XXXX wooden kegs have returned to the Breakfast Creek Hotel in Brisbane, after production was halted due to COVID-19.

The pub is one of the last places in Australia still serving beer from a wooden keg, selling between 18 to 20 kegs of XXXX each week.

The barrels are produced at Castlemaine Perkins and loved by locals and visitors alike who go ‘to the Creek’ especially for this unique beer-drinking experience. The unique vessel gives drinkers a taste of yesteryear.

Brewing companies started phasing out wooden casks in the late 1970s, preferring to deliver beer in stainless-steel kegs.

But drinkers at the Breakfast Creek Hotel, led by an outspoken lot of waterside workers, marched in protest to the headquarters of Castlemaine Perkins, demanding their beloved XXXX still be available in wood.

The then Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) boss Bob Hawke reportedly spoke with Castlemaine Perkins managing director Paddy Fitzgerald to save the kegs.

To welcome back the wooden kegs after their recent hiatus, former NRL player Johnathan Thurston AM joined the Brekky Creek team to ‘spike’ the barrel.

“XXXX is loved by everyone who visits the Breakfast Creek Hotel, with over 35,000 litres consumed by patrons each year,” said Patrick Donohue, Lion Sales Director in Queensland.

“This tradition has really been upheld by the strength of the demand for XXXX from wooden kegs, and the love of its loyal drinkers. We are thrilled that we’ve been able to keep the tradition alive.”

Other select pubs and clubs will also welcome back XXXX wooden kegs over the coming weeks.