Keeping up with the Coopers

The current economic slowdown is not limiting plans by Coopers Brewery to install new production equipment at its Regency Park brewery.

Coopers' MD, Dr Tim Cooper, said that in the next 12 months, the brewery would be installing a new multi-pack packaging machine, rebuilding the pasteuriser, adding a new filter to the brewery's lager line and purchasing more kegs.

Additional kegs will be ordered to help cope with keg sales volume, which has continued to grow at 4.3% overall for the first six months of this financial year and a startling 19.8% outside Coopers' traditional stronghold of South Australia, Cooper said.

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Mildura Brewery 'Storm' Cloudy Ale

Another small brewery pumping out tasty beers. Bring them on.

Apparently based on an American Pale Ale style, this rather tasty orange/light brown coloured beer has a quite hoppy aroma, reminiscent more of the Little Creatures style, but not quite as overt. The palate has a citrus character & a richness that I'd more commonly associate with wheat beers. Refreshing simple beer that went perfectly well well chilled with some honey soy marinated pork ribs & roasted sweet potatoes with garlic.

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Bluetongue Australia's Fastest growing Domestic Beer

Bluetongue Brewery had an outstanding year in 2008 and is now the fastest growing domestic Beer in Australia . Bluetongue Brewery set out to produce a range of beers suitable for the Australian palate, delighting with original flavours that tantalise the taste buds with an unexpected and fresh beer experience, which Australians have embraced. The Bluetongue range offers beer lovers the opportunity to experience a truly unique Australian beer from Lager to Light, with some ginger in between. With a new Brewery opening in 2010 – the vision and scope of Bluetongue will continue to thrive.

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White Rabbit flies Little Creatures flag

THE team behind Little Creatures beer has unveiled major expansion plans for 2009 including a new drop from an east-coast brew house.

White Rabbit will be made at a newly built brewery at Healesville in Victoria's Yarra Valley from March.

Four months ago, a new, larger German-built brew house began production on the Fremantle site, and the old brewery was shipped to Victoria for installation on the White Rabbit site, where construction was completed three weeks ago.

Mr Cearns said launching the new White Rabbit brand instead of setting up a second Little Creatures brewery on the east coast reflected an older ethos of craft brewing.

"We like the idea of the return to breweries when they were part of the village and the neighbourhood -- it had a personality and a soul and the characteristic of the region," Mr Cearns said. "When you start spreading your production everywhere it becomes harder to control and manage the palate of the beer. The water and ingredients can be different, so you're not getting consistency."

White Rabbit aims to be a "distinctive, exceptional beer", Mr Cearns said.

"The White Rabbit brewery will be the same size Little Creatures was initially. It will be a hand-sell, on a small scale," he said.

"It will only brew once a week at first -- the brewery will have a capacity of 1 million litres per annum but we've got to work our way up to that volume over several years."

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Beer flows again at Burra's Unicorn Brewery

Unicorn Brewery beer flowed in Burra on Sunday after a 106-year absence.

The Unicorn Brewery ales are currently on sale in three Burra hotels – the Burra, Commercial and Kooringa – and negotiations are underway to supply the ales to restaurants and hotels throughout South Australia and Victoria, with the ultimate aim of creating a national brand.

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