| The Earl of Aberdeen hotel started life in 1850 and was then known as the Devon Arms hotel. The hotel was one of the first major hotels you would have seen if you were to travel into the city from the hills or the southern areas. The hotel was sold in the late 1870s with the hotel being renovated, expanded and reopened as the Earl of Aberdeen. By the 1980s Coopers & Sons Brewery had slowly been recuperating from their near bankruptcy, caused by Australians love of light lager beers. But fortunately Coopers Original Pale Ale was reintroduced to the market at the start of the decade, a beer that was different to everything else on the market, and it was selling really well. With this success Coopers purchased several hotel to modernize their image, the first hotel purchased was the Rising Sun Hotel in Norwood, the second was a brand new hotel, named the Aussie Inn built in Hackham, and lastly the jewel of their hotel portfolio was the Earl of Aberdeen. The Earl was restored to its original condition in 1986 with all the old paint removed and the original stonework now visible. Along with the restoration was the installation of a small microbrewery. The new brewery was a pet project of Max Cooper, the head brewer at Coopers, and with the new brewery three beers were brewed, Carrington Pale Ale, Aberdeen Scotch Ale and Earls Best Light. The hotel was re-opened by Dame Edna Everage in 1987 with the hotel being renamed to the Coopers Ale House. The Ale House was very popular with draught and bottled beer being brewed, but after a few years the bottled beer was discontinued and only draught beer was made. The onsite brewery was removed by the mid 90s and the house beers were brewed at Coopers. Even though the hotel now didn't brew beer, the hotel was still known as the Cooper Ale House. The Alehouse beers were eventually dropped but the hotel has maintained its popularity, with Coopers starting several pubs and renaming them with the Ale House name. |
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