Castlemaine Perkins is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

at 185

Milton Road Milton Road is an arterial road in Brisbane, Australia. It is currently signed as State Route 32 for its entire length. Milton Road is a major corridor for traffic between the Brisbane central business district and the western suburbs. It car ...

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It is a wholly owned entity of the Japanese-controlled

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

company. Operations began in 1878 and continue today. Castlemaine Perkins is the home of the XXXX beer brand.

History

StateLibQld 2 182083 Brewer and politician Patrick Perkins, 1879

In 1877, brothers Nicholas Fitzgerald and Edward Fitzgerald partnered with a

commercial firm to buy the site of a failing distillery and establish a brewery, named for the Fitzgeralds' existing Castlemaine Brewery. They began to brew beer there in the following year and the brewery continues production to this day. The first beverage was called XXX Sparkling Ale. In 1866,

Patrick Perkins Hon. Patrick Perkins, J. P., (10 October 1838 — 17 May 1901), nicknamed Paddy Perkins, was a brewer and politician in colonial Queensland. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and, later, a Member of the Queensland Legislati ...

started the Perkins Brewery in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

. In 1872, he later extended his operations to

with the purchase of the City Brewery in 1872. The company restricted its operations entirely to brewing by 1916. XXXX was introduced with new advertising campaign in 1924 after the brewery employed German brewer, Alhois William Leitner. The advertising included a depiction of a little man wearing a suit with a smile, a wink and a

boater __NOTOC__ A boater (also straw boater, basher, skimmer, The English Panama, cady, katie, canotier, somer, sennit hat, or in Japan, can-can hat, suruken) is a semi-formal summer hat for men, which was popularised in the late 19th century and e ...

hat. The so-called 'Fourex Man' soon became one of the most recognised symbols in Queensland. In 1928 (long after the death of Patrick Perkins in 1901), the Perkins brewing company was bought by the Castlemaine Brewery with new company being known as Castlemaine Perkins Limited. In March 1980, Castlemaine Perkins merged with

Tooheys Tooheys is a brewery in the suburb of Lidcombe, in Sydney, Australia. It produces beers and ciders under the ''Tooheys'' and '' Hahn Brewery'' trademarks, and is part of the Lion beverages group which was acquired by the Japanese Kirin Company ...

to form Castlemaine Tooheys.

Bond Corporation Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...

purchased Castlemaine Tooheys in 1985. Castlemaine Tooheys was acquired in 1992 by

Lion Nathan Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the Unite ...

Building

The large, brick brewery is located on

opposite the Milton railway station, and is a prominent landmark visible in the surrounding suburbs. In particular the XXXX red neon sign is mounted on the top of the building. The side of the building also a neon XXXX man on the side (visible on Milton Road when travelling out of the city). The brewery building, Milton Railway Station and trains feature on almost all XXXX packaging directly below the XXXX logo. Over the years bottle labels have depicted steam, diesel and electric trains. Tours of the brewery are regularly run for groups.

Awards

In 2009 as part of the

Q150 Q150 was the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Separation established the Colony of Queensland which became the State of Queensland in 1901 as part of the Federation of Australia. Q15 ...

celebrations, the XXXX Brewery was announced as one of the

Q150 Icons The Queensland's Q150 Icons list of cultural icons was compiled as part of Q150 celebrations in 2009 by the Government of Queensland, Australia. It represented the people, places and events that were significant to Queensland's first 150 years. ...

of Queensland for its role as a "structure and engineering feat". Castlemaine Perkins was inducted into the

Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame In 2009 State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Qu ...

in 2009, for its significant contribution to economic development in Queensland.

Beverages

Castlemaine's signature beer, ''

XXXX Bitter Castlemaine Perkins is a brewery at 185 Milton Road, Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a wholly owned entity of the Japanese-controlled Lion (Australasian company), Lion company. Operations began in 1878 and con ...

'' (despite its name a

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...

), was introduced in 1924. The XXXX had been used for a sparkling ale since 1878. ''

XXXX Summer Bright Lager XXXX Summer Bright Lager is a beer manufactured in the Australian state of Queensland by Castlemaine Perkins. It is available in three varieties consisting of XXXX Summer Bright Lager, XXXX Summer Bright Lager with mango and XXXX Summer Bright ...

'' is a 4.2% abv low carb pale lager.

History

Building

Awards

Beverages

See also