Australian Lost Beers

[Bribie G]

I can remember drinking Crest Lager in the mid 1970s in London where it was widely available in cans in Courage (parent brewery of course) pubs.
Compared to Fosters that was actually a nice lager back then with a subtle hop flavour and excellent body, the Crest lager was pretty thin and hop-free.

 

[jackgym]

We drank Crest Lager in Australia during the beer strike many years ago. Not a bad drop that I can remember.

 

[Hangover68]

Can you post a photo of the adapter? I have one of those kegs too. Might help me in my quest to jerry-rig something.

Sure, will do on the weekend. Would be happy to be able to use it for either brewing or kegging, the mate that gave it to me gave me the challenge of filling it for our 50th's next year.

 

[Hangover68]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SkipnSCKznPpNebD2

 

[Mardoo]

Awesome, thank you for doing that!

 

[Hangover68]

Awesome, thank you for doing that!

No worries, hopefully can make something fit.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Not strictly Aussie but I like the advertisement blurb with this label..

 

[Patrick8888]

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

I remember Qld 70s Pilsener well, in fact, digging it up was the reason I just signed up..I googled it, the red-gold 'Bulimba" image I found of label was like I remember, except I do not remember the 'Bulimba ' part...I assumed it was a CP brand beer, and as a fledgling drinker back then, I found that it was closest to my taste of all the then-local beers..it had a TV commercial... maybe it is on Youtube, but a white-haired man with heavy German accent would toast up a stein of Pilsner, and say
"Von't you choin me, in a Pilsener!! "
Ja, that was for me, I liked or admired most things "Cherman" and if I was going to be a beer-swiller, it needed to be sophisticated Euro suds with a commercial like that....not the 4X, VB and Carlton Draught the Hoi-poloi ockers drank, lol..

when was it phased out?

 

[jackgym]

My very first drink of beer was a Castlemaine XXXX tallie swigging with my Senior Scout mates in St George Square, Brisbane, one night long ago. XXXX has never tasted as good as that first drop, and never will now after brewing my own.

 

[altone]

The coming of the 6 pack - Bulimba gold top



Long before I got to Australia but gotta love it.

 

[Ballaratguy]

I’ve just read through the entire thread and enjoyed learning about the old brews. Wouldn’t it be great if there were any of these old recipes compiled for us to brew ourselves!
Ballarat Bertie
The Athletics Club Brewery in Ballarat (currently out of business but may reopen) made a brew that was based on a 1940’s Ballarat Bittter recipe. I got a six pack and gave it to my brother who only ever drank Ballarat Bitter when he was younger. He loved the Athletic version said it was very close to what he remembered

 

[wide eyed and legless]

This guy was actually a pom, Sam Knott came out to try his luck in the gold fields, ended up working
McVeigh's hotel, Warburton.
Ballarat Bitter was made as a limited edition a couple of times by Carlton United Brewery.

 

[Ballaratguy]

Actually Ballarat Bitter was brewed by its own company up until 1960’s/70’s
The brewery then operated u der the new owners (CUB) who shut down the brewery and sold the land th the Ballarat School of Mines which is now Federation Uni. The Ballarat Brewery offices are now part of the uni
I also know of a guy in Ballarat who has quite a lot of Ballarat Bitter stuff (including owning a couple of label copyrights

 

[Holden4th]

So many locally based independent breweries of long ago with their own take on how beer should taste. Beers such as Tooth's, Kent, etc, which were either swallowed up (pun intended) by the big boys or just went out of business.

I remember when Powers came out and how it was so much better than Toohey's, VB, XXXX, etc. It's Yatala brewery was bought up by CUB and within a couple of years it ceased to exist. That's the way of the world now where mediocrity is the norm and why we home and craft brewers exist in ever increasing numbers.