(it’s always, all about the beer)

90% of all beer consumed in Australia is Lager.
It hasn’t been this way…

The early breweries established on stolen land in the new cities, country towns and particularly, the Goldfields of Western Australia and Victoria, brewed Ales in an English style.
Lagers first arrived with electric refrigeration in the 1920s (they require very cold-maturation). Historically though, Lagers first appeared in the 15th century in Central Europe where the early Brewers discovered the advantages of cold caves and even ice, hauled from the mountains and Arctic, to enable the longer cold maturation required of Lager beer.
So, it took a very long time for Australians to enjoy the finer, crisp style of beer enjoyed in Europe.
Lagers were embraced enthusiastically however, as they suited the climate and indeed, the seemingly unquenchable thirst of Australians.
The inevitable industrialisation of breweries brought about short cuts and chemical-engineering tricks that enabled rapid and “efficient” production of Lager styles, reducing what took traditional brewers months down to a mere few weeks.
This enabled larger corporatised Brewers to push competitors aside and dominate ever increasing swathes of Australia and its pubs. Today we have two Japanese owned mega brewers dominating 90% of our beer market.

In a slight turn of the tsunami of the corporates, Craft beer (mostly ales), which came to Australia 40 years ago, has made inroads into this market to the point where it makes up about 10% of beer sold. In response, the corporates begun buying up the most successful and influential craft breweries, and integrated, streamlined, “aligned”, and inevitably dumbed down the beautiful beers they were brewing. Board rooms don’t brew great beers. The term “craft” is becoming more a brand management and category term, than a reflection of “crafted beer” due to this. 

Back to lagers, and Europe.

In the 1840s, in Bohemia (now an area covering parts of the Czech Republic, Austria and Bavaria) the Brewers, recognising their challenges in the broader European lager revolution, decided to focus upon their local strengths; local winter variety barleys, highly aromatic Saaz hops, Europe’s softest (naturally occurring water), and easy access to underground cold cellars where maturation (or aging) could be extended. These attributes culminated in the development of a style they called Pilzn, after the town where it started in central Bohemia.
Pilzn (or Pilsner as we have come to call it in the West) has become the “champagne” of beers.
While developing a strong niche for itself in the “Lager” wars ever since, Pilsner has always been considered the ultimate Brewer’s craft and challenge. They require sourcing the finest ingredients, for the brewer to step forward into the difficulties of the style rather than finding tricks around them and then, most importantly, maturing the beer fully before drinking.

Keeper, as a new brewery opening in this crowded and conflicted marketplace, we are setting out to honour this tradition and bring the best that we can do to our community.
We don’t pretend that we can do everything; rather, brew every brew with the mindset of improvement, and critically considering what we’ve done and assessing for areas to improve. We do respect however, that perfection will never be achieved; it’s the journey and integrity striving for it however, that matters.

We hope that you enjoy our Pilsner.
It is made without chemicals or additives, is unfiltered nor artificially carbonated, its unpasteurised and spends 12 weeks under our watchful gaze (and tastebuds).
Most importantly, it’s priced competitively with lesser corporate beers, because we are not focussed upon growth and profit, nor impacting our brother craft Brewers who are still independent.

We know that our rewards will come in time when we have proven our worth,
All Pilsners are Lagers…but not all Lagers are Pilsners.