Australia’s reputation as a nation of beer guzzlers has gone down the drain, with yearly beer consumption falling to levels not seen since the post war “six o’clock swill”.
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Mudgee seems to be safe from stepping away from the tradition of having a cold one after work though, with an increasing number of people heading to the Mudgee Brewery for small-batch brewed craft beers - and we’re not alone.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Friday, beer consumption has halved since the peak of the mid-1970s and is at its lowest level since 1945-46.
“At least that’s what I hope for. There are such a great variety of beers out there now that there’s a taste for everyone”
The average Australia drank 4.04 litres of pure alcohol through beer last financial year, with statistics suggesting a growing number of beer drinkers are embracing quality over quantity and trading well known brands like Toohey’s and VB, for craft beers.
Gary Leonard, chief brewer and owner of the Mudgee Brewery, said overall beer consumption was down around 20 per cent from in previous years but the sale of boutique beers, both imported and Australia craft beers, had risen around 15 per cent.
“I think it’s following a trend that has happened all over the world. It’s happened in New Zealand, the US and Europe, where they’ve been brewing really amazing boutique beers for years, and now it’s happening here.
“The same thing happened with wine a few years ago, when we took a step back from cask wine and instead focused on small wineries in places like Mudgee and the Hunter Valley. People are becoming more interested in quality these days,” he said.
Mr Leonard said craft beers had been slowly growing in Mudgee since the Brewery opened in 2007, although he admits that there are some people out there who will never jump on the craft beer bandwagon.
Mr Leonard said the Brewery had had a lot of locals and visitors come in who had never tried craft beer before and found themselves to be pleasantly surprised by the taste.
“In Mudgee we have a pretty good following of people who are interested in trying new things, which is something you always have to do with craft beers drinkers - find something new,” he said.
Mr Leonard said Toohey’s and VB would always be around and have their place in Australia’s culture but that even they had recognised the growth in craft beer - with each of the larger breweries owning their own smaller craft beer breweries to keep up with demand.
“I think the growth of craft beers has been extremely rapid over the past few years and we’ll soon reach a peak where we’ll get saturated by microbreweries before finding a plateau where the number of breweries will remain the same but the number of drinkers will continue to rise.
“At least that’s what I hope for. There are such a great variety of beers out there now that there’s a taste for everyone,” Mr Leonard said.
The ABS figures found that Australian’s were drinking less alcohol overall than at any other time in the past 15 years, not just beer, with per person wine consumption levels having also fallen slightly over the past three years.
