A very Noosa Saturday: beer, pastry, chocolate and gin in six stops

The Sunshine Coast does this kind of Saturday exceptionally well. Find a few local producers, leave the beach behind for a while and work your way through great beer, something good to eat, a little chocolate and, eventually, a very good gin.

That was our Saturday in Noosaville.

We started just after 11am and spent the next few hours hopping between six very different local stops. The best part wasn’t simply what was in the glass. It was being able to sit where things are actually made, meet people, have a chat and discover a side of Noosa that is easy to miss if you never venture beyond the better-known tourist strips.

Noosa does the beach brilliantly. But there is another Sunshine Coast experience waiting a few streets back from the water.

1. Heads of Noosa

First stop: beer.

Heads of Noosa was a pretty convincing way to begin. The taproom is polished without feeling precious, the brewery itself is right there behind the glass, and before long the first drinks were on the table.

This is exactly what makes a local brewery stop so enjoyable: you’re not simply ordering another beer at another pub. You’re drinking it metres from where it was made.

2. Boiling Pot Brewing Co.

A change of brewery brought a change of personality.

Boiling Pot has a more industrial, stripped-back feel — big open spaces, brewery hardware nearby and the sort of relaxed atmosphere where sitting outside with a beer very quickly starts to feel like the right thing to be doing with your Saturday.

Two breweries down. Time for a highly strategic food stop.

3. Rick’s Artisan Pies & Sourdough

Because every well-planned bar hop should involve pastry.

Rick’s was the perfect circuit breaker: pies, sourdough, pastries and a display cabinet that makes the idea of showing restraint considerably more difficult.

4. Land & Sea

Suitably refuelled, it was back to beer.

Land & Sea feels bigger, busier and a little more playful. Motorcycles above the bar, plenty to look at, tanks in sight and enough character around the room to make wandering in for one drink turn into something considerably longer.

5. Noosa Chocolate Factory

At this point, the afternoon required chocolate.

Noosa Chocolate Factory is almost unfairly well positioned for anyone already exploring this little pocket of Noosaville. Inside, shelves are loaded with locally made chocolate, brittles, berries, marshmallows and all manner of things that suddenly seem completely reasonable to buy after a couple of brewery stops.

6. Seabourne Distillery

And then there was gin.

Seabourne was a superb final stop and an entirely different finish to the breweries that started the day. Bright, contemporary and beautifully presented, it shifted the afternoon from pints to cocktails and spirits without losing the laid-back Noosa feel.

The Sunshine Coast, one glass at a time

There are plenty of grand ways to experience the Sunshine Coast. This isn’t one of them — and that’s precisely why we loved it.

No itinerary packed with attractions. No rush to tick things off. Just a Saturday spent moving from one local producer to the next, trying what they make, talking to people and enjoying the places themselves.

Several of these stops sit remarkably close together, while the full route is better treated as a series of short hops rather than a walking pub crawl. Bring a designated driver, use a rideshare, take your time and make an afternoon of it.

Beer. Pastry. More beer. Chocolate. Gin. We can think of worse ways to spend a Sunshine Coast Saturday.