29 January 2009

Tassie beer brawl spills onto the mainland

IT IS no longer just a parochial battle between the Apple Isle's northern Boag's drinkers and their southern Cascade-consuming counterparts. The stoush between Australia's two biggest breweries has moved onto the mainland, and is about to get interesting, and expensive.

The fierce rivalry between Lion Nathan and Foster's cranked up another notch after Lion Nathan threw tens of millions of dollars into Boag's kitty as it takes on Foster's Cascade to be the Tasmanian beer brand of choice on the mainland.

The Boag's trademark has grown 6 per cent since it was acquired by Lion Nathan, which, according to Nielsen AIS, spent eight times more on advertising for Boag's ($7.4 million) than Foster's spent on Cascade ($900,000) in the 12 months to November 2008.

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