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The Shocking Price Of Beer In Australia

December 20, 2015 by kevinwilkerson 3 Comments

Cost Of A 6-Pack In The Bottle Shops Stuns The Travel Blogger

Australian beer mates
The blogger (second from right) enjoys Australian beer with some Aussie mates.

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Blogger

I had long assumed – incorrectly, as it turns out – that the price of beer in Australia is cheap.

Before actually visiting the country, I had met and become friends with several Australians and they drank beer on a level that would make Canadians proud.

And while I knew that many things in Oz are pricy, the volume in which the Aussies drank beer had me thinking I would be encountering a kind of beer-cost heaven along the lines of an American college party town.

So when I first walked into an Australian beer store – called a “bottle shop” –  I was shocked at the prices.

Buying Beer At Government Prices

I should have known something was up (like the prices) when I had to walk into a designated government-run store to buy the beer in the first place. Unlike in America, you can’t get beer from a convenience or grocery store and I knew from my experiences with the Beer Store in Canada that government-controlled pricing is always bad on the beer-drinker’s wallet.

Still, I waltzed in expecting to walk out carrying reasonably-priced beers. I had become somewhat of a fan of Tooeys New, a basic but good lager available in every bar.

As I was spending a few days at a friend’s house before moving onto a hotel, I was looking for a 12-pack to carry me through the week. I was in Surfer’s Paradise to help my mate, who at the time ran the Miss V8 Supercars contest through ProCon Leisure and we would be on the go a lot and up early in the mornings, so a 12-pack was the perfect size.

Except I couldn’t find any 12-packs. All they had were 6-packs and cases. Yet the prices posted around the 6-packs indicated there were 12-packs somewhere, so I asked the guy at the counter.

“Excuse me, but I see you have the prices of the 12-packs but I only see the 6-packs,” I said.” Where are the 12-packs.”

“Sorry mate,” he said, “but those are the prices for the 6-packs.”

I nearly fainted. Before the shock could wear off and I could speak again, he continued, “the government makes the beer expensive to try and make us cut down on drinking it. But it doesn’t work, obviously.”

The price of the 6-pack was $15.99. $15.99!

I began to look around for an alternative – perhaps there was an Australian equivalent of bottom-of-the-barrel American beers like Pabst – but nope. My only alternative was to buy a case, which was $30, but I didn’t want to lug a bunch of beer around with me for the next several days.

So I very hesitantly paid $15.99 for the 6-pack.. I can’t tell you how long it took to get the wallet out of my pocket.

When I reported this to my mate, he said – in that kind of shrug-off manner that Australians use when confronted with any type of danger or unfortunate circumstance – “you should gotten a carton.” Meaning a case.

Well, that 6-pack went down a lot faster than I had anticipated and I was all-too-quickly back at the beer store.

“You should have gotten a carton,” my mate repeated.

During the next several days, when I moved into the hotel, the staff and I had a few beers in our rooms after long days, which meant more trips back to the beer store. And more paying $15.99 for 6-packs.

After the event, I was on my own and went to Byron Bay. My first stop, after securing a room at the popular hotel/hostel Nomads, was to the beer store. And I spent another $15.99.

I should have gotten a carton.

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: Australia, beer, Beer Lovers

Comments

  1. kevinwilkerson says

    December 7, 2018 at 9:45 am

    Beer in the beer stores is bloody expensive!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. This Australian farmer bravely protected his beer after being attacked by a kangaroo says:
    December 7, 2018 at 9:15 am

    […] Booze, the one thing able to make you forget that your local environment thinks of nothing but murder all day, is prohibitively expensive. The tax on pure alcohol in the nation is 16 times what it is in America. Back in 2015, it would run you $15.99 for a six pack of beer. […]

    Reply
  2. This Australian farmer bravely protected his beer after being attacked by a kangaroo – USA News Hub says:
    December 7, 2018 at 10:17 am

    […] Booze, the one thing able to make you forget that your local environment thinks of nothing but murder all day, is prohibitively expensive. The tax on pure alcohol in the nation is 16 times what it is in America. Back in 2015, it would run you $15.99 for a six pack of beer. […]

    Reply

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