Close×

The bottles of a new craft beer range include seven-page fold-out labels which tell the story of the person who inspired the brew.

The brewer, Australian Beer Company (ABC), has called the new range Beyond the Black Stump.

ABC's Sam Johnstone said he came up with the label concept over a beer with the team.

"No-one has done foldout labels with beer before and once we had our first story we thought it would be even cooler to somehow put that into a label," he said.

The customer breaks the seal on the label to uncover the story of Valerio Ricetti, the inspiration for the brew, over seven pages.

"We found lots of stories around Australia and the Riverina that we wanted to link back into our beers and used local ingredients to emphasise how uniquely Australian those tall tales are,” Johnstone said.

Valerio Ricetti came to Australia in search of fortune in the goldfields.

Head brewer Andy Mitchell said the team wanted to tap into some of Australia's untold narratives through the label.

The first beer of the series, Wattle Seed Ale, will launch next week.

The Beyond The Black Stump series of beers are presented in 500ml bottles which suit the needs of specialty craft retailers.

Food & Drink Business

Three Australian companies have been recognised at the 2025 Top Shelf Awards, honouring the winners from the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits and Ready to Drink Competitions – Burdekin Rum, Callington Mill, and Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic.

Inghams Group has reaffirmed its FY26 earnings guidance despite higher-than-expected operational costs across its Australian operations. The poultry producer expects underlying EBITDA pre-AASB 16 to be between $215 million and $230 million.

Diageo has appointed Dave Lewis as its next CEO and executive director, as the global drinks company grapples with debt, US tariffs, and consumers’ drinking less alcohol. He starts on 1 January 2026.