Craft Beer In Port Douglas

[WarmBeer]

I'm going up to Port Douglas for a long weekend from this Friday with the wife.

Are there any places in town (will be without a car) that either serve or stock a decent range of craft beer?

Any recommendations on where to drink/what to do appreciated.

 

[kenlock]

Unfortunately, unless things have changed in the last six months, you're going to be struggling to find anything beyond the basic.
- Court House Hotel - standard mega, good food, TAB, sports
- Central Hotel - standard mega plus Fat Yak (possibly something similar), average food, large screen sport/movies
- On the Inlet - Grab a bucket of prawns and a beer and watch George the Groper be feed ~5pm, stay for the sunset
- Combined club - cheap meals, standard mega plus Fat Yak,
- Rattle n Hum bar - nice meals, standard mega, pool tables, nice atmosphere

There a other lovely restaurants, from the expensive under tree canopys, etc to mexican/pizza/fish and chips. Just walk up and down the street and choose what you feel like doing that night. It won't take you long.
More info here

What to do:
- Reef snorkeling/diving - make sure that includes a snorkel with turtles
- Daintree Rainforest, Daintree River and Eco-centre
- Breakfast with the Birds (on the edge of town)
- Walk Four Mile Beach
More activities

A basic guide, but I hope this helps.

 

[Bribie G]

If the Spanish Mackerel are in season, you must try it in the form of standard fish and chips, the fish that God eats.
Reef cruise and snorkelling is exxie but memorable - you can get a half day trip if time is short, and there are courtesy buses that go round all the resorts / hotels.

Last time I was up there I couldn't even get XXXX heavy on tap - Lion seemed to be pushing Tooheys New as its replacement in FNQ. Heavy (red label) if you can find it is probably the best mega - less mouse piss flavour than VB.

 

[tricache]

I found FNQ is cocktail kind of area haha which I didn't have a complaint about...tropical surroundings = umbrella drinks IMO

 

[WarmBeer]

Retrospective update to this thread, to help fulfil the encyclopaedic knowledge base that is AHB.

Yes, Port D. is a craft beer wasteland, full of old fogeys to boot, but we managed to find a couple of highlights:

• Half day reef snorkel trip out on the jet boat. 15 minutes to cover 17 kms with jet turbos screaming out behind you, then a good hour and a half easy snorkel.
• Sunday afternoon session at the Parrotfish backpackers bar (Warner St). Open-mic live music, friendly staff, and $5 stubbies of Blue Sky Pilsner. Clean, well made, and refreshing in the 31 degree warmth. Also, Cooper's Pale and the standard megas at the same price.
• Meals at the Surf Life Saving Club are top-notch, cheap, and they had a couple of the James Squires range as well as Toohey's Old in stubbies.
• Cocktails at Nautilus. Walk up a slight incline from Macrossan St, and you're suddenly deep in the rainforest. Half-decent beer list, but the Habanero Chilli Margarita was just too tempting.
• Harrison's restaurant (Wharf St). Not a cheap night out, but my wife's a "foodie", so I went along for the ride. They had a set of 3 beers from Moa, alongside the usual suspects. The APA was good, although I don't personally rate it up there with LCPA. Next was the Blanc Evolution, which I will go out on a limb as saying it's the best wheat beer I've ever drunk. Hints of sherry, alcohol, and corriander all merged in beautifully with wheat tartness and phenolics. Went perfectly with the scallops and pork belly entre. Followed this with the Moa St Jospephs Tripel, which was a great beer, but paled after the revelatory Blanc Evolution. Matched very well with the 9-hour braised beef cheek and truffled mash. Mmmmmm :icon_drool2: