Schooners, Pots, and Middies, Oh My: A State-by-State Breakdown

First up, we have the good old ‘schooner’. This name is used in most parts of Australia, but the size can differ depending on the state or territory. In New South Wales, a schooner is usually around 425ml, while in Queensland and the Northern Territory, it’s a slightly larger 425-450ml. Meanwhile, in Western Australia, it’s a slightly more modest 375ml and in South Australia only 285ml. Confused yet? Don’t worry, we’re just getting started.

Next, we have the ‘pot’, which is commonly used in Victoria and Tasmania. A pot is usually around 285ml, but some places might serve a smaller ‘pony’ which is around 140ml. If you’re in Queensland, a pot is called a ‘middy’ and is around 285-310ml, while in South Australia, it’s a ‘pint’ that comes in at a similar size of around 425ml.

Yards of Beer and Other Monstrosities: How Much Can You Handle

But wait, there’s more! In some parts of New South Wales, you might come across the ‘handle’, which is basically a pint-sized beer glass with a handle (who would have guessed?). Then there’s the ‘butcher’, which is a pint-sized glass with a handle and a dimple on the side – this one is common in South Australia and Western Australia.

Finally, we have the granddaddy of them all – the ‘yard’. This monstrosity is usually only found at university bars or pubs that cater to rowdy backpackers. It’s a full yard (that’s 1.4 litres!) of beer served in a tall, skinny glass that you need both hands to hold. It’s not for the faint-hearted (or the sober) and it’s not really Australian, but it’s definitely a sight to behold.

So there you have it, folks – a brief overview of the many and varied beer sizes you might encounter in Australian pubs. Of course, the best way to truly understand the nuances of this complex and fascinating topic is to hit up as many pubs as possible and conduct some in-depth research.

It’s important to keep in mind that while we’ve provided a general guide to beer sizes in Australian pubs, the actual experience you have may vary. Each pub and region may have its own unique conventions and interpretations of the various names and sizes. Additionally, some pubs may even have their own unique glassware that doesn’t fit neatly into any of the standard categories. So, the best advice we can give is to be open to trying new things, ask questions if you’re unsure, and most importantly, enjoy yourself! After all, beer is meant to be enjoyed in good company, regardless of the size of the glass. Cheers.

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So what is Vegemite, and why is it so special?

Vegemite is a spread for sandwiches, toast, crumpets and cracker biscuits. Maybe you remember the song “Down Under” of the Australian band “Men At Work”. The lyrics depict an Australian man travelling the globe, who meets people who are interested in Australia. The lyrics include a prominent reference to a Vegemite sandwich:

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot tall and full of muscle
I said… Do you speak-a my language?
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich

Possibly you know the British Marmite. Vegemite is similar in consistency and taste (although many Australians would probably heavily dispute that). It was developed in 1922 by Cyril Callister and originally made from leftover brewers’ yeast extract obtained from the Carlton & United brewery. The spread has various vegetable and spice additives and is salty, slightly bitter, malty, and rich in glutamates – giving it a savoury flavour similar to beef bouillon. It contains 3.45% sodium, which equates to a salt content of approximately 8.6%.

Vegemite was launched in 1923 by the Australian company Fred Walker & Co. The name was selected by Fred Walker’s daughter. In 1925, Walker had established the Kraft Walker Cheese Co. as a joint venture company with the US-American J.L. Kraft & Bros to market processed cheese and in 1935 he used the success of Kraft Walker Cheese to promote Vegemite. In a two-year campaign, it was given away free with Kraft Walker cheese products.

Rich source of Vitamin B

1939 Vegemite was officially endorsed by the British Medical Association as a rich source of B vitamins. Rationed in Australia during World War II, it was included in Australian Army provisions and by the late 1940s was used in nine out of ten Australian homes. Today it far outsells Marmite and other similar spreads in Australia. The country’s residents consume 22 million jars a year. The billionth jar was produced in October 2008. Only 2 percent of it is sold outside the country.

How to eat Vegemite?

A common way of eating Vegemite is on toasted bread with a layer of butter or margarine. If you try the savoury spread the first time, have in mind that due to its strong flavour only spread a small amount of it on your toast. Foreigners often made the mistake of applying the paste too thickly (it’s not peanut butter). Australians are fast to tell you. In 2020 American actor Tom Hanks (in Coronavirus isolation in Australia) was publicly criticized for spreading Vegemite too thickly.

The actor Hugh Jackman, an Australian, once demonstrated on a US-American Show how to really eat Vegemite.

A Vegemite sandwich may consist of two slices of buttered bread, Vegemite, and cheese, but other ingredients such as lettuce, avocado and tomato can be added as well. But there are many more variants with Vegemite, like cheesy scrolls, curry, vegetarian pho or a Singapore blue swimmer crab … Try it.

How does it taste?

Well, that’s a tricky question. The majority of Australians love it. I personally believe you have to grow up with Vegemite to appreciate it. I don’t know many non-Australians who favour that yeast spread.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in response to a question in March 2011 during a joint visit with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to a high school in Virginia, gave his impression of Vegemite by stating “It’s horrible”. Following a description by Gillard, he said: “So, it’s like a quasi-vegetable by-product paste that you smear on your toast for breakfast – sounds good, doesn’t it?”

The Australian actor Hugh Jackman once compared it to something scraped off the floor of a gas station.

In a 2013 episode of his show, the US-American comedian and television presenter Steve Harvey was offered a jar of Vegemite by an Australian audience member. After tasting a small amount of it, he stated: “Vegemite sounds like a pesticide. That’s about damn near what it tastes like.”

When I was a teenager back in Europe I had about 16 budgerigars (an Australian parrot found wild throughout the drier parts of the country) in an aviary. At one stage a budgie became sick and the vet gave the bird a medicine that looked and smelled like Vegemite (I clearly remember the smell). Now I have the feeling it was even Vegemite. Australian birds need an Australian rich source of B vitamins :-).

Vegemite is a taste that frankly defies description. If you want to experience Australia, you honestly have to try it and form your own opinion.

An Australian icon owned by Americans

It seems like a lot of Australians didn’t realize the fact that Vegemite actually has not been wholly Australian-owned since 1935. Even though it is an Australian icon, the truth was bitter to some as its taste, Vegemite has for decades been American-owned.

After visiting America, in 1926 Fred Walker formed a joint venture with Kraft Foods – the Kraft Walker Cheese Co. – to manufacture Kraft Processed Cheddar. When Fred died in 1935, Fred Walker & Co. was merged into Kraft Walker.  From that point on, the spread was partly American-owned.

In 1952 the company became Kraft Foods Limited. Subsequently, the US company acquired the rest of the Australian ownership, which at the time was sitting at just under 50 per cent.  As a result the Kraft logo appeared on the Vegemite packaging for the first time.

After that, tracking the ownership of Vegemite becomes complicated, as Kraft became involved in a complex series of take-overs, mergers and sell-offs. At the end of 1988, Philip Morris purchased Kraft for US$12.9 billion. The following year Kraft merged with Philip Morris’s General Foods unit. Further corporate deals ensued and in 2011 the company split into two divisions, the one newly  named Mondelez International becoming proprietors of several of the Australian brands. Including the beloved Vegemite.

Bega Cheese Limited purchased the brand in 2017, bringing it under Australian ownership for the first time in over 90 years.

Criticism

The Australian entrepreneur Richard Harold ‘Dick’ Smith once said about Vegemite “I used to love it but now I know it’s American owned I just can’t eat it”. The deal that has returned the Australian icon to Australian hands (BEGA) has delighted Dick Smith. Though Bega too has dabbled with foreign ownership, with the New Zealand company Fonterra at one time owning part of the Australian cheese-maker. However, Fonterra sold its 9 per cent shareholding in 2015. It seems that Vegemite is safely back in Australian hands – at least until the corporate merry-go-round starts again.

Vegemite was mentioned in the original version of John Williamson‘s song “True Blue“. He removed the reference in a later version of the song because Vegemite was not Australian-owned. According to Williamson’s website, it was “carelessly sold off (‘like sponge cake’) to the multi-national Kraft”. Williamson apparently didn’t know that already in 1952 it was carelessly sold off, long time before he wrote his song …

Miscellaneous

In April 1984, a 115-gram (4.1 oz) jar of Vegemite became the first product in Australia to be electronically scanned at a checkout.

Vegemite is banned from Victorian prisons, with the bans beginning to come into effect from the 1990s, to prevent inmates from brewing alcohol using the paste’s high yeast content, despite the fact that Vegemite contains no live yeast.

Since 2020 Vegemite is available in a squeeze top bottle in supermarkets across Australia. But being an Australian icon, changes are not always welcome. Critics were quick to slam the product with many accusing the manufacturer of tampering with the signature recipe to make it thin enough to squeeze. They probably forgot that already in 1996 a toothpaste-like ‘travel tube’ was released.

You find a lot of clothing in Australia with the Vegemite symbol on it. The Australian retailer of clothing “Best and Less” has a whole Vegemite collection for the family and the Australian sneaker brand “Volley” offers a “Vegemite heritage” shoe …

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Covering more than 200 million hectares, the beef industry is the largest agricultural sector in Australia. And Australia is the third largest exporter of beef in the world after Brazil and India. The Australian beef industry is heavily dependent on export markets. Over 60% of Australian beef production is exported, mainly to Japan, the US and South Korea. From January to June 2018, a total of 487,215 cattle were sold abroad. Cattle breeding also is the largest agricultural sector of all.

Thus, you get both at butchers and in supermarkets very good beef for very reasonable money (in comparison to pork in Germany). And some of these kinds of steaks, that are rarely seen in Europe …

Consequently, regarding meat, one would think that beef should be part of the standard diet of the Australians and certainly dominate the menus and displays of supermarkets.

Chicken went ahead of beef

That was still true until about 15 years ago, but since then the chicken gradually got the upper hand and has relegated the cattle to the 3rd place.

The most well-known “representative” of the new chicken generation is the Chicken Parmigiana, also “parmy”, “parmi” or “parma”. You cannot escape the “Parmy”. It is on the menu of almost all pubs/taverns and of a lot of other restaurants and cafés, usually next to the “traditional” chicken schnitzel. It is remarkable that in spite of the big cattle production, one rarely gets a schnitzel made of veal any more (a real Wiener Schnitzel).

Furthermore, in the vast majority of taverns, there are now more dishes with chicken than beef / veal. Even at many butchers, the poultry displays are larger than the beef / veal ones.

Australia, the world’s No. 4 in chicken consumption

In Australia, more than twice as many chickens per head (48.47 kg) of population are consumed than the average of the European Union (21.95 kg). This puts Australia in 4th place among the top 10 chicken consuming countries in the world. The per capita consumption of beef and veal in Australia, however, is only about 26 kg.

Consequently, I no longer order chickens at taverns, restaurants and cafés since it is still offered at almost every visit or dinner invitation with friends and relatives. And at some point it will be enough.

I’m chicking out now …

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“These changes affect many Australians, especially the changes associated with increases in the frequency or intensity of heat events, fire weather and drought. Australia wants to adapt to some level of climate change.

Australia is projected to experience:

• Further increases in sea and air temperatures, with more hot days and marine heat waves, and fewer cool extremes.
• Further sea level rise and ocean acidification.
• Decreases in rainfall across southern Australia with more time in drought, but increasing in intense heavy rainfall throughout Australia. “

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM): State of the Climate 2018.

But Australia has always been a dry country. 80 percent of Australia’s area is semi-arid and desert areas with less than 250 mm of precipitation per year. The centre of the country remains largely dry throughout the year. Thus, Australians are used to periods of drought and water scarcity. Almost always and everywhere you are advised to drink enough water. And that is made easy here …

Public water fountains

If you walk in Australian cities or parks, you will find a public water fountain every few hundred meters. This can be a simple faucet or even a flash state-of-the-art dispenser, where you can fill up your bottle at different levels (for kids and adults) and also the omnipresent dogs (see article “Dogland“) have their own permanently installed water bowl.

These water dispensers are very handy as you hardly have to carry your own water around or just in small bottles that you can refill again and again. When I go for a run in parks or along water promenades, the many water fountains come in very handy.

In some areas, such as the Yarra Valley, there are already apps that can be used to find the nearest water fountain.

Free water in restaurants, cafes and pubs

In the vast majority of restaurants, cafes and pubs drinking water is free of charge. If you are waited (which is often not the case), you habitually get a carafe and glasses on the table after sitting down. Alternatively, there may be a water dispenser at the bar or self-serve bottles in a fridge, where you can serve yourself as often as you want for free. Otherwise, just ask. I have never experienced that you do not get water. And it is usually chilled as well.

If you walk in a city and you cannot find a public water fountain, just go to a cafe or pub and ask for tap-water. In many cases you will get it for free, even if you do not consume anything there.

However, in most states (e.g., WA or VIC), it is required by law that premises with an alcohol licence must offer drinking water free of charge.

Though, in a few exceptional cases, you are sometimes asked for a small fee for e.g. providing and cleaning the glasses.

Tap or bottled water?

A litre of tap water costs only a fraction of a cent, but you can pay several dollars for a litre of bottled water – and the costs over time can add up considerably. If you drink two litres a day from the tap, you’ll pay about $1.50 a year. Drink the same amount from single-serve bottles, however, and you could be looking at more than $2800 a year.

A large proportion of this cost comes from producing the plastic bottle, lid and label. And less than half of these PET plastic bottles are actually recycled. The remaining 60% will be taken directly to the landfill.

The US research organization “The Pacific Institute” estimates that the production of the plastic bottle consumes twice as much water as in the bottle itself. This means that each litre consumed actually represents three litres of water.

You can drink Australian tap water without hesitation. Its quality monitoring is the responsibility of each state health department. Tap water has to comply with the Australian drinking water guidelines set by the National Health and Medical Research Council. The guidelines define safe and high-quality and how this quality is achieved and secured.

And 45% of the bottled water is just bottled tap water.

Interesting Links:

• Tapcafés in Sydney

The post Australia – very dry but water everywhere appeared first on GoAustralia.

That has changed very much now. In every pub and even more in the liquor stores, you will find an extremely wide selection of brands, types and styles from both Australia and many other countries around the world.

The selection is almost overwhelming. You have the choice between a craft beer, international  full- or mid strength, light or a low carb beer. Moreover, should it be a lager, dark beer, wheat beer, pilsner, ale or a pale ale, IPA, amber ale and golden ale?

In most states, alcohol can only be bought in pubs or in specially licensed liquor stores (“liquor stores” or simply “bottle shops”). However, I have never seen such a large selection in a liquor store as here in Australia. For example, DanMurphy’s offers 665 (!) different craft or 356 (!) international beers.

Unfortunately, beer in Australia is also quite expensive. A good pilsner costs in a liquor store about AUD 3 (about EUR 2) per ½ litre, a normal lager about AUD 2.70 (about EUR 1.80) and a craft beer can easily be AUD 5 (approx. EUR 2.50). In addition, these prices depend on the quantity you purchase. Some bottles cost up to 100% more if you buy them individually. For example, “VB” as a single bottle AUD 4, -, in a pack of six AUD 19.80 (AUD 3.30 per bottle) and in a box of 24 AUD 48, – (AUD 2 per bottle)

Interestingly, the cheapest beer does not come from Australia but from Europe. It is Oettinger from Germany and Hollandia (in Europe under the name Bavaria) from … Holland.

The huge offer makes the choice difficult and to compare the prices you need a calculator. This is partly because prices vary according to the quantity and partly because the beer is sold in bottles and cans with different quantities. There are bottles (so-called stubbies) of 0.330L, 0.345L, 0.355L and 0.375L as well as cans of 0.330L, 0.375L, 0.440L and 0.500L. However, one cannot say that bottles are generally more expensive than cans (or vice versa). The boxes come in different sizes to 24 or 30 units.

A good offer with 24 bottles can then turn out to be more expensive than the supposedly worse offer at a higher price per carton. And the Australian Unit Pricing Code does not include alcohol and is only mandatory for grocery retailers with more than 1000 squares metres of floor space who sell the minimum range of food-based grocery items.

On my mobile phone, therefore, I have a small spreadsheet, which calculates the litre price. This results in amazing differences. Some examples:

Well, anyway, I still choose my brew primarily to my liking. Moreover, I try repeatedly unknown ones. And that will keep me busy for a while.

So cheers!

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