By James Atkinson
Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) has confirmed it and parent company SABMiller have introduced a new global distribution strategy aimed at reducing parallel imports of the Peroni brand into Australia.
Peroni Nastro Azzurro, which is owned by SABMiller, is brewed locally by CUB in Australia.
But product branded as Nastro Azzurro – the label used by the brand domestically in Italy – has until now been widely available in Australia through parallel importers.
A CUB spokeswoman told TheShout the company is better able to manage the parallel imports issue now that it owns the brand globally, following the takeover of Foster's by SABMiller.
"We have been able to work with our partners in Italy to ensure that the prices being charged from Italy to local distributors are not much different from what we charge our customers here in Australia for the product," she said.
"We cannot control the freshness of parallel Peroni Nastro Azzurro into Australia, however working within the SABMiller network we are better placed to have influence on sources of parallel imports."
She said the liquid of Nastro Azzurro and Peroni Nastro Azzurro are the same.
"They are brewed to the same authentic recipe."
While the strategy will undoubtedly reduce the commercial appeal of Peroni to some parallel importers, it remains to be seen whether it will sway Italian importers who perceive the Italian-brewed Nastro Azzurro to be more authentic.
What a lot of crap that they are the same. Would other importers bother importing the original if it wasn’t vastly superior to the locally brewed product?
CUB parallel import strategy … boils down to ownership & price control at source.
PARALLEL products are not unlawfull. Do the taste test for yourselves and buy what you prefer……we live in a free market economy after all. Big companies protect big profits and not consumers.
unless the water for brewing in Australia is the same water as the water used in brewing in Italy then the claim that the liquid of Nastro Azzurro and Peroni Nastro Azzurro are the same is incorrect
I recently purchased Peroni, couldnt find it at first different packaging for some reason. Got it home cracked the lid off one and took a swig. Hang on something’s wrong here. Tastes wrong did i get peroni or the mid strength brew. So i check the bottle to be sure i wasn’t going mad and sure enough brewed under license in Australia. It is definately not the same beer and in my opinion is not as nice as the imported italian drop. Can anyone tell me where i can get the imported stuff because otherwise peroni is now off my shopping list. This is about profit margins and screwing the consumer. I’d rahter pay more money for the imported stuff if that is the result so long as i get the real thing.
Whilst agreeing that there is a noticeable difference in the locally made & imported product, the more annoying thing is being charged for an “import” beer at pubs & restaurants when it is made here.
I’m looking at a bottle of Peroni Nastro Azzurro. Information on the label and even lettering impressed into the glass (in Italian) suggests this is an imported beer. On the much smaller fine print label on the reverse you discover it is brewed in Australia by CUB. Grossly misleading. Only when I tried this beer after some extended period did I think it was not up to standard of those previous fully imported beers.
Choice magazine reported that five out of seven expert judges claimed the local brew was inferior. Well if I can’t get fully imported quality sadly I will not add to CUB’s profits.