“We’re in Burleigh Heads, which is absolutely the best place in the world.”
This is a big call, considering Brennan and Peta Fielding’s brewing journey started in beautiful Hawaii – where Brennan grew up on a sailing boat – and included Japan and USA along the way. But from the moment this family-run brewery started up on the Gold Coast in 2006, Brennan and Peta didn’t look back.
The early days weren’t easy. In 2006, bars and bottleshops of the Gold Coast were full of beers from the big multinational brands, and the craft beer scene in Queensland was almost non-existent. Brennan and Peta were pioneers, and when they started producing Burleigh Brewing beers, it felt like they were met with crickets chirping.
But they had a mission: to be a brewery that supplies people in its local area, and to introduce people to a variety of different beer styles and flavours. And it didn’t take too long to convince their locals that freshly made beer flowing from an independent brewery was a very good thing.
The brewery expanded as much as possible on the original site, but eventually it was bursting at the seams. So in 2015 the Burleigh Brewing team packed up their big stainless steel toys and moved a few hundred metres down the road where they had room to brew more beer and invite more people into their space.
It’s here at the Taphouse that you can enjoy Burleigh Brewing beer at the source today. Bring your mates. Bring your dog. Grab a bite to eat, soak in some live music or comedy, and settle in for a few schooners. There’s an ever-changing lineup of brews you can’t get anywhere else, so you’ll never find yourself short of something new to try. But the core range beers are always pouring alongside them, so you never have to miss out on your favourites, either.
Beer’s always been the focus at Burleigh Brewing, and their slew of awards shows that. In recent years, that’s included the Grand Champion trophy for a limited release Bock (2019 Royal Queensland Beer Awards), Champion Australian Style Pale Ale for Twisted Palm (2021 AIBAs), and Champion European Style Ale for their German wheat beer Hef (2022 Royal Queensland Beer Awards). They pride themselves on quality and integrity throughout the entire brewing and packaging process: “No shortcuts, even when nobody is watching.”
But Burleigh Brewing goes beyond just beer. The crew love to champion all kinds of arts and culture for their Gold Coast community as well, including partnering with local festivals, supporting local artists, hosting skate competitions and celebrating local surfboard shapers.
Because this is a brewery that doesn’t like to stand still. A brewery that started with two employees and now has over fifty. A brewery that started getting beers on tap down the road, then became a cornerstone of good beer on the Gold Coast, then became available in fridges and on taps around the country. A brewery that brings people behind the scenes to see how beer’s made, and gets out onto the road to take their beer wherever they can. A brewery that’s still expanding, still experimenting, and still evolving as it comes up towards two decades of bringing beer to the people.
This is a brewery that isn’t afraid to take on the world… but as they say, they reckon they’ve got the best place in the world already.
Mick Wüst
