The Great Australian Beer Myth!

I will let you in on Australia's worst kept secret.......We don't drink Fosters Beer!!!
But we drink pretty much any other beer though.

You see Fosters is the stuff we export coz nobody "Down Under" likes it. We call it a Bath Water Beer.
After all that, beer-drinking in Australia gets pretty complicated but as long as you've got a beer in your hand you can't really go wrong.

Some people are really getting into boutique beers at the moment, but others find it just more important to have a big enough carton full of *piss. * note this is what beer is called in Sydney eg "getting pissed" and or "on the piss"

When you go to a Pub who can order two glass sizes a "Schooner" 425ml or a "Middy" 285ml

Here is my top 6 Aussie Beers you must try while in Sydney.


6: Crown Lager or "Crownie" - At first taste it's a bit fruity, followed by a rich malty flavour, and finally a crisp hop finish. Crown goes great with your red meats, along with Mediterranean and most Asian dishes. It's a bit LaDeLa.

5:Pure Blonde: This was the first low carb beer to hit Australian shelves and has been a top seller ever since. Brewed longer to reduce the amount of carbohydrates, yet still a full strength beer, it is light, crisp and delivers a superior taste.


4:Hahn Premium - a crisp premium lager with a bitter hoppy taste and a clean bitter finish, it's often compared to a northern German Pilsener. Best served with seafood dishes such as oysters, seafood marinara and grilled fish. It's also well suited to chicken and pork dishes with a cream sauce.

3: James Squires: This brand is brewed in Sydney. If you like something a little sweeter than normal, try the Amber Ale, it has 3 kinds of hops, a citrus bitterness and a long sweet finish. If you prefer a more traditional Ale, the Golden Ale is a great choice being fresh and fruity with a dry finish.

2: Tooheys New is one of Australia's most popular beers. It is a standard, clean, mass-produced lager. The lager is clean and bright: golden-orange in color. Upon opening a bottle, it has a faint aroma of caramel, grains and malt.
Toohey's New isn't going to win any serious awards for taste or creativity, but if a mate handed me one I'd say "Thank you"... and really mean it.


1 VB (Victoria Bitter) - One of the many iconic beers produced in Victoria. First brewed in the early 1900's, it currently maintains the highest market share of all beer sold in Australia, both on tap and packaged. "For a hard earned thirst, you need a Vic" Matter of fact I got it now!

Ok now for the serious side..

Australia has strict laws about drinking alcohol and driving. Australian Police are authorised to stop any vehicle and breath test the driver at any time. There is no absolute safe level of alcohol consumption for competent driving. For fully licensed car drivers the legal limit is 0.05 g/100ml.  If tested by the Police, drivers must be below their allowable legal limit.
If you are going to drink any alcohol the best advice is to plan not to drive at all. Guides are available for drinking very moderate quantities of alcohol over time and remaining below the 0.05 legal BAC level (for fully licensed car drivers) but because everybody's metabolism differs the effects of alcohol will not be the same in every case.

The police perform regular roadside "random breath testing" (RBT) of drivers in metropolitan and rural areas. There are heavy penalties for drink driving, including imprisonment.

 

 

 

What is a standard drink?

The legal limit in Sydney (NSW) is .05  A good guide is: 2 standard drinks in the first hour and then 1 per hour after that.

A 'standard drink' is the measure of alcohol used to work out safe drinking levels.
All these drinks (common servings in NSW) are different sizes but each of them has about 10grams of alcohol. The drinks are different sizes because some are stronger (have more alcohol) than others. Each is one standard drink.

Light beer		Ordinary Beer		Wine		Spirits		Port/Sherry
	=		=		=		=
1 schooner 425mls 2.7% alcohol		1 middy 285mls 4.9% alcohol		1 glass 100ml 12% alcohol		1 nip 30ml 40% alcohol		1 glass 60ml 20% alcohol