Pure Blonde White ‘The new taste in lager’ Poster

Before 1968 Carlton & United Breweries had a monopoly on beer served across the hotel bar in Victoria. That brand was Carlton Ale. With the entry of Courage Breweries a joint venture between local hoteliers, the British brewer Courage, Barclay & Simonds (it became Courage Ltd in 1970) and the British Tobacco Group put pressure on CUB to rethink their branding. So Carlton Ale was rebranded as Carlton Draught and the beer across the bar was made available as packaged beer.

As for the packaged beer they revamped all of their brands like Melbourne Bitter, Crown Lager, Abbots Lager, Victoria Bitter and Foster’s Lager. Foster’s Lager had a real revamp from the old red and yellow label to the well known blue and gold. The red ‘F’ was retained from the original brand going back to 1888.

By the early 1990’s CUB had become a little complacent in regards to their beer innovation. This gave Tooheys a chance to penetrate the Victorian market and they introduced Tooheys Red and Blue brands.

CUB responded with Foster’s Special Bitter and then cranked up their innovation. The result was Carlton Cold using cold filtration anda clear bottle.

Carlton Cold was launched and captured 20% of the market a huge success. Innovation didn’t stop there as they introduced a light beer called Foster’s LightIce also in clear glass to break ground in the light beer market. It was a game changer and probably more successful than Carlton Cold as far as sales went.

The innovation continued with Pure Blonde Premium Lager, released to the Australian market in 2004, was the first low carb beer in the country. According to CUB, the beer had 70 percent less carbohydrates than other lagers on the market. Pure Blonde Premium Lager was available on tap and also in 355ml bottles and had an alcohol level of 4.6% ABV/1.3 standard drinks.

Pure Blonde Naked Lager was an all-malt lager made with Galaxy hops which the brewer claims contains no artificial preservatives and over 50 per cent fewer carbohydrates than the average of mid-strength beers, with an ABV of 3.5% ABV.

Pure Blonde White Lager (wheat beer) was launched by Carlton & United Beverages launched in November 2010. It was available on tap in selected venues nationally and also in 355ml bottles and had an ABV of 4.6%/1.3 standard drinks.