Our Story
We’re passionate about the craft beer scene that has evolved on the Coast and are always inspired by its strong community backing.
The Sunshine Coast Brewery was established in 1998 from a dream to brew a real Ginger Beer with the Sunshine Coast’s world-famous Buderim Ginger. The authentic, mid-strength Ginger Kegs was a hit with beer drinkers and beer judges alike, and was soon joined by a hand-crafted stout, lager and a small bottling line which saw beer lovers across the Coast enjoying the Sunshine Coast’s own range of local, award-winning beers.
In mid-2006, the Sunshine Coast Brewery began a process of transformation under new owners, Greg and Brigid Curran. With craft beer only a very new (or unheard of) concept around Australia at the time, the Brewery team set out to establish a new production philosophy and started exploring traditional beer styles from around the world.
It was a slow and hesitant process of persuading loyal Queensland XXXX drinkers to dip their toe into the craft beer market. But as the popularity of craft beer started to spread from interstate and overseas, we continued to develop new flavours and try new ideas. Before long, our efforts began to be recognised locally and on the National stage, with accolades at the Australian International Beer Awards – the greatest of these being awarded the Champion Reduced Alcohol Beer for our Summer Ale in 2009.
Today, the Sunshine Coast is home to over a dozen local craft breweries, and we’re proud to have been part of this story from the very start, celebrating over 22 years of hand-crafting quality boutique beer as the longest running micro-brewery operating in Queensland. We’re passionate about the creative and free-spirited craft beer scene that has evolved on the Coast and are always inspired by its strong community backing for local business and product.
Our Brewing Process
We brew focusing on creating small batches of high-quality beer, using the best ingredients and no preservatives. We have used our experience to perfect our brews, while still exploring innovative new techniques, and uncovering new tastes. We source our malt and hops from across Australia and around the world, but also love to feature local ingredients such as Buderim Ginger in our Ginger Beer.
We’re a small brewery, and we’re passionate about keeping our environmental footprint just as small. We run sustainable water cooling and recycling, where instead of going down the drain our hot water is used to clean the brewhouse on brew day. Our spent grain from the brewing process goes to a local farmer who then uses this to feed his cattle, and we have our own little worm farm in action, where we feed our worms with any organic waste from the kitchen and use this to fertilise the garden.
Our packaging has also been designed to reflect the hand-crafted nature of our beers, with 100% recyclable cardboard four-packs and cartons and recyclable glass bottles.
The Local Ecosystem
The local Sunshine Coast food community is incredibly important to our brewing, not only are they our main source of business but they are also our main source of inspiration and feedback. We love trialing and testing our new brews with our loyal customers and seeing them feature at local bars and restaurants and as ingredients on their menus.
We are actively involved in Sunshine Coast’s Food & Agribusiness Network (FAN) and have been a major sponsor for several years. This has provided us with a great platform to promote the region’s food, agricultural and brewing diversity. Visitors to the Sunshine Coast are really spoilt for choice when it comes to local Coast produce, and it’s a great advertisement for this area of Queensland.
As craft breweries continue to evolve and new breweries are established, we are continuing to introduce new and innovative beers that reflect our coast style. While this makes it highly competitive in the local market, it is also starting to have great flow-on effects to local tourism, with word spreading quickly of coast craft beer and attracting visitors to our beautiful region.
