Sunriver Brewing Turns Tragedy Into Philanthropy

In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Sydney, Australia’s famed Bondi Beach that claimed 15 lives and injured 40 more during a Hanukkah celebration — making it the second deadliest massacre in the country’s history — local Sunriver Brewing Company realized its popular Bondi Beach Party IPA could be associated with the slaughter because of the unique name. So the brewing company issued a public service announcement via social media that reads:

“We want to acknowledge the horrific incident that took place at Bondi Beach in Sydney on (December 14, 2025). While we’ve been brewing this beer since 2020, we know it might be challenging to support a beer named Bondi Beach Party at this point in time. Please join us in directing financial resources to the victim’s families, survivors, and Sydney‘s Jewish community. From now through January 4, 2026, Sunriver Brewing Company will be donating (half) of every dollar sold out for all Bondi IPA sales to the Bondi Beach community. This includes pint and canned sales in our pub and taproom, brewery dock sales, and keg and can sales to our wholesale partners. We will be evaluating next steps with this brand over the coming weeks. Sunriver Brewing Company, condemns violence in any form, and we hope that you can join us in creating something good that came from something terrible.”

The PSA was signed by Sunriver Brewing’s director of brewing operations, Brett Thomas.

As mentioned, the beer has been in existence in highly limited quantities since 2020, then it earned auspicious medals at the World Beer Cup and Oregon Brewers Awards in 2022 — arguably the two most vaunted competitions on the global and local levels — which greenlit the beer into joining Sunriver’s year-round offerings. The name, incidentally, was the brainchild of Ryan Duley, who had been with Sunriver Brewing since it opened in 2012 and stepped out of his role as director of marketing in late 2024 after helping name the Australian-style pale ale for one of his most cherished spots among his world travels.

Alas, some patrons and individuals were unaware of the beer until Bondi Beach became headline news following the antisemitic massacre, having explicitly targeted members of Australia’s Jewish community.

“There was definitely a negative reaction from a select few customers and retail accounts after the mass shooting event,” explained Thomas. “We were essentially receiving hate emails from individuals that somehow were convinced that we specifically named the beer to ‘celebrate’ the killing of Jewish people. Initially, I was perplexed that people thought we would do such a thing, not to mention it’s impossible to get a fully branded beer to market in four days, and that nobody in their right mind would aid anyone in such an activity.”

As for where proceeds will be donated, Thomas said, “We’re fortunate to have friends up at Leikam Brewing in Portland,” which happens to be Oregon’s only kosher brewery, “that have some ties to the Jewish community in Sydney and will help ensure we get the donations to appropriately vetted organizations.” He added that Sunriver Brewing will post additional information on social media when possible.

This article appears in the Source January 1, 2026.