Fears are growing that some of Australia’s most beloved and iconic beers will be rebranded amid a Japanese push to re-educate Australians.
Carlton & United Breweries is known nationwide for its Australian “session” beers such as Carlton Draft and Victoria Bitter.
But a new push by the brewery’s foreign owners has seen the local brand reduced to a mere mention beneath the Asahi brand logo in a recent advertising campaign.
The marketing blitz is designed to raise the profile of the Japanese giant that is now the power behind Australian drinkers’ daily suds.
CUB was sold to Asahi Group Holdings for $16 billion in 2019, having previously been a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewing company.
Asahi’s entry into Australia to take over CUB – which also produces Crown Lager and Great Northern – means the Japanese companies now own the country’s two main breweries.
Kirin bought Lion, brewer of XXXX and Tooheys, in 2009.
Now Asahi is deliberately raising its profile in Australia, raising fears even among some CUB executives that the local feel of the products will soon be lost forever.
A hard-earned thirst has been quenched with ice-cold Victoria Bitter since the dawn of true Australian civilisation.
Asahi took over Carlton & United Breweries and now wants us all to know it, reducing the identity of local brands to a mere mention in recent marketing.
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A Google search reveals little about Kirin’s involvement with their Australian beers, and advertising on their websites proudly maintains their Australian heritage.
But the Carlton and United product tells a different story: Asahi is proudly positioned ahead of the Australian brewer.
Marketing experts told Daily Mail Australia the bold changes signal the first step in a possible broader plan to eradicate the once-proud CUB brand.
“In the next few years we will see the Japanese brand go big with a can of VB,” said an industry expert.
They seem to think that their brand could sell better than the traditional one. They will be changing the logo outside the Abbotsford brewery very soon.
The move comes amid a dramatic shift in attitudes towards drinking among young Australians.
Beer sales in Australia have plummeted in recent years, and last year the mid-strength Great Northern Super Crisp Lager was considered the best-selling beer in Australia.
Total beer consumption fell another four percent, while prices continued to rise.
Carlton Draft could soon take on the brand of its Japanese overlords
A simulated AI vision of what things could be like if Asahi continues its marketing push
Carlton & United Breweries plant in Abbotsford has been pumping liquid gold for a century
The disparity is largely a product of the federal government’s excise taxes, which levy more than $25 for each slab and up to $4 for each full-strength pint.
On top of this, costs have soared for brewers, who have seen inflation of up to 20 per cent on key ingredients such as barley and hops.
By the end of 2023, the typical beer drinker is now over 40 years old, as younger drinkers abandon their parents’ choice of alcohol.
Sources suggest that younger people are gravitating towards trendy pre-mixed drinks, including sugar-free alcoholic mineral waters.
Hard Solo turned out to be a huge hit for CUB and Asahi when it was released in July of last year.
A backlash-inspired order to change its name to Hard Rated — to sever the link with the similarly named, similarly flavored soda — couldn’t even stop sales.
A new sugar-free version only helped boost sales among young people watching their weight.
On Friday, Asahi Beverages insisted to Daily Mail Australia that the company remained committed to the CUB brand.
“Carlton & United Breweries became a proud part of Asahi Beverages in 2020,” a spokesperson said.
Australians love Carlton & United beers
Drinkers hope Asahi will keep their hands off Australia’s best-loved beers
Asahi bought CUB in 2016 and has slowly been stamping its authority on the once proud Australian brewer.
‘As part of Asahi’s recent global rebranding for all Asahi companies, we have updated the CUB logo.
‘Our beer range includes iconic Australian brands such as VB and Carlton Draught. We will not rebrand as part of the global corporate rebrand.
“We are proud that more than 95 per cent of the drinks we sell in Australia are made here by Australian workers.”
But rusty drunk Paul Callahan called the potential move to rename CUB beers a “disaster.”
“If this is true, I don’t know how I can drink a CUB beer again, it’s a very sad day, I feel like a close friend has died,” Callahan said.
Callahan, who has been drinking CUB beer for more than three decades, said he may have to “reconsider his options” and even switch his allegiance to a New South Wales brand.
“I might have to drink Tooheys, I don’t want to, I never thought I would, but the situation is so bad I might end up drinking Tooheys, which will be very sad,” he said.
Paul Hogan made Carlton & United Breweries world famous with some classic 1980s ads for his Foster’s brand.
The purchase of CUB came amid a buying spree by Asahi, after 14 consecutive years of declining beer shipments.
In 2016, it bought lagers Peroni, Grolsch and Pilsner Urquell from Anheuser-Busch and SAB Miller in two separate deals worth about $11 billion.
The deal gave Asahi a major boost in Australia, which is already the company’s second-largest overseas market, behind Europe.
Based in Melbourne and founded in 1903, CUB has been a staple of Australian beer for over a century.
The Japanese company is understood to be reluctant to alter the iconic facade of the Melbourne brewery building, regardless of changing its name elsewhere.
Elders IXL, which would become Foster’s Group in 1990, originally acquired the business in 1983 before SABMiller acquired Foster’s in 2011.
The South African brewer took ownership of Carlton as part of the deal, but five years later Anheuser-Bush InBev bought SABMiller and took control.
Despite its recent foreign ownership, CUB beers have always maintained a proud Australian image.
The brewery became world famous in the 1980s thanks to some classic advertisements featuring Australian legend Paul Hogan.
CUB’s now-iconic 1968 Victoria Bitter advert, which insisted that “a hard-earned thirst needs a big cold beer”, was added to the National Film and Sound Archive’s Sounds of Australia registry just a few days ago.
Marko of Newport, who once left his dog tied up outside the slot machine joint while on a CUB bender, urged Asahi to keep his gloves away from his beer.
‘These beers are iconic Australian products. Labels are sacred sites. When will this erosion of the things we hold dear end?’ he said.