Friday Rant And Flame Fest - What Is Australia's National Beer?

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Having lived in Holland most of my life right next to the Belgium border and been to the states about 10 times I find it funny to say that non of the Dutch drink Heineken in Holland same goes for Stella in Belgium and only teenagers drink Bud in the states, guess what in Australia every one know Fosters but no one driks it!
Remember drinking my first Heineken and Stella here in Oz and I can tell you it tastes nothing like over there!
So whats the deal! :rolleyes:
 
As far as im concerned VB and Carlton Draught is just piss soaked through an afghans loin cloth, and Fosters is watery horse urine too.
Id have to say Coopers would get my vote as far as Aussie beer goes, but even then it gets a bit ordinary after a dozen.
Im a fan of Little Creatures too, but the price per carton is a bit rude.
Home Brew FTW!
 
Billy Connolly and his australian wife,will no doubt thank you.But to read his biography and still spell his name wrong...please

It reeks of GFR

WTF ? <_< Apart from the spelling ?

And what that has to do with renal function is beyond me.
 
Now, this has been explained to me in terms that I can appreciate: one can/stubby of XXXX Gold is one standard drink, which makes it easier to keep track of how much has been drunk.

XXXX @ 1 standard drink must mean Qlders not only can't spell but also can do maths.... :lol:
 
Regardless of what any of us would LIKE it to be, it's definitely VB.
 
Overseas I found Fosters rather popular and wondered why locals drank it when there were so many better beers on tap right next to the Fosters

The Fosters brewed by Oil Can Breweries in Texas and Georgia tastes noticeably better than the local (difficult to find) Australian variety. Actually, I think it just has less old-sock flavour and less body, so goes down like nothing when it's served ice cold in those 750ml cans. It's often a good cheap option when the only other stuff on tap is Bud, But lite, etc.
 
In same way that if a movie director wants to let the audience know that it's happening in Aus he shows either Sydney Opera house/Harbour bridge or Ayres Rock with didgeridoo sound track, it would probably be Fosters. We don't have to like it.

Cheers,
Greg
 
Seems to me the most widely available beer is VB.

But that is not the question asked in this thread.

The question is: What Is Australia's National Beer?

IMHO: The answer to that is the Coopers range of beers. They are identifiably different to beers from other countries, even to the extent the BJCP guidelines traditionally do not have a category where they really fit in. No other place on earth brews a beer like the Coopers Sparkling or Pale.

As for Grange, I have some in my cellar. I have drunk them at anything up to about 40 years matured. The best I had was a 1974, consumed with friends on New Years day 2006. It was glorious, certainly up there with the 2 or 3 best wines I'd ever consumed. The day was topped off with an 8 year old Whispering Hill Riesling from WA, which was also amazing; beautiful honeyed aged characters, but still lovely fruit, and with a clean finish.

So, if it is not Grange, then what is it?
 
VB. For sure.

I've had VB all around the country on tap.

If you can get winnie blues, you can get VB.

It's my megadrill of choice.

Chappo - do you remember a night at Friday's in BNE when I changed the bar tab bill from $89 of VB and a garlic bread (which never came) to two meals with entree? Work didn't blink at coughing for that one :lol:
 
Whilst I think Coopers is certainly recognised amongst home brewers and beer lovers around the globe I still think, generally it has to be Fosters. Like it or not, take the US for example most beer lovers and homebrewers there would probably shudder to think everyone considers Budweiser as their national beer, IMHO its Fosters for us, sadly. :wacko:
 
Qlder's swear by it. They would bath in it if they could. I have lived in Qld for 20 years now and I just can't drink the muck and don't start me on the 4ex Gold! But the megaswiller Qlder thinks it's god's milk????? Am I surrounded by morons?

Unfortunately this is true...it's a crying shame too. QLD'ers are ridiculously staunch with their Fourex quaffing. It sure as hell isn't known as the national beer but definitely dominates the taps up here.

Personally, I'm happy to call any of the Coopers range THE national beer...I'd be proud to see the Cooper's beers available internationally.
 
So, if it is not Grange, then what is it?
Hill of Grace. :p :p

There are so many great Australian wines and styles now that it is pretty hard question to answer. In a similar style to Grange I think Lehmann Stonewell and Rockford Basket Press are as good probably better.

Perhaps if you like metabolites of brettanomyces then something like HOG is your cup of tea.

I suppose different people like different things in wine, 1974 Grange is probably one of the worst bottles of grange I have tasted. I have been lucky enough over a few years to have tasted Grange back to 1970. Interestingly I think 1974 Grange was the first Australian wine to cost more than $20!

In the context of this thread for well know wines, then I think Kirem Estate 2007 Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz won't rate a chance, but it is bloody good, right TDA and Gulf Brewery.... :p

So back to beer, I can see that Foster's have tried to create an iconic beer with Ambassador, it's a pretty good beer, I just don't think the packaging matches the beer quality.

I have to agree with a few of the other comments. The National beer of SA is Cooper's, The National beer of Vic is probably VB, The National Beer of QLD is XXXX, The National beer of NSW is probably Tooheys, not sure about WA, NT, TAS (cascade or boag's dependant on Nth or Sth part of the map of TAS)
 
Personally, I'm happy to call any of the Coopers range THE national beer...I'd be proud to see the Cooper's beers available internationally.
Me too. Its actually the only decent beer I know of that is accepted by megaswillers as being ok.
Thats a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. :)

But VB? Really? Do we havta?

As for XXXX, I used to like their Draught beer but that got canned a while back. Mind you, my taste buds have changed so much in the past 2 years I doubt I could drink it now.

So, Coopers should be the National Beer...in the same way LCPA should be $30/case.


Cheers,
Jake
 
There are so many great Australian wines and styles now that it is pretty hard question to answer. In a similar style to Grange I think Lehmann Stonewell and Rockford Basket Press are as good probably better.

Perhaps if you like metabolites of brettanomyces then something like HOG is your cup of tea.

I suppose different people like different things in wine, 1974 Grange is probably one of the worst bottles of grange I have tasted. I have been lucky enough over a few years to have tasted Grange back to 1970. Interestingly I think 1974 Grange was the first Australian wine to cost more than $20!

In the context of this thread for well know wines, then I think Kirem Estate 2007 Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz won't rate a chance, but it is bloody good, right TDA and Gulf Brewery.... :p

Enjoying the wine groove, my current (for several years) favourite red wine comes from a tiny little winery a few kilometres west of the big Brown Brothers restaurant thing at Rutherglen (in a place called Taminick). The patriarch of the family for many years insisted that none that went out the door would sell for more than $10 a bottle because "it's only wine". He makes (or made) very good wine and had a very grounded attitude to the whole thing which sits well with me...

My first bottle of Grange was a 1974, but we enjoyed it with fish and chips and... ;)
 
I asked him what colour and his response was either green or red.

I got my wonderful wife to buy a slab of VB (I don't want the locals to see me buying it) and the blokes thought it was christmas.

Australia's National Beer must be VB. As much as it pains me to say it...

He asks for Pale or Sparkling and you buy him VB :blink:

Seriously though, I'm an idealist, Coopers Pale Ale.
 
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