AUSTRALIA

Hey, mate!

Yes, let’s talk about Australia, the land of exotic and dangerous animals! But Australia is also a very beautiful country with amazing people. It is very isolated from the rest of the world and more than a half of their territory is a desert, but this gives them some unique characteristics.

The Dutch discovered the continent, but the British claimed it theirs in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.  Australia is a constitutional monarchy . It uses a parliamentary system of government with Queen Elizabeth II  at its apex as the Queen of Australia.

Anyway, Australians don’t have a long history of brewing beer, since beer in the country arrived with the British colonization. Captain James Cook brought beer with him on his ship Endeavour as a means of preserving drinking water. They do not have very famous beers either (ok, maybe Foster’s – but this one is more produced for exportation than for consume in the internal market) but they certainly like to enjoy it and it is a growing market. Recent estimates suggest that there are now well over a hundred new breweries operating in Australia, though the exact number is hard to calculate. In 2004 Australia was ranked fourth internationally in per capita beer consumption, at around 110 litres per year.

The oldest brewery still in operation is the Cascade Brewery, established in Tasmania in 1824. The largest Australian-owned brewery is the family-owned Coopers Brewery, as the other two major breweries Foster's Group and Lion Nathan are owned by the British-South African SABMiller and the Japanese Kirin Brewing Company, respectively.

Last time I was there, I was in Perth in West Australia (WA), one of the most remote cities on Earth and also one of the sunniest.

There I tried a “local beer”; actually, this is not produced in Perth anymore. It is the Swan Draught from Swan Brewery. The Swan Brewery started in 1857 by Frederick Sherwood.  He saw the Swan River as the ideal place to build a brewery, as the Swan provided fresh, clean water for making the beer, hiring convicts as a source of cheap labour. After so many ups and downs from economy and administration, the brewery became in 2007 a subsidiary of Lion Nathan. On 12 October 2012, Lion Nathan resolved to close the Canning Vale operations of the Swan Brewery by March 2013 and move production interstate. The Swan and Emu beer brands and keg production were transferred to the company's West End Brewery in South Australia and pack production moved to James Boag & Son Brewery in Tasmania. So Swan Beer is not local anymore.

Swan Draught is a mild lager, aroma of rye bread and slightly hoppy, with a medium bitter flavour and full body.

ABV 4.5%

It has been in production since 1857.

My second choice was an Australian beer, but produced in the east coast. More exactly in Sydney and it was an American Pale Ale from James Squire. James Squire was the first to successfully cultivate hops in 1804. The Government Gazette from 1806 mentions that he was awarded a cowherd from the government for his efforts. In 1806, James’ brewery was built on the shore of Parramatta River at Kissing Point. He opened the Malting Shovel Tavern almost halfway between Sydney Town and Parramatta. Actually if you are curious, you can read more about the interesting history about James Squire and their other types of beer in their website: The Story of James Squire.

What made me choose for this one was more the witty name than the type for itself – HOPTHIEF – is a specialty beer American Pale Ale style. It does have the citrus aroma and slightly bitter but the final taste is like orange cake and it is delicious .

ABV: 5,0%

Nevertheless, I don’t regret this very good choice at all.

Cheers mate!!