Ballarat Eureka Ale On Tap ‘A taste of the old days’ Poster

From Keith Dunstan’s book “The Amber Nectar”.

In September 1958 CUB acquired the Ballarat Brewing Company, which owned two breweries, one in Ballarat and the Volum Brewery in Geelong which it had acquired four years earlier. CUB bought the brewing operations but not the 102 hotels which remained with the Ballarat Brewing Company. For many years CUB maintained the Volum Brewery for storage and racking operations using beer tankered from Carlton. In 1986 CUB closed down the Volum brewing operations and turned it into a distribution centre, but they continued to brew beer in bulk in Ballarat and in 1987 began making Guinness under licence. Meanwhile packaged Ballarat Bitter was sent up from Melbourne. Ballarat’s ancestry went right back to the days of the gold rush. There was Magill &: Coghlans of Warrenheip, founded in 1857 and the Royal Standard Brewery in Armstrong Street, Ballarat.18The two breweries combined in 1895 to form the Ballarat Brewing Company.

In Ballarat everybody loves Ballarat Bertie, a product of a smart piece of marketing in 1927. Ballarat Bertie was a silver-haired little character in an apron. In advertisements and posters he was always enthusiastically quaffing a mug of foaming beer. He appeared on the label of every bottle of Ballarat Bitter. When CUB shifted Ballarat bottling operations to the city, it seemed convenient to drop Ballarat Bertie from the label. There was a cry of outrage from Ballarat of such proportions that Bertie had to be returned to the label once again. Lou Mangan said loyalty to the product never quite matched the enthusiasm of the love for Ballarat Bertie. Many a Ballarat citizen was just as happy to drink Foster’s Lager or Abbots.

CUB took the same attitude when they decided to give something back to the Ballarat district and produced this beer. It didn’t work and was pulled very quickly.