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Australia is one of the world's most sophisticated drinks markets. Premium spirits, wine, and craft beer have all seen sustained growth. Consumers are knowledgeable, media coverage of the drinks category is serious and extensive, and the on-premise bar and restaurant community carries genuine cultural influence.
Building a drinks brand here requires more than a good product. It requires a strategy for earning cultural authority in a market that can tell the difference between a brand that belongs and one that is simply trying to sell.
Every enduring drinks brand in Australia is built on a story that gives people a reason to choose it beyond the liquid in the glass. The story might be provenance: a distillery with genuine heritage, a vineyard with a specific terroir. It might be a founding philosophy: an approach to craft, sustainability, or category disruption. It might be a cultural territory: the specific world the brand belongs to and helps define.
The story needs to be true, specific, and defensible. In a market full of beautifully designed bottles and well-written back labels, the brands that build lasting authority are the ones with something genuine to say.
In Australia, the bar and restaurant community is not just a distribution channel. It is a cultural arbiter. The bartenders, sommeliers, bar managers, and operators who recommend your brand to their customers are among the most influential voices in the drinks category. Building genuine relationships with the on-premise community through education, partnership, and authentic engagement is one of the highest-leverage investments a drinks brand can make.
This is relationship-led work. It cannot be bought. It takes time and genuine commitment to the community.
The drinks category in Australia has serious media. Publications like Gourmet Traveller, Australian Bartender, Broadsheet, and the drinks sections of major national and state titles cover the category with genuine editorial rigour. These publications respond to real stories: brands with something interesting to say, products with genuine provenance, founders with a point of view.
The brands that win in this media landscape are earned-first. They invest in building a story worth covering before they invest in paid amplification. Coverage in the right publication from a journalist who genuinely believes in the brand is worth more than any amount of paid media.
The most common mistake drinks brands make in Australia is optimising for short-term visibility at the expense of long-term authority. Launch activations, influencer campaigns, and promotional events can generate awareness, but they do not build the cultural credibility that drives sustained premium pricing and loyal consumer behaviour.
The brands with the most durable positions in the Australian market across spirits, wine, and craft categories have built consistently over years. They have invested in the on-premise community, maintained consistent media engagement, and told a coherent brand story across every touchpoint.
A specialist drinks PR agency brings three things that are genuinely hard to replicate internally: deep media relationships built over years, on-premise community connections, and category expertise that allows them to position your brand within the broader market narrative.
Example has run drinks brand PR programmes for Grey Goose (670% YoY earned media growth), Don Julio 1942 (129% sales uplift), Patron Tequila, Bacardi, Bombay Sapphire, and Moutai across Australia and Asia Pacific. We understand the drinks category from the inside: the RTM relationships, the on-premise dynamics, and the cultural moments that build brand relevance over time. Get in touch if you're building something worth talking about.
