Road Trip

[Ron]

Hi all
I am off to Cairns on Friday for an 8 day roadtrip back to Brisbane.... I know it's a shit job but someone has to do it.
What I'm after is some info on good places to stop and get tasty beers on our way.
Suggestions would be mostly appreciated.
Cheers in advance.
Ron.

[Beer_ledgend]

Have a great trip, there aren't that may breweries in Northern Queensland, mostly based around Sunshine Coast and Brisbane.

I'm sure you'll find a lot of bottle stores. But those Queenslanders luv thier XXXX and VB.
If you see a Dan Murphies bottle store, they may have a good range of Austrlian Micros.

[Steph]

Just been to OZ. Sadly, not much on offer. It is pretty bad in Qld. If you get to Brissie, there is a GREAT bottle shop in the West End (can't tell you where exactly but near a Greek restaraunt). We tried the Duke Pale Ale made in Burley Heads in Qld but I don't think that is anywhere near Cairns. My advice is to stick with the Little Creatures...

[Greig McGill]

That bottlo is called Nectar. It's here.

[Nathan Ross]

Cairns has the Blue Sky MicroBrewery with 6 beers on offer (the usual suspects), haven't been there myself so not sure on quality.
Yes Brissie is a wasteland for beer but there is some hope for good beer. The beer store that Steph mentioned is called Nectar (114 Boundary St West End) and is the best shop for beer in the city.
The only other place really worth checking out to drink at is Platform Bar @ Grand Central Hotel. There's a focus strictly on Aussie micros with around 8 taps and an extensive bottle range. It can be hit & miss though with what's on offer and they usually waste taps on the James Squire beers which are available pretty much everywhere these days.
In the way of MicroBrewies there's Sunshine Coast Brewery (Nth of BNE), Burleigh Brewing (Gold Coast area), Mt Tamborine Brewery (highly recommended) and Eagle Heights Brewery (also up the mountain). Nice day trips as well if you have time.

Hope this helps you out. Have a good trip...
Cheers, Nate

[Stu McKinlay]

Yeh, I lived on Little Creatures Pale Ale for three weeks in early September. For some reason the 500ml bottles always tasted better. Their 'Rogers' and 'Bright Ale' aren't bad either but the pale ale really is great.

Matilda Bay beers aren't up to much these days... I wonder if they ever were. Fizzy and very much at the bland end of the pseudo-craft scale, much like Monteith's.

Try places that look like "wine specialists". You'll probably have more luck. Or just stop at every bottle store you see, like I did!

Great country though. If it's really hot, you're thirsty, the taps are fresh and you have good company then I've drunk a lot worse than XXXX 'Heavy'.

[Greig McGill]

I'll second that. I was really impressed by the quality of XXXX and XXXX gold, though was sad to learn the XXXX Carbine Stout is no more. We apparently tasted the last batch ever to be brewed. Sad panda.

I'll also second Stu's call on Matilda Bay, though I have to admit I enjoyed Fat Yak on tap at the Grand Central in Brisbane. Very fresh, nicely hopped, and generally refreshing and tasty. Much better than the bottles I've had before. I also enjoyed their Pepperjack - a weird blend of ale and shiraz wine! Not sure I'd drink it regularly, but it's well made and interesting.

The two breweries which blew me away were Stone and Wood, with their crazy wheat APA (sadly named just "draught"), and Feral Brewing, with their Hop Hog - a beer which is my new standard for APAs. One of the best I've had, including USA brews. I've no idea whether you'll find these up north, or whether they'll taste any good from the bottle if you do. One major thing I noticed was how extremely variable these beers are in quality and consistency. I know NZ craftbrewers have their issues here too, but the Aussies are behind us by quite a long way. I love what they're doing though, and look forward to going back to a more beery place to sample some more. :)

[Stu McKinlay]

wrong end of the trip i know but i got this from an importer of euro beers (www.innspire.com.au) recently...

...you can always try Brisbane's leading craft beer retailer "Nectar Beer & Wine Specialists". They stock a lot of our beers and are extremely knowledgeable and great guys to talk to. Speak to either Tom or Carl. https://www.nectarwines.com.au/pages/show/id/2/ Alternatively you could try The Wine Emporium (www.thewineemporium.com.au) and speak to Charlie or even the Spotted Cow (www.thespottedcow.com.au) ask for Phil Coorey. All should be able to ship to Noosa if you can't pick up here n Brisbane.

it may be of use, if you like mikkeller, flying dog, rogue etc