A woman holds a low carbohydrate beer at a bar near Sydney's Bondi Beach
© AFP/File Torsten Blackwood SYDNEY (AFP) - The report follows the government's decision to increase the tax on alcopops -- bottled or canned fizzy drinks usually mixed with rum or vodka -- by 70 percent to curtail binge drinking among young people.
Some drinks companies have sidestepped the tax by producing drinks brewed using the same methods as beer but with all the "beer characteristics" removed and sugar and colouring added, the Sun-Herald newspaper said.
The products, known as "malternatives", are also packaged like a flavoured beverage and sell for as little as two Australian dollars (1.25 US) a drink -- significantly cheaper than the "alcopops" that fall under the new tax regime.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the government would be looking to close any loopholes which allowed drinks manufacturers to undermine initiatives to curb harmful teenage drinking.
"Unfortunately these reports show that there are some people in the industry who are still prepared to always find a way around it and want to hook young people on alcohol as early as possible," she told the Nine Network.
"We certainly are looking at it closely. Treasury, the tax office, the health department are looking to see what might be able to be done."
A leading producer of alcopops, Independent Disillers Australia, said that restricting the characteristics of beer would impact companies which produced flavoured versions of the national drink.
The group's executive chairman Doug McKay said Australia's alcohol tax regime was confusing and that his company had produced malternatives to show the complexity of the laws.
"For political reasons, for good intentions, for revenue reasons, for health reasons -- the whole thing has been compromised so much over the years, now it actually doesn't have any underlying principles," McKay told the Sun-Herald.