Townsville Brewing Co: Mathew Alberdi’s best story wins year’s supply of beer

A Townsville man who had a horrifying encounter with a four-metre croc has been given a year’s supply of beer. So what happened?

A Townsville man who got his boat stuck on the bank with his mates next to a massive, hungry crocodile has won a year’s supply of the Brewery’s Legends Lager for his troubles.

The first of the canned crates of The Brewing Company’s creation were handed to winner Mathew Alberdi on Friday after his tale won him top prize in the search for a Townsville legend to celebrate.

Winner of Townsville Brewing Co's ' Tallest Tale' competition Mathew Alberdi. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The month-long search, which was inundated with stories of Townsville people battling the elements and local wildlife in scenes typical of the tropical lifestyle, ended with Mr Alberdi’s win.

“I saw the opportunity, and I knew I had some good stories to share, so I leapt at it,” Mr Alberdi said.

“There was no truth stretching at all with our story, it was all just how it happened.”

Townsville Brewing Co's competition winner of 'Townsville’s Tallest Tale' Mathew Alberdi, is presented a year's worth of beer by Townsville Brewing Co head brewer Glen Nolen and owner Tristan Bredhauer. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The events, which took place in 2015, saw Mr Alberdi and two of his best mates crabbing along the Ross River, before becoming grounded after brushing up against a huge crocodile in the waters.

“We were looking for one of our crab pots, and we saw this little light, we started heading towards it, thinking it was a crab pot,” Mr Alberdi said.

“We kept getting closer and it turned into two little red lights and we went ‘oh no’. We turned around in a hurry and we ended up stuck on the bank right next to the crocodile. One of us had to climb out and the other had to rev the motor to try and scare it away.

“It just looked at us like we were idiots. We managed to get away and went back and had to shake out the nerves for the rest of the night.”

The three men weren’t quick to decide which one of them would be leaping out of the boat and braving getting closer to the croc to free their trapped boat.

“As we went past, we shone the light on it and it was easily bigger than our boat, which was about 4-metres, so it definitely wasn’t a little one,” Mr Alberdi said.

Townsville Brewing Co’s co-owner Tristan Bredhauer said there’d been plenty of entrants into the competition.

“We had quite a few, they leaned towards the funny side of things rather than the legendary, but I think we’ve picked one that’s stayed pretty true to the Legend’s Lager brand,” Mr Bredhauer said.

In addition to winning drinks for himself and his mates, Mr Alberdi’s story will also be filmed and turned into an advertisement for the brewery’s product, with Justin Fimmel set to star.

Originally published as Townsville Brewing Co: Mathew Alberdi’s best story wins year’s supply of beer