Editing Culture of Australia (section)

===Beverages===
{{main|Alcohol in Australia}}
[[File:Billycan-campfire.jpg|thumb|right|A [[billycan]] used for heating water]]
Australia's reputation as a nation of heavy drinkers goes back to the earliest days of colonial Sydney, when [[rum]] was used as currency and grain shortages followed the installation of the first [[still]]s.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-08-14 |title='Selling your wife for rum': The messy history of alcohol and binge drinking in Australia |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-15/do-australians-have-problem-with-alcohol-edmund-barton-bob-hawke/101288620 |access-date=2024-08-16 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref> [[James Squire]]s is considered to have founded Australia's first commercial brewery in 1798 and the [[Cascade Brewery]] in Hobart has been operating since 1832. Since the 1970s, Australian beers have become increasingly popular globally, with [[Foster's Lager]] being an iconic export. Foster's is not however the biggest seller on the local market, with alternatives including [[Carlton Draught]] and [[Victoria Bitter]] outselling it.

[[Billycan|Billy tea]] was a staple drink of the Australian colonial period, considered to be a symbol of the bush lifestyle.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Billy |url=https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/defining-symbols-australia/billy |access-date=27 August 2024 |website=National Museum of Australia |language=en}}</ref> It is typically boiled over a camp fire on a billy can, with a gum or lemon myrtle leaf added for flavouring.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Billy tea |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/billy-tea/4jay9jfm4 |access-date=27 August 2024 |website=SBS Food |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Australian wine]] industry is one of the largest exporters of wine in the world, contributing $2.2 billion to the nation's economy in 2023–24.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Australian wine export report |url=https://www.wineaustralia.com/market-insights/export-report |access-date=27 August 2024 |website=www.wineaustralia.com}}</ref> Wine is produced in every state, however, wine regions are mainly in the southern, cooler regions. Among the most famous wine districts are the [[Hunter Valley]] and [[Barossa Valley]] and among the best known wine producers are [[Penfolds]], [[Rosemount (wine)|Rosemount Estate]], [[Wynns Coonawarra Estate]] and [[Lindemans (wine)|Lindemans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/wine/ |title=Australia's wine industry – Australia's Culture Portal |publisher=Cultureandrecreation.gov.au |access-date=29 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217023344/http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/wine/ |archive-date=17 February 2011}}</ref> The Australian [[Penfolds Grange]] was the first wine from outside France or California to win the ''[[Wine Spectator]]'' award for Wine of the Year in 1995.<ref>{{cite book|title=Spinning the bottle: case studies in wine public relations|first=Harvey|last= Posert|author2=Paul Franson|publisher=HPPR Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-9747566-0-8|page=182}}</ref>