Plans are brewing to redevelop one of the Sunshine Coast’s most historic pubs and bring the refreshing flavours of a famed Western Australian beer brand to Queensland.
Joe’s Waterhole at Eumundi, which dates back to the 1890s when it was the Commercial Hotel, was sold for $5.3 million to Good Drinks Australia Ltd nine months ago.
Now, Good Drinks plans to develop Joe’s into an “exciting hospitality venue and brewery for the Matso’s brand” is well and truly underway, with only the final fine-tuning left to go.
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Matso’s is a brewery that was born in Broome in 2000. It is now famous for its ginger beer and mango beer, along with an ice-hot chilli beer and a range of seven products now available in bottleshops around Australia.
Good Drinks Head of Hospitality Lee Behan said deciding to make Joe’s the place for Matso’s new brewery was easy after the team fell in love with Eumundi when they came to see the pub a few years ago.
“There are a lot of similarities between Matso’s in Broome and how Eumundi feels,” Mr Behan said.
“They are very special places, there is a lot of synergy between both; they both are tropical, it’s Australiana … you feel you’ve escaped something when you get to Eumundi and Broome.”
Good Drinks lodged plans with Sunshine Coast Council recently to revamp Joe’s, but are still awaiting approval.
Mr Behan said they were sure the Development Application would be supported.
“It’s an amazing project and town and I would imagine there will be full-support from the Sunshine Coast Council as they have already shown us and the project support,” he said.
“We want to keep the history and sense of community in the front bar.
“We will put a small brewery to facilitate the beers on tap at the venue, we will have a dining space and put landscaping works out the back to make it more family friendly, all year round.
“We want to bring Matso’s to life in Edmundi and Joe’s is an amazing building with so much history … it’s very exciting stuff.”
Due to the construction period of four months potentially blowing out, Mr Behan admitted the re-opening date was not set in stone. They hoped to start construction by April/May next year.
“We should be open and trading and selling some of the best beer in the sunshine coast by October next year,” he said.
He said they would 100 per cent be keeping the staff at Joe’s on after the project completion.
“Joe’s has been trading and operating really well in the interim,” he said.
Matso’s recently hosted a community night where locals were invited to meet the project team in the venue, be part of a Q&A, see the plans, meet the architects and have a say on the project.
“It’s a community driven place … we want to engage with locals and give people a chance to have a say on what we are doing and of course assess the many takeaways we got from the night,” Mr Behan said.
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