All of Australia's big beer brands except one have had new foreign owners in the past six years, but that isn't the reason why beer consumption is at a 68-year low.

Mainstream, commercial beers are in decline with drinkers wanting new and interesting offerings that small craft brewers are providing, albeit in tiny quantities, while the shifting trend toward better health and wellbeing has also dulled the appeal of heavy, full-strength beers.

VB

Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught, which have been owned by global conglomerate SABMiller since 2011, may be about to undergo another shift following a takeover approach to the London-based company by another global brewing giant, Belgium's Anheuser-Busch InBev to create a $382 billion mega-giant. If it's successful, the new entity would produce around one-third of the world's beer.

SABMiller paid $12 billion to buy the Foster's beer business in 2011 which gave it ownership of all of Carlton & United Breweries operations, with the flagship products being Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught.