G'day brewer/boozers ...

Back around 1963, Don Henderson (now deceased ... but not necessarily from his home brew ...) wrote up the tale of a batch (which MAY just have been made with sugar stored to close to something more in the "solvent" class than the "potable:"!

(I do have the dots ... somewhere .but usually sing it unaccompanied and by what remains of my memory!)

Regard(les)s,
BobB

                Five Pence A Bottle
Don Henderson, 1963 (Bob Bolton version … ???)

A small town in Queensland, it doesn't matter where,
for those that don't know … don't even care.
Don't care at all, 'til after they hear
that the local inhabitants brew their own beer.
Chorus
        Oh, it's five pence a bottle and that is the rub.
        That's less than we pay for a glass in the pub.
        Each sip I take fills me with wrath.
        Who gets the cream while I get the froth?

Oh, the first lot they made was a bit of a risk,
for you sometimes got poisoned before you got … full;
but the brew has improved by making some tests
on daredevil friends and unwitting guests.
Chorus
        Oh, it's five pence a bottle and that is the rub …

With more dedication than Madame Curie,
with care that would shame to Resch's Brewery,
they made a good drop. Oh, yes it's a beauty,
at five pence a bottle and no excise duty.
Chorus
        Oh, it's five pence a bottle and that is the rub …

Well, that was long ago, now they've got the game sewn up
and the town will still be there, if it hasn't been blown up.
But the chances are few of there being such disaster …
though it's bottled fast, it's drunk even faster.
Chorus
        Oh, it's five pence a bottle and that is the rub …

Still we're sitting here, like a pack of mugs,
buying beer in schooners - and beer in jugs.
While the beer here's all right, the beer up there is nice,
and you could buy the bloody pub for the difference in the price.
Chorus
        Oh, it's five pence a bottle and that is the rub …