Engineer Andy's Journal: Day three in Cairns - a dearth of local breweries

One of the things I had hoped to do while in Cairns was to find the local beer, and see if it was drinkable, or just something that is to be left local.

Back in NZ, every region has its own beer, both the general drinking beers as well as the boutique breweries. Without a great deal of thought, i know of

Tui http://www.tui.co.nz/

Waikato Draughthttp://www.lion-nathan.co.nz/our+brands/beer/new+zealand/mainstream/waikato+draught.htm

Canterbury draught

db (dominion breweries)http://dbbreweries.co.nz/

monteithshttp://www.monteiths.co.nz/

Macs http://macs.co.nz/

mike's mild ale (superb organic beer) http://www.organicbeer.co.nz/

speights (in regular, dark and old)http://speights.co.nz/

and a few others that i didn't think of as well: http://www.realbeer.co.nz/nz_breweries/

There are no breweries in Cairns. none of any description. The nearest brewery (a boutique number) is in Townsville, which is about 4.5 hours drive south. For those back in NZ this would be amazing. Almost every two horse town has their own beer, and some of them have two.

I may have to subsist on beers shipped north from the civilised parts of the country. A minor disappointment, but not insurmountable. Not that the presence of many breweries in an area is the mark of civilisation, as evidenced by Greymouth in NZ.

I have been informed that you can get mango or lychee wine a small distance away from Cairns, but I'm yet to be convinced that such wines are not an abomination unto the Lord. Just because you can make wine out of any fruit, it does not mean that you should.