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Australia Day brews up beer cheer

Athens, Greece – November 14, 2019: Cans and glass bottles of beer in plastic and paper packaging. Alcoholic and alcohol free beverages for sale at liquor store.

https://insidefmcg.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/beer.jpg

Beer is on the menu for people gathering for Australia Day occasions, with beer sales expected to increase in the lead up to our national celebration.

Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) says Australia Day beer sales have been increasing year on year, with a jump of 3.4 per cent from 2013 to 2014, bucking overall beer consumption trends.

Australia Day week features as one of the biggest beer selling weeks of the year, sitting just behind the week leading up to Boxing and Christmas days.

Overall, in the lead up to Australia Day beer sales across the nation hit the $300 million mark in both pack and draught.

CUB said Australia Day being a beer occasion wasn’t surprising, with latest trends showing that when young adults get together, they like to share food and they like sharing beer.

Across NSW, Victoria, and Queensland sales of premium and the more contemporary beers increase in the week before Australia Day.

In South Australia it’s contemporary and lighter brews.

Western Australian is strong in the contemporary beers and in premium brews, whereas the Northern Territory shares its tastes across the light, classic, and premium brews.

Tasmania shows its like for classic brews.

CUB’s Jeremy Griffith said those contemporary beers, the lighter, less bitter but easier drinking brews are popular with men and women so it makes sense they are increasingly on people’s agenda when planning their Australia Day celebrations, however, the brewer admitted that the industry hadn’t helped itself in the past with beer brands largely being irrelevant or unappealing to women when advertising.

“We’ve seen a decline in beer consumption more broadly over the last few decades and we know that is in part due to the industry only talking to blokes and ignoring opportunities to talk to women as well,” Griffith said.

“Australia Day being a great beer occasion is a good sign for the industry, but we know we’ve got more work to do in convincing some people beer not only has an enormous variety – it can be sophisticated.”

Only 500 beer brands existed a decade ago and there are now more than 1700 on the market in Australia.

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