last year and I wonder if Eumundi is still available. However I'll try it and report :icon_cheers:

Old report here:

linky

Actually that 'Australian Beers' website appears to be an abandoned one from at least 5 years ago and has some interesting beers that are already Australian Lost Beers like Hahn Vienna Red and XXXX Thirsty Dog wheat beer. Interesting if somewhat sad.

 

[MHB]

You got me trolling the memory banks, if I recall correctly back around WW2 there was a small brewery in Rocky called Mack's. From what I hear you might not want to replicate their beer.

If you want info of history of breweries in Australia you could contact

Dr Brett J. Stubbs
School of Environmental Science and Management
Southern Cross University
P.O. Box 157
LISMORE. NSW. Australia. 2480

E. [email protected]

He does brewery history for a living, bummer of a job.

MHB

PS
I see BrinieG mentioned Macks he knows more than me on this one vague recolections at best.
M

 

[Bribie G]

1979 label:



So CUB took them over, closed them down, kept the brand going for a while then dumped it. Usual story. Bastards

 

[tdack]

The Ballarat Brewing Co. was bought out by CUB in the 50's and and closed down in the late 80's, Ballarat Bitter (Bertie) is now only made occasionally to keep the IP - same probably goes for Richmond lager and Power's brands.

Cheers, Andrew.

They brewed a batch in either 2004 for the commissioning of HMAS Ballarat or in 2006 when HMAS Ballarat spent had a week of "Community Engagement" in Ballarat - the Navy doing odd jobs for local community projects. There was a freedom of entry march and the ship now have Ballarat Bertie as their unofficial mascot, complete with a replica of him that gets put on the bridge roof for ceremonial harbour entries.

We got a few cases onboard, wasn't anything to write home about, better than the VB tins though.

 

[Leigh]

One of the older in-laws always says Richmond Bitter, Richmond Lager and Ballarat Bitter were 10 times better than anything on the market today.

He also talks about Courage Stout? He says it was the thickest, strongest stout around, and was true to its name in that only the Courageous drank it LOL

He always yarns about them becoming more like VB and Melbourne Bitter over time after they had been bought out by or merged with CUB.

 

[Bribie G]

OK now you've got me going . This site is gold: linky and will keep you going for hours.

A few samples:





Wouldn't you love to have a can of no. 8 .... on second thoughts maybe not <_<

 

[jivesucka]

i wouldn't mind a tooheys 2.2 right about now, LOL!

 

[Hatchy]

I could go a Thomas Coopers. 1 of my mates found a bottle shop that had a pallet of it that we were still drinking over 6 months after they stopped making it. I've still got a full stubby of it in my collection.