Winter Olympics gold medallist Steven Bradbury cannot be accused of lacking a sense of humour, as evidenced by his Last Man Standing Australian Lager.
Steven, who won gold in the 1000m speed skating event at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games at Salt Lake City in the USA, will visit Dan Murphy’s Bundaberg on Friday to promote the beer he co-owns with Damian and Stephen Prosser, sons of the late Australian rugby union representative Roy Prosser.
The beer’s label refers to the bizarre fashion in which Steven became the first Australian to win a Winter Olympics gold medal.
Seemingly out of contention at the tail of the field in the 1000m final, Steven cruised to victory when he was literally the last man standing after all his opponents crashed in a spectacular last-turn pile-up.
Steven said he and his co-owners did not ponder long when considering a name for their brew, which pokes fun at his achievements, as does the hare and tortoise logo borne by the label.
“We thought it was an obvious name for the beer and a good name for the beer too,” he said.
“The hare and the tortoise logo also encourages responsible drinking because you don’t want to be the hare – going too hard, too early.
“You’ve got to pace yourself, not make a fool of yourself – be the tortoise.”
With ‘doing a Bradbury’ now well established in the Australian vernacular to describe a fortuitously accidental or surprise result, Steven said he loved being associated with good fortune.
“Every time I hear it the hair on the back of my neck stands up and it's great that I've been able to be remembered and influence people usually in a positive way in that, if people are prepared to try really hard at something for a long time, then they can put themselves in position to get a little bit lucky,” he said.
“I know I'm probably the luckiest individual Olympic gold medallist in history, but that doesn't change the fact that I was the one there to capitalise when the competition all made mistakes.
Steven said the average person could relate to similar situations where they had experienced an unexpected win and could relate to him more than the sporting elite.
“When you look at a superstar athlete like Michael Phelps or Kelly Slater, you can't draw any similarities with somebody who's that darn good, but with a speed skater from Brisbane who wasn’t a world beater but trained his guts out for 14 years, they can draw some similarities from that.
“If my story's able to inspire a few Aussies to try a bit harder in what they do, then I say go out there and do your own version of a Bradbury. What are you waiting for?”
Steven said the Brisbane-based LMS Brewing, which began brewing in 2019, had its origins in the friendship between he and the Prosser family.
“After Roy’s rugby career, he became one of the head honchos at Carlton United Breweries, and he and I became unlikely mates,” Steven said.
“And then I became mates with his sons as well.
“We all thought one day let's all do our own beer together but, unfortunately, big Roy passed away about 12 years ago.
“His sons and I continued the conversation, but never did anything about it. Eventually, after talking about it for a decade, we decided that we didn't want to live with the regret.
“So, we’re doing our beer with passion, we're doing it through friendship and we're doing it through the memory of big Roy.”
Steven said the beer was an easy drinking lager which was unpasteurised, unfiltered and did not contain preservatives.
“It’s a beer that actually tastes like a beer, and has a full-flavoured malty aftertaste,” he said.
“I believe it’s the best lager ever brewed, but I’m a little bit biased.
“Our beer is very close to a pilsner.
“It’s like an old-fashioned traditional style lager that they used to make in Germany and Czechoslovakia hundreds of years ago.”
Rather than take his word for the lager’s gold medal worthiness, Steven encouraged Bundaberg Region beer lovers to visit Dan Murphy’s Bundaberg on Friday, say g’day to him, and find out for themselves.
“Come down, grab a photo, try a free beer, and maybe pick some up as well,” he said.
“We’re Australian owned and Australian made and I think, on the back of this whole COVID thing, Aussies have got to support Aussies a bit more.”
Steven Bradbury and his Last Man Standing Australian Lager will be at Dan Murphy’s, 72 Targo St, Bundaberg on Friday from 3pm-6.30pm.
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