Australian Beer/Brewing Database

This site hasn't been updated since the late 1990's. Now that micro-breweries are on the rise in Australia once again, I should get back to documenting them. ... jas, July 2007

Yes ... that would be a good idea ... jas, July 2008

Australia, by and large, is a land of light lagers that are only marginally more tasty than the American Budmilloors style. This makes a lot of sense given our generally hot and dry climate, but it makes the pickings a little sparse for the beer connoisseur, However, there are still some exceptional beers made here that make it all worthwhile.

This collection contains information about Australian beers, brewers, hotels, along with assorted miscellaneous trinkets of information about drinking in Australia (... even a few beer coasters).

If you get lost, clicking on the [AusMap] will always bring you back to this page.

Keyword Search

Enter keywords in the space below (e.g. sydney hotel). Advice on queries.

Style Index of Beers

Geographic Index of Hotels/Brewers

[ ACT | NSW | NT | QLD | SA | TAS | VIC | WA ]

If you're not sure about Australian geography, have a look at the map.

Sources

Along with going out and drinking it, the following have provided useful sources of information about Australian beers and brewers:

Michael Jackson, "Pocket Beer Book", Mitchell Beazley Publishers, 1991
Michael Jackson, "Beer Companion", Mitchell Beazley Publishers, 1993
Charlie Papazian, "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing", Avon Books, 1991
Mark Shield, "Mark Shield's Beer Guide", Penguin Books, 1993

Other reference sources include the "AusBeer" magazine, the "Australian Home Brewer" magazine, the club newsletter of Eastern Suburbs Brewers, Liz Jarvis of Carlton and United ...

And of course, there's the Web, including:

Australian beers
- AustralianBeers.com (excellent coverage of mainstream beers)
- Bradley Collins' Great Aussie Beer Page
- The Australian Good Beer Directory
- PJ and JC's guide to Western Australian Breweries.
International beers
- John Lock's WWW Virtual Library: Beer and Brewing page
- The Real Beer Page
- The Beer Site

Things to add: more beers/hotels/brewers; images of labels/coasters; hotel/brewery photos; ...
Disclaimer: all beer ratings and tasting notes are personal opinions, unless attributed otherwise.

And speaking of personal opinions ... what are my favourite beers?

Caledonian 80/- (Scotland)
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (California)
Chimay (red, blue and gold) (Belgium)
Burragorang Bock (Australia) (I had to put an Aussie beer, didn't I?)
just about anything from RedOak (Sydney)

John Shepherd, 10 Apr 1998, Updated July 2008