It all started in the early 1800s with a man named Charles Bell. He was a British brewer who decided to move to Australia and start his own brewery. Bell’s Brewery quickly became one of the most popular breweries in Australia.

In 1881, Bell’s launched a new beer called Oberon. Oberon was an instant hit with beer drinkers and quickly became one of the brewery’s best-selling beers.

In 1887, Charles Bell decided to celebrate the popularity of his beer by declaring March 26th to be “Oberon Day.” On this day, people would drink Oberon beer and sing songs about the beer. The tradition of Oberon Day continued for many years and eventually became a national holiday in Australia.

In the early 2000s, Bell’s Brewery was bought by another company and the new owners decided to discontinue Oberon beer. This caused a huge uproar among beer drinkers and Oberon Day celebrations were canceled nationwide.

In 2010, however, Bell’s Brewery was bought by yet another company and the new owners decided to bring back Oberon beer. This was met with great excitement from beer drinkers and Oberon Day was once again celebrated nationwide.

History Recap of Oberon

Looking back on almost three decades of this renowned Bell’s beer sheds light on a journey that was occasionally as challenging as a winter in the Great Lakes region.

But Oberon has survived and endured, becoming more than a brand and becoming a symbol for spring and the approaching summer, just as we and the world around us do every year when we emerge from the gloomy winter months alive and enthusiastic for the warmer times ahead.

Beginning of This Belgian-Inspired Beer: Solsun to Oberon

Solsun, the original name of Oberon, was brewed by Larry Bell for the first time in 1992, and the beer’s style was somewhat unusual.

Most American breweries concentrated on replicating English beer types in the 1990s since they were simpler to create and needed less equipment. Bell wished for Oberon to stand out.

Bell set out to create a fantastic summer beer, inspired by the Belgian custom of brewing lighter beers for farmers to sip in their fields.

By combining Belgian malt, German hops, and American yeast to create an original, hazy wheat beer, Solsun was inspired by the word saison.

Bell says he designed Oberon at 5.8% ABV to be lighter than what Belgians traditionally brew but still pretty firm. “I wanted to do something inspired by Belgian brews but dialed in for Americans [because] there wasn’t much in the way of anyone doing anything Belgian-wise, that was pretty exotic,” Bell says.

Bell wasn’t sure if this style would take off at the moment. According to Bell, “I figured Americans would remark it’s gloomy and something’s wrong.” But now that the brewery was beginning to take off, Bell thought he might try some new things.

Opening Day of Oberon: A National Holiday

Even though Oberon is merely a seasonal beer for Bell’s, its popularity has increased significantly yearly.

Eighty percent of Bell’s annual production is currently made up of Oberon and Bell’s Two Hearted, an American-style IPA available all year round. This is pretty amazing, given that Oberon is a seasonal beer only offered for six months of the year. Oberon is the brewery’s best-selling beer throughout the Michigan summer months.

What does Oberon’s future hold?

Bell thinks Oberon already has a special place in the hearts of Michigan craft beer drinkers, but there may be more advancements.

The staff has created some amusing variations sold in Bell’s General Store, like Cherry Oberon and Mango Habanero Oberon.

Bell half-jokes that “five years from now, we might be talking about the non-alcoholic version called Soberon” because Bell’s produced Überon, a whiskey barrel-aged variant of Oberon, in the middle of the 2000s.

However, Bell’s portfolio’s staple beer will continue to be produced for the most part.

Conclusion

Oberon beer is now more popular than ever and is enjoyed by people all over the world. So next time you are enjoying a cold pint of Oberon, remember the history of this popular beer and the man who started it all.

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