By Rebecca Harris
Castlemaine Perkins has announced it will be lowering the alcohol content of its XXXX Bitter from 4.8 to 4.6 per cent in response to the rising commodity prices and the new Federal Government beer excise.
Castlemaine Perkins regional director for Queensland, Bill Webb, said rising costs meant the brewer had to look at news ways of keeping beer prices down.
“What we have got to do is make choices based on our costing structure,” he said.
The Government’s excise comes into effect on August 1 and Webb is confident the consumer response will be positive.
“It’s only a slight adjustment in ABV and it gets XXX in line with other mainstream beers. Our brewers have put a lot of thought into making sure the consumers will be very happy with the product,” he said.