Maggie Island Brewery opens microbrewery at Picnic Bay

Southern investors have launched the latest tourist attraction for Magnetic Island, a craft beer microbrewery in Picnic Bay. See inside here.

Many people will have yearned to get wrecked on Magnetic Island. Now you have the chance to do it in style with the opening of a craft beer microbrewery in Picnic Bay.

Maggie Island Brewery is the venture of two southern investors who could see the opportunity to create something interesting in an otherwise sleepy part of the island.

Fortunately, they were able to find a local brewer skilled in making beer.

Jordan Dahl heralds from Seattle on the west coast of the United States and brews the Indian Pale Ales and Extra Pale Ales for which the area is renowned.

He also makes a popular Maggie Mid lager.

“One of the nice things about having a small brewing system is you do have the ability to experiment and do things that are a bit out of the ordinary and try things,” Mr Dahl said.

“The beautiful thing about beer is that the possibilities are endless. You are not captive to lager or ales. You can do a lot of different stuff.”

Regular visitors to the island, Flinders Island grazier Mick Grimshaw and Melbourne property developer James Permezel, bought the mostly vacant arcade building on Picnic Bay’s Esplanade for just $480,000 in 2018.

They’ve substantially refurbished the building, maintaining tenancies for Italian favourite Mamma Roma and the Reef Cafe, while installing the microbrewery in the arcade.

It opened to a huge weekend of patronage from locals and visitors.

Mr Dahl said the challenge had been not to run out of beer. They scraped home with half a keg remaining on opening weekend and have done a steady trade since.

The beers are married with wines and spirits, many of them Queensland made, and an affiliated food van, Straight Down BBQ, which offers gourmet sausages and beer braised pork belly.

Thirsting for home, Mr Dahl started making beer more than a decade ago and has worked in home brew shops and at a Townsville brewery.

Now he heads an operation employing 10 people serving the Maggie Mid and three other mainstays: a German style pilsner, a Holiday extra pale ale and a Dank 83 IPA.

Two more brews are introduced periodically, sometimes a Porter stout and a watermelon sour and there are plans for a smoked cherry and coconut Porter and a Tequila, watermelon and mint sour.

“As the season changes, the beer styles will change,” Mr Dahl said.

The future for Picnic Bay, which has been in the doldrums for years, is looking brighter.

Originally published as Maggie Island Brewery opens microbrewery at Picnic Bay