Apart from excise, the newest trick is to package new " Craft Beer" in 330ml mini bottles. And somehow get the price to around $3-4 per each, warm, off the shelf and call it " small batch, brewed with love, only a limited edition , brewed with raspberries, etc ect. This is 12% less product for up to 50% more money The state govt's must be laughing as the GST component of the ripped price goes back to them, But the excise, now reduced due to less volume goes to federal mob.
Of course my choice is not to purchase in general, but in the words of Tom t Hall, " I Like Beer" , so sometimes a bit tempted.
Nothing new about 330ml bottles. When Hahn Premium Light first appeared in the late 1980s, it was bottled in 330ml stubbies. Lion purchased the brand and bottles increased in size but newer brews under the same banner are sold in 330ml bottles and 375ml cans. The real con job is most craft beers are actually brewed by mainstream brewers.
For the first few months of this year I was a resident of South Africa and I was shocked by the price of alcohol & tobacco when compared to back in Australia. Just as an example a couple of days before I left I bought a carton of 24 x Castle Lager 500ml cans for the usual R250 (A$25) and as part of a rugby world cup promotion I got a free Springboks supporters jumper thrown in (unfortunatly I had to give the beer away but I kept the jumper). Bottles of Spirits were the same price as a carton of beer and you could even buy imported Aussie wines like Jacobs Creek off the shelf for half the price of what they sell it for here - not that you would want to as the SA wines are just as good as our own. How much of that cost difference is made up of lower production costs (labour) or taxes I don't know but I strongly suspect that what the government takes here is probably the biggest driver.
I tend to sample some of the craft beers from time to time if they are featured in a bottle shop and may have attracted a discount.
99% of them are in 330 ml bottles which as Craig said really dont represent real value.
I bought a four pack of a craft beer Pale Ale a few weeks ago and put it in my fridge.
Feeling like a different beer one night I grabbed one and poured it into a glass.
Mmmm. The aroma was great and it had the fruity taste which is the signature of most of the craft Pale Ale beers as they are really a copy of the style from the USA.
Anyway I enjoyed all 330 ml of the beer and opened another..When nearing completion of the second on I was beginning to feel the effect of the alcohol so I read the label.
Holy hell..it was 5.8% ABV.
Needless to say I drank the other two stubbies on two separate occasions.
Maybe the 330 bottle is a good size for a beer that strong.
Yep Rob, the somewhat rare exception to my whinge. Often applies to the darker varieties that they get that heavy alcohol content. But as you say sometimes agood price.
I have started buying Storm Light from Aldi. $24 for a carton and not a bad beer. Certainly does the job for me.
Did not know aldi sold beer. Im off to aldi. camped next to a motor home a few weeks ago and they had a builtin keg under kitchen bench and this is the bench.
I was in Dan Murphys the other day and they had Oettinger which is a German Lager for sale.
It comes in 500ml cans and has 24 in a box and all for $44.95.
At that price I bought a box and I find it is a great example of a German beer.
It is about 4.5 %abv and it actually has hops in it, not like most of the swill that is being passed to us at times.
The hops in the beer are distinctly Saaz hops which is a signature hop in many European beers.
At 12 litres of beer for $45.00 I will buy it again.
Unfortunately we generally dont stay for any time in a town that is large enough to boast having a Dans outlet.
I rarely drink beer now that I'm a plonko, but when I was at the checkout of the local Dan Murphy's the other day, the guy offered me a six pack of craft beer for $5. He said that it was getting a bit close to its use by date but if I didn't like it I could bring it back & they would refund my $5.
Guess what I decided.
It was a very drinkable brew too.
No alcohol sales at Qld Aldi. (or supermarkets either) so I can't sample their wares.
I stopped making my own brew a couple of decades ago as I was just drinking too much.
We were amazed at the cheap price of beer & spirits on our last trip to Hawaii. I think that we paid about $10 for a bottle of basic spirits and a dollar or two for a stubbie. Walmart vin ordinaire was extremely cheap but best drunk very cold to mask the taste.
Still, the Aussie Govts need to get their revenue from somewhere & I prefer them to tax discretionary items, like grog & fags, where possible.
When I go back and visit Philippines, I buy a great beer brewed by San Miguel Brewery called San Miguel Lite or SML. It's lite in Carbs only, alcohol content is 5%. Cost in our money for a case of 24 x 330ml bottles, $14.30... When San Mig purchased Boags Brewery in Tasmania some years back, they brewed an identical beer and called it St. George. After they sold the Brewery to Lion Nathan, the product disappeared, but in the last few weeks it's available again in 330 ml bottles and kegs for draft sales in Pubs. If you get to Tassie, try it. St George.
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Another size is 355ml which is 12 US fluid oz. That appears to be a standard in any country that has been kick started by the US (like LHD cars). Surprising US liquid measures are the original measures. The Poms are the ones who changed what a gallon and other liquid measures are.
Boutique and Craft beers are a bit of a fashion statement. Some good, some not so. Our major brands (XXXX, CUB etc.) qualify as Boutique & Craft beers in the US as their volume is below what a US boutique beer must be below. Can you imagine XXXX as a boutique or craft beer?
Lol. The last I heard the breweries pay about 15c each for the stubbies with labels and fill them for about another 20c. Then we pay about $8 a stubbie at the bar. Rip off.
I make my own. Bugger big ASX companies and the Gov.
BTW. The mark up at the bar is over 100%
-- Edited by oldbloke on Tuesday 22nd of October 2019 07:07:17 AM
