Claire Rankin, Richmond River Independent
Coraki Hotel publican Ron Macdonald has been forced to sell his tap beer as takeaway because of the lockdown.
For more than a week, the pub has been offering tap beer for $8 a litre to anyone with a resealable container to take away the amber fluid.
Usually selling for $16 a litre, the reduced price means a middy of beer cost about $3.20, Mr Macdonald said.
With every six litres bought, patrons get a Tooheys New T-shirt and with every litre, a ticket in the draw for a New South Wales State of Origin jersey.
Lockdowns both this year and last have forced Mr Macdonald to sell his tap beer at a cut price, because brewers reject opened kegs.
Mr Macdonald’s 10 kegs, costing between $300 and $500 each, would mean a loss of about $4000 if he could not sell the beer as a takeaway, he said.
“We would lose all the product and suffer another financial loss,” he said.
He felt physically and emotionally exhausted by the lockdowns.
“I’m just dog tired. I want my staff back, my life back and my community back,” he said.
Unable to receive a $7500 government payment, which “doesn’t come close to helping” he believed grants for businesses were not enough.
If the lockdown continues for six more weeks, he could be staring at a $100,000 loss, he said.
The government should be determining lockdown “shire by shire, region by region”.
A Federal Government decision last year paved the way for pubs to sell draught beer as takeaway to provide some revenue when closed during lockdown.
It decided not to apply double excise, which meant pubs could sell beer from the tap into resealable containers rather than tip it down the drain.
The Coraki Hotel has sold out of some beer brands such as Carlton Dry and Fourex Gold.
This article appeared in the Richmond River Independent, 8 September 2021.