Brewed under license

[Craig Camp]

As I was sipping on a Heineken with my pizza this evening I noticed it seemed even more anemic than usual. This inspired me to take a look at the fine print on the bottle and there it was - brewed in Italy under the supervision of Heineken Holland.

This is happening everywhere and the results always seem to be even worse than the original.

Can you make beer "under supervison" in different countries that tastes the same as the original?

[beergirl]

I would assume so as Anheuser-Busch does it all over the world. And I believe one of their marketing points is that Bud tastes the same no matter where you drink it.

A lot of folks don't realize that the Foster's they drink here in the US is brewed in Canada. There are surely many other examples.

I don't follow what is going on in the beer factories very closely. It has been years since I had one of the mainstream lagers. I guess I treasure my beer calories too much to use them for something that really doesn't appeal to me.

[Jason Perlow]

Kirin Ichiban is brewed in Los Angeles under contract by Anheuser-Busch ... but I don't know if the beer exists domestically in Japan, though.

EDIT: Kirin Ichiban "First Press" and Ichiban Shibori exist in Japan, but they are not the same beers.

[BUSH beer]

Firstly, congratulations to you gullet folk...best forum ever...

Now to the topic at hand. Brewed under license.

As a co-founder of Steam Whistle Canada I am exploring the options of building a brewery in Australia under the same name.

As a veteran of the micro brewing industry my experience has been that at the core of the a craft brew is to localise.

With this as background what would your opinions be on using local ingredients ie Austrlian malt instead of Canadian malt and modifying the branding to reflect the community that the brewery would serve?

It is my experience that natural beer brewed in small batches would not be easily replicated from one brewery to another (even if they were across the street from each ohter).

Act Globally. Drink Locally.

[jhlurie]

As a co-founder of Steam Whistle Canada I am exploring the options of building a brewery in Australia under the same name.

You aren't the guy dancing around in a beer bottle suit on that page, are you?

[BUSH beer]

As a co-founder of Steam Whistle Canada  I am exploring the options of building a brewery in Australia under the same name.

You aren't the guy dancing around in a beer bottle suit on that page, are you?

The guy in the bottle is my alter ego.

I'm the fella on the right with my partners on the homepage.

Want to borrow the costume?

Greg

[Alekeep]

Greg,

Sorry, I missed your question earlier. My 15 minutes of fame has technically expired on this forum but I would like to throw in my opinion anyway.

According to the web site you "focus on making a premium pilsener that Canadians could be proud of". Just to nit-pick a bit, it's technically a Pilsener STYLE beer since it is not brewed in Pilsen. None the less, if you are looking to expand you must be doing something right. You are currently producing a traditional German style of beer using Canadian ingredients. I see no difference in doing the same with Australian ingredients.

One recommendation I would make is, if you are going to refer to a beer by style, then make sure the beer fits the guidelines for that style. If you put a your beer beside, for example, a Pilsner Urquell, then they should be recognizable as the same style of beer. I don't mean that there shouldn't be any difference, just that they should have similar characteristics.

I have been to Australia twice and it is my experience that the beer palate in that corner of the world is rather sweet. To echo my above style comment, a beer described as a pale ale should not be overly malty, and certainly shouldn't have added sugar.

Is Steam Whistle available in Montreal? I will be there in a couple of weeks for Mondial de la Bière. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Best of luck on your venture!