Ballarat Brewery

[Ray_Mills]

Hi
Went to my local Dapto junk market last Sunday, its amazing what you find at these markets.
Picked up a poster and one of those things with the beer name that go on the tap handle at pubs. The beer is Eureka Ale from the Ballarat Brewing Co.
I looked up my book on Breweries of Australia (great book) and the bewery was purchased by CUB and closed down in 1989.
Has anyone ever tasted this beer as a search found nothing.
Cheers
Ray

 

[Ray_Mills]

Hi
Looks like the "Eureka Ale" is a mistery
Bugger
Ray

 

[Doc]

Hi
Looks like the "Eureka Ale" is a mistery
Bugger
Ray

[post="47019"][/post]​

Ray,

Did you try contacting Jason (old OCB member) from Ballarat ?

Doc

 

[lstrong]

About a month ago I had the opportunity to taste a beer called "Old Ballarat Brew" from the same brewery. Yes, it tasted like it was 15 years old.
Can't help you with any more info than that though...

 

[normell]

In 1958 CUB bought out the Ballarat Brewing Company which originated during the gold rushes that swept through that area at the end of the nineteenth century. Ballarat Bitter had, since 1927, had a little old brewer on its labels. He was affectionately known as Ballarat Bertie. After the bottling operations in Ballarat were closed, it was thought that Berties services were no longer required. He was removed from the label. This sparked a massive outcry in Ballarat and Ballarat Bertie was promptly restored to his rightful place.




Eureka! Brewing Co.
Eureka! Ale
Eureka! Red

 

[gyro]

Hey there
Ballarat Bitter is a bit of a historical topic in Ballarat
There is still a large advertisment on a building here that is maintained under some heritage thing and the brewery is still there only it is now a car park for the nearby tafe school
Every one and his dog has saved a bottle or two (usally empty) and the local home brew shop has some statues of bertie leaning on a bottle for sale
They used to make that eurka stuff too, since they closed down on 1985 it probabley was 15 years old

Every Tuesday must have been cook up day because most of the town smelt like malt
Stuff pops up on ebay now and again here is the only pic of bertie I could find

 

[Ray_Mills]

Hi Guys
Its all a shame when a brewery closes, I bet the beer was very good and I guess there was many a drinker upset when it was all over. It would have been hard for them to change over the CUB products.
cheers
Ray

 

[warrenlw63]

Here ya go,

OCR'd this from Keith Dunstan's book "The Amber Nectar".

In September 1958 CUB acquired the Ballarat Brewing Company, which owned two breweries, one in Ballarat and the Volum Brewery in Geelong which it had acquired four years earlier. CUB bought the brewing operations but not the 102 hotels which remained with the Ballarat Brewing Company. For many years CUB maintained the Volum Brewery for storage and racking operations using beer tankered from Carlton. In 1986 CUB closed down the Volum brewing operations and turned it into a distribution centre, but they continued to brew beer in bulk in Ballarat and in 1987 began making Guinness under licence. Meanwhile packaged Ballarat Bitter was sent up from Melbourne. Ballarat's ancestry went right back to the days of the gold rush. There was Magill &: Coghlans of Warrenheip, founded in 1857 and the Royal Standard Brewery in Armstrong Street, Ballarat.18 The two breweries combined in 1895 to form the Ballarat Brewing Company.
In Ballarat everybody loves Ballarat Bertie, a product of a smart piece of marketing in 1927. Ballarat Bertie was a silver-haired little character in an apron. In advertisements and posters he was always enthusiastically quaffing a mug of foaming beer. He appeared on the label of every bottle of Ballarat Bitter. When CUB shifted Ballarat bottling operations to the city, it seemed convenient to drop Ballarat Bertie from the label. There was a cry of outrage from Ballarat of such proportions that Bertie had to be returned to the label once again. Lou Mangan said loyalty to the product never quite matched the enthusiasm of the love for Ballarat Bertie. Many a Ballarat citizen was just as happy to drink Foster's Lager or Abbots.


Warren -