Foster's

The most famous Australian beer in the world is one that Australians barely drink. Foster's, the blue-and-red "oil can" lager of British pubs and airport fridges, is an export phenomenon: at home in Melbourne it survives mostly as a curiosity on the bottom shelf.

Even the origin story is barely Australian. The Foster brothers were New Yorkers who landed in Melbourne with refrigeration equipment, began selling chilled lager in 1888 — a genuinely clever idea in a hot country — and sold up and sailed home about a year later, leaving little behind but the name that would outlive every subsequent owner.

Ownership today is a map-reading exercise: Asahi owns Carlton & United Breweries in Australia, while Heineken holds the rights across much of Europe — including Britain, the biggest Foster's market, where 1980s advertising sold it as Australia in a can. Brand Finance still ranks it among the world's fifty most valuable beer brands, running happily on accumulated fame.

Pale gold and light-bodied under a fluffy white head: soft sweet grain, a hint of melon-like fruit, gentle bitterness, and plenty of carbonation lift. It is brewed to be drunk cold, fast, and in company — a barbecue-and-big-screen beer that does friendly, uncomplicated work and never asks for your attention.