Australia: Foster’s to launch a A$70 per bottle beer next week

While the Foster’s Group spends a mint on aiming some of their beers squarely at the blue-collar brigade, they're also cornering a new market: luxury lagers, AAP communicated on July, 31.

Despite tough economic times, the group is convinced success will follow arguably the country's poshest beer, the A$70 a bottle Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager.

The brewer released the first vintage last year and it sold out within weeks.

The 2009 vintage will be released early next week with Foster's expecting the limited edition lager to be again snapped up within weeks.

Some beers cost more: Sydney's boutique brewer Red Oak releases its signature beer, the Framboise Froment reserve, for around A$75 for a 250ml bottle.

That drop and Crown's ultra-premium lager fall well short of the world's expensive beer, an honour claimed by the Carlsberg Group.

The Denmark-based brewer last year produced 600 bottles of the Carlsberg No.1 Vintage, which retailed at the equivalent of US$465 for a half-litre bottle.

The Crown Ambassador Reserve lager comes in a 750ml bottle is shaped like a champagne bottle, with each of the 6000 limited edition bottles is individually wax-sealed and numbered.

Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager master brewer John Cozens oversees the making of the beer, which can be cellared for a decade. When approached by his bosses, Mr Cozens considered the task a dream job.

"The idea was born to have a crack at something that is a bit special," he told AAP.

"A lot of the time we're working on a lot of different beers but we often don't have the freedom - we are working in the confines of a brand or within somebody else's idea about what the style should be."

31 July, 2009