Aussie brewers fret over high inflation and beer excise hike

Australia | There is a lot of angst about the latest excise hike, following high inflation. The cost of beer is set to rise again, as excise tax went up by 3.7 percent on 1 February, after rising 4 percent in August last year.

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Australia’s brewer CUB launches a Michelob Ultra clone called Spill

Australia | How inspired is this? The Asahi-owned brewing company CUB introduced Spill in November in partnership with the booze retailer Coles. CUB engaged the social media star Abbie Chatfield as the celebrity influencer and face of the brand.

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“Beer is no longer recession proof” says Coopers brewery boss Tim Cooper

 Australia | Dr Tim Cooper, Managing Director of the Adelaide-based Coopers Brewery, fears that beer is losing its ability to withstand tough economic times.

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Australian brewer Colonial changes “problematic” name to CBCo after criticism

Australia | Succumbing to wokery, as some see it, the craft brewer Colonial has changed its name, following two years of pressure amid claims it “glorifies and glamorises the colonial process”. As of 7 September, it calls itself CBCo.

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The 15-dollar pint: biggest tax hike in 30 years for Aussie beer drinkers

Australia | The Tax Office raised the excise by 4 percent on 1 August, leaving Australians with the world’s fourth-highest beer tax behind Norway, Japan, and Finland. Australians now pay 30 percent more tax on beer than their fellow drinkers in the UK.

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Campaign to cut excise is a lifeline to Australian on-premise

Australia | The Australian Hotels Association and the Brewers Association continue to campaign for a cut to the increased excise on draught beer, which came into effect on 1 February 2022. Their campaign is in support of pubs, and clubs, many of which are small businesses that have endured the most difficult trading conditions because of the pandemic.

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Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards 2022

Entries open | Entries are now open for the Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards 2022 until 1 April. Judging takes place 9–13 May 2022, the awards are presented on 26 May.

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Australia’s Coopers Brewery is reeling from lockdowns

Australia | After it emerged unscathed from the first covid year, Coopers Brewery saw its beer volumes tumble by 8 percent in the July-to-October period this year due to lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne and uncertainty in other markets.

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Australian craft brewer with thirty-year history in liquidation

Australia | As the pandemic and lockdowns take their toll, Southern Bay Brewing has collapsed into liquidation. Southern Bay, which was among the first wave of craft brewers in Australia, has been operating from the regional city of Geelong, 70 km south of Melbourne, for some 30 years. It was previously known as Geelong Brewing Company.

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Shortage of pallets makes Australian brewers fear for year-end sales

Australia | Supermarkets and brewers have been thrown into chaos due to a rapidly unfolding pallet shortage. Some of the nation’s largest breweries have considered slashing production by up to 50 percent – a move set to cost millions – because there are not enough pallets for stock to be transported on. Beer supplies could be tight around Christmas, Australia’s peak selling season, and in the next year.

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Australian brewers get new CEOs – external candidates preferred

Australia | Danny Celoni, the boss of the PepsiCo’s operations in Australasia, has been hired to run Australia’s biggest beer business, Carlton & United Breweries (CUB). He will start in February next year and replaces Peter Filipovic, who is bowing out after 25 years with CUB. This was announced on 7 October 2021.

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Lion buys Stone & Wood for AUD 500 million: Is it such a big deal?

Australia | Despite having been in and out of lockdowns for longer than any of us, many Australians have become rather serene about their lot. But come the sale of craft brewer Stone & Wood to the country’s number two brewer, Kirin-owned Lion, in September, there was suddenly talk about it “sending shockwaves through the industry” (the website craftypint.com). Elsewhere, the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, has been described as a bombshell, the end of an era, a devastating blow for the independent sector, etc.

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Lion splashes out AUD 500 million for craft brewer Stone & Wood

Australia | It sent shockwaves around the industry when Lion announced it has acquired 100 percent of the Fermentum Group, which owns one of the country’s largest and most staunchly independent craft brewers, Stone & Wood, for an estimated AUD 500 million (USD 370 million). The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, was reported on 9 September 2021.

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Lion puts Adelaide brewery equipment up for sale

Australia | It is surprising that Australia’s number two brewer, Lion, would sell a very big brewery, which could give someone else a free kick into the market.

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Mighty Craft buys beer, spirits and cider firm Adelaide Hills Group

Australia | What is their exit plan? The craft drinks group, Mighty Craft, will pay AUD 27 million (USD 21 million) in cash and AUD 20 million in shares to acquire the Adelaide Hills Group, which has a craft brewery, a cidery and a distillery, on top of owning 75 percent of a hospitality venue in the Adelaide Hills, known as Lot 100.

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New book on mashing by Dr Evan Evans

Australia | Being locked down in Tasmania and unable to travel anywhere, Dr Evan Evans put his free time to excellent use. He wrote a book simply called Mashing.

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Craft Brewers’ #MeToo moment

USA | Allegations of sexual, racial and other misconduct, which were published on Instagram in May, have rocked the American craft beer industry. They have prompted resignations, firings and promises for change.

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Hop Products Australia completes 2021 hop harvest

Australian crop report | Hop Products Australia (HPA), Australian representative of the Barth Haas group, have completed the 2021 hop harvest. They picked 675 hectares across their three farms, which resulted in 1,526 metric tonnes of hops. This was a 44 hectare (6.9 %) net increase and a 25 metric tonne (1.6 %) decrease year-on-year across the six proprietary varieties Eclipse®, Ella™, Enigma®, Galaxy®, Topaz™ and Vic Secret™ as well as Cascade.

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The power of baristas: CUB buys Allpress coffee

Australia | Are Australian media suffering from a dearth of big news that they had to hype Asahi’s recent purchase as a major deal? Asahi, the owner of Carlton & United Breweries (CUB), acquired the Melbourne coffee company Allpress Espresso, making it the brewer’s first foray into Australia’s AUD 1.3 billion (USD 950 million) wholesale coffee market.

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Australian government increases excise rebate to small brewers

Australia | It is a victory of sorts. While craft brewers celebrated the announcement on 1 May 2021 that the beer excise tax rebate will increase from AUD 100 000 to AUD 350 000 per annum, as of July this year, many worry that it will not benefit the brewers but the publicans.

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Entries now open for the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards

Best brewers across the world | The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV), Melbourne, Australia, is pleased to announce that entries are now open for the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA).

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IBD Asia Pacific Section: 36th Convention upcoming

Virtual conference | The postponed 36th Convention of the Asia Pacific Section of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling will be held Tuesday, 23rd February and Wednesday, 24th February 2021.

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Asahi sells online retailer BoozeBud back to founders

Australia | Japan’s Asahi, which bought the country’s leading brewer Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) from AB-InBev in 2020, has sold its leading online alcohol retailer BoozeBud back to the business’ founders.

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China’s wine tariffs will hurt Australia’s vintners

Australia | For several months now, China has been using punitive tariffs in retaliation for criticism from Australia. Now Beijing has targeted Australian wine. Since the end of November, Chinese importers have to pay surcharges of between 107 percent and 212 percent. China’s demand for Australian wine is expected to almost completely collapse.

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Buy Aussie wine!

Australia | More than 200 parliamentarians from 19 countries are calling on people to drink Australian wine in protest against the brutal tariffs slapped on the country by China. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) describes itself as a “cross-party group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China”.

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Australian breweries in 2020: keeping spirits high

Australia | As can be expected, the coronavirus crisis will have impacted brewers’ sales adversely, but insiders are hard pressed to come up with an estimate. Most likely, beer sales will be down in the mid-single digits in 2020, but the decline will probably hit the Big Brewers harder than the independents.

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Australia’s indie brewers benefit from shift in people’s drinking habits

Australia | 2020 may turn into craft brewing’s “lost year”, but Australian craft brewers remain upbeat. They think they are in a “largely strong” position, heading into the antipodean summer, while building on the trends that have emerged since the pandemic broke out.

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Australia’s Coopers breweries sees sales rise during lockdown

Australia | Adelaide-based Coopers brewery is crediting a consumer trend towards local beer brands, and its shrewd move to more canned products, for a 3.9 percent rise in volume sales in its 2019-20 financial year, ended 30 June.

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Bega Cheese buys Kirin’s Australian dairy arm

Australia | After having offered its underperforming dairy unit to nearly everyone for two years, Japanese brewer Kirin finally found a buyer: On 26 November 2020 media reported that Kirin will sell its Australian beverage and dairy subsidiary to the local dairy company, Bega Cheese, for USD 412 million. 

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Coca-Cola European Partners acquires Coca-Cola Amatil

Australia | One day Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) was in the news over rumours it will buy Asahi’s sell-off brands, the next day it was the target of a takeover offer itself.