Marked by its large red neon sign on the hill at Milton, the XXXX brewery has been brewing beer in Brisbane since 1878 and is one of Queensland's best-known landmarks. It stands on Milton Road opposite the railway station, and the brewery and its trains feature on almost all of the brand's packaging. The site began as a rum distillery in 1870 but failed within a few years. In 1877 the Fitzgerald brothers, Nicholas and Edward, sons of an Irish brewer, bought the premises with a Brisbane firm and set up a brewery, naming it after their existing Castlemaine Brewery in Victoria. The new Milton brewery was formally opened on 13 September 1878, producing its first beer, Castlemaine XXX Sparkling Ale, that same day to a recipe brought from the southern states. The X marks drew on a long tradition of using crosses to denote the strength and purity of ales. In 1928 the company completed a merger with the rival Perkins and Company, taking over its Brisbane and Toowoomba breweries, and became Castlemaine Perkins. The signature XXXX Bitter, despite its name a lager, had been introduced a few years earlier, in 1924. The brewery has run continuously on the same site for well over a century and is today part of the Lion group. Its red neon sign, and a neon figure on the side of the building, remain prominent fixtures of the Milton skyline. Visitors can take guided brewery tours, which run for around ninety minutes and cover the history of the company, the brewing process and a guided tasting at the end. The tours have long been a popular outing for groups. The strong link between the brewery and the railway is woven into its identity, with steam, diesel and electric trains all having appeared on its labels over the years, reflecting its position beside the Milton line. For visitors to Brisbane, a tour offers both a look behind the scenes of a working brewery and a slice of Queensland history, rounded off with a tasting of the beers most associated with the state.

Type: Winery/Brewery/Distillery

Address: Paten Street, Milton, Brisbane, Australia, 4064

Opening Date: 13/09/1878