Pubs in Greater Sydney are being forced to take extreme measures to save beer that is nearing its expiry date
In the Illawarra a Wollongong pub is selling its tapped beer at wholesale price to prevent pouring it down the drain.
"We mainly carry local kegs and I didn't even want to approach a lot of our local breweries because they are doing it tough as well," owner of the Illawarra Hotel, Ryan Aitchison said
"Like most businesses we are just trying to reduce financial stresses that keep you up at night and you are looking at thousands of dollars worth of beer that will potentially have to be tipped out.
Shorter expiry on craft beers
The Illawarra, stocks predominantly local craft beer which has a shorter expiry date and cannot be returned.
"We have got a lot of hazy IPAs and that kind of thing and they degrade a lot quicker." Mr Atchinson said.
"For a lot of the pubs that are carrying local craft it's a tough situation because you don't want to put any more financial difficulties on your local breweries.
"But our wine will only get better which is ironic," he said.
Stronger alcohol
A Bulli brewer said the lockdown had also changed customer's drinking habits.
"A lot of our tap sales we focus on beers that are a lot more sessionable that are 3.5 to 5 per cent," owner of the Resin Brewery, Stephen House said.
He said an 8.5 per cent beer his brewery offers sold out in a day but it had not been enough to overcome the downturn in sales.
"It is extremely tough, our revenue is down 93 per cent, we are going backwards at a rate of knots," Mr House said.
"The thing with micro-breweries is the labour costs are huge compared to your bigger commercial operators and we don't have all those distribution channels in place."
"It is a bit harder for us to change our business model from a brew pub to a distribution model whereas the big guys already have that in place," he said.
Moderation the key
Earlier this week the NSW Chief Psychiatrist said people must watch their alcohol intake during lockdown.
"It is important to monitor things like your diet, like your sleep, like your alcohol intake, and to set goals every day," Dr Murray Wright said.
"The signs of things not working include difficulty sleeping, difficulties with concentration, feeling unduly fatigued, feeling overwhelmed, feeling irritable, or consuming too much alcohol."
He urged anybody having difficulty during the lockdown to reach out for help.
