THE changing Australian taste for a more refined drop has driven Carlton United Brewery to produce a new Crown Golden Ale as it seeks to hold market share with its premium brand.

In a new front for the boutique beer wars, the 100-year-old Crown brand — which has traditionally been a lager — has added an offshoot golden ale in response to the growing taste for more diverse drinks.

Since taking over CUB two years ago brewing multinational SAB Miller has been driving a total makeover to the Australian brewer’s range.

CUB Crown general manager Richard Oppy said the launch of an ale was aimed at fighting harder in an increasingly competitive beer market.

Overall beer consumption has been going backwards in Australia as drinkers turn to wine and drops such as cider.

The nation’s beer market was down just over 3 per cent in the last year.

At the same time ale beers have been posting double digit growth, but off a much lower base than lager beers.

“I think the consumer’s repertoire is evolving,” Mr Oppy told BusinessDaily.

“In the 1980s drinkers had one, maybe two, favourite beer brands. Now, depending on the occasion, they drink multiple brands.”

Mr Oppy said while Australians used to focus on lagers they now drinking a variety of wheat beers, malt ales and stouts.

But as the beer wars heat up, he insisted CUB’s latest salvo wasn’t about responding to smaller scale producers.

“This is not targeting your hardcore, discerning craft beer drinker,” he said.

“They are looking for complex beer.”

Mr Oppy said the craft beer market was still “very niche”.

“It gets a lot of airtime but as a business were focused on where the big prize is,” he said.

That means targeting the “premium” end of the market where people want quality, he said.

The premium beer category makes up about 25 per cent of the overall beer market.

At the same time Mr Oppy said the relaunch of Crown lager last year — giving it new packaging and a “smoother and creamier’’ drop — had seen sales stabilise in the premium market.

“The brand had been declining, we have arrested that decline,” he said.

The secret “project black”, to produce a Crown ale, has been in the pipeline for 18 months under the guidance of Crown head brewer Tully Head.