Since its inception in 2012, the South Australian Brewing Club (SABC) has swiftly grown to become the largest and most successful brewing club in Adelaide and the country. The club embodies a diverse membership of individuals with a broad range of brewing expertise, all coming together to share knowledge and enhance their homebrewing skills. Central to the club’s calenda is the popular monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of each month, regularly attended by over 30 participants, thanks to the generous support of The Wheatsheaf Hotel. In addition to these gatherings, the club also hosts special events and brewery visits in Adelaide and the surrounding region. Find out more on our About SABC page.
With the Fringe and Mad March soon upon us, we’ll be changing venues for the next two monthly meetings.
The February meeting (Feb 18) will now be at Bowden Brewing down in Plant 3, Bowden. There are lots food options and of course Bowden beers on tap. We won’t be running any club tastings at this one.
March will be at Crafty Robot, Grote Street, in the city. We’ll be hearing from two club members who now work in commercial breweries, and we’ll discuss how their professional knowledge has changed how they brew at home.
Crafties will open up from 6 pm just for SABC, so get in early if you can. We will confirm closer to the date if they will have pizza available on the night, if not, you can order in.
We’ll return to the Wheaty in April.
Summer Competition
The entry portal for Summer Comp will be open this week. As you know, the theme is ‘The Ashes’, Australian and British styles. All common styles most brewers enjoy making regularly — pales, hazys, darks, ordinary and strong bitter and XXXX/VB/West End 😉 — so jump in. Judging is on March 15 in Prospect. Entry $5.
All the styles and the details you need are on the website, here. Of course, we also need judges. Please log in to the portal and indicate your willingness. It is BJCP registered competition, so you’ll get credits.
Our first meeting of the year is locked in for this week — Wednesday, 21 January at The Wheaty. It’s been a couple of years since we dived into brewing tech, so we’re dusting off the gadget box. Lachlan will take us through the latest kit on the market — including Kegland’s RAPT ecosystem.
What does that mean in practice? Tech to monitor your fermentation, sending live data to your phone. Plenty of us love the idea of more data and less wasted samples — but some brewers love the zen of a floating hydrometer. We’ll have a range of viewpoints on the night, so whether you’re a gadget tragic or a traditionalist, see you there. The meeting also coincides with the Bridge Road tap takeover. Facebook event here.
Don’t forget our bottle bingo tradition. Bring a bottle to swap.
Summer Competition 2026 – “Battle for the Ashes”
We can now announce that the SABC Summer Comp is now locked in for Sunday, 15 March at a private venue. This year’s theme is a friendly face‑off between British and Australian styles: the Battle for the Ashes. The competition portal will open mid‑February.
The club calendar is packed. After January’s tech night, we’ve lined up an Eclectic Brewing Q&A on Wednesday, 18 February. Homebrewer‑turned‑pro and Eclectic Brewing owner will answer your questions about scaling up in the back shed. March brings the summer competition and an away meeting (venue TBC) on Wednesday, 18 March, where we’ll also be hearing from local home brewers who are now professionals about what really matters on a brew day and what not to lose sleep over.
In April, it’s back to The Wheaty to hear Chris Kerr’s competition tips, and in May we’ll explore base malt comparisons.
You can subscribe to the club calendar in your own Google, Outlook or iCal calendar so you never miss a meeting. Visit sabrew.com/calendar/ for the links.
Looking further ahead
This year, expect more brewery tours, brewing demos and social events. The committee is working on a brew‑day group project and a winter comp that will test your dark‑beer skills. Keep an eye on the site and your inbox for details.
Tell us what you want from your club. Don’t be shy, we’re keen for ideas and all ears.
Cheers,
— Your SABC Committee
Membership
Please make sure your membership is up to date so you don’t miss out in 2026. Log in to check or renew.
What a year! 2025 has been chock‑full of beer, laughs and learning, and it finished on a high last Wednesday at The Wheaty for our end‑of‑year pizzas and, along with the secret‑Santa bottle swap, we announced the club’s Brewer of the Year. After a close race that went down to the wire, Mark Lehmann emerged on top. See the full leaderboard here
Mark maintained the pressure throughout the year. He brewed superb beers for our competitions, shared at meetings and proudly represented SABC at the AABC – where he won first place in American Pale Ale and second in German Pils. Huge congratulations Mark; enjoy the trophy and the bragging rights!
SABC President, Lachlan Johnson with BOTY Mark Lehmann
Highlights from 2025
The year kicked off with a summer competition focusing on wheat beers and a deep dive into reverse‑osmosis water brewing. In March we took the meeting to Brightstar Brewing and later in the month a tour of Southern Vales breweries on a packed bus.
At April’s meeting, Darren Williams shared his tips to brewing low and non‑alcoholic beers. In May we headed to Crafty Robot Brewing to hear about Jules’ famous Franken Chiller and have a private event tasting Crafty beers. June brought our annual BeerBQ – around 25 beers were poured and a pig on a spit disappeared quickly; popular‑vote winners Adam, Darren, Wolf and Lucas picked up BOTY points.
Winter Comp in late July drew 33 entries with Lucas Veitch winning Best Beer of Show with an international pale lager scoring 42.5, while Russ, Leon, Andrew, Chris and others filled the podiums.
August’s meeting at The Wheaty focused on growing hops at home and in September Kick Back Brewing donated a mountain of hops and we challenged members to brew hoppy beers for a Sunday arvo family BBQ and hop‑driven beers. Later that month we played with beer oxidation in a fun meeting experiment. November was an “away‑game” club meeting at Shapeshifter Brewing Co. where co-owner and brewer James shared new beers and gave us a tour.
Looking ahead
We’re not taking our foot off the pedal. The first meeting of 2026 will be on the third Wednesday in January and will focus on new brewing technology – expect gadget demos and discussions on how tech is making homebrewing easier and more precise. Details will be in the new year’s email and on the website.
After that, all eyes turn to our Summer Competition on Sunday, 15 March. The 2026 comp is the Battle for the Ashes – a showdown between classic British and Australian styles. Check the Upcoming Competitions page for full style guidelines and start brewing – judging will be on Sunday, 15 March.
Thanks to everyone who judged, stewarded, poured beers, ran presentations, or simply turned up to share a pint this year. The club thrives because of your enthusiasm. We’re already excited about what 2026 will bring. Until then, put your feet up, enjoy the festive season, and raise a glass to Mark Lehman – SABC Brewer of the Year 2025.
Cheers,
Your SABC Committee
Membership
Please make sure your membership is up to date so you don’t miss out in 2026. Log in to check or renew.
It’s mid‑December already and the final club meeting of the year has crept up on us. We’ll be gathering at The Wheaty this Wednesday 17 December from 7 pm to 9 pm . Nothing fancy – just our traditional end‑of‑year catch‑up with a stack of pizzas, a few beers and some well‑earned congratulations.
Secret Santa bottle swap
The December meeting wouldn’t be the same without a Secret Santa. Bring along a bottle of your homebrew or an interesting crafty, wrap it up in plain paper and drop it on the swap table. You’ll go home with someone else’s handiwork – a great way to see what others have been brewing .
Awards night
While we’re munching on pizza, we’ll present the trophies for this year’s Australian Amateur Brewing Championships (AABC) and announce the club’s Brewer of the Year . Come along to applaud the winners and maybe pick up a few tips from their success.
This meeting is always a relaxed one. There’s no formal agenda, just good company and a chance to raise a glass with fellow members . If you haven’t made it to a meeting in a while, this is an easy one to drop in on.
See you Wednesday – and don’t forget your wrapped bottle.
This Wednesday, we’re shaking up our routine. Instead of the Wheaty, we’ll be meeting at Shapeshifter Brewing Co on Crittenden Road for our November get‑together. They’ll open the doors from 6pm but we’ll do the usual meeting from 7pm-9pm
Shapeshifter has invited us in for an “away game” meeting to try some of the new beers Carla Naismith, who’s on Beer & Brewing’s short list for 2025 Brewer of the Year, has been knocking up.
The taproom is at Unit 2/54 Crittenden Road, Findon. If you normally bring a bottle of homebrew for Beer Bingo, feel free to tuck one in your bag.
New faces are always welcome, so if you’re curious about what the club does, this is a low‑pressure night to check us out.
Other bits and pieces
Xmas case swap: It’s time to lock in your place for the Christmas case swap. Brew a batch, bottle 12 × 750 mL and swap them for 12 different beers from fellow brewers. Put your name down on the spreadsheet if you’re keen. We’ll announce the swap date and location very soon.
December meeting: Pencil in 17 December at the Wheaty for our traditional casual beers and pizza night.
Summer competition: Styles for the 2026 summer comp are up now — It’s the battle for the Ashes in beer, Aust vs England. Judging will be in late February / early March, so it’s not too early to start planning.
That’s it for now. See you on Wednesday at Shapeshifter.
We all hope to learn from your experience brewing the best home-brewed beer in Australia.
SABC Summer competition styles are published here.
Spring-tober-fest-hoppy-beers-BBQ
We dodged the lightning and most of the rain yesterday to get together and taste the freshly brewed beers made with the Kick Back Brewing donated hops (along with a few others) and a BBQ. Thanks to everyone who came and brought their family too.
Next meeting: Wednesday, November 19, at Shapeshifter Brewing, Crittenden Road.
Thank you to the many members who have RSVP’d and are bringing family this Sunday. It’s shaping up to be a great event. There will be a simple BBQ with hand-held food showcasing the beers brewed by the club members in groups using the hops kindly given to us by Kick Back Brewing, Aldinga.
We know there will be a NZ IPA, XPA, IIPA, Hazy and a Saison to enjoy and more to come. If you have a hoppy spring beer you’d like to share, drop us a line and let us know.
Please RSVP in the form so we can plan catering.
It’s from 1pm at theEast Torrens Kensington Gardens Tennis Club, East Terrace & South Terrace, Kensington Gardens. There are playgrounds nearby and we have access to two tennis courts. If your family members would like a hit, you’ll need to bring your racquets and balls.
We’ve been asked if a different venue could be used for a change. The reality is, finding a venue with facilities that will allow us to bring kegs of beer to share is very hard to find. Most don’t even reply. We’re always open to ideas if you have a place in mind.
This will be a great arvo. Don’t miss out. This is the club’s last event for the year, apart from monthly meetings.
AABC judging this Saturday. We will hopefully also be celebrating our brewers winning at AABC, which is being judged on Saturday. Fingers crossed, best of luck to all our entrants.
Shapeshifter Brewing for the November meeting
The November 19 meeting is atShapeshifter Brewing Co. We’ll get insider tips from brewer and Brewing from Beer & Brewing’s 2025 Brewer of the Year nominee, Carla Naismith, and enjoy its fine beers.
October meeting wrap.
We heard from our ABCSA award-winning members and tasted some of their beer. Everyone who came also took home quite a swag of the vacuum-sealed Kick Back Hops that were not used. Right time, right place. The members now have a head start on making Christmas case swap beers.
The rivalry moves from the pitch to the pint. SA Brewing Club’s Battle for the Ashes invites brewers to celebrate the shared brewing traditions of Britain and Australia. Summer vibes — ales that capture the spirit of the summer session, old country and antipodean rivalries and the sound of leather on willow.
Judging will be in late February/ Early March. A little later than usual to let everyone get back up to speed after the summer break. More to come.
Brewer Of The Year
Speaking of competition, things are heating up at the pointy end of the Brewer Of The Year scoreboard. With only a few weeks to go, who will take it out? It looks like it might be down to the AABC place points. https://sabrew.com/boty-leaderboard/
Xmas Case Swap 2025!
It’s time to start organising the Xmas case swap for 2025. If you already know what to do, put your name down here ->YES, I’m IN
If you’re not sure what this is about, read on. Each Christmas, SABC runs a “case swap” where members brew and bottle a batch of beer, then swap their bottles with everyone else participating. If you put in 12 x 750ml bottles of your beer, you’ll receive 12 x 750ml bottles from 12 other brewers. 12 beers to keep you busy over the Xmas break! You can also put in a mixed 12 from two or more batches. It’s up to you.
The beer swapping generally takes place during an afternoon gathering (or the last meeting of the year). We’ll advise a date/location in the lead-up. Expect it to be mid-December.
If you’d like to participate, add your name to the spreadsheet here. We only need your name for now; you can add the remaining details, such as the beer style, later.
Membership
Please make sure your membership is up to date. We know the reminder emails often go to spam. Log in to check or renew.
A reminder the regular club meeting is this Wednesday night from 7pm at the Wheaty. We’ll be interrogating ABCSA placegetters about their magic touch and secrets to brewing winning beers. Of course, we’ll get to try some too.
November 2 club event – Spring-tober-fest BBQ and beers
Despite our efforts to find a new venue, our good friends at East Torrens, Kensington Gardens Tennis Club, will have us on their excellent deck. Unlike BeerBQ, it’s just us this time. Expect a relaxed, family-friendly outdoor vibe. We’ll do a BBQ with low-fuss handheld food. There is a great playground next to the tennis club for the kids.
Congratulations to Brewer of the Show Kieren Vercoe, and runner-up Mark Lehmann. Other club brewers who won a place and are going on to the nationals are: Nick McAuley, Lucas Veitch, Nick Hauschild, Adam Forbes, Leon Van Der Linden, Paul Quirk, Chris Marciniak, Russell Saint, Darren Williams, Gary Waters, Brendan Macey, Bruce Tonkin, and Michael Handran-Smith.
The full results are hell. Well done, brewers and all the best for the nationals.
Summer Competition, 2026
Next year’s summer comp is to be themed The Battle For The Ashes. English vs Australian styles. ESB, golden ales, English IPA, Australian Sparking and a couple of other Australian popular beers that don’t have styles but we’ll pick commercial versions to aim for. Fresh, summery, crushable. Judging will be in late February/ Early March. A little later than usual to let everyone get back up to speed after the summer break. More to come.
Forward dates:
October 15: Monthly meeting at The Wheaty
November 19: Monthly meeting at SHAPESHIFTER
December 17: Monthly meeting – Christmas pizzas (and Xmas Case Swap tbc)
The club was gifted a lot of Mosaic, Citra, Amarillo, Nelson Savin, Simcoe and Motueka hops by Kick Back Brewing, Aldinga (full list). Two groups have brewed their hoppy beers for the club’s EOY beers and BBQ show on Sunday, Nov 2, and we’d love a few more beers from you.
If you’d like to make a hoppy beer and share the brew day with a few members, please send us an email ASAP — info@sabrew.com. It’s a long weekend, so it’s perfect for brewing and leaves time for fermentation and conditioning to drink fresh in 4 weeks. If you don’t want the hops but want to brew, that’s fine. Let us know so we can add your beer to the list. Unlike BeerBQ, it’s a limited beer offering. We can give you hops in exchange later too.
Southern Brewers (top), Northern Brewers (below)
ABCSA Awards Presentation this Saturday afternoon
ABCSA has been judged, and the brewers who placed have been notified (check your spam folders!). They don’t know what place they got.
From feedback from members, we know you are keen for another club social BeerBQ like get-together. We’re excited to announce a Sunday afternoon event dedicated to celebrating homebrewing. As an early end-of-year show, on Sunday, November 2, members and families are invited to a showcase of hoppy beers made by member teams. Despite our efforts to find a venue, it’ll be at the East Torrens, Kensington Gardens Tennis Club. Expect a relaxed, outdoor vibe. There is a great playground next to the club.
Spark up the WhatsApp chats and lock in a brew day. Groups — North, Sounds, East and West — that have got together before, lock-in a recipe and brew day, but we aren’t calling this a challenge (or are we???). Brew a hoppy beer so there will be 5 or 6 to enjoy on the day. We’ll put on a BBQ and we’re asking groups to contribute extras like snacks and salads too.
Styles are wide open, but as long as it’s ‘hoppy’.
To help, thanks to Kickback Brewing Aldinga, we have a lot of free hops for you to use. They are not super fresh, and we recommend using them in the boil and grabbing something new for dry hopping.
Brew team leaders, drop us a line to lock in your contribution info@sabrew.com. It’s only 6 weeks away, so fresh is best! We’d like you to extend the invitation to join brewdays to all members if you can. If you’re keen on joining a brew, let us know too and we can organise invites.
It’ll be a super simple, fun event, like BeerBQ lite, but we need your contributions. If you’re not a member of the club and would like to get involved, set up your membership easily here and drop us a message to express your interest.
Summer Competition, 2026
Next year’s summer comp was announced at last week’s meeting. To be called The Battle For The Ashes, it will offer a choice of 4 or 5 English and Australian styles. ESB, golden ales, English IPA, Australian Sparking and a couple of other Australian popular beers that don’t have styles but we’ll pick commercial versions to aim for. Fresh, summery, crushable.
Judging will be in late February/ Early March. A little later than usual to let everyone get back up to speed after the summer break. More to come.
September meeting wrap
Oxidation was demonstrated with a fresh Balter hazy poured and resealed, resealed with metabisulfite and opened and left for an hour in the room. The results were dramatic but maybe not surprising. We also tasted 27-year-old Cooper’s Vintage Ale. Mmmmmm. You had to be there! More in the Facebook group here.
A big thank you to Jason and Tali for participating in a blindfolded taste assessment and ranking the beers as we predicted. The oldest bottle, which didn’t have sodium metabisulfite, was dull, lifeless, and lacked aroma. However, both the bottle with sodium metabisulfite and the one-hour-old pour also lacked freshness and were similar in flavour and aroma.
October meeting
We’re at the Wheaty on October 15 for the annual post-ABCSA wrap. Hopefully, members were winners and will share their secrets and beers too.
ABCSA
Judging was held on Saturday. 144 entries allowed for a long but tight judging day. Well done to the organising committee for again running a smooth competition. No doubt SABC will feature heavily in the medals. The presentation is on Saturday, Oct 4, from 2.30 at the Wheaty. Come along for a beer and congratulate all the winners.
Thanks ot the judges and stewards who gave up their Saturdays to help. Many were rewarded with a chocolate wheel raffle with generous prizes from competition sponsors.
ABCSA organising legends. Kudos to everyone on the committee.
Forward dates:
October 15: Monthly meeting at The Wheaty
November 19: Monthly meeting at SHAPESHIFTER
December 17: Monthly meeting – Christmas pizzas (and Xmas Case Swap tbc)
It’s a busy week on the SA homebrewing calendar with ABCSA judging this weekend but we do have our regular meeting on Wednesday night at the Wheaty from 7pm.
We’ll be looking at freshness and oxidation with some ex-beer-iments. Kind of opposite to freshness, Neil is letting us taste some 20+yr old Cooper’s Vintage Ale.
If you have a beer to present, drop us a note. Extra brewer of the year points on offer.
We’ll be announcing a special event in October, showcasing brews you will make and details of the summer comp. Come along to get the head start on that.
Forward dates
The November meeting is now at Shapeshifter Brewing.
This week’s news is mainly a reminder that entries for this year’s ABCSA Homebrewing Competition close this week! Don’t miss the deadlines.
Important details:
Entry deadline: This Thursday 6pm. Get your entries in, paid for and labels printed!
Bottle drop-off: Friday 5pm at any of our official drop-off partners or Saturday 13 September, strictly between 11am and 1pm at the Irish Club, Carrington Street, Adelaide
All the information you need, including drop-off locations and competition guidelines, can be found here: https://www.abcsa.org.au/
Judges and stewards are also encouraged to register for the judging weekend on Sept 20/21.
We’re at the Wheaty next Wednesday, Sept 17. We’ll be doing some freshness tests and in tune with that, taste some 20+yr old Cooper’s Vintage Ale. More to come on that soon. We’ll be announcing a special event in October, showcasing brews you will make and details of the summer comp. Come along to get the head start on that.
Forward dates
The November meeting is now at Shapeshifter Brewing.
