It's another Friday night, I haven't gone on a beer run for about a week, and my beer drawer is looking pretty sparse. I've got four beers to choose from, and none of them sound particularly enticing tonight, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose. Foster's is without question the worst option in my fridge, but that massive blue can has been staring me down for a good two weeks now. I was meant to drink the ginormous blue can of Australian lager last Friday, but Fat Tire Ale came to the rescue at the last second. The Foster's was given a second chance at life, but tonight it's last appeal has been denied and it's number is finally up.
We've all seen the commercials here in the states. "Foster's: Australian for beer". What a load of shit! It may surprise many of you out there to learn that although Foster's is billed as the premier Australian lager, it's not widely distributed in its native land. Foster's lost a lot of ground in Australia when some of it's rival brewers merged to create a formidable force of opposition in the Australian beer market. Although Carlton and United Brewers have other beers that enjoy moderate success in Australia today, it's principal product Foster's is almost exclusively an export. There's nothing inherently wrong with this concept, because there is clearly a market for this lager outside of Australia. What gets my goat is the blatantly false advertising campaign that Foster's has used to market it product abroad. The advertisements that Foster's launched here in America played strongly on American stereotypes of Australian culture like ridiculous Crocodile Dundee-esque accents, Kangaroos, Koalas and boomerangs. Essentially Foster's was attempting to sell Australian culture with a beer that has been almost completely rejected by real Australians. The funny thing is that the gimmicky ads actually worked on the American public, and Foster's is relatively popular in the states for a lager that doesn't have much to offer.
Putting all discrepancies about advertising aside and going strictly by taste, Foster's is not a very good beer. One of the worst things about this beer is that unless you find it on tap somewhere (which is becoming increasingly rare in states as Foster's stock continues to drop), your only option is to buy it in a massive can. Sure, you could probably buy a case of Foster's at your local grocery store, but who in their right mind would want to drink that much Foster's? The ridiculously oversized blue can that Foster's comes in would be a great thing if the beer itself weren't so boring. In my humble (and usually correct) opinion, if Foster's we're truly a premium lager, the beer would be able to stand alone on it's quality and not be forced to resort to exploiting Australian culture to move its product.
Cheers!
Ian
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