Eumundi Laguna Bay Lager Poster

The attractive small township of Eumundi nestles in the hinterland rainforests of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, 110 km north of Brisbane, perhaps an unlikely location for a brewery. During 1987 John Lynch, a brewing engineer and developer, had invited a number of Queensland businesspeople and hotelowners to invest in a brewery at Eumundi, which could ‘grow with demand’.

On behalf of the group, Lynch purchased the beautiful old Imperial Hotel at Eumundi, and began construction of an adjacent brewery. In February 1988 Eumundi Lager was on the market, and the beer sold as fast as it could be brewed — from the keg at the Imperial, and in long-necked bottles throughout south-east Queensland. The beers — Eumundi Lager, Gulf Beer and Laguna Bay Lager — quickly attracted cult followings. The bottle labels of all of the company’s beers are particularly attractive, and the beers themselves gained widespread popularity.

A prospectus was issued in 1989, and the share issue was oversubscribed. Shortly after, however, the new company, Eumundi Brewing Co. Ltd, was faced with a number of problems. Eumundi was always meant to be a premium beer but at a premium price, and gradually it became a luxury few drinkers could afford or were prepared to pay. Local residents took exception to the smells coming from the brewery, and, to make matters worse, there were huge cost over-runs at the brewery.

By early 1991 mounting losses required the infusion of further capital, but the problems persisted. In Dec­em­ber 1991 an agreement was reached with the Power Brewing Co. of Yatala to produce and distribute Eumundi’s beer.

In February 1992 the Eumundi Brewery closed.