MOFFAT BEACH BREWING DEADBEAT BOYFRIEND
Call around. Dial Up. Facetime. Zoom. Whatever it is, however it’s done, share a one of these beers and get talking.
Origin – Moffat Beach, Queensland
ABV – 4.5%
Size – 375mL can
Style – Cream Lager
"Your name must be Adele because you had me at hello." Perhaps that was the clever, cheesy, and cute pick up he used to make a memorable first impression before the fireworks and roses. Or maybe it was the line that your deadbeat boyfriend who now sits around eating cheeseburgers and drinking craft beers used to give you the go old bait 'n' hook. Sharynne Wilson assures me that although husband Matt is particular fond of burgers and beers – as evidenced by the pairing now being served in the couples Moffatt Beach Brewing brewpub – he was far from a deadbeat boyfriend. In fact, contrary to being a bum, rather than sitting around following a job redundancy, Matt found a coffee shop on the shoreline of Moffat Beach and suggested to Shaz a sea change.
But it wasn't long before their hopes for the place included more than just lunch and lattes. 'To celebrate taking possession, we cracked a craft and sat there overlooking the beach,' Matt says. 'And we thought, Why is no one doing beer here? The place is born for it’. And so it began. From getting a liquor licence in 2012 and installing a tap system, to Matt taking up homebrewing as a way to educate himself about beer before installing a 300-litre brewhouse in the back of the café, through to winning Champion Small Brewery at the 2018 Indies awards and Champion Brewpub in 2020, it was whirlwind. One, that would become cyclonic with the opening of a second location, a brewery and taphouse up the road in Caloundra.
However, don't expect to see signature beers such as the Summer Ale or Hinterland Haze in too many bottle shops. With local demand outstripping capacity, you'll need to go to the source aside from the odd exception. One of those special cases was the canning of this Deadbeat Boyfriend. The first beer to pour from the taps, a decade on, this cult favourite is made using the first homebrewing recipe Matt ever mastered. An American style lager, the Deadbeat, is supremely smashable. Like its namesake, it’s not too complex or challenging, with gentle fruity esters on the nose, a light body and a dry finish.
For my first pick up line, I tried 'I’ve got all these forks and knives, all I need is a little spoon'. I could have done with this clean, crisp and thirst-quencher to douse the flames!
