By James Wilkinson
Since its launch in December 2008, Skinny Blonde has been winning over Sydney and Gold Coast drinkers for not just its taste, but its cheeky packaging, which features a pin up girl with a disappearing bikini.
Thanks to strong sales in recent months, the beer is now headed for Melbourne, with the first Skinny Blonde set to be on sale in the Victorian capital during the coming weeks.
“Skinny Blonde was first packaged in Sydney in December last year and sales have doubled since January,” head brewer and The Vines drummer Hamish Rosser told TheShout.
“It is now available through national distributors ALM and HLW and so far there has been a high take up rate in bottle shops across Sydney and the Gold Coast,” he said.
Rosser said following strong international press, sales have boomed and the company, Brothers Ink, are brewing the low-carb beer as fast as possible.
“Given the nature of the label, which features a 1950s pin up girl with a disappearing bikini, everybody wants to get their hands on it… and given that this is also a tasty low carb beer, there have been re-orders across the board,” Rosser said.
While the beer bottle is cold, the girl on the label can be seen with a red bikini. But as the bottle gets warmer, it disappears and by the end, when the bottle is at its warmest, she is topless.
“As expected there has been a mild backlash amongst a select few members of the blogosphere but they’re probably not big beer drinkers anyway,” he said.
The Beach Road Hotel in Bondi was the first pub to sell Skinny Blonde and the beer is now available at bars, bottle shops and pubs across Sydney and the Gold Coast.