Craft beer retailer Beer Cartel has revealed Australia’s Ultimate Top 50 Beers, compiled using ratings from more than 100,000 beer drinkers across Australia.
And topping the list was Pirate Life Imperial IPA.
Craft beer brewers often face a backlash when they sell to a big player, but AB InBev’s purchase of Pirate Life last year hasn’t dented its meteoric rise.
Just prior to the sale, the 2017 Australian Craft Beer Survey by Beer Cartel, which tallied results from 17,000 craft beer drinkers prior Pirate Life’s AB InBev takeover, voted the brewery No. 1 in Australia.
But the survey also noted that “ownership appears to matter because it is part of the story that is unique to each individual craft brewery. It is part of the brewery’s heritage; being owned by real people, rather than a corporate giant.”
Pirate Life has risen above that perception, continuing to go from strength to strength in the Aussie market.
The brewer’s volumes went from 600,000 litres in the first year to 1.3 million in the second. This calendar year it will be “three point something” according to founder Michael Cameron. Its venture with AB InBev will see production eventually rise to more than 11 million litres a year.
Australia’s Ultimate Top 50 Beers is created by amalgamating the top 50 beers from four leading websites and polls; RateBeer, Beer Advocate, Untapped and Australia’s Hottest 100 Craft Beers. A ranking formula is then used to collate data to create the Ultimate Top 50 Beers list.
“Each of the individual lists (RateBeer, Beer Advocate, Untapped and Australia’s Hottest 100) have their own nuances and consumer base. By combining them we remove these biases, creating a list we believe is a better reflection of Australia’s top 50 beers”, Huens told Beer & Brewer.
Pirate Life co-founder Red Proudfoot told The Adelaide Advertiser: “The beer drinkers of Australia have embraced us. It has been very humbling, actually, it has been quite special.”
Cameron added that he’s not worried about losing control by joining with AB InBev.
“Our job has always been about quality beer,” he explained. “We are not one of the breweries who really talked about independence a lot. To us it’s about the beer, it’s not necessarily about who owns the company.”
The founders also still own a stake in the company and are eager to export their creations globally.
Pirate Life currently exports to around half a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Thailand and Singapore. By the end of the year that will be 10.
“It’s going to be exciting to take Pirate Life to the world,” Jack Cameron says. “We want to be one of the best in the world and AB InBev are going to help us do it.
“I don’t think the growth will slow down but now the opportunities have opened up and having the support of the world’s biggest brewer to take this thing from here to here. There is no roof anymore I don’t think.”
The full Beer Cartel Top 50 is listed below:
1. Pirate Life IIPA (Imperial IPA)
2. Modus Operandi Former Tenant (Red IPA)
3. Nail Clout Stout (Imperial Stout)
4. Boatrocker Ramjet (2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016)* (Imperial Stout)
5. Feral War Hog (IPA)
6. Mornington Peninsula Imperial Stout (Imperial Stout)
7. Feral Hop Hog (Pale Ale)
8. Murray’s Craft Wild Thing (Imperial Stout)
9. Stone & Wood Pacific Ale (Pale Ale)
10. Feral Tusk (Imperial IPA)
11. KAIJU! Aftermath (Imperial IPA)
12. Modus Operandi Future Factory (IIPA / NEIPA)
13. Riverside ‘777’ Imperial IPA (Imperial IPA)
14= Pirate Life IPA (IPA)
14= Pirate Life Mosaic IPA (IPA)
16= Boatrocker Banshee (Barleywine)
16= Feral Boris (Imperial Stout)
16= Little Creatures Pale Ale (Pale Ale)
19= Feral B.F.H. (Barrel Fermented Hog) (IPA)
19= KAIJU! Where Strides The Behemoth (Imperial Black IPA)
21. La Sirène La Sirène Saison (Saison)
22. La Sirène Praline (Stout)
23. Pirate Life Pale Ale (Pale Ale)
24. Mountain Goat Back To the Brewer (Double Steam Ale/NEIPA)
25= Akasha Korben D. (Imperial IPA)
25= Balter XPA (XPA)
25= Stockade The Mountie Maple Imperial Stout ( Imperial Stout)
28= Big Shed Golden Stout Time (Stout)
28= Moon Dog Jumping The Shark 2015 (Imperial Stout)
30. BentSpoke Crankshaft (IPA)
31= Coopers Best Extra Stout (Stout)
31= Young Henrys Newtowner (Pale Ale)
33. Gage Roads Single Fin (Summer Ale)
34. Knappstein Reserve Lager (Lager)
35= Balter IPA (IPA)
35= Feral Karma Citra (Black IPA)
37. Hop Nation Jedi Juice (New England IPA)
38= Boatrocker Coffee Ramjet 2016 (Imperial Stout)
38= Bridge Road Brewers B2 Bomber Mach 6.0 (Imperial Black IPA)
38= Bridge Road Brewers Beechworth Pale Ale (Pale Ale)
38= Feral Watermelon Warhead (Berliner Weisse)
38= Hargreaves Hill R.I.S. (Imperial Stout)
43= KAIJU! KRUSH! (Pale Ale)
43= Wig & Pen Russian Imperial Stout (Imperial Stout)
45= Gage Roads Little Dove (Pale Ale)
45= Holgate Brewhouse Millennium Falcon (Imperial IPA)
45= Modus Operandi Sonic Prayer (IPA)
48. Boatrocker Roger Ramjet (2017) (Imperial Stout)
49. Hawkers Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (2016) (Imperial Stout)
50= 4 Pines Stout (Stout)
50= Two Metre Tall Original Sour Ale (Sour Ale)
