Scandal in Ozzieland

IndigoRedIndigoRed Perth Western Australia Icrontian
edited November 2007 in Food & Drink
News reports tonight have found many of the name brand imports are actually being brewed in Australia, and yet we're paying import prices. Name such as Stella, Guinness, Heiniken, Becks, Kirin... are all being brewed by the local breweries around Australia. The ACCC (consumer commission) is investigating if prices are falsely inflated. No US beers were mentioned.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/foreign-beers-home-brewed/2005/09/17/1126750168516.html

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    No US beers were mentioned.
    None of the big name American beers are worth importing, unless you like very watery, beer-flavored beverages.

    Small, local breweries have made a huge resurgence in the US in the last 10 years. Thank the Lord! I haven't touched the nasty mass market stuff in over two years now!

    Well, anyway, back to your topic. What does it matter where the beer is brewed, if it is brewed to the same specification as in the home country with the same quality of ingredients? Personally, all things being equal, I'd much rather have a local, fresh Guiness than one produced thousands of miles away and brought to my table weeks after brewing. With wine, age is important. With beer, it's just the opposite.
  • KentigernKentigern Milton Keynes UK
    edited November 2007
    IndigoRed wrote:
    The ACCC (consumer commission) is investigating if prices are falsely inflated.

    Let's hope they find in your favour = price review :cheers:
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Leonardo wrote:
    Well, anyway, back to your topic. What does it matter where the beer is brewed, if it is brewed to the same specification as in the home country with the same quality of ingredients? Personally, all things being equal, I'd much rather have a local, fresh Guiness than one produced thousands of miles away and brought to my table weeks after brewing. With wine, age is important. With beer, it's just the opposite.
    I believe the problem is that they are paying import prices on a domestically made products.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Leonardo wrote:
    None of the big name American beers are worth importing, unless you like very watery, beer-flavored beverages.
    Sam Adams! :D
  • ThelemechThelemech Victoria Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    IndigoRed wrote:
    News reports tonight have found many of the name brand imports are actually being brewed in Australia, and yet we're paying import prices. Name such as Stella, Guinness, Heiniken, Becks, Kirin... are all being brewed by the local breweries around Australia. The ACCC (consumer commission) is investigating if prices are falsely inflated. No US beers were mentioned.

    http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/foreign-beers-home-brewed/2005/09/17/1126750168516.html

    That is what they do here in CanukLand ... a lot of import brands are licensed to usually the biggest bidder (unfortunately swillbrewers =Labbat/Molson) and made locally... just cost so much less than to physically transport the actual deal.
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    I think that's the way they do it everywhere. It would be too expensive to ship beer over the ocean while it's fresh. They just use the foreign recipe in a domestic brewery.
  • SPIKE09SPIKE09 Scatland
    edited November 2007
    Becks adverts in the UK "only ever brewed in Bremen Germany" and Guinness for the UK market is now exclusively Dublin brewed they shut the London plant. Although CB has the right of it in many cases it is brewed under license in the (insert country of preference) Must say Miller etc taste better from bottle or can in the US, than the UK versions. Draught/Draft the reverse is true.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    I believe the problem is that they are paying import prices on a domestically made products.
    As long as the product is not advertised as "imported" I don't see a problem. If people are willing to pay more for something just because it comes from a foreign country...well...they need a life. If the beer is advertised as imported, then well, yes, that's false advertising. As for me, if a Guinness tastes like a Guinness, I don't give a rat's patoot where it was brewed. But it's a moot point anyway because my beer comes form the Moose's Tooth brewery and the Glacier Brewhouse, Anchorage. :D:D Ahhhh!

    Someone mentioned Beck's. You know, the seven years I lived in Germany, I never once saw a German drinking Becks, only Americans.

    Hey you Aussies, do you lads drink much Foster's, or is it mainly something for export?
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    All the Aussies I know say Fosters is sent to America because they don't want it. Instead, they get XXXX or Tooheys.
  • SPIKE09SPIKE09 Scatland
    edited November 2007
    XXXX is only called XXXX coz if you said XXXX in polite company you would be censured. And XXXX is what most folks say when they drink it VB FTW
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Watered down Beer FTW!
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    I say "4-ex."
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Buddy Jesus wrote:
    I say "4-ex."

    I only say "4-X" when I'm buying condems . :wink:


    Here in the U.S. I am pretty sure they can say " Import" to classify it as a certain recipe. ( regardless of where it was actually made ) But to say "Imported", it must be. ( I think )

    Leo wrote:
    unless you like very watery, beer-flavored beverages.

    I do. I would much rather have a good old Miller High Life !


    Scott
  • IndigoRedIndigoRed Perth Western Australia Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    1. They infer "imported" but you need a magnifying glass to read the fine print. Even the ads show their foreign roots.

    2. The "Imports" are $4-$5 more expensive than the locals.

    3. Fosters take up one line one the supermarket/bottle shop shelves in Victoria whereas Victoria Bitter Takes up 3 across and 2 shelves high. I drank Fosters in the US. I wouldn't touch it with a 10' barge pole here. VB ranks supreme. Too bad you don't get it there, it's a good drop.

    4. XXXX is the name of the beer, pronounced "four-X". It's brewed in South Australia.

    5. As for US beers, I can find Bud and Miller. Bud is more expensive. Could be Miller is being brewed local, but I swore off it years ago. I can also find Moosehead. Corona is big on the club scene. A slab/case of Bud will set me back A$65. But it is imported.

    6. FYI, each state in Aus has it's own major brewery, so Carlton and United in Victoria, Tooheys in New South Wales, Swan in WA, and ummm, the other guys... (guess I shoulda researched more... :bigggrin:) But each state sells their own beer at a lower cost, I've found.

    7. Lastly, I don't have a complaint about the quality of the "imported" brews made locally. I find the quality to be good. My gripe is paying import prices for it. If the lisences are that expensive, then stuff'em. I'll settle for the local stuff.
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