Head Brewer

HEAD BREWERHemingway’s Brewery — Cairns, Far North Queensland

September 29, 2026

Own the brew deck. Keep 1,400 seats pouring. The winterless north.

Most Head Brewer ads ask you to babysit someone else’s flagship range in a warehouse on the urban fringe. This is not that job.

Hemingway’s is an independent, locally owned craft brewery and hospitality group in Far North Queensland. We brew award-winning beer on the Cairns waterfront and pour it through four of our own venues: Port Douglas marina, Cairns Wharf, Trinity Beach Tap House and Sails on the Esplanade, more than 1,400 seats and growing. We also keg and pack for regional wholesale. The beers that built this brand have taken gold at the Australian International Beer Awards, and The Prospector has twice taken the Best Pilsner trophy.

We need a Head Brewer who wants the whole thing: the science, the grit, the recipes, the team, and the supply line that gets beer, wine and spirits from our cellar to every tap and every account that depends on us.

If you are tired of Melbourne drizzle and Sydney rent but love brewing great quality beer, then this is the role for you.

THE OPPORTUNITY

You will take complete ownership of brewing operations at our Cairns Wharf production brewery. That means the core range that keeps our venues honest: 7th Heaven, Pitchfork Betty’s, Tunnel 10, The Prospector, Wharf St, Mr Wong, Canecutter and the Inner Sanctum program where nano-batches and limited releases actually get to push the glass.

You will also own the piece most Head Brewers never get near, that is the logistics and distribution function that moves our beer, and the group’s centralised wine and spirit purchases, into our four venues and out to other accounts across the region. This is not a desk job bolted onto a brew deck. It is a production leader who understands that empty taps at a 600-seat waterfront brewpub is a quality failure as much as an operations failure.

You will lead a small, capable brewing team. You will be on the tools. You will also be the person who sets the standard yeast health, water chemistry, documentation, CIP discipline, and packaging integrity so the beer that leaves Shed 2 tastes like the beer that won the medals.

A DAY ON THE BREW DECK

• Plan and execute production from grain to glass on a 35 HL four-vessel brewhouse into 70 HL fermenters plus keg and pack.
• Protect and tighten the core range so every pour in Port Douglas, Cairns, Trinity Beach and Sails is consistent, fresh and commercially tight.
• Build and run an Inner Sanctum seasonal and limited program that gives the brew team a reason to stay curious and gives our venues something to talk about.
• Lead raw material selection and supplier relationships.
• Run QA/QC like it matters, because it does. Sensory, fermentation tracking, packaging specs, traceability.
• Mentor the brewing team. Small crew, high output with safety and cleanliness a priority.
• Own inventory, production planning and the logistics/distribution workflow that keeps beer and the group liquor program moving to venues and regional accounts.
• Work with venue and events teams on Brand Your Own Beer, collaborations and the occasional VIP brewery tour, our guests can see the tanks from the bar.

THE BREWHOUSE

• System: 35 HL four-vessel DME brewhouse
• Cellar: 70 HL FVs
• Packaging: Keg and pack
• Site: Heritage-listed Shed 2, Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal, brewing in view of Trinity Inlet
• Output: Production brewery supplying four group venues (1,400+ seats and expanding) plus regional wholesale
• Range: Award-winning core + Inner Sanctum limited + Brand Your Own
• Model: Independent, FNQ-owned.

If you have been running a 10 HL brewpub and want a bigger deck without disappearing into a 100,000 HL factory, this is the scale that still lets you taste every tank.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Proven time as Head Brewer or Senior/Lead Brewer in a commercial facility. You have run a brew deck, not just worked on one.
• IBD qualifications: minimum General Certificate in Brewing (GCB). Diploma or higher is a genuine advantage.
• Deep, practical command of yeast health, water chemistry, fermentation control and sensory analysis. You can explain a fault and fix it.
• Experience across brewing, cellaring and packaging keg and pack. You know what happens after the FV.
• The operational head for inventory, planning and a logistics/distribution function. Comfortable owning the path from cellar to venue.
• Leadership that holds a small team to a high standard without killing the culture. Safety, documentation and a clean cellar are non-negotiable.
• The grit. Grain bags, hot CIP, tropical humidity, early starts.
• A palate and a point of view. We want your recipes in the Inner Sanctum. We also need you to protect the beers we have already.
• Australian working rights are required.

WHY CAIRNS. WHY THIS JOB.

This is the part most southern brewers skip and the part that changes the life attached to the work.

You will brew on the waterfront in a heritage shed overlooking Trinity Inlet. After shift you can be in the water, on the reef, or up the range toward Kuranda. The Wet is a season, not a personality. Winter in Cairns lasts for a couple of days.

The cost of living in regional Queensland is not a slogan. Housing, in particular, leaves more of a Head Brewer’s package on the table than Sydney or Melbourne ever will. You can actually live near the job.

You will not be a cog in a collapsing craft scene. The national market has tightened, and a lot of breweries have closed. We are still here because we are not only a brewery, we are a hospitality group that drinks its own beer at volume, in rooms we own, in a region that still wants a local pint that tastes like the place.

What we offer:

• A competitive package for the right experience and IBD standing
• Relocation assistance for the candidate who is ready to make the move north
• Genuine ownership of production, quality, recipe direction and the distribution function
• A small team, a serious kit, and venues that put your beer in front of locals and visitors every day
• Staff beer, industry representation, and a working environment that is expected to be clean, safe and organised
• The chance to put FNQ beer on a bigger stage without leaving the tropics to do it

HOW TO APPLY

Send your CV and a short note covering two things:

1. The beer you are most proud of having brewed, and why.
2. Why the move to Cairns makes sense for you now.

Email: info@hemingwaysbrewery.com

Subject: Head Brewer – [Your Name]

Applications will be reviewed as they land. If you have the tickets, the scars and the palate, we want to hear from you.

• Hemingway’s Brewery is an independent, locally owned craft brewery and hospitality group. We brew in Cairns. We pour across Far North Queensland. We dare to be different, and we need a Head Brewer who does too.