 | |
 Castlemaine Perkins Brewery in Brisbane, Australia | |
| Company type | Wholly Owned Entity |
|---|---|
| Industry | Beverages |
| Founded | 1878 |
| Headquarters | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Products | Beers and lagers |
| Parent | Lion (Kirin) |
Castlemaine Perkins is a brewery at 185 Milton Road, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a wholly owned entity of the Japanese-controlled Lion company. Operations began in 1878 and continue today. Castlemaine Perkins is the home of the XXXX beer brand.
In 1877, brothers Nicholas Fitzgerald and Edward Fitzgerald partnered with a Brisbane commercial firm to buy the site of a failing distillery and establish a brewery, named for the Fitzgeralds' existing Castlemaine Brewery. [1] They began to brew beer there in the following year and the brewery continues production to this day. The first beverage was called XXX Sparkling Ale. [2]
In 1866, Patrick Perkins started the Perkins Brewery in Toowoomba. In 1872, he later extended his operations to Brisbane with the purchase of the City Brewery in 1872. [3]
The company restricted its operations entirely to brewing by 1916. [4] XXXX was introduced with new advertising campaign in 1924 after the brewery employed German brewer, Alhois William Leitner. [2] The advertising included a depiction of a little man wearing a suit with a smile, a wink and a boater hat. The so-called 'Fourex Man' soon became one of the most recognised symbols in Queensland. [2]
In 1928 (long after the death of Patrick Perkins in 1901), the Perkins brewing company was bought by the Castlemaine Brewery with new company being known as Castlemaine Perkins Limited. [3]
In March 1980, Castlemaine Perkins merged with Tooheys to form Castlemaine Tooheys. [5] Bond Corporation purchased Castlemaine Tooheys in 1985. [6] Castlemaine Tooheys was acquired in 1992 by Lion Nathan. [7]
The large, brick brewery is located on Milton Road opposite the Milton railway station, and is a prominent landmark visible in the surrounding suburbs. In particular the XXXX red neon sign is mounted on the top of the building. The side of the building also a neon XXXX man on the side (visible on Milton Road when travelling out of the city).
The brewery building, Milton Railway Station and trains feature on almost all XXXX packaging directly below the XXXX logo. Over the years bottle labels have depicted steam, diesel and electric trains. Tours of the brewery are regularly run for groups.
In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the XXXX Brewery was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "structure and engineering feat". [8]
Castlemaine Perkins was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in 2009, for its significant contribution to economic development in Queensland. [9]
Castlemaine's signature beer, XXXX Bitter (despite its name a lager), was introduced in 1924. [1] The XXXX had been used for a sparkling ale since 1878.
XXXX Summer Bright Lager is a 4.2% abv low carb pale lager. [10] [11]
Foster's Lager is an internationally distributed brand of Australian lager. It is owned by the Japanese brewing group Asahi Group Holdings, and is brewed under licence in a number of countries, including its biggest market, the UK, where the European rights to the brand are owned by Heineken International.
XXXX is a brand of Australian beer brewed in Milton, Brisbane, by Queensland brewers Castlemaine Perkins. It enjoys wide popularity in the state of Queensland, where it is commonly found on-tap in pubs and bars.
Milton is a riverside inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, the population of Milton was 2,274 people.
Tooheys is a brewery in the suburb of Lidcombe, in Sydney, Australia. It produces beer under the Tooheys and Hahn Brewery trademarks, and is part of the Lion beverages group which was acquired by the Japanese Kirin Company in 2009.
The Swan Brewery is a brewing company, whose high profile brewery was once located beside the Swan River, in Perth, Western Australia.
Beer arrived in Australia at the beginning of British colonisation. In 2004 Australia was ranked fourth internationally in per capita beer consumption, at around 110 litres per year; although, the nation ranked considerably lower in a World Health Organization report of alcohol consumption per capita of 12.2 litres. Lager is by far the most popular type of beer consumed in Australia.
Tooheys New is a standard Australian lager and the most popular of the Tooheys' beers owned by the New Zealand Lion Nathan beverages company.
Tooth and Co was the major brewer of beer in New South Wales, Australia. The company owned a large brewery on Broadway in Sydney from 1835 until 1985, known as the Kent Brewery. It was historically one of Australia's oldest companies, having been established as a partnership in 1835 and listed on the then Sydney Stock Exchange in July 1961. The brand has undergone a revival in 2015.
Emu is a beer brand name now owned by Lion. It was originally brewed by the Emu Brewery in 1908 until the brewery's sale to the Swan Brewery in 1927. The production of the Emu branded beer continued from a separate autonomous brewery in Perth until 1978, and then was relocated to a combined brewery in Canning Vale. In 2014 Lion Nathan moved production of both the Emu and Swan beer brands to the company's West End Brewery in Adelaide. Following the closure of the West End Brewery in October 2020, it was announced that Swan and Emu branded beer would be brewed at either the Castlemaine Perkins brewery in Brisbane or Tooheys Brewery in Sydney.
Patrick Charles Mitchell Fitzgerald was a brewer from Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.
XXXX Gold is a mid-strength Australian lager manufactured in the state of Queensland, Australia, by Castlemaine Perkins, and it is one of Australia's most popular beers. XXXX Gold is also produced in the Boag's Brewery in Launceston, Tasmania. XXXX Gold is a sponsor of the Queensland Bulls and the Queensland, South Australian, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory Cricket Associations. XXXX Gold previously sponsored the Australian V8 Supercars Championship Series from 2008 to 2011, as well as the Professional Bull Riders' (PBR) Australian branch. XXXX Gold has sponsored the Brisbane Lions since 2017, and it remains one of the few active XXXX sponsorships.
XXXX Summer Bright Lager is a beer manufactured in the Australian state of Queensland by Castlemaine Perkins.
Hon. Patrick Perkins, J. P.,, nicknamed Paddy Perkins, was a brewer and politician in colonial Queensland. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and, later, a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council.
Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the United States through Distinguished Vineyards & Wine Partners. It acts as distributors for a range of spirits in New Zealand, but does not own any distilleries outright, although holding a 50% share of Four Pillars Gin in Victoria.
Castlemaine Perkins Building is a heritage-listed former warehouse at 418–420 Adelaide Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Thomas Ramsay Hall and built from 1918 to 1919 by George Albert Baumber and was extended in 1928 to 1929. It is also known as Castlemaine Brewery and Quinlan, Gray & Co Building. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 March 2009.
Power's Brewery now CUB brewery, is a brewery based at Yatala in South East Queensland, Australia. It started out as an upstart brewery headed by publican Bernie Power to compete against the major Queensland brewery Castlemaine Perkins, in particular XXXX, during the Australian beer wars of the late 1980s. When mogul Alan Bond took over XXXX, Power's commenced operations in 1988. Castlemaine Perkins changed their terms of credit to hoteliers from one month to one week in late 1985. Power then became determined to brew his own brand. He head hunted a number of young brewers from various brands.
Castlemaine XXXX's mascot is Mr Fourex - a jovial cartoon man in a suit with a boater hat, who features on the City side of the Fourex Brewery at Milton and is to be re-introduced into advertising in the near future for the first time since 1967.
Magic Rock Brewing is an English brewery established in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in 2011 by Richard Burhouse, aided by head brewer Stuart Ross. The company states that it is inspired by both local brewing traditions and the US craft beer scene.
The Castlemaine Brewery was an Australian brewery and brewing company established in 1857 by Edward Fitzgerald. He was joined in the business by his brother Nicholas Fitzgerald in 1859, after which the firm spread rapidly, opening breweries in Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney and Brisbane, along with smaller breweries at Daylesford and Newbridge. The breweries, though all originating from the same brothers, were either established or later floated as separate companies with distinct histories thereafter, even though the brothers retained a stake in them.
