# Fosters: Australian for......bullshit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093 "2010-05-20T02:57:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/21 "2010-05-20T11:03:27Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > So what’s the deal with Fosters beer? **The ads say it’s Australian for beer but that’s crap.** How do _you_ know? Do you even _speak_ Australian? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/22 "2010-05-20T11:16:29Z")
Fosters: It’s Australian for “Those Americans will drink anything, won’t they?” ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/23 "2010-05-20T13:15:30Z")
Since the late 70s, every Australian man I’ve met has felt compelled to mention that no one actually drinks Fosters in Australia. And this was just slipped into normal conversations. It wasn’t like I was pantomime-playing a didgeridoo while shouting “g’daaaay Bruce” and asking after their kangaroos. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/24 "2010-05-20T13:45:31Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > How do _you_ know? Do you even _speak_ Australian? You mean speak Strine. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/25 "2010-05-20T14:29:45Z")
“Foster’s - Australian for koala urine.” Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/26 "2010-05-20T15:21:47Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Water is very expensive to transport. > The product does not improve during the transport phase. > There would also be, I presume, import duties payable for imported beer not applicable to the local suds. Yes, but many, many brewers go through all this to import their product from the county of origin. So it’s not like it’s unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/27 "2010-05-20T15:33:20Z")
I had an Aussie friend in the late 80’s who would delight in freaking out our American beer drinking friends by putting his Foster’s on the window sill in summer to get it warm. I think he did it just to get a rise out of folks. I can’t imagine it helped the taste any. I did not drink beer then, and I have never had Foster’s so I have no basis for comparison. He had been in the US for a long time, since he was a kid, I think, so maybe he just thought that’s what REAL Aussie’s did with their beer. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/28 "2010-05-20T16:25:20Z")
I’ve always said that a premium beer is just a regular beer that’s been shipped more than five hundred miles. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/29 "2010-05-20T16:32:17Z")
Or one that has some cachet of “specialness” attached to it. Coors was a “premium” beer when it wasn’t distributed east of the Mississippi. Corona is still regarded as a premium Mexican beer by people who don’t know any better, when it is really a substandard beer that the Mexicans regard as lousy at best. Foster’s just has a good ad campaign and big cans. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/30 "2010-05-20T17:14:49Z")
> [@TheFaerie](#): > > I had an Aussie friend in the late 80’s who would delight in freaking out our American beer drinking friends by putting his Foster’s on the window sill in summer to get it warm. I think he did it just to get a rise out of folks. I can’t imagine it helped the taste any. I took the tour of the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen. The guide said that cold mutes the flavour of beer. ‘That’s why Americans like their beer ice-cold – so they can’t taste it!’ 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/31 "2010-05-20T17:27:03Z")
My wife is from Australia and she never drinks Foster’s. We get two actual imports that are available at BevMo: Cooper’s and Boag’s. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/32 "2010-05-20T17:28:23Z")
Whenever I"m traveling in other countries, I always tell the locals no one in America actually drinks Budweiser. That’s a big, fat lie of course. Americans will drink any cheap swill that’s been in the sun for an hour so don’t bother denying it. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/33 "2010-05-20T17:55:49Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > My wife is from Australia and she never drinks Foster’s. We get two actual imports that are available at BevMo: Cooper’s and Boag’s. I had [Coopers](http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/coopers-premium-lager/54140/4000/) about 2 weeks ago. It was just mediocre. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/34 "2010-05-20T18:03:35Z")
Fosters = Australian for welfare piss. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/35 "2010-05-20T19:32:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I took the tour of the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen. The guide said that cold mutes the flavour of beer. ‘That’s why Americans like their beer ice-cold – so they can’t taste it!’ 😛 🙂 But ‘warm’ as in 55-60 deg. F, or wine room temp vs. ‘warm’ as in sitting in a westward facing window for a couple of hours in the summer in Missouri are two different things. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/36 "2010-05-20T23:40:06Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Yes, but many, many brewers go through all this to import their product from the county of origin. So it’s not like it’s unheard of. Doing so enables them to say that it is a fully imported beer actually made in some other country, which has cachet so they can sell it for more. That doesn’t work for Fosters because its not actually an Australian beer so you can’t import it from us. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/37 "2010-05-20T23:48:48Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > My wife is from Australia and she never drinks Foster’s. We get two actual imports that are available at BevMo: Cooper’s and Boag’s. Tooheys is pretty good, (it’s not too different from a lot of American macro-brews) as is Victoria Bitter, but I don’t know if they are sold in North America any more… ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/38 "2010-05-21T00:14:47Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > That doesn’t work for Fosters because its not actually an Australian beer so you can’t import it from us. _Touche’_ Scottish & Newcastle acquired the perpetual Foster’s brand licence in Europe and Russia in 2006, with Heineken brewing on licence, so it would be fair to call it 1) a European beer and 2) a Pommie beer. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/39 "2010-05-21T06:59:04Z")
I kind of like the US imitation Fosters. But I could easily imagine that it doesn’t wholly resemble true Australian Fosters. I mean, heck, even USA beer tastes different depending on if it’s in a can, a bottle, or draught. OTOH I imagine that the brewing is identical except for the water. Is that correct? And if so, does the water make a difference? Coors has had several commercials that claim that the particular water they use is crucial. And it’s a widely held belief that the reason NY pizza is uniquely good is being of the water they use in making the dough. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093/40 "2010-05-21T07:56:14Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I kind of like the US imitation Fosters. But I could easily imagine that it doesn’t wholly resemble true Australian Fosters. Hello, hello, is this thing on? Have you read this thread? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fosters-australian-for-bullshit/540093.md?page=3)