Lion is preparing to break ground on its new Queensland brewery, and hopes to be pouring pints by the Christmas.
Tiny Mountain microbrewery will be located in a former warehouse on Palmer Street, South Townsville. Chris Sheehan, a head brewer at Malt Shovel, is already on site.
Tiny Mountain takes its name from Townsville’s famous pink granite landmark, Castle Hill, which falls just short of ‘mountain’ classification.
“Some of our beers will only be available in Townsville but others will be available far and wide,” Sheehan told the Townsville Bulletin.
“I expect to see the mighty Tiny Mountain front and centre on much of our imagery on our brands.
“Craft breweries in regions and cities is a big growing thing in Australia. The vision is to create some really solid local beers for people in North Queensland and beyond.”
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill added: “Business attracts more business. It’s about making sure you have the right product and I think this is the right product for here.
“(Breweries) are a really important part now of local culture.”
According to Malt Shovel’s plans, a taproom will be open to the public daily from 2pm to 11pm, except for Sundays which will have an earlier closing time of 10pm.
The Queensland brewery’s state-of-the-art equipment will be capable of producing about 200,000 litres of beer a year.
Ten new full-time jobs will be created by the project, in addition to 40 jobs during the construction phase.
“We recognise the importance of using local companies and suppliers as much as possible throughout this project,” Sheehan said.
“One of the other fantastic parts of this project to date has been getting to know the vibrant homebrewing community that exists in Townsville, and we have really enjoyed meeting a great bunch of home brewers and local beer lovers at the many taste tests we’ve conducted over the past year to fine tune Tiny Mountain’s core range of beers.
“Tiny Mountain will make a range of new beers for North and Far North Queensland and will be available fresh from the tanks in the venue, and at various pubs, bars and clubs. We look forward to working with local hotels and clubs to create brands that suit the unique needs of the North Queensland beer drinker,” Sheehan concluded.
Pictured main: Chris Sheehan at the Tiny Mountain site with mayor Jenny Hill and director of Phoenix Constructions Nathan Evennette.
