Good offering for bottles and drinking alike? Try VB Original Recipe, have brought that to a party or two and drunk side by side with Coopers Pale. I think its better - mates think its either on par or just above/below CPA. Depends on taste I guess. Also the bottles have a very sleek look, the shoulder sloping like the longnecks of old. Pluss they're roll-tops ;D
Gotta admit I don't mind the odd Tooheys Pils. Half decent taste, goes down pretty easily due to a gravity thats not very high, and it has an alcohol content of 5.2% - I usually see it for $40 a case. This too has a somewhat distinctive bottle, with a sharp shoulder and relatively sqaurish look. Honestly, my next commercial case will probably be these.
Haagen Lager gets my vote too - $29 a case, good full-strength commercial lager without any overpricing. Also, its from the Independant Breweries of Australia! My mates who've had this with me now usually get it as well. Average green bottle.
If you want to go a bit over those price-wise, I don't mind Stella [even the Aussie brewer version] and very much favour Red Oak's Honey Ale...although they do run the $25 a 6-pack mark, its worth every cent. Trouble is they aren't that much of a session beer.
Cheers - boingk
EDIT: PS - You might want to pay the local recyclers a visit...I've scored numerous bottles [several batches worth], sealed back up in their original boxes. Easy, cheap and you don't have to spend the dosh on commercial.
