For The Love Of Port

There has been a huge amount of speculation here in Australia about a takeover of Treasury wines, ever since Fosters announced the splitting of their beer and wine divisions. I think that the current expectation is that both will end up taken over. There have been a lot of brands that were originally part of the portfolio that were either extinguished or sold off
While the Treasury portfolio lists Seppelt, it may not be common knowledge that this no longer includes the Seppelt fortifieds, which were sold off to a company now known as Seppeltsfield. I think that is a good thing, because I don't think a big corporate like Treasury has much interest in fortified wines and can't be trusted with the legacy they have there.
The other thing I'd like to point out is that nobody actually drinks Fosters larger in Australia.

Paul Fountain wrote:...
The other thing I'd like to point out is that nobody actually drinks Fosters larger in Australia.

I think the only reason they drink it in the US is because those big cans are very cool. The beer itself is a good beer, but not particularly better than many US lagers. (I assume 'larger' was the result of a runaway autocorrect.)

Peter W. Meek wrote:

Paul Fountain wrote:...
The other thing I'd like to point out is that nobody actually drinks Fosters larger in Australia.

I think the only reason they drink it in the US is because those big cans are very cool. The beer itself is a good beer, but not particularly better than many US lagers. (I assume 'larger' was the result of a runaway autocorrect.)

Never was a fan of Fosters beer, but I didn't know it was mainly an export item. Then again, I didn't know Newcastle Brown Ale was mainly an export item from the UK as well until some kindly UK Port friend enlightened me.

The other thing I'd like to point out is that nobody actually drinks Fosters larger in Australia.

I can't blame spell check for my poor spelling. I will blame it on a lack of sleep due to the Tour de France not finishing until 2am our time.
The main fosters beers locally are Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught. Neither are anything to write home about, but fosters do own a few smaller producers that have some quality products. There are a lot of craft breweries springing up all over Australia at the moment and I hope that trend continues.

Paul Fountain wrote:

The other thing I'd like to point out is that nobody actually drinks Fosters larger in Australia.

I can't blame spell check for my poor spelling. I will blame it on a lack of sleep due to the Tour de France not finishing until 2am our time.
The main fosters beers locally are Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught. Neither are anything to write home about, but fosters do own a few smaller producers that have some quality products. There are a lot of craft breweries springing up all over Australia at the moment and I hope that trend continues.

We've got a ton of craft bewers here in the States now and it's awesome. So many good beers to chose from! Why anyone would drink Coors Light or Bud Light when there is SO many better beers out there is beyond me. But at least that leaves more of the good stuff for me to drink :)

So Treasury currently has a market cap to book ratio under 1. That's not an uncommon thing for a company in trouble, and while the article tries to paint a bright future, those losses for the past three years don't inspire a lot of confidence.

I don't think Foster's in the US is imported from Australia. As I recall, it is brewed in Canada by Molsen, so it is still "imported". When I was in Australia long ago, I drank VB for the most part. Yes, nothing to write home about. I think there is a reason most beer there is served just above 32F. Coopers Sparkling Ale is good as I recall.

When I was in Australia some years ago, we drank Castlemaine XXXX almost exclusively.

Eric Ifune wrote:Post by Eric Ifune » Sat Jul 30, 2011 1:22 am
When I was in Australia some years ago, we drank Castlemaine XXXX almost exclusively.

You must have been in Queensland then Eric? Although they do drink a fair bit of XXXX in the NT as well.
The Australian beer market is largely controlled by Fosters and Lion Nathan and they own a whole host of different breweries and brands between them, some of which are pretty good. Coopers is the next biggest then I suspect it is the mysterious joint venture between SAB-Miller and Coca-cola Amatil which brews a whole bunch of the international brands locally.

That would be right about Fosters being made by Molsen I seem to remember that from a while back and either Molsen had a significant interest in Fosters or it was the other way around. The European rights were sold off I think as well. We won't miss it

Yes, mainly beer in Queensland, wine in South Australia.