Crown Lager

Crown Lager Bottle

Crown Lager is a 4.9% premium Australian beer originally made by Carlton & United Breweries (CUB).

Crown Lager (known colloquially as a "crownie") was originally brewed in 1919 as "Fosters Crown Lager" and was initially only available to visiting dignitaries that visited Australia. During the first royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Australia in 1954, Carlton & United Breweries marked the occasion releasing Crown Lager.^[1]

Crown lager is recognizable by its uniquely shaped bottle and by its 1954-trademarked logo that has only changed four times in the history of the beer, and remains one of Australia's most popular premium lagers.

The unique bottle shape and label was designed by Eveline Annie Harvey (22/5/1910 - 5/8/2008), a commercial artist working in Melbourne who was also responsible for many other well known labels during the period such as Monbulk Jam and others. Eveline was the artist chosen by General Douglas McArthur to draw critical and highly secretive maps during the war.

Eveline produced the Crown Lager artwork at print size using only a (single haired) paintbrush and exceptional skill as were the methods of the time.

Crown Lager was originally produced as an export beer—the current bottle shape and label remain mostly identical to Eveline's original artwork except that the word 'Export' has been removed.

Varieties

In 2006 CUB released two alternative types of beer under the crown banner.

• "Crown Gold" – Australia's first premium mid-strength beer, available only in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory,

• "Crown Pilsner" – a limited release European-style beer available at selected venues.

See also

• List of breweries in Australia

References

1. ^ http://www.crownbeverages.com.au/ Crown Beverages Website

External links

• Crown Beverages
• Fosters Group Description