Carlton & United Breweries
Carlton & United Breweries is an Australian brewing company based in Melbourne. In 1983 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Elders IXL and CUB was delisted. In 1990, Elders IXL was renamed as Foster's Group, and in July 2004, CUB changed its name to Carlton & United Beverages. In February 2009, Foster's announced the decision to separate the Australian Wine division from the Australian Beer, Cider & Spirits division, and rename BCS to Carlton & United Breweries.
CUB produces many of Australia's most successful beverages, including one of Australia's highest selling beers, Victoria Bitter.
In December 2011, SABMiller acquired Foster's Group, and took over ownership of Carlton & United Breweries as part of the acquisition.
Subsequently in October 2016, CUB was included in the purchase of SABMiller by Anheuser-Busch InBev. SABMiller ceased trading on global stock markets and as a result, Carlton & United was then owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
In July 2019, Asahi Breweries agreed terms to purchase Carlton & United Breweries with the Foreign Investment Review Board approving the deal in May 2020.
History
The history of Carlton & United Breweries / Beverages or CUB began when Carlton, Fosters, Victoria, Shamrock, Castlemaine and McCracken breweries formed into a cartel known as the Society of Melbourne Brewers in 1903. Emil Resch played a significant role in enabling the amalgamation. Resch also went on to become the first general manager of CUB. The merge allowed CUB to raise prices and remain profitable in what had been an unprofitable market. In 1907 this group merged into a single company known as the Carlton & United Breweries. The company became public in 1913 with the issue of 100,000 shares.Over time it has bought out many other brewers, such as Abbotsford Co-operative Brewery in 1924 Their first interstate acquisition was Northern Australian Breweries and the Cairns Brewery in 1931. Further acquisitions were the Ballarat Brewing Company, Queensland Brewery Ltd, Thos McLauchlin & Co Pty Ltd, Richmond Brewery and Tooth & Co.
In 1983, CUB was wholly bought by Elders IXL, a giant Australian diversified conglomerate with pastoral, financial, materials, and food interests. Elders Brewing Group continued to acquire brewing companies in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. In 1990 Elders Brewing Group changed its name to Foster's Group, to reflect the name of their most internationally recognised product.
In July 2004, Carlton & United Breweries changed its name to Carlton & United Beverages, citing the company's diversification into pre-mixed drinks, juices, ciders and non-alcoholic drinks.
In February 2009, Foster's announced the outcomes of a review of its global wine business, including the decision to separate the Australian Wine division from the Australian Beer, Cider & Spirits division, and rename BCS to Carlton & United Breweries.
In mid-June 2016 CUB made the controversial decision to lay off 55 workers before inviting those same workers to reapply for their old jobs on individual contracts involving stripped conditions, clauses and significant pay cuts.
SABMiller, CUB's global owner, responded to criticisms from the union movement that its action was not illegal as it has no direct contractual relationship with the maintenance crews that were laid off. Rather, it has a contractual relationship with one subcontractor and the action constitutes the "passing" of a contract to another, which has the prerogative to set pay and conditions of workers at its own discretion. SABMiller have made no comment regarding the lower pay and poorer conditions offered to workers.
The decision generated considerable poor publicity for CUB, with a widespread social media campaign as well as union efforts to highlight the workers' plight, who argue the brewer has conducted a "transmission of business" manoeuvre. Several pubs in Victoria have stopped selling CUB products in support of the sacked workers.
In July 2019, Asahi Breweries agreed terms to purchase Carlton & United Breweries with the transaction completed in May 2020 after being cleared by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and Foreign Investment Review Board.
Products
After the takeovers by SABMiller and then Anheuser-Busch InBev, CUB distributed their international brands such as Aguila, Corona Extra, Stella Artois, Beck's, Budweiser, Hoegaarden, Leffe and Leffe Radieuse.| Beer | Style | ABV | Hops etc. |
| Abbotsford Invalid Stout | Stout | 5.2% | |
| Alpha Pale Ale | Ale | 5.2% | Cascade |
| Beez Neez | Wheat Braggot | 4.7% | |
| Carlton Black | Ale | 4.4% | Pride of Ringwood |
| Carlton Cold | Lager | 3.5% | Label changes colour when cold |
| Carlton Draught | Lager | 4.6% | |
| Carlton Dry | Lager | 4.5% | |
| Carlton Dry Lime | Lager | 4.0% | Made with lime |
| Carlton Midstrength | Lager | 3.5% | |
| Carlton Zero | 0% | ||
| Cascade Bitter | Lager | 4.4% | |
| Cascade Draught | Lager | 4.7% | |
| Cascade Pale Ale | Ale | 5.0% | |
| Cascade Premium Light | Lager | 2.4% | |
| Cascade Stout | Stout | 5.8% | |
| Crown Golden Ale | Ale | 4.5% | Galaxy |
| Crown Lager | Lager | 4.9% | Pride of Ringwood |
| Dogbolter Dark Lager | Dunkel | 5.2% | Hersbrucker |
| Fat Yak | Ale | 4.7% | |
| Foster's Lager | Lager | 4.9% | Pride of Ringwood |
| Foster's Light Ice | Lager | 2.3% | |
| Great Northern Super Crisp | Lager | 3.5% | |
| Lazy Yak | Ale | 4.2% | |
| Melbourne Bitter | Lager | 4.6% | Pride of Ringwood |
| Power's Gold | Lager | 3.0% | |
| Pure Blonde Premium Mid | Lager | 3.0% | |
| Pure Blonde Ultra Low Carb | Lager | 4.2% | Hersbrucker |
| Redback | Wheat Beer | 4.7% | Saaz and Pride of Ringwood |
| Reschs | Pilsener | 4.4% | |
| Sheaf Stout | Stout | 5.7% | originally by Tooth and Co. |
| VB Gold | Lager | 3.5% | |
| Victoria Bitter | Lager | 4.9% | |
| Wild Yak | Ale | 4.2% |
| Cider | ABV |
| Bulmers Original | 4.7% |
| Bulmers Pear | 4.7% |
| Dirty Granny | 5.5% |
| Mercury Genuine Draught | 5.2% |
| Mercury Medium Sweet | 5.5% |
| Mercury Special Dry | 5.5% |
| Strongbow Classic Apple | 5% |
| Strongbow Classic Pear | 5% |
| Strongbow Dry | 5% |
| Strongbow Lower Carb | 5% |
| Strongbow Sweet | 5% |
| Strongbow Blossom Rosé | 8.2% |
| Spirits | ABV |
| Akropolis Ouzo | 37% |
| The Black Douglas | 40% |
| Cougar Bourbon | 37% |