First published by WBM magazine in 2012<\/p>\n
Beer Radar<\/p>\n
By John Kr\u00fcger<\/p>\n
Coopers and Craft<\/p>\n
If you haven\u2019t noticed the neck tags on the Coopers stubbies by now, you probably never will. They\u2019re spruiking the fact that Coopers Brewery has turned 150 years old. The neck tags seem to be a little unpopular as it turns out, but when you play with the classics, people get toey. When you find something you like, you tend to hang onto it tightly with both hands and get shitty when anyone tries to change even the slightest detail. That\u2019s how precious some people are about their locally made classic beers. As much as I\u2019m a huge fan of the latest technology, I\u2019m a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to food and beverages. I love a few fresh Coopers Pale Ales in summer. I also love grabbing a few longnecks of Coopers Sparkling Ale and Best Extra Stout on a cold night. I love that Coopers longnecks went from screw tops back to crown seals; that need a bottle opener or the seatbelt buckle of a Holden WB ute to open. I love the fact that the bloke in the bottle shop still wraps them in brown paper bags before I leave. If I had my way, Coopers labels would de-evolve. Have a look at the classic old Coopers India Pale Ale or Sparkling Ale labels. They\u2019re proud solid labels that don\u2019t playfully tempt with stars and gold leaf embossing, just the basics. No gimmicks needed. I\u2019d buy a black t-shirt with that label on it any day.<\/p>\n
With the revelation that Coopers made India Pale Ale in the long gone past, would Coopers reintroduce a challenging hoppy beer and shut the beer nerds up? Will we see challenging beers coming from Coopers in the near future? From the little I can glean from them after constant questioning, it\u2019s seriously doubtful. But in the long term I can see a well thought out, surreptitious and safe move further into the \u201ccraft beer\u201d market.<\/p>\n
What is craft beer? The definition is a little grey. It used to be the small run hoppy beers that only small breweries would dare to make. Small brew length so smaller risk of being stuck with a beer that doesn\u2019t sell. But then a few big multinational brewers started putting out a few\u00a0 hoppy beers and muddied the waters. Some conservative beer nerds think of Coopers as craft beer because a big multinational company doesn\u2019t own them. According to the Craft Beer Industry Association of Australia\u2019s website, Coopers doesn\u2019t fit into their craft beer definition because they produce over 25 million litres of beer per annum. With another industry body, the Australian Real Craft Brewers Association, there\u2019s more an emphasis on Australian ownership but no mention of annual production limits so you\u2019d think Coopers could possibly get a look in, but I doubt it. To myself and another group of beer nerds, craft beer means a brewery that produces different, usually hoppy beers. The opposite of the general draught beer options pouring in most hotels. Risky sour beer producers get an extra star in my definition of craft. My definition also includes the extra human factor. Through the many different facets of my work as well as beer judging, I\u2019ve dealt with many of the people who work at Coopers Brewery; from Dr Tim and Glenn, marketing, behind the scenes brewers, truck drivers and beyond. I\u2019ve enjoyed talking to all of them. A mate of mine Simon Fahey is the guy you usually see at a function in a hotel launching the new Vintage Ale or the like. He\u2019s not just a happy, grey haired Coopers PR guy, he\u2019s Manager of Technical Systems at the brewery. His family comes from a few paddocks over from my family. He\u2019s a good bloke to have a beer with. Jon Meneses spoke at the latest Adelaide Vintage Ale launch. He\u2019s not really that keen on the public speaking because he\u2019s a brewer not a lunch speaker, but he\u2019s happy to inform the crowd about all facets of the latest beer with fascinating honesty and openness. While this brewery may not fit into some definitions of craft beer, these traits fit perfectly with mine.<\/p>\n
Whatever category you put them in, happy birthday Coopers Brewery and many thanks to long gone Thomas Cooper for starting it all in the first place. Keep up the good work. I\u2019ll keep buying your fine ales and secretly, I\u2019ll keep my fingers crossed for your India Pale Ale revisited. Hopefully with that beauty of a classic label stuck to a crown sealed longneck, marvelled at for a moment before being efficiently wrapped in a brown paper bag by the friendly bloke at my local bottle shop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First published by WBM magazine in 2012 Beer Radar By John Kr\u00fcger Coopers and Craft If you haven\u2019t noticed the neck tags on the Coopers stubbies by now, you probably never will. They\u2019re spruiking the fact that Coopers Brewery has turned 150 years old. The neck tags seem to be a little unpopular as it … Continue reading Coopers and Craft<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,5,6,4],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craft-beer","tag-australia","tag-beer","tag-craft-beer","tag-south-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/14"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}