Thread: Free Beer! Queensland bush pubs shout.

Originally Posted by Saitch

To this day,whenever the term 'Beer Strike' is mentioned, it brings back unwanted memories of what we had to endure in the '70s, here in Qld.
On top of that, Bob then has to dredge up 'Brisbane River.'

It was said it tasted rather like Southwark. I think it was a Victorian who said that, they wouldn't lie.


YouTube

A couple of funny Aussie. beer commercials to bring a smile to your face.

YouTube

I'm not sure why most commercial beer is what it is.

I was employed by NT Brewery post Cyclone Tracy. "Get the brewery going again, ASAP" is what they said to me . So with the help of their resident scottish maintenance foreman we did.

The brewer , John Moffat , if I recall correctly , had been a Fosters brewer , and thats basically what NT Draught was.

John would enter any beer competition national or international , and he'd brew a half hogshead of something special , never told us what it was , he'd rack 2 kegs , one would go into a huge pallatised "stubby holder" and be flown down to CUB HQ , and the other would go in the bar which we would drink at lunch and after work. Sometimes we could fill a few Darwin stubbies for personal use hehehe. By the time the beer had been tested , sampled , pasteurised , homogenised and racked there was only about ten gallons left and it was easier to divert it to the Darwin Stubby rack and fill what we could.

They always tasted fantastic , so much better than the standard beer , and required no extra special work for the brewery workers.

This brings me back to the opening statement , why they brew the beer they do. And why we drink it.

I made a decent profit during the "Great Beer Strike of the 70s". Not being a beer drinker, but committed to buying a carton a week of well discounted Milton product, my garage became a premium price bottlo.
Interestingly, the strike was manipulated by Castlemaine management, in order that the production line could be modernised, without the need to stand down the production staff, on full pay.
Who amongst us is old enough to remember "Brewed by Bulimba, So You Know That It's Good"?



Didn't Bulimba also make Pilsner, a universally detested brew?

Originally Posted by V8Ian

I made a decent profit during the "Great Beer Strike of the 70s". Not being a beer drinker, but committed to buying a carton a week of well discounted Milton product, my garage became a premium price bottlo.
Interestingly, the strike was manipulated by Castlemaine management, in order that the production line could be modernised, without the need to stand down the production staff, on full pay.
Who amongst us is old enough to remember "Brewed by Bulimba, So You Know That It's Good"?



Didn't Bulimba also make Pilsner, a universally detested brew?

After take over by Carlton they made Melbourne Bitter and soon realised you couldn't sell anything labelled "Melbourne" in Queensland. Bulimba draught used to be widely known as "The Green Death" for the ferocious hangovers it generated. Qld. Brewery Ltd. was a public company pre-Carlton with the Catholic Church a large shareholder.

Edit:- the name of Melbourne Bitter was changed to Brisbane Bitter to sell the stuff. A bit of badge engineering. Same crook beer inside though. This is what Bob10 calls Brisbane River.

Does anyone remember drinking Coopers Big Barrel Lager. It has been out of production for 30-35 years. I remember it as a good drop. A high strength lager with a mule's kick. Does anyone know what the alc./vol was?

Originally Posted by DeanoH

Back in the days of the 'beer strikes' here in Victoria we suffered through some pretty crap beer. Cairns Draught in a copy cat Carlton Draught can and who can forget NQ Lager ? (everyone hopefully ). No wonder North Queenslanders are a bit different after the genetic damage this did over the years.

NSW beer wasn't much better with Tooheys sludge, both old and new and equally disgusting, and the unforgettable and aptly named Reschs, and you think Corona virus is bad ?

South Australian beer wasn't any better, Coopers was terrible, basically undrinkable and not the beer it is today and as for Southwark, even the pigs wouldn't drink it but but the crow eaters lapped it up

Emu Bitter and Swan lager were thousands of 'K's away on the other side of the country and unknown to those in the East but certainly saved the day for me and those in the know during the beer strikes of the '70's.

(Swan Lager ........ don’t see that name any more. Good drop on a warm WA day
Emu bitter now that’s what real men drink not this sugar coated VB, Sweeter than a gummy bear, just what boys in Victoria needed to acquire the taste for beer)

Here in Victoria we were blessed with the 'nectar of the gods' not only did we have Australia's most popular and universally drunk beer, Victoria Bitter. The beer of choice for all discerning drinkers with any remaining taste buds/brain cells but backed it up with Carlton Draught, Melbourne Bitter, Fosters and Abbots Lager.

(Nectar of the “gods” my arse
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again just to remind the Mexicans🤭

“Australia is not a state of Victoria
Victoria is a state of Australia”

I was always told VB was the dregs they clean up after making Crown Lager🤮 and Melbourne Bitter was the floor scraping of VB
Makes sense, I’m pretty sure that’s where the old saying “you can’t turn **** into sugar” came from)

Aah .................... they were the days. None of this fancy Millennial craft beer crap back in the day when real men didn't eat Quiche and women were the only ones with hand bags.

Times have changed, Queenslanders still can't make beer though had another go with Powers, NSW gave up and sold their breweries off to the Kiwis, SA hadn't figured out yet that you need good water to make good beer (you know the saying ........... "1/2 an hour and 10 years behind the rest of the country" :rocket

(Kiwis have a couple of good drops from what I remember, DB draught, Speights)

Can't forget the Tasmanians, a bit like Ireland here with Boags to the north and Cascade to the south and never the twain shall meet. Boags OK but Cascade tasting like a mixture of Retsina ( the worlds most disgusting alcoholic drink) and Tooheys old ( the worlds second most disgusting alcoholic drink).

(Cascade was a lot better than Boags when I done a tour of the Apple Iles)

The Territorians had it all worked out though with the Darwin Stubbie , with a capacity of 8 good old fashioned Victorian 'pots', none of this NSW schooner crap down here in the 'Land of the Golden Nectar'. Now a days the afore mentioned quiche eaters/handbag carrying bean counters have reduced the stubby to a mere shadow of its former self with a miserable money gouging 300 ml offering

(Darwin Stubbie.... they got the capacity right, just not the filling
“Land of the golden nectar”
See the comment above about Australia and Victoria
Pots??? Schooners???
Real men drink middys or just go for the pint)

But the wheel has turned, in my dotage I drink only mid strength beer including the previously mentioned XXXX Gold swill, if I can get it cold enough to kill any semblance of its so called 'taste' or even 'Black Fish' or Iron Jack. Oh how the mighty have fallen, as long as it's under $50 a box I'll drink it

(Agreed it needs to be cold&#129398

ps. If there's anyone here I haven't offended please let me know.

Deano

If anyone has spent any time in the north of WA they will know where Emu Export got its nickname

Unfortunately it’s no longer brewed in the great state and the water used to produce the cans has tainted the flavour and I’ll only drink it as a replacement for the old “super” (Swan Draught) that used to be on tap at pubs.
I’ve come to the conclusion after a few years of “tasting” that a good beer tastes good not only cold but Kimberley cold as well, and the Coopers ale range ticks the boxes for me


So Deano, you haven’t offended me, you have reminded me of what I get told by many others from around this great country
“Bloody Victorians”
🤣

Cheers
and maybe a couple more

NT pubs open, with buckets of Corona on special. Good. That'll keep them away from the free xxxx.

'You all deserved that beer': Territorians pack pubs as they reopen