Akin to our coffee, breakfast, and burger culture, the Gold Coast is growing to become a beer connoisseur’s paradise. Today there’s a mounting brigade of bars and restaurants passionately pouring craft beer to their hops-loving clientele; with nary a VB, XXXX, or Tooheys in sight.
So you can enjoy a tasty cold one (or six) well into your summer’s eve, here’s our pick of the Gold Coast’s best craft beer bars, for your drinking pleasure. Cheers!
Bine Beer Bar
Gold Coast’s first dedicated craft beer watering hole, firm Nobby Beach favourite, Bine Beer Bar updates its tap list weekly. Right now it’s 4 Pines Hefeweizen, Mountain Goat Steam Ale, and Holgate Mount Macedon Pale Ale, among others. Check their website for the day’s carefully brewed line-up. While any time is the right time to visit Bine, between 4—6pm every day you’ll get a draft beer and bucket of wings for a tiny 10 bucks. Dinner sorted!
Where: Shop 1—2 Chairlift Avenue, Nobby Beach
Lester and Earl
Visiting Palm Beach’s modern-rustic American smokehouse leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. With finger-licking fare like slow-cooked smoked pork ribs and buffalo bourbon sticky wings, plus 12 refreshing craft beers on tap, Lester and Earl’s breezy wrap-around deck is a great spot to spend your weekend afternoons. Favourite craft beers available include Newstead’s Three Quarter Time Session Ale and Monteith’s Dopplebock. Can’t decide? Whet your whistle with one of Lester and Earl’s tasting paddles.
Where: 1097 Gold Coast Highway, Palm Beach
BALTER BREWING CO.
Legendary local pro surfers: Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, Bede Durbridge, and Josh Kerr, together with long-term mates and their main man, head brewer Scott Hargrave launched their first beer—Balter XPA—back in March and, today, tinnies are literally flying out of bottle-os. They’ve had an epic run thus far and it seems there’s no stopping these guys. Without question one of the best new openings of 2016, Balter Brewing’s Currumbin-based cellar door is open to the public Friday through Sunday afternoons, with their Sunday sessions (complete with a food truck, exclusive beer samples, tunes, and a cool crew) being one of the Coast’s best ways to farewell the weekend. Period.
Where: Traders Way, Currumbin
House of Brews
Descending on the scene in 2015, House of Brews has quickly cemented itself as one of the Gold Coast’s best craft beer bars. Beer lovers will be in hoppy heaven with a ridic wall of 32 taps—the biggest draft selection on the Coast. These guys have even thought of the ladies (or the odd gent) who’ve yet to acquire their affection for beer (god bless them), with easy introductions like mango, chocolate, or coffee-flavoured options. Better yet, House of Brews extensive beer menu can be paired with classic American BBQ dishes such as sticky BBQ wings and ribs, burgers, steaks, and loaded parmys— knock back a coldie while people watching the frivolities of the nightly Surfers’ circus.
Where: 17 Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise
Ze Pickle
Everyone knows beers and burgers are a match made in heaven, especially when those burgers are some of the best you’ll find on the Gold Coast. Our mates at Ze Pickle are so damn popular they’ve just expanded to Brisbane, with Sydney next in their sights—and you’ve got to love a local success story. Ze Pickle rotates 12 taps with craft beers from across Australia and abroad, including frosty brews from Black Hops, Stone and Wood, Two Birds, Deschutes, and Green Beacon.
Where: Corner of Park Avenue and Connor Street, Burleigh Heads
Cambus Wallace
Hidden behind an intriguing wooden façade on the main drag of hipster Nobby Beach, step inside this moody vintage night-spot where the effortlessly cool crew behind the bar will happily make a recommendation if you are struggling to choose from the dozen or so bottled craft beer options and rotating taps. Cambus Wallace‘s tasty brews include Fremantle’s Little Creatures pale ale, the Belgian-style wheat ale by Blue Moon, and Brisbane’s Newstead Indian pale ale.
Where: 4/2237 Gold Coast Highway, Nobby Beach
Surfers Sandbar
Humming away on Surfers Paradise’s touristy beachfront esplanade, this beer bar is serious about brews. At the ready to share their crafty knowledge, the Surfers Sandbar team have rotating beer taps and around 90 bottled options chilling in the fridge (many of which are small-batch types). Sandbar’s popularity with Gold Coast’s beer-loving punters makes it one of the best craft beer bars in town.
Where: 52 The Esplanade, Surfers Paradise
Burleigh Brewing Company
We reckon beer tastes better when it comes direct from the source, in a paddock-to -plate kinda way. For the best part of the last decade, Burleigh Brewing Company has stood proud as the Gold Coast’s only craft brewery (though soon to be joined by two new home-grown ventures). With no additives, preservatives, or chemicals ever used in the brewing process, be assured there’s a lot of love put into every bottle. Drop by for brewery tours (first Friday evening of each month) or hit up the Brewhouse Bar every Friday arvo between 5—8:30 pm for frosty mugs of signature brews like FIGJAM IPA, 28 Pale Ale, Black Giraffe, and My Wife’s Bitter; then grab a six-pack for the road. Cheers to that!
Where: 17A Ern Harley Drive, Burleigh Heads
Even more joints to get your craft beer drank on…
Not Tonight
For the hops-loving northerners, Southport’s favourite small bar Not Tonight is getting into craft beer in a big way, with a selection of rotating brews on tap and an impressive 50 plus choice of Australian craft bottles in the fridge.
Where: 50B Nerang Street, Southport
Pigs and Pints
Pair your craft beer with a fat feed at Surfers Paradise’s Pigs and Pints.
Where: 9 Hamilton Avenue, Surfers Paradise
Did we miss your favourite on our list of the Gold Coast’s best craft beer bars? Let us know!
When Brooke Darling is not travelling to far flung places or sailing around the world, she’s scouring the coast for the best ethnic food, new openings, and hidden gems, all in the name of research for Metropolist. She loves motorbike rides to the hinterland, learning (frustratingly) to surf, and will try any adventure sport at least once. Find her on Instagram @darlingisamrs
Photo Credit: Edmond Tsang for Metropolist