Slowly but surely, Australian craft beer is beginning to make inroads overseas. In recent weeks, we’ve reported on Stone & Wood’s venture into the UK and the success enjoyed by the Australian Brewery on a recent trip to India. The Mountain Goat brewers have developed a relationship with Brooklyn Brewery and are gaining a foothold in parts of Asia, as are many other local breweries.
Now Victorian stalwarts Holgate have signed a deal to take their beers to the Philippines, with the first shipment destined for Manila leaving Australia a couple of weeks ago.
“We’re definitely thrilled,” says brewery founder Paul Holgate. “Hopefully this will the first shipment of many to Manila. Having spent a few years on business in South East Asia during the 1990s before starting our brewery, I get a good feeling about the link with young people in the Philippines attending College in the US and getting a taste for craft beer.”
The brewery, which already exports to Sweden, Malaysia and Singapore and is exploring other opportunities in Europe, will be sending all of its year round beers as well as limited numbers of its more out there releases, such as Empress and Beelzebub’s Jewels. The Philippine capital already has a small craft beer scene, with American brands such as Anderson Valley, Ballast Point and Rogue proving popular.
Holgate’s beers are being imported by MGM Foods and Commodities Corporation, which already takes wine from Victorian winery Taltarni to Manila. This latest move is part of ongoing expansion and rebranding at the Woodend brewery, with plans being drawn up for council approval for redevelopment of its current site.
Paul says the plan for Manila is to “focus on Mt Macedon Pale Ale and Road Trip IPA as well as our DIPA Hopinator. Temptress, Pilsner, ESB are in the mix together with super specials like the Empress Imperial Mocha Porter and Beelzebub’s Jewels barrel aged Belgian Quad. We’ll be giving them a sprinkling to see what goes down the best. However our push is on the hoppy beers.”
He also feels there will be greater opportunities for Australian breweries overseas as interest in craft beer grows the world over.
“I think craft beer consumers around the world are the same: always looking for the next newest thing and wanting to try all brews,” he says. “For the same reason we see craft beer in Australia from NZ, Italy, USA and so on, Aussie brewers should be sending beer back in the same direction.”
If there are any Crafty Pint readers in Manila, Paul will be visiting the city during the week of November 18 to host a series of events, including a Craft Beer Masterclass, a Beer and Food Matching Dinner, an informal tasting and a âMeet the Brewerâ session. We’ll update this with more detail once we have it.
