The Best Of The Best : Drinks In Australia
An old Australian joke says that a traditional seven course Australian meal is a meat pie and a six pack of beer! Australians do love their beer, but today they also relish some of the best good value wine in the world. It is estimated that there are 10,000 different Australian wine sons the market at any one time. While the health conscious can choose from dozens of bottled waters and fresh fruit juices, this is also the country that makes alcoholic lemonade from its lemon crop and another alcoholic drink from rhubarb. Imported wines, beers and spirits are also readily available but you will always be reminded to buy Australian while you are there.
White Wine: Australians first adapted table wine in the 1960’s and 1970’s. At first they prefer a sweet type of wine and later became found of the drier styles such as Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. A passion also began to evolve for wood matured wines, and today varieties such as Marsanne have become very popular.
Red Wine: Australia’s benchmark red is Grange Hermitage, the creation of the late vintner Max Schubert in the 1950s.He preferred wines that required at least a decades cellaring. In contrast, Wolf Blass, a winemaker o the current style, championed the drink now approach with quickly maturing wines. Winemakers frequently blend wines from different districts and states. Lighter reds which may be served chilled have recently been introduced.
Beer: Beer in Australia is vat fermented real ale or lager, and are meant to be consumed chilled. A full strength beer has an alcohol content of 4.8% while a light beer has less then 3% alcohol content. Although beer was traditional heat stylized, cold filtration has now become increasingly popular. Some of the more popular beer names and originating regions are: James Boag and Cascade from Tasmania,Castlemain XXXX from Queensland, Fosters and Victoria Bitter (VB) from Victoria, Tooheys red and blue labels from New South Wales and Coopers Sparkling Ale (known locally as lunatic soup) from South Australia.
Spirits: Dark and white rums are produced from Queensland sugar cane plantations. Some the the more notable labels include Bundaberg and Beenleigh. Domestic brandies are produced from some of Australia’s finest grape vintage. Popular brandy labels include St. Agnes and Hardy’s.
The one thing to remember is that it is okay to enjoy yourself but you must not drive after drinking EVER! Please designate someone as the driver for the evening or hire a car service. It’s the only way to keep a happy and fun evening safe as well.