Last week at the 2024 Independent Beer Awards - the Independent Brewers Association's craft beer competition more commonly referred to as the Indies - Uraidla Brewing’s Vampiric Throne Red IPA was named Australia’s Champion Independent Beer out of 1,028 entries, becoming the first red IPA to do so. 

Today, however, the Independent Brewers Association is focusing on a more pressing matter affecting Australia’s craft brewing sector.

“Are the federal government on a mission to send independent brewers and publicans broke?” said the IBA in a statement issued to media this morning. 

“These excise hikes might be able to be absorbed by the foreign owned duopoly that controls the Australian beer market – but independent brewers are different. Our breweries cannot keep absorbing the ballooning costs of making beer without increasing the price of their beer – this means, being able to support your local will be soon out of reach for many and job losses will continue.”

This morning, Drinks Trade shared this article covering the impact of today’s tax hike on Australia’s on-premise trade. This follows on from last week’s coverage of the latest three independent breweries to have fallen victim to rising debts, shortly ahead of increasing taxation. According to John Preston, CEO of the Brewers Association, “enough is enough. We’re calling for the Federal Government to step in and cut the rate of tax for beers served in hospitality venues back to a sensible level."

The three aforementioned breweries were Margaret River’s Black Brewery Co, Brew Barons - trading as Parched West End - and Valhalla Brewing. In July, Black Brewery and Parched West End both entered into liquidation, whilst Valhalla Brewing entered into voluntary administration. Another brewery, Sou West, also officially wound up the process of closing its company after becoming insolvent in May. Earlier this year, Kylie Lethbridge, CEO of the Independent Brewers Association, warned that the current crisis being faced by Australia’s brewing sector would continue to worsen if nothing was changed.

“Unless we get some relief from the federal government then we will see more businesses close and we will see more voluntary administrations and we will see more redundancies,” she said in February. 

“We are the tiniest part of the Australian [beer] market, but we employ over 51% of the industry because we’re quite labour intensive, and so the more breweries that close or restructure downward, the more jobs that are going to be lost in this country.

“If we don’t get a little help, you’ll definitely see more of that pain.”

In a Drinks Trade interview conducted last week, CreditorWatch’s CEO Patrick Coghlan added that, “if you think about it from a hospitality perspective, there’s only so much that you’ll pay for a beer, for a coffee, for a bowl of pasta, for a sandwich. Unfortunately in the hospitality industry, you can’t pass on the cost the consumer.” 

According to today’s Independent Brewers Association statement, the biannual tax excise linked to ABS CPI figures is difficult to justify. 

“Every cent that independent brewers spend on excise is money they cannot invest back into their staff, innovation, sustainability or supporting their communities,” it read. 

“They also do not want to pass these costs on to consumers but they may be forced to as the cost of materials, energy and freight still making it almost impossible to keep these Australian owned small businesses alive.

“We’re very sure they want us to stop talking about excise, they want us to stop talking about how every aspect of the beer market in Australia is rigged against your local brewer and that they have failed to do anything about it. But the Independent Brewers Association, and our supply chain members we represent are not going to stop fighting.”

Despite the current industry pressures, the recent Indies Awards stands as a testament to the current quality of Australia’s craft beer producing sector. In total, 904 of the 1,028 entries received either a Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal, with 151 being awarded Gold.

Head Judge Justin Fox said, “we are blown away this year at the quality of beers entered. 151 beers were awarded gold, and an incredible 87% of all beers entered received a medal.

“With the Olympics in full swing, this medal tally demonstrates that consumers across Australia can enjoy the highest calibre of independent beers on tap in venues and packed in fridges across the country.”

In addition to Uraidla’s strong result, the winning brewery trophies were are as followed:

  • Champion Australian Independent Large Brewery: Stomping Ground Brewing Co.
  • Champion Australian Independent Medium Brewery: Seven Mile Brewing Co.
  • Champion Australian Independent Small Brewery: Boundary Island Brewery
  • Champion Australian Independent Contract Brewer: Tiny Fish Brew Co.

To view a complete list of results, click here.

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