List of breweries in Australia

Beer production in Australia has traditionally been dominated by regional producers. Since the 1980s, there have been a steady stream of takeovers and amalgamations, and now the two major producers (who were once Australian-owned) are Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) and Lion.

In December 2011, CUB became a subsidiary of British multinational SABMiller (the world's then-second-largest international brewing company) and in October 2016 CUB became 100% owned by AB InBev the world's largest brewing company, based in Belgium. AB InBev then sold CUB to Japanese company Asahi Breweries on 1 June 2020.[1]

Since October 2009, Lion has been a subsidiary of Japanese brewer, Kirin Company a brewing company established in 1885. The largest remaining Australian owned brewer is Coopers Brewery[2] with a market share of about 4% of total beer volume sales in Australia.[3]

The two foreign-owned companies accounted for 89% of beer volume sales in 2011, with CUB's market share at 48% (declining from a 55% market share in 2006)[4] and Lion at 41% (increasing from 37%).[5]

In May 2012 the dominant Australian-produced beers were XXXX Gold, which accounted for 12.4% of all beer consumed in Australia, VB, with 12.3%, Carlton Draught 9.3%, Tooheys New 7.1%, Tooheys Extra Dry 4.4% and Carlton Mid 3.8%.[6]

Breweries owned by major companies

Microbreweries

A microbrewery, or craft brewery, is a modern brewery which produces a limited amount of beer, usually with an orientation toward distinctive and flavourful products. In Australia, there is no strict definition for a microbrewery; however, the definition for membership of the Independent Brewers Association provides a fair guide that could be considered appropriate. That is, a brewer sells less than 40 million litres of beer per annum and is not more than 20% owned by a brewer that produces more than 40 million litres of beer per annum anywhere in the world.[24]

The following is a list of notable microbreweries in Australia, listed alphabetically. In July 2017, there were approximately 500 small breweries in Australia.[25]

See also

• Beer and breweries by region

External links

• craftbeerreviewer.com: Comprehensive list of current and former Breweries