^ I have actually read that article before, it is relatively interesting and it does raise some good points but overall I don't feel the message it tries to portray is particularly correct and I am dubious whether local breweries paid them for that.
One can clearly argue that fresh beer is better but when imports can get here in a fraction of the time it takes for them to reach their use by date I just don't really see it as a big issue. There has been the odd time that I got an obviously old slab of import that did taste a bit funny and wasn't as enjoyable as it should of been, but this is talking like a couple of times ever and I do buy quite a lot of beer. I would concede that with certain beers there are often cans available and these cans can be a bit more prone to ageing having an impact on taste I think.
There might be more argument for the locally brewed shit if it was actually even the same beer when you removed the element of where it was brewed, but they are not. They taste noticeably different and aside to that sometimes they have a different alcohol content than their European counterparts, usually tending to be lower as well. Carlsberg is a definite example of this.
Some of the local versions are better than others, I really don't mind the locally brewed Kronenbourg 1664 for example, but would still take the import over it any day. I love imported Carlsberg but I am really not a huge fan of it when brewed locally it has a sort of funny taste that reminds me of cheaper Australian beers like Carlton Draught and makes me suspicious they add that gas or whatever they do to make the shit ferment in like a day. Stella is awesome imported, I think the stuff brewed in Australia honestly tastes like shit, you see a lot of ones floating around that were brewed in the UK for some weird reason and those ones actually go down alright.
One could certainly argue that it is my perception going in that influences my taste, and in some cases they may be right, however I can say for certain in many cases this is not true. There are a number of beers that I have drank without enquiring as to whether they were brewed locally or not and could honestly instantly tell from their flavour, and confirmed I was right by a closer examination of the label, Stella and Heineken are two that spring to mind. I also always hated Stella, until I actually traveled to Europe and tasted shit brewed in Belgium, now I have returned to Australia I still cannot stand the stuff brewed in Australia but enjoy the import quite a bit, I do not believe this is a coincidence. It also wouldn't make sense that I quite enjoy the UK brewed Stella but dislike the Australian one, since the UK one obviously isn't authentic either.
This is just my opinion and what I prefer, obviously people are entitled to spend their money on and drink whatever their preference is. In my experience though there is a definite difference between the imported European beer and the locally brewed stuff. One thing I notice as well is that the imported versions are consistently the same price or cheaper than the locally brewed shit, it wasn't too long ago I went in to my local Dan Murphies and paid 5 dollars less per slab than they were charging for the Aussie ones.
. I was surprised to find that they also brew it under license in africa. To be honest I'm no longer a fan. I should try the import stuff again just to be sure but for some reason I've lost my taste for it.