Shut-down pubs tap new XXXX revenue stream

Coronavirus may have shut the pubs but XXXX brewer Lion and the industry’s peak body have teamed up to allow people to take away their favourite draught beer.

ON TAP

WITH hundreds of pubs around the state shuttered due to the coronavirus, millions of litres of draught beer are going to waste in kegs.

XXXX brewer Lion and the Queensland Hotels Association (QHA) think that is a crying shame so have come up with a way of getting the sorely missed amber drop into the hands of customers.

Lion has committed to deliver as many amber 1.25 litre bottles and caps as required to help pubs sell takeaway draught beer right across Australia.

QHA CEO Bernie Hogan said the move would help provide another revenue stream for Queensland pubs during the most difficult time in their history.

Beer is back

“Hotels across the state have been shut for almost a month now and I know many people are missing a draught beer down at their local with mates,” he said. ‘We can’t quite do that yet, but a cold draught beer to take-away is certainly next best.” Hogan says the industry was innovating to cope with the shutdown with more pubs doing takeaways meals.

Lion says it has adjusted production at its iconic Milton brewery to make more packaged beer rather than draught but has not had to lay off any staff.

It also has credited more than 4,000 of its pub and hospitality customers nationally a total of $23.5 million for over 85,000 unused and capped kegs. In Queensland, Lion has credited more than 730 customers for 41,926 kegs – equating to more than $5 million.

LEST WE FORGET

ANZAC Day won’t be the same without the dawn services and the beer with mates afterwards. But to help fill the void News Corp Australia, the publisher of The Courier-Mail, is helping the nation ‘Light Up the Dawn’ remotely on Saturday with print and digital initiatives that include a virtual candle, audio recordings, an Australian flag poster and a poppies poster featuring The Ode. The initiatives are available free to readers through News Corp Australia’s newspapers, apps, desktop and mobile sites.

Anzac Day will be different this year

News Corp Australia has a long tradition of support for the nation’s war veterans, dating back to World War 1 when Sir Keith Murdoch penned the confronting Gallipoli Letter about the conditions facing troops after visiting the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915.

BATTLE OF WILLS

BE prepared for some bitter fighting over granny’s will after the coronavirus pandemic ends. That’s the warning from top Brisbane estate lawyer Joanne Carusi after State Parliament passed emergency legislation this week allowing temporarily for electronic signing of wills and enduring powers of attorney. The concession will apply for a six month period until September.

Carusi, a special counsel at Brisbane law shop Barry.Nilsson, says that opens the door to undue influence over the elderly and vulnerable as well as downright fraud. Two witnesses who are not beneficiaries of the estate are normally required to be present when a person signs their will.

Battle of wills

Carusi says wills and estates are already a litigious area of the law and this just opens up a front for more battles given the opportunity for fraud and arguments the person may lack the required mental capacity. “People with elderly relatives can have access to their computers and passwords so they could just dishonestly type up a new will and then sign it electronically, possibly removing other family members as beneficiaries,” Carusi says. She says there has been an increase in people calling her during the shutdown inquiring whether their wills were up to date. This was prudent as people should not be attempting to amend their wills without professional legal advice.