This week Matt & Pete chat with parallel beer importer, Sean Neylon, who runs the website saveonliquor.com.au and have a robust discussion about the ins-and-outs of importing international beer through secondary channels.
In the intro we talk about about Pete’s visit to the Wheaty for the Beer Wars screening, Carlton Draught’s ‘The Publican‘ campaign, and discuss why there are always four blokes in a boat in beer commercials.
Matt mentions the Gruen Transfer’s look at beer advertising.
You can follow Matt and Pete on Twitter and leave us feedback by email and on iTunes or in the comments below.
Nice topic and one that will split conversations. I must say, Matt, you seemed to give Sean a really hard time, more so than I would normally expect, you seemed strongly against the concept that parallel importers treat the beer with respect, when it can and was argued that they treat it with more respect at times than the major brewers in Oz.
I personally am against brewed under license beers and go out of my way not to drink them, in my opinion a brewed under license Stella Artois lager brewed in Australia is not really Stella, it is a European style lager brewed to a specific recipe.
You made your most important point at the end of the podcast, you don’t drink mass produced lagers such as the ones being parallel imported anyway and I believe this would be the case for many of your listeners. Hopefully as more people become educated on beer people will stop purchasing beer based on what society and advertising tells them should and instead buy based on taste and as a result parallel importing will become less of an issue for beer.
As always keep up the good work.
Cheers Josh, you’re probably right about me giving Sean a hard time. It wasn’t deliberate, I just wanted to get to the bottom of questions that I have had about parallel imports for a long time. There’s something that never quite adds up with it and — despite what Sean said — I’ve never seen imported stock in the shops with more than a month or two of date left, at best. I can’t speak for Sean’s beer specifically but I really don’t think that in the majority of cases imported lagers, and especially parallel imported ones, are putting quality product on the shelves. Bad product hurts beer.
As for brewed under licence / imports, if I had a choice, I would drink the local version as its almost always fresher…but then again, I would generally drink a local, small brewery lager such as Burleigh’s Premium Lager or Stone & Wood Pale Lager instead…if I had a choice, which too often I don’t!
G’day Matt, I agree with Josh and believe you were being overly harsh on Sean.
Matt, a question; How do I know how a beer I buy from any bottle shop has been treated? I know lots of stores have pallets sitting outside in the sun all day.
I was a bit annoyed and couldn’t believe that you didn’t ask Sean what two American craft breweries he’s just signed to import! Thought you would’ve jumped on that news?
Cheers Pete, and thanks for listening. You might be right that I was hard on him, but I also sensed he was evading the questions a bit and playing to the emotional ‘fake imports’ mindset.
You’re definitely right about lots of stores mishandling all of their beers, and that’s something that needs to be addressed….of course, properly handling beer is more expensive and I suspect the’cheapest is best‘ mindset will prevent better handling of beer. Still, poor handling here doesn’t serve as an excuse to add more than six weeks of hot container crossing the equator (six weeks at best, I’m still dubious that any parallel has 10 months left on the date stick – I’ve never seen it in the bottleshops) to the equation.
More than anything I get fired up about the way the ‘authentic’ label is draped over these beers to sell them. The idea of ‘authentic’ imports – I think – has less to do with their actual origin than the labels for most people. The majority of people drinking imported Sapporo and Asahi are unaware that (until Coopers started brewing Sapporo here recently) they were brewed in Canada and Thailand respectively, yet there was an outcry that another ‘imported’ brand was being brewed over here – it seems so stupid to me. People drink it happily, unaware that while it is indeed imported, it’s not ‘authentic’ (what does authentic mean anyway?) Also, large international breweries change their brewing facilities regularly. There’s no magic in local water or brewing overseas that makes the beer better automatically. When pressed, lots of people who complain to me about ‘fake’ imports say they want to know they’re drinking the Belgian water. I’d be willing to bet that if they were visiting Belgium they would be drinking bottled water from Fiji or somewhere instead of the than the local tap water that the beer is made from anyway.
As for the US craft breweries he’s signed, he had already declined to name them in the pre-interview, so I didn’t want to push it on air. We’ll let you know when he announces it.
Thanks Matt, I do agree with the half a trip round the world in a warm container. However I don’t think the brewed under license products are as good as the originals, but that’s hard for me to say as like you I’m not a fan of macro lagers be it Aussie or Euro.
I know I can taste a difference with the Irish cider Bolmers which is now brewed under license at Campbelltown.
Overly harsh? The guy is a wanker of the highest order. Destroyed a cool beer company (Barons) for his own gain leaving a long line of creditors and shareholders empty handed, only to make an opportunistic grab on beer that’s been over supplied and bounced around the world before landing here. Gloves off I say!
Fair enough if that’s true, I wasn’t sticking up for the bloke.
I think with the right marketing Barons could’ve really made it.
For the price they were bang for buck beers, a kind of cheap craft beer which competed with the macros for price.
I quite liked the Black Wattle.
The parralell imported stuff is rarely the ‘geniune’ article. Recapped and refiiled, date removed, heat stressed, recalled, brewed under licence in another country (imported Kirin, brewed in th UK) – you name it. There is reason that it is cheap! If you are just buying for the brand and don’t care what it tastes like, go ahead, but you don’t need to be a beer geek to see that you are being ripped off.
Well done Matt,
I don’t think you went too hard on him at all. Where do I start.
If this guy had anything to do with barons then no wonder they went bust.
I feel sorry for the american brands that have agreed to be in his portfolio, this penut has no reguard for beer quality what so ever, he is in it for a quick buck and failed what could have been a good Aussie beer brand. Good beer should be kept like milk, and I know this doesn’t happen too often but there needs to be some effort when importing craft beer. A guy that claims to only accept random imported beer with a 10 month expire date is not exceptable. There is no way the brewery would want this to happen, as Sean claims is knowledgable to them, and there is no way it can physically happen. 12 month expire date? 6 weeks “pasteurizing” in the seatainer? This gives 2 weeks to go from brewery to wearhouse to warehouse then to Sean. I dont think so buddy!. I do believe it is good to give the independents a decent price but independents can’t compete with the big guys. Independants need to have a point of difference which helps to support our craft breweries. Sean selling over heat treated, oxidized beer for a stupidly cheap price and is only going to dumb down the drinker.
Dickheads like Sean need to dissapear from this industrie.
Yeah, the simple math tells you 10 months shelf life is BS.
I was curious about Sean’s claim of 10 months on most of his beers, so I ordered a carton of Peroni. It turned up yesterday with an expiry of Feb 12. Still in date, but not what was promised. Will be blind taste testing tomorrow with a brewed under licence version and two mystery lagers not selected by me to see how it goes.
Was it brewed in Italy?
It was.
Its a simple fact that without parallel importers, with in a few years the only place you will be able to buy beer from is Dans and first choice. As long as the 2 big boys in town can sell beer cheaper than independent bottle shops can buy it for, the industry as a whole is in trouble. Lots of people have talked about shops needing to be more “boutique” or have a broader range to compete, but I can tell you from experience this DOES NOT WORK!!! there is just not enough people in this little land of aus that care enough about craft, or boutique products to sustain the expenses incurred in running a shop. If you have a problem with parallel imports then the blame should be landed squarely on the breweries and wholesalers that are willing to discout heavily to the supermarkets but not to the struggling independent shops- the same shops that sell craft beer. Dont hate the guy for selling product that has room left in the price to make margin, unless you want to be stuck with Dan Murphy’s selection of beer, and see your favourite craft breweries close because they no longer have an outlet for there product.