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.
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.
It’s that time of the month again when we get school night out and sneaky couple of beers (you all don’t drink during the week, do you?)
This Wednesday we’re at the Wheaty and it’s all about hops — growing them and using them in your beers. Stuart Binnion from Silver Hop Springs and Fresh Hops Co-op of Australia is our expert special guest to tell us how and the lessons he has learnt from growing hops on his property in Longwood in the Hills.
There’s also a some winter comp beers for tasting, including a A/B comparison taste test of a stout.
We’ll be presenting the awards and generally celebrating the winter comp placegetters. Congratulations Lucas Veitch, who won best beer of show with his outstanding International Pale Lager, scoring a 42.5!
Now on with ABCSA. Entries are open, and bottle drop is only around the corner (Sept 13).
ABCSA has got a schmick new website and entries are open now along with stewarding and judging registrations.
Calendar updates
September 13: ABCSA Bottle drop.
September 17: Club meeting, the Wheaty (*TBC)
September 20-21: ABCSA Judging (Irish Club) — You know what to do.
October 15: Club meeting, the Wheaty
November 19: Club meeting, the Wheaty
December 20: Club meeting, the Wheaty
Subscribe to this calendar in Google (other calendar versions available on the Calendar page).
If you know someone interested in the activities of the club, please forward this email. If you’re reading this and would like to find out more, please email us info@sabrew.com and come to a meeting.
The regular third Wednesday of the month SABC club meeting is this week.
This Wednesday at 7pm we will be holding the Annual General Meeting of the SA Brewing Club, inc. The president and treasurer will provide reports for the last 12 months of club activity, and an election will be held to appoint a new committee.
As an incorporated not-for-profit group, we are required by law to hold one. Please come along and hear about the year and what’s in the future, and guide the direction of your club, one of the biggest and most successful homebrewing clubs in Australia.
All members are invited to attend and nominate for positions on the committee by email to info@sabrew.com or on the night before the meeting starts, either by self-nominating or by another member.
The current committee has proposed a number of constitution updates. These will be put to a vote at the AGM and require a two thirds majority to pass. The changes are intended to reflect the more modern mechanisms by which the club is managed(email over paper!), a standard period of 2 weeks for notification periods, and minor wording tweaks.. A summary of the changes has been included on the AGM Agenda available here. A draft copy of the full constitution with changes is available here.
The positions open are the required exec of president, vice president, treasurer and secretary, then up to eight committee places some with associated roles (competitions director, IT, events co-ord).
Please email or comment on the Facebook event. Apologies and questions/ comments if you can’t make it. Remember, there are always great Wheaty beers to enjoy.
After the AGM, which should only take 20 minutes, if you want to bring a beer to share as a tasting and short presentation, please email info@sabrew.com to let us know. Brewer of the year points are earned by bringing a beer.
BOTY
The BOTY leaderboard has been updated with points earned at the BeerBQ. Nick M and Lucas V have surged up the rankings with the points they picked up for their outstanding beers, and a bunch of new members picked up their first points by contributing beer to the night.
The next haul of points will be available at the Club Winter Comp in two weeks time.
Drop off is at the venue from 12pm or at SA Brewing Supplies, Maria Street by 12pm, Saturday, July 26th.
The styles are broad and popular to give members a chance to test your winners before ABCSA in September: Lager, Pale Ale, Amber Ale, Stout and Specialty.
Jump in and enter your beers ASAP so we can plan. Judges and stewards are welcome to help, as always, but please register in the portal.
Calendar updates
July 16: Club meeting: The Wheaty / AGM and more.
July 27: SABC Winter Competition (EKTG) Details here
August 20: Club meeting, The Wheaty – growing hops and brewing with whole cones.
September 17: Club meeting, the Wheaty
September 20-21: ABCSA Judging (Irish Club) — You know what to do.
Subscribe to this calendar in Google (other calendar versions available on the Calendar page).
If you know someone interested in the activities of the club, please forward this email. If you’re reading this and would like to find out more, please email us info@sabrew.com and come to a meeting.
Just a couple of weeks on from the last Beer n BBQ, we had our own peak beer festival for members and their guests — BeerBQ — on Saturday night on the revered ‘EKTG deck’ stage. More below, but first, July’s meeting…
AGM 2025
Members are advised that the Annual General Meeting of the South Australian Brewing Club will be held on 16 July 2025, The Wheatsheaf Hotel at 7pm. The agenda is here, 2024 minutes are here.
Other business and nominations for committee positions should be submitted to the secretary by email by 7pm Tuesday, July 15 or prior to the election at the meeting.
After AGM business, we’ll be back to a normal meeting with tastings and a stout old grain vs. new grain ‘ex-beer-iment”. If you’d like to share a beer, email us to grab the slot.
BeerBQ, 2025
Last Saturday night, we had a perfect night under the stars for the club’s annual BeerBQ. Club members brought about 25 different beers to share. From pils, pales and IPAs to stouts and wee heavies, there wasn’t a bad beer.
Thanks to BJ (Bjorn), assisted by Lachlan, for cooking the full pig on a spit all afternoon, Paul for his brisket and to everyone who chipped in with food or help to make it one of the best events we’ve ever held.
Winners on the night in the ‘bottle cap’ popular choice awards voted by members, guests and ETKG members were: Adam, Darren, Wolf and Lucas. They get points in the Brewer of the Year competition, as does everyone who brought a beer along.
Praise from the tennis club members who join us each year was strong too.
June meeting recap pH meters
Thanks to Leon for presenting at our June meeting. Everyone went away with a better understanding of how pH meters work and how to use them. You can grab his slide deck here.
Calendar updates
July 16: Club meeting: The Wheaty / AGM and more.
July 27: SABC Winter Competition (EKTG) Details here
August 20: Club meeting, The Wheaty.
September 17: Club meeting, the Wheaty
September 20-21: ABCSA Judging (Irish Club) — You know what to do.
Subscribe to this calendar in Google (other calendar versions available on the Calendar page)
If you know someone interested in the activities of the club, please forward this email. If you’re reading this and would like to find out more, please email us info@sabrew.com and come to a meeting.
SABC’s annual BeerBQ is this Saturday night. What is it, and how does it work? If you’re an old hand, you’ll know it’s free; everyone brings homebrew, we provide the food, and it’s a great night. It’s free, but you must RSVP by logging in and grabbing a ticket here. (NOTE – you need to select “My Account” and login first. On a mobile phone “it’s”My Account” is under “Menu”)
If you’ve been around the club for a while, you probably know what BeerBQ is. But if you’re newer or haven’t made it along yet, here’s the short version: it’s our yearly SABC get-together where we fire up the spit for some delicious BBQ, many bring a keg of homebrew to share, and enjoy an evening of good company, food, and homebrew.
It’s not a competition or a judging event. There’s no pressure. Just bring a bottle or two if that’s all you have of something you’ve brewed (if you’ve got some), try what others have made, and have a chat. Everyone’s welcome—whether you’ve been brewing for years or you’ve just started thinking about your first batch.
Dark and roasty, warm and toasty. Hello winter. A quick sprint around what’s going on.
Last month’s meeting at Crafty Robot was great. Nice to go somewhere new and support them. Thanks, Jules, for the presentation on his frankenchiller/heater, too. If you’ve got a suggestion for a meeting venue, or a topic you’d like to present on, let us know.
SABC represent at Beer & BBQ
First, we’re doing a casual catch-up at Beer & BBQ this Saturday. If you’re going along, wear some club kit and watch out for members.
A suggested meet-up spot might get suggested on Facebook on Friday, so keep an eye out, or suggest one.
If you don’t have a ticket, jump onto it now. Tickets are selling out, probably because it’s the last time (so said Johnny Farnham… we’ll see).
If you’re going on Sunday or other times, share your plans in the group so you can find a wing-person.
Hang with members this weekend at Beer & BBQ
SABC’s BeerBBQ
Not to be confused with Beer & BBQ, our annual event that is more than 10 years old and will keep going. It is on Saturday, June 28. It’s a simple concept — everyone brings beer, everyone shares beer, and the club puts on an amazing smorgasbord of food.
Tickets for members are FREE (so renew your membership now), and for guests, it’s $30. They’ll be in the shop tonight. Please get a ticket so we know how many to cater for. There’s a whole spit this year.
It means brew this weekend (for BeerBQ and July’s winter comp!
June meeting — all about pH and water
Pic: Nick McAuley knows his numbers
Our resident water biologist and water quality expert will be hosting an explainer pH meters, how to use them, test them and why pH matters. Bring your pH meters for testing.
Award-winning homebrewers say it’s one of the most important changes they made to their brewing to take their beer to the next level.
Calendar updates
June 18: The Wheaty – pH meters and water chemistry with LvdL
June 28: SABC BeerBQ (EKTG) — Tix on sale soon, so renew your membership
July 16: Club meeting: The Wheaty / AGM and more.
July 27: SABC Winter Competition (EKTG) Details here
September 20-21: ABCSA Judging (Irish Club) — You know what to do.
Subscribe to this calendar in Google (other cals available on the Calendar page)
If you know someone who is interested in the activities of the club, please forward this email. If you’re reading this and would like to find out more, please email us info@sabrew.com and come to a meeting.
