By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
BEER seems to be a common language, a social conduit for all generations of veterans.
Get three veterans of separate missions – Vietnam serviceman John Wells, with East Timor peacekeeper Colin ‘Rowdy’ Rout and Young Veterans founder Scott May – together with the amber liquid and the stories start to flow.
“The equipment and technology may be different, but the stories are still the same,” Mr Wells says.
“So are all the lies we all tell. Talk to me at 4pm on Anzac Day and I’ll tell you I have four VCs,” he jokes.
The three veterans are sampling a Dandenong and Cranbourne RSL offering, a microbrewery-brewed Two Up Beer.
It’s been an initiative of Young Veterans to distribute a craft beer to RSLs, one that appealed to modern servicepeople who were adventurous in their beer tastes.
Yet, the pale ale has a dark enough colour and malty flavour that won’t alienate the older veterans, Mr May said.
To make sure, the beer has been market-tested by a panel of veterans from a range of conflicts.
It has Anzac roots – 50 per cent Australian hops, and 50 per cent New Zealander. And it’s branded with a nostalgic logo that nods to the tri-forces and the Anzac 100-year heritage.
“Everything in defence has to have a meaning,” Mr May says.
As Mr Rout sips from a pot, he recalls a memory from 10 years ago. When a large pallet of alcoholic beverages was accidentally delivered to the frontline in Balibo, East Timor.
“At the front of all our minds was this pallet, but we weren’t allowed to drink.”
‘Rowdy’ says a soldier had to be posted to guard the pallet for several days.
Though he’s a Carlton Draught man, Mr Rout said he liked the Two Up’s solid flavour. “It’s a heavy beer with a bit of depth.”
Mr Wells, who is the Dandenong-Cranbourne RSL president, says it’s a beer that sends a signal about what modern RSLs are trying to send to younger members.
“We’re a club, not a museum.”
Two Up Beer is served at RSL sub-branches in Clow Street, Dandenong and 1475 South Gippsland Highway, Cranbourne.
