Good Aussie Beer

Here's a pretty comprehensive web site serving as a guide to Australian Beers. This country has a long tradition of producing great beer. Foster's, however, does not count, and anyone who tells you "Foster's is Australian for Beer" is someone who's been suckered by a good tagline. Most Foster's in the USA is actually made in Canada, and people out here aren't particularly fond of the brand either...there are far better brews out here, and more interesting brands as well. Had a conversation with Alan, our tech guy at the MTC about national beer brands and the rise of microbrews out here. It's a good time to be alive and a beer drinker, because the industry is changing, and there's a huge influx of creative innovation that's changing the way we drink. Here's an AWESOME article that will change the way you think about beer, originally printed from New York Yorker Magazine, entitled "The Annals of Drinking - the Rise of Extreme Beer" about Dogfish Head breweries and the rise of the microbrewer movement in the USA. Well worth a read. In fact, here's the opening paragraph:
"Elephants, like many of us, enjoy a good malted beverage when they can get it. At least twice in the past ten years, herds in India have stumbled upon barrels of rice beer, drained them with their trunks, and gone on drunken rampages. (The first time, they trampled four villagers; the second time they uprooted a pylon and electrocuted themselves.) Howler monkeys, too, have a taste for things fermented. In Panama, they’ve been seen consuming overripe palm fruit at the rate of ten stiff drinks in twenty minutes. Even flies have a nose for alcohol. They home in on its scent to lay their eggs in ripening fruit, insuring their larvae a pleasant buzz. Fruit-fly brains, much like ours, are wired for inebriation....The seductions of drink are wound deep within us..."

The varieties of beer Down Under haver their own unique merits. Below is a passage from an essay I found online entitled "what is the best Australian beer."
"Up against big, centuries-old producers like Germany, Belgium and Great Britain, Australia’s beer producing ability is often seen as second rate. This perspective is flawed; a failure to appreciate Australian beer is a failure to appreciate Australian drinking attitude and habits. Australian beer is adapted for hot-climate drinking, and is dominated by a mix of ice cold draught and ale styles, along with a newer market for low carb ‘dry’ beers and boutique styles. Australian beer is unique and appeals to lovers of bold, slightly fruity beer with a typically bitter finish."