New brew is a toast to our lifesavers

SURF Life Saving Queensland has teamed up with Brisbane’s Newstead Brewing Co to craft a new fundraising initiative worth raising a glass to.

Darren Magin, left, and Jimmy Herron, right, crack open Nineteen 09 with surf lifesavers Julianna Grana and David Fuller. Picture: Nigel Hallett

SURF Life Saving Queensland has teamed up with Brisbane’s Newstead Brewing Co to craft a new beer called Nineteen 09, with proceeds of its sale to be used to train volunteer lifesavers and maintain equipment.

“It’s just reflecting on two great Queensland pastimes, of having a beer with friends and going to the beach, and it’s a great way of raising some funds and getting gear on our beaches,” SLSQ chief executive John Brennan said.

The name is a tribute to the first ­recorded rescue in Queensland, on February 21, 1909, when a group of lifesavers pulled four women and a man from a rip at Greenmount Beach on the Gold Coast.

Creating the signature brew involved tastings by members of 20 southeast Queensland Surf Life Saving clubs and the result is a real winner, said Newstead Brewing’s Darren Magin.

“We’ve created a style called Coastal Ale, an Australian pale ale with a nice tropical punch to it and slight bitterness, but it’s very sessionable,” he said.

“After a day on the beach, it’s going to be the perfect beer to kick back with.”

Nineteen 09 will be rolled out over the next few weeks into all Surf Life Saving Clubs across Queensland and in bottle shops, with the initiative to be ongoing if the beer is a success.