Arvo 51 first crowd-sourced beer

It’s probably a sign of keeping up with the times that Casella, the company behind the Arvo brands, has termed Arvo 51 the first "crowd-sourced" beer.

As reported, Australian consumers were allowed to take a vote on which of the two beers launched by Casella earlier this year they preferred. Arvo 51 Lager made it a winner with voters over its competitor Arvo 34 because of its mellower and less hop driven flavour. Thus 51 will become a permanent item in the Casella portfolio as they move forward.

Casella’s Managing Director, John Casella, was quoted as saying that "with the help of almost 9000 Australians who were with us from the very beginning, we are delighted to announce Arvo 51 as Casella’s first official lager and the nation’s first crowd-sourced beer, created for Australians by Australians. We plan to grow our beer portfolio significantly so it was important for us to invest in the best resources and team available, to help drive innovation."

But how very much "old times" is this: to honour the Australians who took part in creating Arvo, Casella will immortalise one lucky consumer in a bronze statue.

The lucky winner in another competition, launched by Casella in mid-September 2012, will be rewarded with a bronze statue of him- or herself, standing 10 feet tall. The bronze tribute is to make the perfect addition to one lucky person’s backyard, balcony or hometown.

I am not sure many Australians would like to have a statue of themselves standing in their driveways, only to be defecated on by pigeons, or have the missus run into it while trying to manoeuvre the car past it. But, then again, I may be wrong.