The ubiquitous wine cask, sometimes called a "goon bag" is a perennial favourite for non-connoisseur type wine drinkers in Australia.
THE humble cask wine may have caused countless hangovers, but it holds a proud place in our nation’s history and is now over 50 years old.
Over 50 years later - Various Wine casks in a modern bottleshop
The process for packaging 'cask wine' (box wine) was invented by Thomas William Carlyon Angove of Angove's, a winemaker from Renmark, South Australia, and patented by the company on April 20, 1965. Polyethylene bladders of 1 gallon (4.5 litres) were placed in corrugated boxes for retail sale.
Many claims of 'the first' came from other wine producers and from overseas but were retracted when presented by the cold hard facts - Tom Angove invented the original wine cask, the fore runner to the modern day soft pack.
Letters Patent no. 280826 being issued to the Angove company on 20th April, 1965, stating one Thomas William Carlyon Angove as the actual inventor.
Thomas William Carlyon Angove (1917-2010)
This startling innovation was a soft flexible bag, sealed without any air space, which collapsed as wine was withdrawn, thus protecting the remaining wine from air spoilage.
The title of the invention was 'improved container and pack for liquids'. Up until then the bulk of wine in Australia was sold in bottles and glass flagons. The half gallon glass flagon was susceptible to breakage and the wine, being exposed to air after opening, deteriorated in quality if not consumed fairly quickly.
With a cask, the wine is contained in a plastic bladder typically with an air-tight valve emerging from a protective corrugated fiberboard box. It serves as a less expensive alternative to traditional wine bottling in glass with a cork or synthetic seal.
Early wine cask required a clip or peg to seal
The original design required that the consumer cut the corner off the bladder, pour out the serving of wine and then reseal it with a special peg and was based on a product already on the market, which was a bag in a box used by mechanics to hold and transport battery acid.
In 1967, Australian inventor Charles Malpas and Penfolds Wines patented a plastic, air-tight tap (valve)|tap welded to a metallised bladder, making storage more convenient. All modern wine casks now use some sort of plastic tap, which is exposed by tearing away a perforated panel on the box.
For the next decades bag in a box packaging was primarily preferred by producers of less expensive wines as it is cheaper to fabricate and distribute than glass bottles. Having said that though, more expensive wines are becoming available in wine casks.
Manufacturers of "higher class" bottled wines have complained about the cheapness of "cask" wines, arguing that they provide a cheap means for alcoholics to become inebriated. In particular, the lower level of alcohol excise levied on cask wine in Australia (compared to beer and bottled wine) has been criticised as encouraging binge drinking. There is also no visible indication, as with a bottle, of the quantity which is being consumed.
More expensive wines are becoming available in wine casks.
Little Known Fact About the Wine Cask
Invention was patented in April 1965
It was inspired by the flexible packaging of old goat skins that stored wine in biblical times.
Angove was inspired to store wine in a plastic bag and store it in a box.
The ‘airless flow’ of the cask is why the invention is genius; wine comes out, but no air goes in. Therefore the wine doesn’t become oxidised.
In 1973, before wine casks really took off, each Australian was only drinking 9.8 litres of wine per year. Wine had a “special occasion only” image. After ten years of cask presence, per capita consumption rose to 19.3 litres.
In 2015, the cask is still as popular as ever; one in every three glasses of wine drunk in Australia comes out of a cask.
Contents stay fresh for six weeks after opening.
The Big Wine Cask at the Stanley Winery in Buronga, New South Wales
The Goon Bag (Silver Pillow)
Cask wine in Australia is colloquially referred to as "goon", which is a term derived from the word flagon, meaning a large vessel used for drink, or "boxy", in reference to it being packaged in a box.
Even though the wine cask is used interchangeably with the goon bag, the goon bag is actually the silver pillow shaped bag found inside the wine cask's outer cardboard lining.
The Urban Dictionary describes a "goon bag" as...
"...Cheap wine that comes in a box and leaves the consumer with an extreme headache the next day. Convenient because the remains of the vessel can be inflated for use as a pillow after consumption... "
Jodie Richards wrote in NomadsWorld.com...
"If you're planning on visiting Australia you've probably already read or heard about the crazy Australian slang, the strange Aussie foods and of course, the hysterical Aussie stereotypes - but if there's one thing you've REALLY got to experience in Australia - it's the Goon Bag!...
Norton Flavel’s ‘goon bag’ creation stole the show at last year’s Sculptures by the Sea at Cottesloe Beach.
...AAhhh, yes we have all experienced in Australia the wonderful tastings of Boxed Wine. Coming in many different grape varieties and blends not to mention prices, but they all have one thing in common, the well known silver pillow or goon bag."
So why a goon bag instead of a bottle?
It's easier to carry around and you don't risk dropping and smashing it when you start to lose your balance towards the end of the cask, plus you can take it swimming and won't lose it as it floats.
It fits way more in it than a bottle, could you imagine carrying around a 4 litre bottle of wine?
After a night of consuming the wine you can always blow it up and crash anywhere you want as you have a nice silver pillow for the night.
Goon Bags make great pillows
Drew from The Wine Wankers tastes 20 of Australia's premium cask wines to reveal Australia's top budget plonk. For the full results, head to www.thewinewankers.com.au Thanks to Ian W Thomson for filming this clip. www.ianwthomson.com
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THE humble cask wine may have caused countless hangovers, but it holds a proud place in our nation’s history and is now over 50 years old.
Over 50 years later - Various Wine casks in a modern bottleshop
The process for packaging 'cask wine' (box wine) was invented by Thomas William Carlyon Angove of Angove's, a winemaker from Renmark, South Australia, and patented by the company on April 20, 1965. Polyethylene bladders of 1 gallon (4.5 litres) were placed in corrugated boxes for retail sale.
Many claims of 'the first' came from other wine producers and from overseas but were retracted when presented by the cold hard facts - Tom Angove invented the original wine cask, the fore runner to the modern day soft pack.
Letters Patent no. 280826 being issued to the Angove company on 20th April, 1965, stating one Thomas William Carlyon Angove as the actual inventor.
Thomas William Carlyon Angove (1917-2010)
This startling innovation was a soft flexible bag, sealed without any air space, which collapsed as wine was withdrawn, thus protecting the remaining wine from air spoilage.
The title of the invention was 'improved container and pack for liquids'. Up until then the bulk of wine in Australia was sold in bottles and glass flagons. The half gallon glass flagon was susceptible to breakage and the wine, being exposed to air after opening, deteriorated in quality if not consumed fairly quickly.
With a cask, the wine is contained in a plastic bladder typically with an air-tight valve emerging from a protective corrugated fiberboard box. It serves as a less expensive alternative to traditional wine bottling in glass with a cork or synthetic seal.
Early wine cask required a clip or peg to seal
The original design required that the consumer cut the corner off the bladder, pour out the serving of wine and then reseal it with a special peg and was based on a product already on the market, which was a bag in a box used by mechanics to hold and transport battery acid.
In 1967, Australian inventor Charles Malpas and Penfolds Wines patented a plastic, air-tight tap (valve)|tap welded to a metallised bladder, making storage more convenient. All modern wine casks now use some sort of plastic tap, which is exposed by tearing away a perforated panel on the box.
For the next decades bag in a box packaging was primarily preferred by producers of less expensive wines as it is cheaper to fabricate and distribute than glass bottles. Having said that though, more expensive wines are becoming available in wine casks.
Manufacturers of "higher class" bottled wines have complained about the cheapness of "cask" wines, arguing that they provide a cheap means for alcoholics to become inebriated. In particular, the lower level of alcohol excise levied on cask wine in Australia (compared to beer and bottled wine) has been criticised as encouraging binge drinking. There is also no visible indication, as with a bottle, of the quantity which is being consumed.
More expensive wines are becoming available in wine casks.
Little Known Fact About the Wine Cask
Invention was patented in April 1965
It was inspired by the flexible packaging of old goat skins that stored wine in biblical times.
Angove was inspired to store wine in a plastic bag and store it in a box.
The ‘airless flow’ of the cask is why the invention is genius; wine comes out, but no air goes in. Therefore the wine doesn’t become oxidised.
In 1973, before wine casks really took off, each Australian was only drinking 9.8 litres of wine per year. Wine had a “special occasion only” image. After ten years of cask presence, per capita consumption rose to 19.3 litres.
In 2015, the cask is still as popular as ever; one in every three glasses of wine drunk in Australia comes out of a cask.
Contents stay fresh for six weeks after opening.
The Big Wine Cask at the Stanley Winery in Buronga, New South Wales
The Goon Bag (Silver Pillow)
Cask wine in Australia is colloquially referred to as "goon", which is a term derived from the word flagon, meaning a large vessel used for drink, or "boxy", in reference to it being packaged in a box.
Even though the wine cask is used interchangeably with the goon bag, the goon bag is actually the silver pillow shaped bag found inside the wine cask's outer cardboard lining.
The Urban Dictionary describes a "goon bag" as...
"...Cheap wine that comes in a box and leaves the consumer with an extreme headache the next day. Convenient because the remains of the vessel can be inflated for use as a pillow after consumption... "
Jodie Richards wrote in NomadsWorld.com...
"If you're planning on visiting Australia you've probably already read or heard about the crazy Australian slang, the strange Aussie foods and of course, the hysterical Aussie stereotypes - but if there's one thing you've REALLY got to experience in Australia - it's the Goon Bag!...
Norton Flavel’s ‘goon bag’ creation stole the show at last year’s Sculptures by the Sea at Cottesloe Beach.
...AAhhh, yes we have all experienced in Australia the wonderful tastings of Boxed Wine. Coming in many different grape varieties and blends not to mention prices, but they all have one thing in common, the well known silver pillow or goon bag."
So why a goon bag instead of a bottle?
It's easier to carry around and you don't risk dropping and smashing it when you start to lose your balance towards the end of the cask, plus you can take it swimming and won't lose it as it floats.
It fits way more in it than a bottle, could you imagine carrying around a 4 litre bottle of wine?
After a night of consuming the wine you can always blow it up and crash anywhere you want as you have a nice silver pillow for the night.
Goon Bags make great pillows
Drew from The Wine Wankers tastes 20 of Australia's premium cask wines to reveal Australia's top budget plonk. For the full results, head to www.thewinewankers.com.au Thanks to Ian W Thomson for filming this clip. www.ianwthomson.com
Sources:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=goon%20bag
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/drink/australias-iconic-cask-wine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_wine
http://nomadsworld.com/articles/australia/the-silver-pillow-life-of-a-goon-bag
http://www.dinkumaussies.com/INVENTION/Wine%20Cask.htm
https://www.angove.com.au/en/biography
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