Tiny Mountain Brewery reveals ownership change and venue transformation

North Queensland beer fans will be frothing when they hear about the dramatic changes underway to reopen a popular brewing venue. Read the latest update.

Tiny Mountain Brewery Head Brewer Dave Mullins is looking forward to showcasing the upgrades to the popular Townsville microbrewery. Picture: Supplied.

Much like the beer in their stills, an exciting comeback story is brewing at Townsville’s shuttered Tiny Mountain Brewery, which could be serving beers again just in time for Summer.

Construction has begun on a “big facelift” at the Palmer St venue, providing a high-quality fit-out, boosting seat capacity from 150 to 600, and creating state-of-the-art brewhouse with a larger production volume.

A new kitchen is being built and its large bar area will showcase brick, stone, metalwork and creeping vines, built-in benches, and a mix of picnic-style booths, and high bar seating.

Opened by the craft beer brewery group Lion in 2019, the microbrewery built a loyal fanbases for its froths before Lion suddenly pulled the plug in March last year, citing a lack of sales.

A development approval to upgrade the property, including a quadrupling of its beer production to a million litres annually, received the green light from Townsville City Council in late 2023.

Tiny Mountain Brewery staff in the lead up to OKT-TINY-FEST 2022. Picture: Tiny Mountain.

Tiny Mountain Brewery was taken over by Katarzyna Group, a proudly-owned family owned and operated independent hospitality group from south east Queensland, with over 30 years experience operating pubs, bars, restaurants, accommodation hotels.

Chris Cossio – a spokesman for the group and Tiny Mountain Brewery – said they would continue Tiny Mountain’s brand and beers, with the assistance of returning former-Head Brewer Dave Mullins, “who was already on the tools to prepare the brewery”.

Townsville locals were upset when Tiny Mountain Brewery close. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Mr Cossio was impressed by the Tiny Mountain brand and how it embraced the people and locale of Townsville, which mirrored their hospitality philosophy and experience brewing at Valley Hops Brewery.

“We know some of the people at Lion through our operations in south east Queensland and that’s how we found out about the opportunity at Tiny Mountain,” Mr Cossio said.

Pictures included in the Tiny Mountain Brewery Holdings development application.

“We see the opportunity to be a part of the Townsville landscape as an extension of our folio of venues and our decades of hospitality experience – where we will bring the same focus on providing quality experiences for locals, first and foremost.”

“We love the connection (brewing) provides for guests to the venue and how it adds another dimension to the experience. Plus, brewery-fresh beer is a crowd-pleaser.”

“The expansion features a large undercover beer garden, offering a significantly improved environment for guests. This area provides ample shade and is designed to capture breezes, all set amid manicured greenery,” Mr Cossio said.

“An on-site kitchen has replaced the former food trucks, focusing on quality local produce ... (with) a wood-fired oven for pizzas and a grill, offering a Mediterranean-inspired menu.”

Tiny Mountain Brewery head brewer Dave Mullins.

Pictures included in the Tiny Mountain Brewery Holdings development application.

Mr Mullins was excited to lead the new brewhouse.

“I’m eager to celebrate Townsville’s people and heritage with some favourite brews making up our core range, along with special releases along the way”, Mr Mullins said.

Originally published as Tiny Mountain Brewery reveals ownership change and venue transformation