There was a time when Australians didn’t
have much choice in beer.
So, what've you got?
VB on tap
VB in a can,
or special edition VB in a cask!
What am I, the Queen?
But now thanks to the rise of 
“craft beer” our choices seem endless
And this is the Algernon Hopsworths IPA; stirred
with the rib of the last Tasmanian tiger.
Too mainstream.
Overall beer consumption is falling, but “craft”
beer sales are growing rapidly
So everyone’s trying to get in on it.
But just cos your beer looks like a independent
operation with an authentic history, doesn’t
mean it is.
Like “Steamrail” Pale Ale.
Sold with the slogan
"There's a story behind every great beer!"
And ours
is that we were created by Coles in 2013.
There’s Jim & Joe’s Lorry Boys with its
logo of a vintage truck
Ello’ Guvner!
But the vintage of the brand goes all the
way back to
2015, when we were also created by Coles.
In 2014, the ACCC fined Carlton & United for
giving the impression that
Byron Bay Lager is brewed in Byron Bay!
when it was actually made at the Warnervale brewery
630km away.
Well, I’m off to hang a ten, water colleagues!
For the all the boutique branding, the Aussie
beer market’s still dominated by two international
conglomerates
AB InBev, from Belgium, which own Carlton
& United, and Japanese company Kirin who
owns the Lion Group.
They control over 80% of beer sales in Australia.
This includes
lots of the big names and internationals.
and also heaps of “Craft” brands they
have bought out or created over the years.
Companies like Asahi and Coca-Cola are in
on the craft beer craze too.
Which doesn’t leave a lot of room for Independent,
Australian owned Brewers.
So, why should I care?
Many smaller brewers say the major players
use their market power to control what beers
are available at your pub.
So that most of what you see here
are really brands from one of the two big companies.
Still don’t care.
They use ‘tap contracts’ - which offer
incentives like
free fridges
promotions and discounts
if the pubs reserve most taps for their beers.
You better hit your sales targets
or I think you’ll find...
I’m not as relaxed as I look.
In America
these type of incentives are illegal because…
they result in unfair market advantages.
Millions of dollars in fines have been handed out
by regulators…
like the ABC.
The ABC regulates alcohol in America?
I’m here with the beer tasting division?
OK, so what do these tap contracts say in
Australia?
Well ours says that our supplier must be
the exclusive supplier of all light beer,
low-carbohydrate beer, domestic premium and
sub-premium beer, imported draught beer, speciality
and craft beers and all draught spirits and
cider...
but anyone can provide our water.
Cool.
Now not all tap contracts are this exclusive
But they do often cover the majority of taps and
fridge space.
But big brewers say the idea that tap contracts
reduce competition is
a Furphy.
They aren’t
Hop hogs out to
roger independent brewers.
And pub owners think tap contracts are
the Beez Neez, because they get beer cheaper
and only have to deal with one supplier.
Now independent brewers say these are
white lies.
They say they’d
love to tap more pubs, but the
Modus operandi of the big brewers is keeping them out of pubs and costing them heaps in
sales.
So to settle that argument , enter
the Constable.
Wha?
the ACCC!
The ACCC investigated more than 140 contracts
across 36 pubs over 3 years.
It was basically the world’s most boring
pub crawl.
They concluded that while tap contracts were
widespread, the pubs
did not feel constrained from making taps
available to smaller brewers
and therefore the contracts are unlikely to
substantially lessen competition.
Which sounds like the big brewers are off the hook.
But they did say:
We’ll continue to closely monitor the market.
which sounds like a pretty good excuse to go to
the pub.
I’d like to “monitor” 4 schooners please.
Many drinkers just like their one beer, they don’t
care who owns it or where it’s brewed.
We get that.
One Queensland shandy
Ahh XXXX with a dash of XXXX!
But if you do care who owns your beer, the
ACCC has told big brewers they have to put it somewhere
on the label. And they have!
in tiny writing that that no-one’s ever going to read
Speak for yourself.
Finding out where your beer is brewed can
also be difficult.
Many overseas brands like Carlsberg, Peroni
or
the dutch Heineken may look imported, and
carry a premium price tag, but somewhere on
the label a little bit of text will say
brewed in Australia.
Mate! I’m as dutch as a bloody windmill!
If you do want independent, Australian beer, the Independent Brewers Association is working on
a new logo to put on their members products
They've rejected my suggestions but it should be on bottles and taps later in 2018
That way, people who do care about who owns
their beer can support independent brewers.
And do the noble work of encouraging pubs
to stock a wider range.
And that means more boutique, wanker beers
for everybody.
Mate, I’m so thirsty I could lick the sweat
off a dog’s balls!
Perfect!
