peddling the convict's tale lames squire's beer labels...peddling the convict's tale...

III200400154

Peddling the Convict's Tale

lames Squire's Beer Labels

SYDNEY]. SHEP

Highwayman, paper thief. hop farmer, ladies' man, and distinguished citi-zen: lames Squire travelled the road from transported convict to masterbrewer in a mere sixteen years. Today, his eponymous beer travels the Austra-lian gustatory highway on the back of a clever marketing campaign. Eachsix-pack oflames Squire Original Amber Ale features a chapter-by chapterserialisation of his remarkable tale of infamy and celebrity. Woe to the sea-soned drinker who reaches for Chapter Four before quaffing Chapter One!Not only has the Sydney-based Malt Shovel Brewery shifted the novella fromthe book to the beer label, but they have completely reconjigured the drinkingritual. Let's look at these beer labels and examine how our consumption ofknowledge indeed comes in many guises and spans new horizons.

Chapter One: Marketing Heritage

In October 1998, Chuck Hahn launched his first Australian boutique beer:James Squire Original Amber Ale. Gold medal winner, named best in class, andawarded, along with the rest of the beer family, the 2001 Australian Liquor In-dustry's Boutique Beer of the Year Award, James Squire has literally made aname for itself. But what's in this name - purportedly 'Australia's first name inbeer'? QIality, heritage, and tradition, is Malt Shovel Brewery's marketing man-tra. Brewing excellence is complemented by a commitment to resurrecting his-tory. Dr David Hughes (ANU, University of Canberra), has just been appointedbrewery historian, an exceptionally prestigious position in European circles, butone new to the antipodean scene. In 1996, Hughes researched the contested

BSANZ Bulletin vol.2? nos 3 &4, 2003, pp.l04-115

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David Large

Peddling the Convict's Tale 105

space of 'Australia's first brewer'.' Despite a rival claim which underpinned the1988 Australian bicentenary release of John Boston Special Lager, Hughesproved that James Squire of Kissing Point is truly deserving of his title; andunlike Boston & Co., he most definitely has a story ripe for the shaping ofleg-ends.

The James Squire line of handcrafted beers fabricates an identiry based onthe romance of the retro, what Naomi Klein has recently termed 'history re-consumed'.' What does it mean to market heritage, to buy into the cult of nos-talgia and the hero-worship of convicts, those equivalents of contemporary Aus-tralian sports icons? 'One 'of reasons why beer manufacturers are attracted toretro marketing is that it helps them to convey that microbrews are crafted withcare, using qualiry ingredients." In the USA, Jack Daniels, a reputable and time-honoured distillery traded on its established name and fame by extending itsbrand equity into beer with its 1866 Classic Amber Lager. Unlike Australia, thatland of the Six O'Clock Swill, lawn-mower lagers, and the pervasive 'blur ofbeaches and babes" the heritage draw card is already strong in New Zealand.According to Tony Johansson,s Malt Shovel Brewery's Sales and MarketingManager, the James Squire line sits comfortably somewhere between the ruggedcharacter of the West Coast's Monteith's and the clean, green image of sunnyNelson's Mac's. In terms of market placement, the closest NZ equivalent is theSpeights Legacy series, a set of distinctive, true-to-style, limited edition brews,created to celebrate various anniversary milestones in the life of this 126-year-old company. That heritage branding is a significant key to success can be dem-onstrated by last year's country-wide boycott of Monteith's when parent com-pany, Dominion Breweries, suggested the unthinkable: moving a Hokitika fix-ture steeped in the lore of the West Coast to, of all places, Auckland!

MSB has deftly appropriated a figure out of Australian history, and in theprocess, is creating history in its own right. In an economic climate where beersales are down worldwide, sales of specialty or premium (read high-priced) beersare going up. In New Zealand the figure tops 12% of the market; in Australia itis 6-7% and rising. As American industry analyst Bob Weinberg remarks, 'smallbrewers are changing the shape of the landscape... Further pressure is enteringthe market through large brewers who have decided to be players in the craft

1. David Hughes, 'Australia's first brewer,' inJournal of/he &yalAustralian Historital Society 82(2),December 1996, pp.153-167.2. Namoi Klein, No Logo, London: Flamingo/Harper Collins, 2001, p.79.3. 'Blast from the Past,' in Bewrog' Industry, February 1996, p.28.4. 'Effectiveness Ratings: in M,diQ"'''' 1(9), 11 March 1991, p.28.5. Based on interview, 3 September 2002.

106 Expanding Horizons - Print Cultures across the South Pacific

segment.'" Lion Nathan gave Chuck Hahn, creator of the immensely successfulHahn lee, Longbrew, Premium, Premium Light and Hahn Witbier, the latitudeto develop the MSB specialty lines. James Squire Original Amber Ale contrib-utes to 50% of the total company sales. It is now joined by award-winning Pils-ner, Porter, and soon to be released in New Zealand, their India Pale Ale which'takes the drinker back to a time when beer was not dumbed down and blandedout to compete with sugary alco pops'.' The essential vehicle ofMSB's heritagemarketing strategy is the printed label. As Judy Rice, Senior Editor of the maga-zine Food Processing suggests, 'Labels play offense on the product marketingteam, and their design, structure and sales messages form a strategic alliancewith one mission: to conquer consumers'.8

Chapter Two: Judging a Bottle by its Label?

You can imagine my excitement upon discovering that James Squire was notonly a glamorous highwayman who stole 'four Cocks five Hens and divers otherGoods and Chattals the property ofJohn Stacey'; but also an unrepentent paperthief. Qyite apart from beer labels (and who needs them when beer was put upin kegs anyway), paper was a precious commodity in the struggling colony. Infact, when the first fleet departed England, there was a singular omission: car-tridge paper.!· Well, they forgot the rest of the ammunition too - but who'scounting? Stocking up in Rio de Janeiro some months later was easy, but unlesscaptains included paper in their speculative cargoes, which they then, of course,sold for an exorbitant price when landed in Sydney, the production of colonialprint was severely compromised. Newspapers, proclamations, business transac-tions, personal letter-writing, and government records all suffered as a conse-quence of this scarcity. Now imagine my dismay in discovering how elastic his-tory can be in the hands of marketing managers. A clever mis- or re-readingturned a pound ofpepper into a pound ofpaper. Nice try!

Jane Evans and her team at Fred Street Design, just down the road fromthe Malt Shovel Brewery, developed the brand and are its faithful guardians.They were responsible for the original research and created the integrated JamesSquire design identity which fronts each new product release. They have used allthe visual cliches with which to conjure history: a parchment look-alike for the

6. Joan Holleran, 'Craft Brews, a Beer Rabbit?' in Btwragt Industry, January 1997, p.9.7. Malt Showl BrtwtryNtws 7(1), Summer 2001/2, p.!.8. Judy Rice, 'Suited for Success: Playing the Label Game,' in Food Prortssing, April 1995, pA7.9. Mollie GilIen, Tbt Founders ofAustralia, Sydney: Library ofAustrnlian History, 1989, p.34!.10. WUfrid Oldham, Britain's Convicts to tht Colonits, Sydney: Library of Australian History,1990, p.139.


background, wood-engravings for the images, period-specific typefaces, orna-mented rules and layout, even replicating Squire's signature (with a subtle modi-fication) from the convict records. This is in line with the legion of Americancraft brewers, who have become 'adept at using graphically exciting, if some-times crude, labels to grab consumers' attention in the absence of advertising,promotion, and even POP [point of purchase], adding greater cacophony tostore shelves'.u According to Thomas Hine, this visual edge can be crucial in the'gothic cathedral' of the supermarket where, in a 30 minute shopping trip, over30,000 items vie for your attention and your pocketbook."

James Squire's 'olde worlde' trad look took off right away, particularly withthose classic beer brand extensions, bar coasters and glasses. Hotels kitted outwith historical realia were keen to buy into an image of history in sympathy withtheir own interior design constructions. With beer on tap, and thus in the ab-sence ofbottles and their labels, the coaster and glass become the surrogate heri-tage providers. Eighteen different coasters tell the James Squire story as drinkingrituals become interactive games played at the barstool or the lounge table over aleaner. Increasingly popular amongst upmarket trout fishennan and ski bunnies,the Original Ale has stormed the Banjo Patterson Inn in Jindabyne and evenscaled the heights ofThredbo in the SnowyMountains."

Gerry Khennouch discusses the concept of 'structural packaging', an in-creasingly important marketing strategy in which 'a package ... offers somethingnew, either in shape or function, beyond purely decorative label or coloringchanges'." High-end packaging is an important market differentiator, particu-larly amongst smaller players who can't or won't take financial risks with main-stream advertising and promotion. As the creators ofMississippi Mud Beer em-phasise, 'the package can be the hero... it is my dream home'. IS The unique beerlabels wrapped around the James Squire line are its most important asset, tellinghis larger-than-life story and taking the hero out of the history books and put-ting him on parade.

11. Gerry Khermouch, 'Break through Bottles,' in Brandwtek, 20 May 1996, p.34.12. Thomas Hinc:, The Total Package. The Evolution and Stern Meaning ofBoxes. Bottles, Cans andTu!m, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1995, pp.1, 4-5.13. MSB Ntws 2001/2, p.3.14. Khermouch, p.34.15. Khermouch, p.34.


fletT s.iled for Botany alY in 1;8;.JllnU \VII sentenced 11 Ihe General

Scuions of the Puce, in hi' home town ofKingllon-upon-Thamcl, Surley.

l'he «ry Slme town whert. interestingly.in the maiD m.rbt square ,in IIIimposing stope upon .,.hleb, iDprevious cenruries, rhe Suon Kinlswere crowned "amid noisywlSs.il- and rhe drinking of(oaminl nUl brown ale".Perhaps breWing skill and

mditlon "'I' in rhe local blood,which James was 10 arry '''ilh him and turn to"cellenl resulu half. world .w.y in ....usrrali•.

....nd become whl! some s.y wn lhe mostimportanl m.n 10 eyer nep ashore.

3t5mL Th, counlry's firn beer brewer. 'PO''''''''

CH,"'TER 0,.,,£

"HICH.AT ..0 ......""

For a high,nyman. Jamu Squirt made apear brt'uf.WNI drove cbu otherwise law abiding ex-

and, wc assume, devoted husbandand fuher to wait till tbe i1lt of.Ihitly to Iry hiJ hand It robbery,.with mcnlCC, "'c'U kno.... -Any more ,h.1I we'll know

wh!' hil booly mainly consistedof several chickens IlIlh...! than I

more ,lamorous hlul of gold or jewels.whu 'vc do know is tba' he wu ,aught

and sentenCed 10 n"en run in.:arCultion,The first {\\ID yeHs may hlYC been

served in the prison hullts until the firsl

(Tbe purpose of lhe paper we can onlyJUeu ae Beer I.belsThe "medicinC'S" were, in facr, horehound· a

common medlcin.1 herb, which can alsoprovide. ponible imir.tion of !he tangy

flavour of hops to a beer.lames inlonned the CQun he'd

onlr stolen fa help I sick friend.Nice rry, bur.n unUkely nary:

no medicines would've beenwilhheld from..any sick c.olonin.SqUire wn found guilty and

fined five pounds and senlenced 'toreceive lhree hundred lashes, one hundredfif,., now, and Ihe remainder when .ble

to bear 11".The rDlld 10 ....ustrali.'s finl beer wu

certainly nOlloinl IQ be painlen.

CHArTER. TlI"O

'"TAJUNC HIS N.lDICtN.I"

Thc man destined TO be Ausmlb's finlbrewer, 'ames Squire, ardved aboard rhe"Charlotte" in 1718.Eyen while still • convict, he

couldn'l .... lIir 10 commence rbededlC1ted an oCbrewin.

A Or records Ih.r onFriday 19th ....ulUlt 1791, hmesSquire md John Cross (a suman oflhe yessel "Supply") were hauledbefott Ibe magistrnes, Fint Fleet Capl.insCollins .nd Crelwell. The charle: "fdoniouslynuling • cenain quantity of medicines, beingHospital stores, the property of the Crown,and one pound of Plpet". 315mL

.',:

CJlAnE& THII.JU

"NO GOOD ..-rTL.I.."

. AUSttIlla's lama Squire.WIll.man of ttltnn.Talerus which seem to ha" eue:Qded

beyond lh" p:owing of llne hops .orbrewi.D, of excdlent ale, judginl by theawnbuofbit romantic amclunenu.Although there wue some .amen

.monpt lhe =c1nFn1 of Bnr £1eelCOavio;lI, .ad a of.Logle •f"m.le free ,eltl"n insubae-quenl arrivala. ,,",men wen:still far fewu ill nlUllbef tha.a menthrmrpOUI eolon!.I.b.,LEYen by lbe arly 1810'" ,here were still only

.bow 1.4,000 people In th" whole colony. Andthenlioofmmlowomen_.bouIIO:l. 3t5mL


CHAn'.aJllOua •.•_··'C In, ", i .. .'" .... ::..:.:...: .}lli.·flm-plulu Wtte'ncari.Da m-.curtty',nd'··

' .....'.-._.__..- .' -. -rndyforpickingInJIIJUUyl,80j. . '-;.;,.. The fo11owlJl1 .. =:5

Au$tnIia b.d .nothci fuIt tohis'name;":. . and \newrr It Kissing PoW". If hewis ofI¥all.,.Oll His .ba:EaDCT at'

Billy govemon Were ,"Ydy hopt WeD from his own ifOUDds", • "'l

CODccmed by 'the widespread:" eu.en" tIw: 0-

COnupiiOD rum..... aWl iD "their. Bnour md qualirr beinl U!. e .lhecolaoy. .:': . . .' Do dnp ciqJftCertainly alDtm1d enough.U) • . Imported limpid. '. - L i l5 e_.....

. ewil spirit. To the exmlt that ED-gUsh. hopt were , bDprt'ftd br them. IJb beer mcu: bap. It _sp:r::=::: ,iIultbehopetbeycou1dbeloc;:al1y&fOWD- dl'om that be "dlnaed."cow to be pven .. ;It RlOk Jamtll Squin= seaons,"despite: 3iSmL the Government Hmi', ,I i

nndnone rock, cool in Ihe holttSl weather andperfecr for tbe Slonge offctmen[ed liquor,TbI' IIvem and in jetty could not have

more id"lty placed; almon exacrly at' diehalfway painl Townand Pamzmarta. 1t easily enticed [hethinty pnsenltn and crew ofvnsels that plied this mainhighway between Ihe IWO

settlements.Ryde Historian Phllip Ceevet

wrole that '.sailon ofmlny nationswho were vague abour the

locations of Ninevch or Sabylancould find their w:l.y to Squires in a rhick fo(,Whelher if was tbeir nose or Ihe noise [beyfollowed. lhey were rew:l.rded with lhe

3+5ml fi!,esr ale in the colony.

CHA1'TBlI

"THICX "OC'

Afiu brewing Squire finallysucceeded,by 1805, In growing hops inAusnaIia for die first rime.From [hen on, dltT't lYU no looking

Ma. Hu origiM( grant of 30 tereseventuaUy became 1.500, boulingalso\Vhear, malte, lemonf, oungcs,vc,mbles, sheep, JOlts and pip.His. hop fields doDe swept up from

Ihe of [he PalTllmam River 10The ridge where Victoria Road now runs.He buili hu Malring Shovel Tavern and Colonial

on [he high land. immediately above Iherhl! ran out from Kining Painl.The cellar WIS hewn from the soild

SIX fronted the Malting Shovel Tlvem to punIC'A CH.ANCD"" WAN' boIu. He hmily able to bel' up with the

. thirSt of the Ihriving colony and applied toAs Sydney's early 19th cenrury pined Governor Macquuie 10 usJst Ihe i.rnpon of

momenrum, JlltIn Squire's enlerprises did likewise, English hops to SIIpplemenl wpply.Squire was offering qUlntities of Some self·m.de men Ill' unable 10

dOlen onnges to men:blnlS md ships' handle life u Ihe lOp. By Contrast,apllins, And,SeUinI40hopbndsofynst Squire bad DO IUch problems in his

tYeWhO";!shlOl; dealiDgs with nuives, neighboun,As well IS br_m.. fuming and ":'I\e-N:fl:: aUlhoritin,CUSlomen and S1Ul',

running a IIvern.Sqttitt had a bUery ..;. Squire died in 1811, Iged 67,m Kent Stl"ftl aDd was one of Ihe ,. ., \ His headstone spoke elabonrdymain supplien ofme:at 10 the colony. ofhis Khit'YelIlenu, Including theHe became (in surprising conmzst colony's Am brewery, ending with the

10 hili esrly convict StilUS) a disuicl constable, words tblt be 'lived rdptCled and died lamenled",He acted as banker and philanthropist IQ many He may well have ptd"elTed the shon andpoorer neipboun. simple said to pe anotber vavestoneEventually, the Puriucb became w busy in Ptmmltta which he was fond of quoting:

lhal he WlIS obliged 10 close the wharf Iha! 3iSmL "Ye wha wish la Ue bere,drink Squire's beet'


Chapter Three: Serialisation

In the space of two hundred words, each label publishes a single instalment inthe ongoing saga of criminal-turned-hero. This serialised narrative is whatMarxist critic Nonnan Feltes tenns a commodity-text (as opposed to petty-commodity book), that 'virtually limitless multiplication of ideological inven-tions and combinations and configurations which interpellate by constitutingthe bousgeois subject'.'· This publishing strategy, new in the beer world, signifi-cantly changes the relationship between writer, publisher, and reader in muchthe same way that Dickens along with Chapman and Hall in 1836 created notonly the Pickwick phenomenon, but produced a whole new community of read-ers. Scott Bennett, in documenting the Victorian periodical press, reminds usthat 'the market for reading matter was One of the earliest consumer mass mar-kets to develop, and it established itself primarily through serial publication',"The only comparable strategy I have been able to locate graces American coffeetins where labels on each of their product lines publish contemporary literaryauthors, again, on the installment plan.

This is quite different from the common beer industry marketing tactics.Take a Speight's for example. It is endlessly reproduceable, a self-contained and fonnulaic, commodity-book marketed to endlessly replicatingimages of 'the Southern Man and his dog'. The label functions as a synecdoche:'Beer is an image in a bottle'." But it is static. By contrast, re-authoring the storyofJames Squire, historic figure, in a dynamic sequentiality brings the man andhis story to life. The unique market and marketable creation becomes biggerthan his real life story and the various brand extensions build up a complex im-age, greater than the sum of the historical figure's parts. When quizzing TonyJohansson about new market directions for MSB, he reiterated the corporatephilosophy that all activity is predicated upon 'what James Squire himselfwouldhave done', Although the door might appear wide open for invention, innova-tion and - historical license, MSB is clear that their take on history is not agimmick, nor, as they have been charged, a bit ofmarketing 'fluff'. With 20,000descendants ofJames Squire ready to pounce on any perceived inaccuracy, they

16. N.N. Feltes, ModtS ofProduction of V'u:toria NOfltls, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1986, p.9.17. Scott Bennett, 'Revolutions in thought: serial publication and the mass market for reading,' inThe Victorian Pmodual Press: Samplings and Soundings, cd. Joanne Shattock & Michae1 Wolff,Leicester, Toronto: Leicester University Press; University of Toronto Press, 1982, pp.225-6. Secalso his 'John Murray's Family Libraty and rhe Cheapening ofBooks in Easly Nineteenth CenrutyBritain: StuditS in Bibliography 29,1976, pp.139-166.18. Mike Bieme, 'Special Reporr: Beer: in Upfront.. TbtAdvtrtism, 22 April 2002, p.14.


have an historical conscience and have appointed a brewery historian to upholdit, or at least, protect them from any lawsuits! The new India Pale Ale may bestretching the authenticiry point, but their next brew, a hefeweizen, will be mar-keted on the back of a tale of 1810 when the colonial barley harvest failed andTassie wheat had to be imported to produce a new kind of wheat beer. Well itsure beats the concoction which Boston & Co put up in 1795: malted maizebittered with tomato leaves and stalks.

Chapter Four: Readers and/as Drinkers

A six-pack, or six-decker if you will, of lames Squire Original Amber Ale is anew kind of circulating library. And it requires a different set of rules for a verydifferent kind of reader. Compared to the classic Australian beer-drinking pub-lic which consumes almost 100 litres of beer per person per year," the imaginedcommuniry of lames Squire is a head above the rest. The consumer profile isthreefold: 'connoisseurs and beer heads who enjoy quality, flavoursome brews','"fine wine drinkers and food afficionados, and beer enthusiasts who also dabblein homebrew. MSB marketers are quite clear about the personality of their tar-get drinkers: 'self-confident, independent, fun-loving and discerning'." As withAmerican microbrew consumption, female drinkers constitute a relatively highpercentage of the young, affluent consumers.22 And, it is hardly coincidental thatthe yeoman gentry to whom Squire's surname alludes is the real or wannabeeidentity of a niche market which is willing to pay for this premium subscriptionlibrary at around NZS15 per six-pack.

Now the library analogy is hardly forced. Monteith's uses the placeholder'library' on their website to deliver their history. MSB has taken it one step fur-ther, particularly with their slogan, 'Hold your own Beer Festival'. Encouragingpatrons to 'take out' a range of their products, they also foreground a new orality,not of just consuming the product, but voicing the lames Squire story, chapterby chapter, in the space of your own social setting, using the material object asthe springboard to an historical reconstruction. You may not return the sameobject to the 'library', but you return to the borrowed past each time you drinkanother insta1Irnent. As material culturalists Steven Lubar and W. David

19. Chuck Hahn, Why Beer Refreshes,' at http://www.realbeer.co.nzllibrary/authorslhahn-clbeerrefreshes.html [viewed 30 April 2002].20. MSB media rdease, September 14, 2001 at www.maltshovel.com.aulmedia.asp [viewed 19August 2002].21. MSB News 6(1), Winter 2001, pA.22. Ruth Hame1 & Tim Schreincf, 'Yeast, Hops, Barley, and Profits', in American Dtmograph;cs10(4), April 1988, pAS.


Kingery point out: 'Too seldom do we use the artifacts that make up our envi-ronment to understand the past. Too seldom do we try to read objects as we readbooks - to understand the people and times that created them, used them, anddiscarded them. In part this is because it is not easy to read history from things.They are illegible to those who know how to read only writing. They are muteto those who listen only for pronouncements from the past.'23

When we discussed production line logistics for labelling, Tony Johanssonconfessed that while the labels come from the printer in the consecutive order, ifyou want to be sure you have all six chapters for your home beer festival, youshould buy two six-packs - now isn't that a classic sales pitch! MSB also offermixed six-pack specials, one or two of each line, which seems to defeat the pur-pose of the reading/drinking ritual. Interestingly, it appears that although themarketers hit upon a clever serialisation strategy, most of their consumers reallyhaven't got the plot. They may read the neck label, if that, and as most beer isconsumed in public spaces where bottles are replaced by draft glasses and coast-ers, the literary beer fest doesn't seem as yet to be the standard interaction withthe product. Too bad!

Increasingly, though, Chuck Hahn encourages that his beer read-ing/drinking should occur in companionable relation to food. His 'Beer Talesand Ales' is a stand-up beer dinner with finger food; and he is frequently on theculinary road introducing his brews in the context of a multi-course dining ex-perience. Chuck recommends kangaroo with your glass ofJames Squire OriginalAmber Ale. As international beer critic and connoisseur Michael Jackson re-marks, 'if your neighbourhood food market does not run to kangaroos, trylamb'."

Chapter Five: The 5% Solution

James Squire, 'the waggish Whitbread of New South Wales'," did not have toadvertise his wares; his 'Malting Shovel' hrewpub at Kissing Point was locatedstrategically half-way between Parramatta and Sydney, and spoke for itself.Cunningham eulogised Squire's beer in his Two Years in New South Wales, pub-lished in London in 1827. He recommended that patronage continue at the re-named tavern 'The Pilgrim' under Squire's son-in-law. 'Yet, think not, gentle

23. History from Thingr: Essays on Matmal Culture, Washington, DC: Smithsonian InstitutionPress, 1993, p.viii.24. Michael Jackson, Jame. Squire Amber Ale: at http://www.beerhunter.comldocumentsl19133-001393.html [viewed 30 April 2002].25. John Ritchie, Punishment.nd Praftt, Melbourne: Heinemann, 1970, p.l92.


reader, that the mantling liquor, which you intend to quaff, when on a trip ei-ther up or down the river, you are forced to put in at The Pilgrim by stress ofthirst, is none other than the generous juice ofJohn Barleycom. Be not mistaken- you shall have however the best beverage, that good maize and English hopscan give you.'''' Rev. Samuel Marsden thought otherwise. In his testimony to theBigge' Commission, part of which investigated the state of female convicts aswell as the possibility of establishing distilling facilities in the colony, Marsdennoted that 'complaints were frequendy made by women who were sent up in theboats with setders from Sidney to Parramatta: They generally stopped at Squire's. Public House, when they got Drunk & were robbed.'27 Doops.

Beer, like any other form of sin, has to walk a tightrope between sensitivenew age advertising and moral policing. Wasatch Beers didn't win points in thepopularity stakes in Mormon-dominated Utah when they introduced their 'Po-lygamy Porter' :... 'why just have one' - campaign.28 Alcohol advertising, pitchedparticularly to adolescent drinkers, is under the same pressure as marketing inthe tobacco industry. Despite the inclusion of responsible drinking warnings,lifestyle branding and continuous media exposure increase the appeal of alcoholand contribute to contemporary social problems.2'J The historic James Squire isin particularly dodgy territory here. Although he was applauded for his public-spirited contributions to the early setdement of Sydney, he also was associated, ifonly indirecdy, with a less than upright contribution to the colonial constructionof the 'drunken Abo'. J{)The use of rum and other 'colonial solatium'" as the cur-rency of bribery, seduction, and dispossession has been well documented. Al-though distilling was illegal in NSW and Tasmania until 1823, and the enour-agement of brewing held great promise, supplies of rum included in the colony'srations and imported from the West Indies, made the ban a farce. As MarciaLangton notes, Bennelong, or Baneelon, was kidnapped in 1789 and becameanother British instrument to investigate the political, military, economic andsocial structure of the local indigenous peoples as well as to ascertain importantfood and economic resources in the Sydney region. He was fed, introduced to

26. Review ofCunningham in Th,Australian Quart<rly]ournal 1(2), April 1828, p.137.27. John Ritchie, cd. The Evidtnce to the Bigge &ports, vo1.2 The Written Evidence,-Melbourne:Heinemano, 1971, p.ll!.28. Utah·s Holy Wu: Religion and Advertising', Th, Economist, 27 October, 2001.29. See Richard JFox, Dean M Krugman, James E Fletcher & Paul M Fischer, 'Adolescent At4tcotion to Beer and Cigarette Print Ads and Associated Product Warnings'. Journal ofAd'Umising27(13), Fall 1998, p.57.30. Marcia Langton, 'Rum, Seduction and Death: "Aboriginality" and Alcohol', Oceania 63(3),March 1993, pp.195-206.31. Ritchie, Punishment andProfit, p.192.


alcoholic beverages, housed, clothed, sent to Norfolk Island and London, andreturned as a proper English gentleman to face rejection by his own people andbetrayal by his colonial image-makers. Turning increasingly to drink, Bennelongdied in 1813 and was buried in James Squire's garden by the brewery at KissingPoint.J2 Squire was known to have sympathised with the Aboriginal cause butwe do not yet, and may perhaps never, know how this relates to his role as anoted manufacturer and purveyor of drink. It may be in the best interests ofMSB not to tell this part of the story. It would certainly stretch the tolerancefactor and could compromise their heritage marketing strategy.

Today, like San Francisco's Anchor microbrewery, Malt Shovel and JamesSquire don't buy into the high-end advertising campaign syndrome. Billboards,splashy ads, and television spots are not their style and would, in fact, alienatetheir loyal consumers. They are, essentially, a low budget, streamlined operationwhich put their money into product quality and development. They advertise intrade publications where they can encourage wider distribution networks, andtheir best promotional avenues are food festivals and beer competitions. Tomaintain a wider community profIle and fend off the moral majority, they alsocontribute to cultural events with product, not cash, and participate in charityfunctions such as the Sydney Food and Wine Fair run by the AIDS Trust ofAustralia or the NSW Fire Brigades' annual touch football day with proceeds tothe Westrnead Children's Hospital Burns Unit. Paramountly, whereas 'in realestate the secret is said to be location, location, location. In premium beer it'squality, discovery - and word ofmouth:JJ

MSB has no compunction in cultivating a new generation of 'beer evangel-ists'" who are encouraged to belong to a select group of consumers through vari-ous brand extensions. In addition to the classic 'beer gear'of coasters, glasses,bottle openers, and t-shirts, there is a well-designed website, an e-newsletter,and the option to join the MSB club. Two future forms of diversifIcation are themarketing of brew kits for the home brewing set, and the development of aninteractive brewpub/brewery museum to foreground and enrich the drinkinghistory nexus.

32. See Keith Wiliey, When the Sky Ft/I Down: Th, D,,_tion of th, Trib" ofthe Sydney Region1788-1850s, Sydney: Collins,1979, p.l46ff.33. MSB News, Summer 200112, pA.34. MSB News, Summer 2001/2, pA.


Chapter Six: Expanding Horizons

Let us conclude where, perhaps, we should have began - a definition: 'Boutiquepremium beers are handcrafted, flavoursome and distinctive beers, made to besavoured and appreciated, sometimes equipped with very strange labels andbrewed in old copper kettles in a small brewery.'3s James Squire Original AmberAle has developed an innovative technique for marketing an important heritagecommodity. These 'very strange labels' document the life, loves and leaners ofthis convict turned master brewer, and in the process insert the reader/drinkerinto a seminal moment in Australian history as well as reconfigure the drinkingritual. Ifwe consume that history in the process ofdrinking a fine brew, then thetransubstantiation of knowledge is complete. We all become reformed citizens,public-minded brewmasters, and astute businessmen. 'Brands are like letters.They can be transformed into symbols. They can become shorthand ways ofcommunicating.... Symbols come to stand for other things in our minds and theact ofconsuming a brand can become a symbolic way for us to express our iden-tification with the entities associated with it.'36 Mediated by the ephemeral beerlabel, this print culture of everyday life is a rich territory to explore and recolo-nise. 'Ye who wish to lie here, drink Squire's beer.'

35. MSB News, Winter 2001, pA.36. Max Sutherland, Adv"tising and the Mind ofthe Consumer, St Lconards, NSW: PJIen &Un-win, 1993, pp.65-66.

peddling the convict's tale lames squire's beer labels...peddling the convict's tale...

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