beer in Oz.

[Topdad]

some of remarks in Stephens timing chain grease post fetched some additional techno info about beer ,which seems also close to a lot of our hearts !! Due to the forums  international dimensions   it included some info on the beers close to home particularly from our friends in Oz. Got me thinking and remembering my holiday back in April to Florida and whilst this was very much a family theme park type break there was the chance to relax with a beer occasionally . Now to the question not being a larger type (except when nothing else available )  I looked at the local supermarkets local beers and others best i found by a long shot  was a fosters Ale which I'd never seen before in the Uk so friends over in Oz whats your feelings re this Ale . It was extremely cheap about $5 for 3 cans of about 660ml, and they certainly helped after 9 hrs of Disney/universal or whichever park we'd been to, just interested and look for ward to any feedback regards BobH.

[madsens]

Hi Topdad

In Denmark we have quite a lot of good beer, and lots of small independent breweries - always worth a visit!

But during my ½ year stay down under in '76-'77 as a farmhand I fondly remember Castlemaine XXXX, KB, and Fosters - and lots of visits to the local Ex. Servicemens Club in Warren. The beer came in rather big cans, not something I was used to from DK 

kind regards
Joergen

[muskrat]

 Ha, Fosters is the rubbish we send overseas to keep you lot away from our proper beer. Only know one bloke to drink it, he's a race horse trainer. Fosters is a big sponser of nag racing.
 Our mainstream beers are Toohey's, Victoria Bitter, Melbourne Bitter, XXXX, Carlton Draught. KB (Kids Brew) disappeared years ago. Most around the 4.5% alc.
 I have a picture in my wallet that i look at after each beer. When she looks good I go home!! 
Cheers

[Goldy]

You sound like a proper drinker Musk.

[duTch]

to the question not being a larger type (except when nothing else available )

  Hey Bob, dunno 'bout 'largers', but we have plenty of lager over here , not sure 'bout the Fosters, being in a can like that maybe just for export,don't see much fosters here at all, unless its drinkers are more discerning and put their empties in the bin! (usually a good indication of distribution is on the side of the road).
 I think was Kiwi asked a similar thing, but I was in the sin bin and daren't get too involved, but think I posted a Fosters story a while back, about my local doctor who assured me that it(fosters), doesn't give a hangover- yeah sure- put that off the menu,but a while back when I was in Melbourne, the Clifton Hill hotel had schooners (15oz) for $2, so gave a whirl and surprisingly it wasn't too bad, but the brewery's down the road and it was probably delivered on a trolley.
    Joergen, surprised you had xxxx in Warren(on the way to Cobar)- most inter-staters won't touch it, and some Qld locals, but after making my own Coopers homebrew for a while and at the time all commercial beer tasted wrong, I've come back to it, but as I said in the Dynamo-hum page, when the xxxx factory was on strike in '78, we had a variety of interstate beers to choose from, some ok most not- Southwark from Brians area was most available.
        KB came in little keg shaped bottles with a big opening,hey- dunno if they still make that, a lot of brands now defunct, or swallowed up by big brewers.
     There's been an upsurge in 'micro-breweries', making 'bouquet'(also a fancy name for imported) beer, so it's often debatable and overpriced, but there's a couple of bars near me that 'I'm told' only stock all-ausssie flavours  , for now, duTch

 Muskie rounded me up, and answered KB- mate you must have a good'n- some blokes make a stop on the way home

[pato08]

Having just returned from 4 years in London, I can tell you Fosters is made in Scotland. and is the #1 selling beer in UK, I could not get into Largers, But found a beer called "Desperado" it's tequila flavoured beer made in France, I fell in love with it.

Pato

[trevinoz]

I'm pretty sure that Fosters is a by product of the horse racing industry, maybe that's why the racing set drink it.
Toohey's for me but Coopers from S.A. and Boags from Tassie are always good for a change.

Trev.

[fido]

I've never been to Oz but can confirm that I don't like New Zealand beer.

I also don't like:
French beer
Belgium beer (yes I know it's supposed to be good)
Dutch beer
German beer
Spanish beer
Greek beer
Bulgarian beer
Hungarian beer

I nearly included Scottish beer in that list but that would not be fair as products from the  Black Isle Brewery, Isle of Skye Brewery and other small concerns can be very good.

I do like:
English beer
Welsh beer
Irish beer

[gavinoz]

Well, for me, a Tooheys Extra Dry, listening to the V8s belting round Mt. Panorama (Bathurst, Astralia), followed by a F18 flyover does the trick! gavinoz

[Topdad]

Thanks Musky,Dutch and Trev, no need to send your rubbish over here ,we've already got to much from our own supposed breweries. joergen, I'll put Demark on my "to visit" list (along with Norway.) and not just for the beer, Fido, always remember theres no such thing as a bad beer ,only some are better than others ! (although john smiths comes very very close ) Dutch we to have a whole range of micro breweries producing some great ales but the real draw back to really good beer over here is the tax ,as soon as they get up to 4% the price rockets . Bill's old peculiar was a case in question for years over 5.5% now reduced ,one of my favorites Ruddles county well over 5% now a mere shadow of it's former self.one things for true ,doesn't matter where you live and ride beer and bikes and at times girls ,go together. Many thanks for the replys to this frivolous post best wishes to all, cheers BobH

[duTch]

 I could probably babble on about this, but one thing's for sure if beers free and cold, it's good-weeeeell it helps.
 Funny, but when I was making my own and occasionally did a sorty to the local Rubbity, (that was when I was a bit domesticated), as the tap beer tasted funny, I'd switch between brews, and one time the keg expired mid-pour, and the girl was going to tip it out, whoa up- no- just top it up I said, it all tastes crap anyway, but as it turned out wasn't too bad- half VB, half XXXX, did the same in Melbs with various, got a few funny looks but that's normal anyway. They never knew what to ring it up as, so if I had two, I'd get'm to ring one as a VB, the next as a XXXX- Rocket science!
 Trev I did Tooheys new for a bit, but now struggle, but the Extra dry and Old is good, and Boags, and even Cascade is orright, when I'm out and about I do their 'lights',under duress.
 Have an issue with anything though, in any less than a 13oz (375ml) can/stubbie, so most imports suck(fosters)

 

[olev]

The missus and I were in the old East Berlin a couple of months ago visiting my daughter.
'Un Grosse doonkle dunka' did the trick. (dark beer)
We drank a very large quantity of the stuff.
'Ich bin kaput' only once after a huge session in a smokers pub.
loved the people. loved the beer.
cheers

[trevinoz]

Dutch,
                I was weaned onto Toohey's Old (Black) as it was the beer of choice, mostly, in the Hunter Valley.
Then they got the bright idea to brew it locally and the result was pure pi**.
The demand for this fine ale dropped to almost zero as a result and people mostly switched to New, which is a Lager.
The said brewery is now closed and the beer is made elsewhere but the damage was done.
The other contender in those days was Tooth's Old (Brown) which I haven't tried for years, since Carlton took over Tooth's.

Trev.

[muskrat]

 G'day Trev,
                I suffered the same problem years ago with my favorite Reschs Pil (silver bullets). It was made in the Tooths factory in Sydney then got took over by Carlton (CUB). It was dishwashing water. They changed back to the old recipe and is now almost as good as it was. Must be the muddy water they use for all Victorian beer  .
Daylight saving starts today so more sunshine to enjoy the amber life blood.
Cheers

[a10 gf]

Not to crash the party , I am (have become) a fervent non-drinker, and very glad for that, having too many times seen the ravages CH3CH2OH can do to (previously) nice people, co-workers, friends, and to their families. That said, many know how to behave and suffer (or do) no harm, probably (hopefully) the case for most members here! That's my slightly offtopic 'beer in Norway' comment lol
e