Power’s Bitter, ‘Longneck’ Powers Brewery

One of the largest of the boutique breweries to commence in Australia in the 1980s was the Power Brewing Co. Ltd. It was a large major brewery, which set out to compete on the domestic market with the two long-established Queensland breweries, Castlemaine with their well-entrenched XXXX Bitter Ale, and Carlton & United Breweries Ltd (CUB). Power also planned to export draught, bottled and canned beer to the southern states of Australia.

The driving force behind the venture was Bernard Power, the owner of a number of hotels in Queens­land. In 1985 he set about developing a huge 30 ha brewing complex at Yatala, 70 km south of Brisbane. When completed, after enormous capital expenditure, the brewery was claimed to be one of the most modern and efficient in the world. Power’s Bitter was launched in September 1988, and Power’s Light a year later. Such was the popularity of the beers that, after two years of operation, the brewery had expanded to a capacity of 140 million litres of beer a year. Bulk and packaged beer gained widespread acceptance throughout Queensland, and also in Sydney and Melbourne, where Power’s beer could be purchased from almost every hotel and liquor store. Bernie Power’s brewery was an undoubted success.

In August 1992 a joint venture between Power Brewing Co. Ltd and CUB resulted in the formation of Queensland Breweries Pty Ltd. The new company would brew for both companies at Yatala, with distribution carried out independently by both Power and CUB. On 28 October 1993 the brewery became totally owned by CUB. CUB closed their old brewery in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane in February 1993, and all CUB beers that had been produced at the Valley were then brewed at Yatala.