CRAFTY IDEAS POUR $62M INTO ECONOMY
DOZENS of Queensland entrepreneurs are brewing liquid gold to create a booming industry injecting $62m into the state’s economy and employing hundreds of workers.
From Currumbin to Cairns, Queensland’s craft beer sector has exploded in the past decade, to now boast more than 100 breweries and about 1700 workers.
Most are mates or business partners who had a dream to brew their own froth. In Toowoomba, 4 Brothers Brewing owner Adrian Cubit left his job as a train driver to launch a new venture.
“Train driving is all about shift work and back in 2014 I was working away from home at the time and I remember sitting in my mining camp room thinking I don’t want to be doing this when I’m 65 years old,” he said.
“I had been reading about what was then known as microbreweries.
“I had a little bit of homebrewing experience with my father and always held on to the dream of one day opening my own brewery.”
A visit to Ipswich’s 4 Hearts Brewery in 2015 prompted Mr Cubit to launch his own business.
“Ipswich had a brewery servicing their city and I was left wondering why people in the city of Toowoomba, with its large region and high visitor numbers, didn’t yet have a brewery to call their own,” he said.
Mr Cubit opened the doors to 4 Brothers Brewing in April 2017 and since the first beer was poured the company has grown to turn a profit.
“We’ve managed to win a few medals along the way, but our main focus is to brew a good variety of beers that we and our customers want to drink,” he said. After operating for almost four years Mr Cubit has finalised a lease to move the brewery into a new venue within the Toowoomba CBD and expects to open by March 2021.
The state government’s Craft Beer Strategy, released in November 2018, found an increasing number of craft breweries were opening in regional Queensland – with more than 20 now operating.