Sugar cane & chilli give ginger beer a devilish kick

“It’s very, very, very refreshing” ... Diablo Brewery owner Dimitris Limnatitis pours a Diablo at the Woombye site behind the Big Pineapple.

WARMING ginger, fresh lime and a subtle balance of chilli makes Diablo Ginger Beer devilishly refreshing and easy to drink, according to brewer and owner Dimitris Limnatitis.

“We have the Diablo headquarters here in Woombye, at the Big Pine- apple, where we produce the white spirits-based Diablo Ginger Beer,” he said at a tasting event on Saturday. “Diablo is a blend of 13 natural, local ingredients including herbs, spices and others to give it a bit of a kick. It’s very, very, very refreshing.

“It’s all produced on the Sunshine Coast using sugar cane from around the area for our spirit,” he said.

“We also produce a range of liquors: passionfruit, lychee, grapefruit, a grape-flavoured vodka and a chilli infused vodka. It’s called Eros Vodka, named after the God of love and it’s produced locally from premium ingredients.”

With hospitality in a COVID-induced coma, the owner of popular Coast venues Solbar, Piano Bar, La Cantina, the Roof Top Bar and Old Soul, feels lucky to be able to fall back on his brews to help keep sales ticking over.

The Cyprus born businessman was drawn to the familiar Sunshine Coast climate when he came here in 2000 and it’s sunshine that has inspired Diablo.

“We just wanted a refreshingly Queensland drink,” he said. “We started making it for our venues and then the demand for it grew from there. It took me a year to put a rep on because the growth up to that stage had all been organic. Venue operators would just ring me and say ‘I want Diablo’.