December is always a busy year for beer drinkers and brewers alike, Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) reports the Great Northern production line is moving faster than ever before.

Latest figures show December 2013’s production volume for Great Northern is up almost 85 per cent on this time last year.

Yatala Brewery’s General Manager and Great Northern co-creator Tom Robinson said not only had the beer been doing well across Queensland, but in Cairns it has had a significant upswing too.

“The Cairns region has seen a 102 per cent increase in sales compared to last year,” Mr Robinson said.

“We know Queenslanders enjoy socialising around this time of year, but these figures show Great Northern is fast becoming a favourite in Cairns all throughout the year.

“The good weather means people are hitting the outdoors and every Queenslander knows beer and the outdoors go hand in hand.”

“Great Northern is a refreshing, super crisp lager brewed by Queenslanders especially for the hot and humid Queensland climate.

“Our production volumes have continued to grow year on year, across the state there has been a massive 243 per cent increase between this December and December 2010."

Across the country, Australians drink 1,762.4 million litres of beer a year, which equates to approximately 705 Olympic swimming pools.