Father’s Day Drinks & BBQ Ideas

Australian Father’s Day falls on the first Sunday in September, which in 2026 means Sunday 6 September. It lands right at that turning point in the year when the mornings are still cool but the afternoons are made for standing around a barbecue with a pair of tongs.

Most dads don’t need another novelty mug. What they’d actually like is a good feed, a cold drink in a glass bottle, and everyone in the backyard for a few hours. So here’s the whole day, planned out and built around Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, from the sauce on the ribs to the glass in his hand.

A family recipe, four generations on

There’s something quietly fitting about pouring Bundaberg on Father’s Day. The company started in 1968, when Neville and Gladys Fleming, together with their son Cliff and daughter-in-law Lee, bought a small bottling and fermenting business in the Queensland town the brand now shares its name with. In 2024, founder and Master Brewer Cliff Fleming was named a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to business and to the Bundaberg community.

The full story is worth ten minutes over on Our History: four generations of one family, one recipe, and a great deal of ginger. If he’d rather see how it all actually works, How We Brew and Our Craft go behind the brewery doors.

Fill the esky first

Bundaberg Ginger Beer is the obvious opener. It starts with homegrown Aussie ginger and is brewed over three days to the same traditional family recipe the Flemings have used for four generations. Hold a bottle up to the light and you’ll see real ginger pieces suspended through it. Invert the bottle before you crack the rip cap so none of that flavour stays in the bottom.

If Dad’s tastes lean nostalgic, Sarsaparilla is the pick: sarsaparilla root, ground ginger, liquorice root, vanilla bean and molasses, brewed for over three days into something rich and old-fashioned. Lemon Lime & Bitters, Traditional Lemonade and Burgundee Creaming Soda will keep everyone else happy, and the sparkling brews give the kids plenty to argue over: Tropical Mango, Blood Orange, Passionfruit, Peach, Guava, Pink Grapefruit, Pineapple & Coconut and Dekopon Mandarin. The full line-up lives on the Traditional Brews page.

Watching the sugar? The low-sugar Refreshingly Light cans come in Raspberry + Pomegranate, Apple + Lychee and Lemon + Watermelon.

The centrepiece: Air Fryer Wingettes with Mango Hot Sauce

Nothing gets a backyard moving like a platter of sticky wings. Air Fryer Chicken Wingettes with Mango Hot Sauce marinates 1.5kg of wingettes in Bundaberg Tropical Mango with brown sugar, hot chilli sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic and chopped coriander root, then air fries them at 160°C for 25 minutes until golden.

While they cook, the reserved marinade is strained, brought to the boil and thickened with a little cornflour into about a cup and a half of hot sauce to pour over the top. It serves four, the marinade can go on the night before, and the platter will be empty inside five minutes.

The sauce that steals the show

Make the BBQ Sarsaparilla sauce the day before. Two cups of Bundaberg Sarsaparilla go into a saucepan with tomato sauce, onion, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire, treacle, brown sugar and a decent hit of spice, then simmer until it reduces by half. The molasses and liquorice already in the brew do most of the heavy lifting.

Use it to baste on the grill or serve it straight as a dipper. Keep the jar, because Dad will want it on everything for the next fortnight.

Build out the table

A few more from the Brewed Food collection, all barbecue-friendly:

• Ginger Beer Can Chicken: a 1.6kg bird sat over a 200ml Ginger Beer Mini Can and roasted over indirect heat for about an hour and a quarter
• Ginger Beer Braised Beef Ribs with Mushrooms: the low-and-slow option if you’d rather cook inside
• Ginger Beer Pulled Chicken Sliders: 15 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking
• Gluten-Free Passionfruit Pork Belly Skewers with Pineapple: marinate the night before
• Guava Chicken Wings, if one platter of wings is never quite enough
• Ginger Beer Damper, because it’s a backyard and you may as well
• Salmon with Pink Grapefruit Dressed Salad, for whoever has been assigned the salad

Pour him something proper

The Mixology collection runs to more than 100 cocktails and mocktails, handcrafted by Matt Fearnley of The Laneway in Brisbane. Three that suit the day:

• Appley Ever After: 50mL of dark rum shaken with apple liqueur, lime juice and cloudy apple juice, strained into a tumbler and topped with Bundaberg Ginger Beer
• Aussie Sangria: the jug option, made ahead so you’re not stuck playing bartender
• Apple & Bourbon Mule: for the dad who likes a bit of bite with his ginger

And if he’s not drinking, nothing’s lost. The brews were always the point. A Ginger Beer poured over plenty of ice with a wedge of lime holds its own against anything in the jug. Please enjoy responsibly.

Finish sweet

Mini Sticky Date Ginger Puddings take 30 minutes prep and 25 in the oven. Peach Burgundee Crumble can be assembled the night before and is the one that always disappears first. And if the afternoon turns warm, Ginger Beer and Mango Sorbet is the fix.

A gift that isn’t socks

One for the dads in our hometown. If you’re in Bundaberg, or close enough to make the drive worth it, The Barrel is a proper day out, with guided tastings, a self-guided gallery tour, and a look at how Australia’s favourite ginger beer is actually made. It’s open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 4.30pm, and Sundays 10am to 3pm.

If the drive isn’t on, order a mixed case through Shop Now, or find his favourite brew on the shelf near you with the Product Locator.

The run sheet

• The day before: make the BBQ Sarsaparilla sauce, get the wingettes into the mango marinade, assemble the dessert, get the brews into the fridge
• 90 minutes out: if you’re doing the can chicken as well, onto the barbecue over indirect heat, drip tray underneath, lid down
• 30 minutes out: wingettes into the air fryer at 160°C, skewers on, sliders assembled
• 15 minutes out: reduce the marinade into the hot sauce, build the drinks, crack the bottles
• On the table: everything at once, tongs down, phone away

Happy Father’s Day from all of us. For more recipes, mixology and stories from the brewery, have a wander through the Brewniverse, or join the Brew Crew and we’ll send the good stuff straight to you.