Western bevies...

BOTTOMS up! CWQ Brewing Company has trialed a new beer in the local community and has goals of opening a local brewery.   

Longreach RSL General Manager Chantelle Smith said locals have been raving about the taste.  

“They said it’s a spin-off to Great Northern which is the most popular beer here,” she said.  

“They’re loving the story behind it; they’re loving it as a novelty item to keep.  

She said it was great to have a local beer.  

“We have a great town anyway, but this is just adding to it,” she said.  

Creator and Contractor/ Consultant Paul Misipeka, after digging into its history, discovered Longreach had previously had a brewery in the town a little over 100 years ago.   “I’m quite keen on beer as I’m sure a lot of people are, and I decided to have a closer look and the interest really came in discovering the stories in the history that had been lost,” he said.  

“When looking into it I thought there might be an opportunity to create manufacturing in Central Western Queensland in the year of beer.” 

Mr Misipeka said the end game was to establish a brewery owned by the people of Central Western Queensland.  

“It is a manufacturing plant that will brew beer in cans and kegs and supply it to the public throughout Central Western Queensland as well as the tourist operators,” he said.  

“[This] will create employment; and in a lot of ways, keep a lot of revenue and expenditure, in people spending money on alcohol, in Central Western Queensland. 

“It’s got some economic amplifiers; it can multiply by having more money stay within the local economies.” 

Mr Misipeka said the trial had been deliberately set during tourist season and he was pleased with the result in sales.  

“What we opted to do is develop “pioneers of the past” stories on the side of the cans,” he said.  

“[It was to] establish a sense of pride and history in the community and to target the tourist market. 

“And in doing so develop an interest in purchasing the product.” 

Prior CWQ Brewing Company allowed locals to taste test a number of possible lagers, which led to the taste profile that is in the beer, currently.  

However, Mr Misipeka said in the second rollout of the beer (phase two), there will be a change in the beer’s taste.  

“It’ll be a little bit more mellow in its taste, a little more traditional,” he said.  

“That can well be called the original lager. 

Mr Misipeka hopes the beer will not only be purchased locally but shipped throughout Australia.  

The beer is currently named after the three towns it is distributed to Longreach Lager, Barcaldine Lager, and Winton Lager.  

In the second rollout, Mr Misipeka said he will be looking to include other towns such as Alpha, Jundah, Stonehenge, Birdsville, Bedourie, and Boulia. 

“Of which they’ve all shown their support for,” he said.  

Mr Misipeka said the idea of a community-owned brewery was to build pride in the Central West community around their own product and manufacturing.  

He wished to thank all publicans, locals, and tourist operators for their support. 

“The locals love the beer, the messaging, and the style, thank you for that,” he said.