Not content with merely being a ridiculously good-looking, internationally famous actor, Vikings star Travis Fimmel has decided to branch out into beer-making. He’s teamed up with MasterChef’s Andy Allen to create a ‘sessionable’ low-carb mid-strength beer called Travla. Why Travla? Because we Aussies, much like Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, often have to travel for great distances to get anywhere halfway decent. 

The new brew is just the latest in a flurry of ‘better-for-you’ beverages saturating the market. It comes in at 3.5% ABV and only 89 calories per can, which makes it a more sensible choice for after work or at the footy when compared with a cattle horn filled with mead.

Fimmel says the beer, “flips the idea of local craft brewing into a national beer that has the potential to be an overseas ambassador”. Rather than linking the beer to a specific city or state, the idea is to apply a “broader lens” to the Aussie beer market.

“We want to buck the localisation trend and create a beer that represents this country as a whole,” Fimmel continues. “We believe it’s time for a new Australian beer that, in time, can be taken to the world.” It would certainly make a welcome replacement for Foster’s Lager.  

Allen and Fimmel called upon the expertise of brewer Blake Bowden to create a low-carb, lower-alcohol beer that still tasted “bloody good”. The result is a clean, crisp lager with mild fruitiness and a smooth bitterness that comes in at 11 on the International Bitterness Units scale, which is apparently a thing. 

“He’s a bloody wizard and brings extensive experience to the group,” Allen says of Bowden. “So, as much as I was super hands-on, we’ve really got Blake to thank for creating a top-notch brew.”

Travla is available at Liquorland, Vintage Cellars and First Choice stores nationally. Allen recommends pairing it with clean, light snacks, like barbecue prawns with salsa verde. Whether or not you make a sacrifice to the gods before consuming is entirely up to you. 

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