Quaffers: Big beer brands rule in drinkers' minds

Roy Morgan research released for last week's Australia Day celebrations revealed that nine out 10 people who drank beer in 2014 drank at least one Australian beer.

The research found drinkers of XXXX Gold, Cascade Premium Light, VB and Crown Lager were "more likely than drinkers of other Aussie beer brands to believe that 'Australian beer is the only beer worth drinking' and that 'imported beer is a waste of money' ".

Not surprisingly, the 10 top beers rated in the survey of 5968 respondents were large-volume, popular brands, not the craft beers columns like this tend to talk about.

Lagers comprised eight of the 10. But the James Squire brand, embracing ales and lagers, came in at ninth position. And Cooper's Pale Ale, in fourth place, demonstrated that popular taste could embrace characterful beers as well.

Sheaf Stout 375ml
★★★★
6-pack $20

Let's salute older drinkers with Tooths Sheaf Stout, a Sydney beer from a brewer long since absorbed into CUB. It now bears "Foster's Brewery" on the label. But the quality remains high. It's a dark, rich and smooth stout, with a bittersweet, dark-chocolate-like flavour and dry, bitter finish.

Samuel Smith's India Pale Ale
★★★★½
550ml $8.50

Smith's says it uses water from a well sunk in 1758 and top ferments its beer in traditional Yorkshire stone fermenters. True to the traditional India Pale style, it's intensely bitter, thanks to a mother lode of hops (originally a 19th-century preservative for the long voyage to India).