Beer Makes Pigs Smarter

August 20, 2013, by Crafty Pint

Beer Makes Pigs Smarter

Have a look at the photo above. In particular the billboard on the wall of Prahran Fish & Chips. What thoughts spring to mind?

“Ooh, that’s silly – a pig wearing a tie and mortarboard” perhaps.

Maybe: “What a garish yellow.”

Or: “Golly, I’m thirsty and could do with a beer.”

Maybe even: “What the hell is a tiny brewery like Moon Dog doing advertising in the sort of format usually reserved for CUB, Coopers and Lion?”

All of which we’d suggest are perfectly reasonable reactions, although not reactions that popped into the minds of the people responsible for upholding the ABAC, Australia’s Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code. Instead, they were concerned that the image of a pig wearing a mortarboard suggested that drinking Moon Dog’s Love Tap could lead to academic success.

“Which is obviously true,” says Moon Dog co-founder Josh Uljans, tongue firmly in cheek, when asked about the issue that saw the erection of their billboards delayed for several weeks after the beer’s nationwide relaunch as correspondence went back and forth between Moon Dog and staff at ABAC.

“It was a little bit frustrating as we’d tried to put together something that was pretty reasonable and not offensive or confrontational. Our whole ethos is around sharing the love and joy and it’s a shame when you are trying to be really positive and get held up by these bureaucratic things.

“It happened at a time when we were trying to get 600 cartons ready and trying to manage all these different elements so we could launch the product. We were surprised and a little bit dismayed. They have their job, which is to check things that are going up; each one will have 250,000 eyes on them over a few months so obviously there’s a role there to make sure alcohol is presented in a responsible way. No one wants to represent our product in an irresponsible manner and we don’t want to encourage irresponsible consumption of alcohol.”

The first billboards are set to appear in Richmond, Abbotsford, Prahran, Carlton and Northcote at first. More are likely to follow.

As for embarking on a billboard campaign in the first place, Josh says: “We want to be able to speak to people who haven’t experienced our beer before – to hopefully spark a little bit of interest. Not many people will have heard of us outside the craft beer industry.

“The beer is a lager – a modern take on a lager – and the billboards are one component of a wider campaign to launch Love Tap to a wider audience. It’s our mainstay beer, the beer that’s a little bit more accessible to a pretty wide audience.

“Outdoor media has traditionally been the domain of big breweries. It’s a pretty big investment, but provides access to a broader audience. It’s also kind of cool: looking up and seeing this big Moon Dog symbol.”

Having trialled their “Double Lager” late last year, the brewers have since redesigned Love Tap from its original 7.1 per cent to a more sessionable 5.9 per cent and brewed far more of it than any other Moon Dog beer. In fact, most of the tank space in their expanding Abbotsford brewery is dedicated to Love Tap, for which they’ve had new four-packs produced as well as bottle labels that will reward the eagle-eyed, and which is getting a wide release. In other words, they’re investing a lot into the beer.

“The creative behind it is ’Re-learn lager'. We want to get across that this much-maligned beer style – the pale lager that’s ubiquitous in the world of beer and makes up 98 percent of the market in Australia – doesn’t have to be that relatively bland, inoffensive beer that lacks character,” says Josh. “We have tried to turn the concept on its head a bit to show it can actually be something with lots of flavour, interest, nice rounded malt, hops and a firm bitterness.

“We’re trying to introduce people who aren’t necessarily indoctrinated into craft beer to these kind of flavours, to beers that are driven by flavour and the character of their ingredients.

“From the outset, we’ve tried not to copy anyone else’s formula: we’ve wanted to do a craft lager when a lot of people are doing pale ales and IPAs. It’s also nice to be able to have that entry level, session beer or go to beer, particularly as we’re going into summer.”

With the issues over the learned pig seemingly resolved, one question remains. Does this series of decisions – to introduce a mainstay beer, to opt for a lager (albeit and big, hoppy one), and to enter the big boys' advertising domain, even in this small way – suggest Moon Dog has changed? At two years of age, have they grown up? Are they, in fact, in some way selling out?

“We’re releasing a 15.5 percent ABV truffled Imperial Stout aged in Cognac barrels,” says Josh. “We’re just about to put out a toffee apple beer that’s a heavily caramelised amber ale that’s aged in Calvados barrels…”

We’ll take that as a firm “No” then.


Love Tap is available in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and WA. They hope to have it available in Tasmania and South Australia in the coming months. Oink!

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