Mallacoota Hotel Motel bushfires

Navy delivers beer to fire-ravaged Mallacoota

January 10, 2020
By Alana House

Carlton & United and the Australian Navy have come to the rescue of thirsty residents in the bushfire-stricken Mallacoota in Victoria.

There were fears the town would run dry, so Mallacoota Hotel Motel arranged for HMAS Choules to deliver 3000 litres of CUB beer.

The road into the town is still cut off by the fires, with supplies of food and fuel arriving by ship today.

Mallacoota hotel owner Lou Battel told News Corp: “We were running low of supplies and a pub can’t run without beer, can it? Every Australian needs a beer and definitely the emergency services working non-stop.

“Our good old friends from Carlton managed to send us some stock on Thursday and I hope it gets here after the 20 hours or so it takes the boat to make the trip.”

HMAS Choules bushfires Mallacoota

Twenty kegs of Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught, three pallets of VB stubbies, 36 slabs of Strongbow and Great Northern were loaded onto HMAS Choules. CUB also threw in four kegs of beer on the house.

“The pub is at the heart of regional communities,” CUB chief executive Peter Filipovic said. “And a pub with no beer is bad enough at the best of times.

“After what Mallacoota residents and firies have been through the least we could do is make sure they could enjoy a beer.”

CUB’s $1million bushfire relief commitment

CUB announced yesterday that is committed to helping the relief effort by raising more than $1 million for affected communities. 

This starts with a $250,000 donation to help the bushfire response.

The brewery is also organising to bring communities together for a major fundraiser on Australia Day, with CUB-supplied beer flowing.

CUB water bushfire relief Mallacoota

Last week, CUB donated 80,000 cans of free CUB drinking water to the NSW relief effort. This water has been distributed to various fire-affected locations, including evacuation centres.

Local pubs and clubs are among the many businesses affected by these fires. These places are at the heart of many communities, so CUB is extending credit terms to our bushfire-affected customers. It is also offering free cleaning for all our affected customers draught beer systems.

In addition, all CUB employees who are volunteer firefighters will get up to four weeks paid leave to fight the fires.

CUB noted in a statement that it “is fully committed to supporting regional Australian communities, just like they’ve always supported us”.

Click here to read what the drinks industry is doing to support bushfire relief.

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