Carlton & United Breweries

Last updated

Carlton & United Breweries
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Alcoholic beverage
Founded1907;117 years ago (1907)
Headquarters Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Key people
Peter Filipovic
(CEO) [1]
Products
Parent Asahi Breweries
Website cub.com.au
Carlton breweries in 1886 Carlton breweries 1886.jpg
Carlton breweries in 1886

Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) is an Australian brewing company based in Melbourne and owned by Japanese conglomerate Asahi Breweries. Its notable brands include Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught, Foster's Lager, Great Northern, Resch's, Pure Blonde and Melbourne Bitter.

Contents

CUB was established in 1907 as a merger of six existing breweries with Carl Pinschof as chairman [2] and became a public company in 1913. It first expanded outside Victoria in 1931 and acquired a number of other brewing companies over the following decades. In 1983 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Elders IXL and CUB was delisted from the stock exchange. In 1990, Elders IXL was renamed Foster's Group, and in July 2004, Fosters Group changed its name to Carlton & United Beverages. [3] [4] In February 2009, CUB announced the decision to separate the Australian Wine division from the Australian Beer, Cider & Spirits (BCS) division, and rename BCS to Carlton & United Breweries. [5]

In December 2011, American multinational SABMiller acquired Foster's Group, and took over ownership of Carlton & United Breweries as part of the acquisition. [6] Subsequently, in October 2016, CUB was included in the purchase of SABMiller by Anheuser-Busch InBev. [7] SABMiller ceased trading on global stock markets [8] [9] and as a result, Carlton & United was then owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. [10]

In July 2019, Asahi Breweries agreed to purchase CUB, with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and Foreign Investment Review Board approving the deal in May 2020. [11] [12]

History

Bottle of Victoria Bitter Victoria-bitter.jpg
Bottle of Victoria Bitter
Carlton Dry Bottle Carlton Dry Bottle.jpg
Carlton Dry Bottle

Carlton and United Breweries was formed in 1907 with the merger of six major Australian breweries: Carlton Brewery, Castlemaine Brewery Company (Melbourne), Foster Brewing Company, McCracken's City Brewery, Shamrock Brewing and Malting Company and Victoria Brewery. The six breweries - along with another two (Melbourne Brewery and Distillery Pty Ltd and Coghlan and Tulloch's Ballarat Brewing Co Ltd) - had formed a cartel known as the Society of Melbourne Brewers in 1903. Emil Resch played a significant role in enabling the amalgamation. Resch also went on to become the first general manager of CUB. [13] [14] [15] [16] The company became public in 1913 with the issue of 100,000 shares.

Over time it has bought out many other brewers, such as Abbotsford Co-operative Brewery in 1924 (a company set up by independent hoteliers to combat the anti-competitive nature of the Society of Melbourne Brewers.) Their first interstate acquisition was Northern Australian Breweries and the Cairns Brewery in 1931. Further acquisitions were the Ballarat Brewing Company, Queensland Brewery Ltd, Thos McLauchlin & Co Pty Ltd, Richmond Brewery and Tooth & Co.

In 1983, CUB was wholly bought by Elders IXL, a giant Australian diversified conglomerate with pastoral, financial, materials, and food interests. Elders Brewing Group (as it then became known as) continued to acquire brewing companies in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. In 1990 Elders Brewing Group changed its name to Foster's Group, to reflect the name of their most internationally recognised product.

In 1985, CUB purchased the Tooth and Co. site on Broadway in Sydney. The company demolished all of the existing Kent Brewery buildings on this site, except for one. CUB Management decided to close the Broadway site in 2003, with one of the reasons given being that it was a "large island of industry stranded in Sydney's central residential revival" that was happening in nearby Chippendale. In 2007, the site was sold and redeveloped into a commercial complex containing office blocks, shopping centre, and a boutique hotel known as The Old Clare Hotel. [17]

In July 2004, Carlton & United Breweries changed its name to Carlton & United Beverages (retaining CUB acronym), citing the company's diversification into pre-mixed drinks, juices, ciders and non-alcoholic drinks. [4] [18]

In February 2009, Foster's announced the outcomes of a review of its global wine business, including the decision to separate the Australian Wine division from the Australian Beer, Cider & Spirits (BCS) division, and rename BCS to Carlton & United Breweries. [5]

In mid-June 2016 CUB made the controversial decision to lay off 55 workers (mostly electricians and fitters) before inviting those same workers to reapply for their old jobs on individual contracts involving stripped conditions, clauses and significant pay cuts (the workers are suggesting[ when? ] a 65 per cent wage cut once penalty rates and other entitlements are factored in). [19]

SABMiller, CUB's global owner, responded to criticisms from the union movement that its action was not illegal as it has no direct contractual relationship with the maintenance crews that were laid off. Rather, it has a contractual relationship with one subcontractor and the action constitutes the "passing" of a contract to another, which has the prerogative to set pay and conditions of workers at its own discretion. SABMiller have made no comment regarding the lower pay and poorer conditions offered to workers.

Carlton Draught (bottle 375mL) Carlton Draught 375mL Bottle.jpg
Carlton Draught (bottle 375mL)

The decision generated considerable poor publicity for CUB, with a widespread social media campaign as well as union efforts to highlight the workers' plight, who argue the brewer has conducted a "transmission of business" [20] manoeuvre. Several pubs in Victoria have stopped selling CUB products in support of the sacked workers. [21]

In July 2019, Asahi Breweries agreed terms to purchase Carlton & United Breweries with the transaction completed in May 2020 after being cleared by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and Foreign Investment Review Board. [22] [23]

Carlton Premium Beverages

In 2020 Asahi Beverages has announced that it will combine its two alcohol businesses Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) and Asahi Premium Beverages to form Carlton Premium Beverages. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28]

Products

After the takeovers by SABMiller and then Anheuser-Busch InBev, CUB distributed their international brands such as Aguila, Corona Extra, Stella Artois, Beck's, Budweiser, Hoegaarden, Leffe and Leffe Radieuse. [29]

Beer [29] Style ABV Hops etc.
4 Pines Brewing Co. Pale Ale Ale5.1%35 IBU.
4 Pines Brewing Co. Pacific Ale Ale3.5%15 IBU.
Abbotsford Invalid Stout Stout5.2%
Abbots Lager Lager5.2%
Alpha Pale Ale Ale5.2%Cascade
Balter XPA Ale5.0%30 IBU.
Balter Captain Sensible Ale3.5%20 IBU.
Beez Neez Wheat Braggot 4.7%
Brookvale Union Ginger Beer Ginger Beer4.0%Ginger Beer.
Carlton Black Ale4.4% Pride of Ringwood
Carlton Cold Lager3.5%Label changes colour when cold
Carlton Draught Lager4.6%
Carlton Dry Lager4.5%
Carlton Dry Peels Lager4.0%Made with lime, not available.
Carlton Midstrength Lager3.0%
Carlton Zero 0%
Cascade Bitter Lager4.4%
Cascade Draught Lager4.7%
Cascade Pale Ale Ale5.0%
Cascade Premium Light Lager2.4%
Cascade Stout Stout5.8%
Crown Golden Ale Ale4.5%Galaxy
Crown Lager Lager4.9%Pride of Ringwood
Dogbolter Dark Lager Dunkel 5.2%Hersbrucker
Fat Yak Ale4.7%
Foster's Lager Lager4.9%Pride of Ringwood
Foster's Light Ice Lager2.3%
Great Northern Super Crisp Lager3.5%
Green Beacon Brewing Co. 7 Bells Passion Fruit Sour Gose4.2%
Lazy Yak Ale4.2%
Melbourne Bitter Lager4.6%Pride of Ringwood
Mountain Goat GOAT Lager4.2%Galaxy and Ella hops, 22 IBU.
Mountain Goat IPA Ale6.5%American style IPA, 70 IBU.
Power's Gold Lager3.0%Discontinued.
Power's Ultra Smooth Lager Lager4.0%
Pirate Life IPA Ale6.8%
Pure Blonde Premium Mid Lager3.0%
Pure Blonde Ultra Low Carb Lager4.2%Hersbrucker
Redback Wheat Beer4.7%Saaz and Pride of Ringwood
Resch's Pilsener4.4%
Richmond Lager Lager4.4%
Sheaf Stout Stout5.7%originally by Tooth and Co.
VB Gold Lager3.5%
Victoria Bitter Lager4.9%
Wild Yak Ale4.2%
Cider [30] ABV
Bulmers Original 4.7%
Bulmers Pear 4.7%
Dirty Granny 5.5%
Mercury Draught Cider 5.2%
Mercury Dry Cider 5.2%
Mercury Hard Cider Original 6.9%
Strongbow Original Apple 5.0%
Strongbow Dry Apple Cider 5.0%
Strongbow Lower Carb 5.0%
Strongbow Sweet Apple Cider 5.0%
Strongbow Rosé Apple Cider 5.0%
Spirits [31] ABV
Akropolis Ouzo 37%
The Black Douglas 40%
Cougar Bourbon 37%
Mist Wood Gin 37%
Nikka Whisky 37%
Spicebox Whisky 37%
Tequila Blu 37%
Untold Spiced Rum 37%
Vodka Cruiser 37%
Vodka O 37%
Woodstock Bourbon 37%

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References

Citations

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  3. History of Carlton & United Breweries Archived 19 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine , AustralianBeers.com. Accessed 2009-10-10.
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  7. "Company Overview of SABMiller Limited". Bloomberg. 14 November 2016. Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2017. The company was formerly known as South African Breweries plc and changed its name to SABMiller plc in July 2002.
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  12. "Asahi's last hurdle cleared as details of tap contracts emerge". Brews News. 8 May 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
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  31. "Spirits - Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)". Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

Sources

  • Deutsher, Keith M. (2012). The Breweries of Australia (2nd ed.). Glebe, NSW: Beer & Brewer Media. ISBN   9780987395214.

37°49′22.73″S144°58′01.72″E / 37.8229806°S 144.9671444°E / -37.8229806; 144.9671444