Page 98 - Tropic Magazine Issue 20

TROPIC • REGIONAL HISTORY

1
Tropical ale tales that locals in the Cairns district consistently winning awards over their
southern counterparts.
consumed each week.
A new company known as Northern Of course, CUB is still up to old tricks
BREW STORY
Australian Breweries (NAB) was formed with its Yatala brewery now rolling out
The Cairns region has a long to take over when the funding tap ran Great Northern Beer, complete with the
and proud history of beer dry just a few years later. It produced classic marlin logo of its once-famous
brewing that stretches back beer so good it won the loyal support of Cairns Draught.
initially skeptic northerners, upsetting
nearly 100 years. Carlton & United Breweries (CUB),
which was losing its market share.
Words Renee Cluff
“With such foundations as Cairns
The best water in Australia, an water, Tasmanian hops, Victorian malt,
entrepreneurial spirit and a climate North Queensland sugar and North
to suit the brewing process. Those are Queensland labour, these products
the key ingredients in the formative have secured a large amount of public
years of the Cairns beer scene. It all patronage and are of a high standard,”
began in the early 1920s when a group wrote the Cairns Post in 1931.
of investor friends formed Cairns CUB resorted to slashing beer prices
Brewery Company. They were guided by half to put Northern Australian
by the expertise of John Louis Breheny, Breweries out of business but NAB 2
who at the time was considered manager Reginald Fogarty, who Fogarty
Australia’s foremost authority Park is named after, dug in. He urged
on brewing. “He was more than drinkers to resist the southern attack
impressed with the future possibilities and eventually brought the beer battle
of the Cairns Brewery and of the to an end by granting CUB a majority
excellent water supply and healthy shareholding. Mr Fogarty remained as
climate of Cairns,” said a Cairns Post manager, putting the local office on the
article from 1924. “He was convinced path to a 60-year history, during which
that Cairns beer would be equal to if it became renowned for brews like
not better than the best in Australia. Cairns Draught and Cairns Bitter Ale.
Good water was one of the essentials It was one of the city’s major employers
of good beer and the Cairns water had before the brewery closed down in 1992.
proved to be the best in Australia.” Today, those same crystal-clear 3
The brewery was built on Spence waters and the pioneering spirit of
Street, the site of the current Harvey the north form the basis of a thriving 1. Cairns Brewery c. 1964
Like this image? The Cairns Historical Society has over
Norman store, and the group launched local craft beer scene, with the likes 30,000 digital images from Far North Queensland. You
a plan to brew 300 hogsheads weekly. of Hemingway’s Brewery, Macalister can view them at the Society’s Research Centre, located
That’s equal to 75,000 litres but well Brewing Company, Barrier Reef with the Cairns Museum in the School of Arts building.
2. Cairns Brewing Co. Ltd. label c. 1920s
below the estimated 500 hogsheads Brewing Co. and Coral Sea Brewing 3. Hemingway’s Brewery Doug’s Courage XPA

98 • Tropic • Issue 20