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Bring me the beer list

January 1, 2010 by Matt Kirkegaard

In a better world...

It’s a fairly common experience for the beer drinker. Visiting a nice restaurant and being handed an impressive leather-bound volume with “beverage list” in gold lettering outlining a vast selection of wines from Australia and around the world. Champagnes costing up to and over $700-a-bottle headlining a studied offering of dozens of styles and varietals with the cheapest–or should that be least expensive–hovering above the $40 mark. Then there follows an array of dessert wines, ports, fortifieds and other dauntingly-named types of grape juice provided for the discerning diner’s post-prandial enjoyment.

But if you want a beer it’s nowhere to be seen in the beverage list. Instead, it’s usually tucked down in a corner on the back page of the menu, the drinks equivalent of the kid’s menu. The list itself usually runs to about ten entries, with the domestic beers dominated by whichever of the big breweries paid for the restaurant’s signage and beer taps. This is followed by an ‘imported’ list in which the majority are foreign brands brewed under licence in Australia.

Over the last three decades the selection of the actual brands has changed but the beers themselves are pretty much interchangeable: one or two light or mid-strength pale lagers, one or two domestic full-strength pale lagers, a low-carb very pale lager, one or two ‘premium’ Australian pale lagers and a couple of international pale lagers.

Now, there is nothing wrong with the common pale lager. They are cold and they are refreshing, they are easy-drinking and sessionable (almost to a fault if you heed the current health warnings). These lagers are the liquid backdrop to manly congregation, whether it be drinks after work, pushing sausages around a barbie plate or a weekend of watching sport. But, for all of that, they are largely uninspiring. And with the vast majority of Australians believing that pale lager is pretty much all there is to beer–and convinced by beer marketers that there actually are significant differences between the stock standard Australian lagers–there is little pressure for this to change.

This also explains why beer has become the Rodney Dangerfield of beverages; a fun, lovable buffoon standing around wondering why it can’t get no respect.

Australia has come a long way over the last thirty years in almost every aspect of the culinary arts. Sophisticated dining has evolved way beyond the classic ‘70s fare of a prawn cocktail, steak Diane and crepe Suzette. Today restaurants can’t get away with serving flagons of vin ordinaire and they employ baristas rather than stewing a pot of drip-filtered coffee uninvitingly near the cash register. Yet, when it comes to beer, our eateries are still largely stuck in the era of the safari suit, three-quarter sideburns and Valiant Chargers. With the amazing array of foods, flavours and dining options available, beer is still meat and three veg.

Beer can be perfectly paired with an incredible range of contemporary restaurant dishes, sometimes providing an even better match than wine–especially with desserts. It’s a strange thing but wine makers and chefs know about the incredibly diverse flavours of beer–many winemakers claim that it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine–but this isn’t reflected in our beverage lists.

Enough is enough. It is time to start lopping stars off restaurants that treat beer as an after-thought. Even allowing for a fairly small beer list we can do much better than a careless selection of near identical lagers and still please everybody.

Beer lovers, it’s time to make a stand. Stand tall, stand proud and say, “Bring me the beverage list. I want a beer.”

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. closs says

    January 28, 2010 at 8:42 pm

    It is time to stand up…
    some one needs to innspire Australians…
    one outstanding beer at a time.

  2. prof pilsner says

    January 30, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    I had a comment from an international guest last night who said that, in all his travels , he had never seen a beer list like ours, with descriptions and tasting notes of the beers. I’m just assuming that he was even more impressed by the fact that we had eighty different beers on the list to begin with!
    Cheers
    Prof. Pilsner

    • Editor says

      January 30, 2010 at 12:52 pm

      Don’t hesitate to give yourself a plug Prof – venue name and link…

  3. Luke says

    February 3, 2010 at 8:18 pm

    Great article Matt,

    I am with you 110% on this, it really gives me the irrates not only the $700 Champagne but the lack of diversirty of beers on beverage lists.

    Obviously having only a hand full of beer sommiliers in the country isn’t going to fight this battle soon enough we need to educate and the wine buffs and restaurateurs and the like.

    Long live good beer and hopefully one day a leather bound beer list.

  4. Dan Hampton says

    June 28, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    Hey guys

    Couldn’t agree more.

    I manage Barzura Cafe|Restaurant|Bar on Coogee Beach NSW. Over the last year we’ve made a conserted effort to promote good Aussie Craft Beers and our current list consists of Wicked Elf Witbier, 4 Pines Kolsch, Murrays Pilsner & Pale Ale, Knappstein Reserve Lager, White Rabbits Dark & White Ales, Little Creatures Pale Ale & Rogers, Coopers Sparkling. We’ve also had monthly specials such as St Peters Cinnamon Girl, Monthieths Winter ale Dopplebock (from our NZ cousins) and about to have Skinny Blonde from the boys down the road in Bondi.

    The other night I had a couple of guys on a table and they were trying a few of the brews. So to finish off I served them the Dark Ale in a sniffer glass, on a plate with a couple of bite sized pieces of chocolate brownie. Freaked them out a bit but they love the marriage, as I knew they would.

    Let’s just hope it continues to catch on!

    Keep up the good work re Brewsnews.

    Cheers mate

    Dan Hampton

Category: Food Tagged: beer and food, beer list, opinion

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