THE BRAFORD breed is turning to liquid gold in a bid to help it gain a bigger following in the Queensland cattle industry.
Braford Bitter is the brain child of Clifton Braford breeder Stuart Brown and Toowoomba-based brewery Mouse Proof Bootleg Brew and is backed by the Australian Braford Society.
From tomorrow, the Clifton Arms Hotel will be pouring the "beer made for beef" after Mr Brown, who operates the Alderside Braford stud at Clifton worked quickly to develop the tribute to Brafords.
"The important thing from my perspective was to give the breed something to be proud of and to give it some promotion as well," Mr Brown told the Queensland Country Life.
"This Saturday night we are having a bit of a get together at the Clifton Arms to have a bit of a celebration about its launch.
"From there, we are really hopeful we can release some cans or bottles and that it will be picked up by a number of other pubs, specifically pubs in really strong Braford areas, which is why we teed up the Clifton Arms to be the first one because there are a lot of really prominent studs in that area."
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Brafords aren't the only cattle breed to enter the beer market after Droughtmaster Australia teamed up with Newstead Brewing Co in April last year to release its own beer the Droughtie.
Much like Droughtie, Mr Brown said Braford Bitter came about due to a chance meeting.
"I have this old Dodge truck that we used to cart Brafords around in when I was a kid and it still has the stud's logo on the door," he said.
"One afternoon, I popped down to the Mouse Proof brewery, because it is very close to work for some beers for the team, and the brewery's owner John Bennett said he thought it would look great on a beer can.
"It was really lucky because I was looking for a locally-owned brewing company to take the project of creating Braford Bitter on and John had grown up with Brafords in Victoria, so it was all really quite lucky.
"From there, we came up with a 3.5 per cent beer because we thought beers of that type are really popular at the moment."
The release is perfectly timed ahead of the breed's two biggest sales of the year, the first being the New Dimensions Sale at the Bell Showgrounds on August 28, followed by the Braford National Sale on September 12 at CQLX Gracemere.
"John and myself are doing the beer and for every keg that is sold, the majority of the proceeds will go back to the Braford society to use for its own advertising and promotions," Mr Brown said.
"As a breed, I think that momentum is only going to keep building off the back of results like we saw at FarmFest with a Braford female winning the supreme exhibit.
"For me, I think the big thing about this beer is that is riding the wave of success the breed is enjoying at the moment.
"My other hope is that this beer might make someone who is interested in getting into the stud cattle game choose Brafords because I have been involved all my life and it is honestly a really supportive community."