page_title: Emu (beer)
section_title: Emu Bitter
hierarchical_section_title: Emu (beer) / Varieties / Emu Bitter
caption_attribution_description: English: Emu Bitter 375mL can
context_page_description: Emu is a beer brand name now owned by Lion. It was originally brewed by the Emu Brewery in 1908 until the brewery's sale to the Swan Brewery in 1927. The production of the Emu branded beer continued from a separate autonomous brewery in Perth until 1978, and then was relocated to a combined brewery in Canning Vale. In 2014 Lion Nathan moved production of both the Emu and Swan beer brands to the company's West End Brewery in South Australia.
context_section_description: Emu Bitter is a mild bitter lager that has a strong hops taste, which was introduced in 1923 as one of Swan Brewing Companies flagships. The alcohol by volume content of the beer is currently 4.0%. The man pictured on the label is former Swan Brewer Ken Arrowsmith. He oversaw the introduction of Emu Draft and was head brewer during the brands popularity boom in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. Colloquial names for the beer include:"Bush Chooks", "EB" or "Kenny".
  In the mid to late 20th century, when Emu Bitter came in large brown bottles with green labels, it was also called "green slime", "green stuff", "green poison" or "kero".  These names were frequently used tongue in cheek, or in a derogatory way by those who preferred Swan lager, (often the only readily available alternative), and were a reference to Emu Bitter's green coloured label and its very bitter taste ("kerosene like taste" Swan Lager drinkers would claim). Post WW II, power kerosene in Western Australia was often coloured green and came in brown 26 oz. bottles similar to those used post war for Emu Bitter. These old colloquial names are still sometimes used with affection by some older generation Western Australians who recall the days when beer only came in large brown bottles or out of a keg.
  Prior to the late 1970s, the Swan Brewery had a virtual monopoly in the Western Australia beer market.  Therefore, outside of the Goldfields where the original Hannan's Lager and Kalgoorlie Stout (Kalgoorlie brewed by the Swan Brewery owned Kalgoorlie Brewing Company) still held their own, the choice for beer drinkers was often only between Emu Bitter and Swan Lager, and both brews had their loyal consumers who would make fun of the opposing brew.  Emu Bitter drinkers, in response to the "kero" name calling, would often claim that Emu Bitter was "a real man's drink", while Swan Lager was "a drink for women and young men not tough enough to appreciate the bitter taste of Emu Bitter".  And in those less than politically correct days, any young Perth man who did drink an imported beer, or the locally bottled Skol, or Swan Special Bond, was likely to get comments from his drinking friends suggesting his choice of brew indicated something questionable about his sexuality. The Kalgoorlie Brewery closed in 1982 and Hannan's Lager eventually disappeared from Swan's list of brews (but lately, a facsimile Hannan's Lager was launched by the Ironbark Brewery).
caption: Emu Bitter Can 375mL. Alcohol Content by Volume 4%
exif: {"Image YResolution": "72", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image ImageWidth": "2127", "Image ImageLength": "4027", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "170", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2020:03:16 13:03:08", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[31, 59, 20905079/1000000]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "S", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[115, 54, 25255079/1000000]", "Image GPSInfo": "560", "EXIF ApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4032", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "H25LSLJ02AM", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3024", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2020:03:16 13:02:12", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2020:03:16 13:02:12", "EXIF FocalLength": "393/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF FNumber": "17/10", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown"}