Foster’s Wattle Pale Ale Poster

William Manning Foster and his brother, Ralph Rose Foster, built their ultra-modern lager-beer brewery in Rokeby Street, Collingwood, Victoria a few doors north of Victoria Parade where the Victoria Brewery was located. The brothers had arrived from New York in 1887, bringing with them a Mr Sieber, a German-American who had studied brewing in Cologne, Germany. Most of the equipment, which was designed specially for the production of lager beer, and also the icemaking plant, had been imported from the USA. They sold the brewery to in 1889 taking a loss on capital invested. The brewery continued to brew producing mainly bottled beer. The company marketed and expanded by producing new brands to get a wider market and in 1903 one of those brands was Wattle Pale Ale.

On 21 December 1903 The Australian Brewers’ Journal wrote: “WATTLE” BEER.— The Foster Brewing Co. Proprietary Ltd. are now advertising their new brand of bottled beer very extensively in the daily press and otherwise. It’s title, “Wattle” brand, is, needless to remark, a most appropriate one for an Australian-brewed article, and the label, showing a sprig of wattle in all glory of its yellow bloom, is most artistic. Judging by the excellent flavour of “Wattle beer, and the fine condition in which it opens up, a bright future is assured for the brand, and, Mr. Hart the chairman, as well as M. de Bavay, the brewer, and Mr. Dally, the secretary, have every reason to congratulate themselves on placing on the market such a palatable and tasty ale.

This image, as a paper poster, is the reconstruction of a very worn and distressed tin sign used as advertising from the launch in 1903. The beer was discontinued by 1907 when the Foster Brewing Company was amalgamated into Carlton and United Breweries.