On August 11th I visited the Sunshine Brewery in Kuluin, Maroochydore, Queensland. This brewery has only been in operation for the past twelve weeks, but they already have a good variety of beers on offer and a substantial following from locals.
The beers that I sampled were:
Sunshine Sparkling Golden Ale, 4.8% abv, this Ale has a golden colour and subtle aroma of fruit and malt. It has a good initial taste of malts and then a gentle hop bitterness. Very easy drinking and a good beer to introduce someone to craft beers.
Mujimba Mid-ish, 3.9% abv, this is a straw coloured beer with a lovely citrus hop aroma. It has a full fruity flavour and a nice hop bitterness on a dry finish.
Island Sunrise Pale Ale, 5.6% abv, this is a straw coloured Pale Ale with a slightly tropical aroma. It has a sweet tropical taste and then transitions into a smooth hop bitter finish. Very good and enjoyable.
Sunshine Saison, 6.0% abv, this farmhouse style beer has a golden red colour and a yeasty aroma with hints of banana and orange. It has a wonderful true to style flavour with hints of oranges. Quite lovely.
Sunshine Double IPA, 7.0% abv, this is an American West Coast style Imperial IPA with an amber colour and an aroma of sweet passionfruit. It is very well balanced with a good caramel malt initial taste and then a rich fruit flavour that transitions into a lingering hop bitter finish. A wonderful beer that is hop forward but still maintains a good malt backbone.
Noosa Ruby Sunset Ale, 5.3 % abv, this amber red coloured Ale has a sweet malt aroma with hints of chocolate and fruit. It has been made with six different malts that combine to produce a complex malt palate that leads into a mild bitterness and a dry finish.
Sunshine Jaffa Stout, 3.1% abv, this is a dark brown beer with a strong aroma of coffee. It has a full malt flavour of dark chocolate and then a nice taste of orange on the finish. Very good and quite sessionable at 3.1%.
Raspberries and Cream Stout, 3.5% abv, this Stout has a wonderful dark maroon colour and an aroma of raspberries and roasted malt. It has a lovely taste of slightly tart raspberries and then a sweetness. Sweet and tart together, very nice and very drinkable.
Stickum, 4.8% abv, this is a German style that is a strong Altbier. It has an amber colour and a subtle smokey aroma. The flavour is a complex sweet malty one with a slight smokiness. Unusual but enjoyable.
I would like to thank Daryle and Craig for their hospitality. I think that they are doing a fantastic job of producing quality beers for such a young Brewery and I am sure that they will have a Sunshine bright future.