Hemingway’s Brewery is launching a new lager to salute the un-named cane cutters of a bygone era who worked in the fields under the sweltering sun without complaint.

The official launch of the mid-strength lager, Canecutter, will be held from 5:00 to 7:00pm on Friday at Hemingway’s Brewery Port Douglas and Cairns, where the public will be provided an opportunity to sample the new product.

After a very successful response to the limited release of the mid-strength FNQ Resilience Lager, Hemingway’s has made a few minor improvements and introduced the new Canecutter to its core range.

Hemingway’s CEO and founder, Tony Fyfe, said Canecutters Lager is inspired by the sugar cane that surrounds this region and the cane cutters who forged the industry that Far North Queensland is built on.

Hemingway’s Brewery has created a perfectly sessionable and thirst-quenching lager for the Far North Queensland climate. Best of all it is brewed right here in the Far North for locals in the Cairns & Port Douglas region. “You could say it really is the Beer From up Here,” says Fyfe.

“We wanted to create a beer that suited the Far North Queensland palate and was sessionable too. We had a lot of feedback from locals that they wanted a mid-strength as well.

“It’s all very well having great beers that are big on flavour and aroma, but they also tend to be higher in alcohol and you have to stop at just one or two.”

Fyfe said creating a good lager is very difficult. Without some of the higher hopping regimes and strong flavours that are typical of many craft beers, there is nowhere to hide any imperfections.

“We have already done it once with our gold medal, award-winning Tunnel 10 lager (4.2% ABV) but the challenge was to create another great lager in the mid-strength range. Our first iteration that we introduced to the public was the limited release FNQ Resilience Lager and it went down extremely well,” he said. 

Canecutter has been in development for some months but with the onset of COVID-19, Hemingway’s decided to test an earlier version and get it out to the public as soon as possible and at a great trial price.

“That was our FNQ Resilience Lager. Although extremely popular it wasn’t quite where we wanted it to be, so we made a few tweaks to get it just right,” said Fyfe.

Canecutter Lager is a mid-strength lager (3.5% ABV) with clean, citrus flavours on the palate with and grain tropical, passionfruit and watermelon aromas. Showcasing great Australian hops with a low bitterness and a crisp, refreshing finish. Perfect for a BBQ or day out with friends and family.

Canecutters’ is only available for purchase from either the Port Douglas or Cairns Wharf venues where you can enjoy it on tap or grab on the go for takeaway. It is also available at a few select local bars, cafes and is gaining momentum.

Price: $44.95 for a case of 24 x 355ml cans