The last time I went to Australia was in 2004. I was a 20-something backpacker getting as far as I could on as little money as possible and trying to party as hard as I could while I was there. My beer of choice was the classic VB (Victoria Bitter - readily available and cheap) and when I wasn’t drinking beer, wine boxes were a must. Since then, my beer and pub choices have changed considerably, and I am much more likely to be found in a country pub, with my husband and dog and a pint of cask ale. Some 18 years later, and heading back to Australia, I was keen to see how the beer had changed and to get a flavour of the pubs and bars. A quick Google search suggested that my destination, Perth, would be a good choice for both, especially as we were also heading to Fremantle (or Freo), a beach suburb of Perth, which is considered the cradle of craft beer in Australia. Another thing I wanted to get my hands on was a schooner. I always loved this size, perfectly placed between a half and a pint (why don’t they use them in the UK?) and wouldn't get too warm before you finished it in the Australian sun. 

After a 13-hour flight delay and nearly 17 hours in the air, we arrived in the middle of the night so had to wait until the next day to get a taste of Perth pubs. I thought I would start my experience by looking for something traditionally English to ease me in. However, at least in Perth, it seems that anything English that had been suggested online had closed. The Moon and Sixpence on Murray Street and the Elephant and Wheelbarrow in Northbridge both appeared to be permanently closed, so I had to try somewhere else. Our first beer therefore, while welcome, was at the Beer Corner which was cold (both the building and the beer) and very loud and turned out to be very unlike any other pub we visited the whole time we were in Western Australia. 

It took me a while to work out how to categorise pubs in Perth, and maximise our enjoyment, but after quite a few visits to various establishments (it’s a struggle but someone has to do it) I slowly saw a pattern arise of three main types of Perth pubs. 

The first of these were the historic hotels. Unlike in many city centres, plenty of older buildings in Perth have survived the extensive neighbourhood development and it was not unusual to see an 1890s building surrounded by multiple glass-covered skyscrapers without looking out of place. These hotels, built mostly between 1890 and 1910 were beautiful buildings and often restored to their former glory. My favourite feature of them was that they often had first floor outside terrace/verandahs where you could sit with a beer and watch the city go by. Great examples of this were the Royal Hotel (opposite Perth central station), Brass Monkey Hotel in Northbridge (pictured) and Sail and Anchor in Fremantle. Similar in age but with terraces rather than first-floor verandahs were the Oxford Hotel in Leederville and (my favourite of the whole trip) the Albion Hotel in Cottesloe. These were the most familiar and what we’d commonly find here in the UK: cosy, homely, stained glass, beer mirrors and welcoming. However, beware, in some cases these historic pubs, while old on the outside, had been modernised within an inch of their lives and were completely the opposite of welcoming and cosy (examples include the Norfolk Hotel, Fremantle and the Leederville Hotel, Leederville), worth a visit if you fancy a loud cocktail but certainly not a place to relax with your beer. 

The second group of pubs I called strip mall chic. Strip shops, a line of independent outlets and buildings along the principal streets of a city or suburban area are a common sight in Perth (and across Australia). Each unit is pretty much a blank canvas and many bars and pubs have set themselves up in these and made them their own. Often music venues or pubs mixed with wine bars, they come in all shapes and sizes. I can’t say that I ever really felt at home in any of them and found them a little stark, but one I did like was the 21st Amendment in Leederville which has a good choice of beer, comfy sofas, board games and friendly staff.

The final type of pub was the industrial unit tap room/brewpub. Perth contains so many breweries of all sizes that it felt like every street corner has a brewery with a tap attached. In some cases, they are like the brewery tap rooms we see in the UK (albeit with a lot more outside seating) – for example Nowhereman Brewing between Leederville and Perth city centre and Calamity’s Rod in Fremantle. But unlike the UK, Perth, and especially Freo also do these on a huge scale. No more than a kilometre away from one another were the Little Creatures Great Hall and the Brew House (both massive industrial units) and the Gage Roads Freo brewery (another expansive industrial unit). These both had large inside and outside seating areas, multiple bars, extensive food menus and a wide range of their beers. In the Western Australian heat these were fantastic cool spaces, but I doubt they would work in the UK as we’d all be freezing! Both Little Creatures and Gage Road beers, being the big local breweries, were available in most pubs in Perth but to experience the full range a visit to the brewpubs was a must. 

After we’d visited plenty of pubs our final beer of the visit was something from home and not in a pub at all. It wouldn’t be a sunny country without some sunset beers on the beach (something you can rarely do in the UK). The sun setting over the Indian ocean with a couple of cans of Bone Machine Brew Co (transported by my friend all the way from Hull) was the perfect end to the trip.

But what about the beer? There is a large range of beers available in all the types of pubs. Local brewery beers are often sold and there is a wide variety of styles from light summer ales, lagers, fruity beers, IPAs, XPAs, to (surprisingly given the temperature) stouts and porters. Keg is most certainly king, and I only saw two handpull beers in my whole time in Western Australia (both in the Sail & Anchor in Fremantle serving a ginger beer and Belgian session dark ale). There was often also a wide range of bottles and cans available, so overall a lot of choice. While NoLo didn’t seem to be much of a thing in pubs, there was a vast amount of kombucha available in the supermarkets. I did finally find some VB (in the Sail & Anchor in Fremantle) and drank it with a lovely view of the historic centre from the verandah. However, even the perfect surroundings could not make VB taste any better, and with the excellent ranges of beer available I certainly wouldn’t choose it again. 

And what of schooners? Initially it seemed that these had disappeared from Australia. Most pubs offered a middy (half) or pint with some offering a small, medium or large. However, we did start to find schooners in a few pubs as the days went by and the barman at the Oxford Hotel, Leederville, who was very friendly and welcoming, gave us a clue to why we hadn’t seen many, stating that they were “big out east” and not so common in Western Australia. To give you an idea of how remote Western Australia is and how far “out east” is, Perth is closer to Singapore and Jakarta than the nearest large Australian city, Adelaide, and even further from Sydney. 

A final few words of warning to end with. If you’re thinking of heading to Western Australia and decide to visit some pubs, in the city centre they are often very noisy, both in terms of loud music and lively groups, the historic hotels sometimes provide some sanctuary but even these can be very lively on the weekends. Having said that, for the most part Perth pubs were pretty family friendly, often offered a range of food and had an array of ages and types of clientele and everyone was very welcome. If you are visiting in the evening, no fluorescent workwear is a must, as well as no singlets or thongs (flip-flops) as indicated on signage. Also, unlike in the UK the ABV was not always shown on beer pumps but in the most part staff knew what they were and were happy to chat through the options available. And finally, don’t ask to split a bill (especially for food). This seems to be a big no in much of Perth with some establishments stating “no bill splitting” on their menus. 

I look forward to returning to Australia again and to exploring more of its beer, bar and pub culture. If I returned to Perth, I’d certainly head up to the Swan River area, which, although traditionally associated with wine, by all accounts appears to have a burgeoning craft beer scene and looks to have a good range of pubs. 

Victoria Wells is professor of Sustainable Management at the University of York (https://www.york.ac.uk/business-society/people/victoria_wells/). She researches consumer behaviour and in particular pub and beer consumer behaviours. She tweets her beer, pub and alcohol thoughts @ProfessorPubUK