Byfield Brew

The morning trip to the Post Office can be a drab affair, most times just collecting another bill, unless you bump into someone like John Day. He started telling me about Rockhampton Brewing Limited that use to have a brewery along the Emu Park railway line, near where it crossed Coorooman Creek well over a hundred years ago. “Progress Warren! We don’t even have our own local brew anymore”. Economies of scale are no doubt the main reason breweries in regional centres disappeared. However in this age of micro breweries and boutique beers it is surprising that a local brew is not being commercially produced.  According to the newspaper report in 1893 the Coorooman Creek sourced brew was a ‘capital’ drop. The idea of drinking a beer sourced from Coorooman Creek didn’t initially appeal to me. The internet did later reveal the water was reported to be ‘first class’, ideal for beer making. I did start thinking though a brew sourced from Waterpark Creek in Byfield would arguably have market appeal. After all the pure qualities of Waterpark Creek water are often spruiked about. Would a micro brewery in Byfield that also offered meals and entertainment that was marketed with other businesses in the district help re-establish the visitor appeal of this beautiful part of Capricorn left worse for wear after TC Marcia? And could a Byfield Brew be a marketing tool for the whole Capricorn region if made available as a boutique beer in other markets? Bundaberg certainly gets good national exposure with 2 of its named liquid products. These questions can remain just that, questions. Does anyone or organisation promote ideas like this to potential investors or do we just wait for the investor to come to the region with their ideas and hope red tape doesn’t turn them away?  Could our region benefit from a dedicated ideas incubator? Where ideas are generated, viability explored, red tape minimised, potential investors sourced. Who would fund it? Government may say there’s too much risk to validate the use of tax/ratepayers money. Is there a greater risk though if we don’t encourage the generation of innovative ideas to stimulate economic growth in the region? Another question!