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.
This is a reminder that our monthly meeting is happening this Wednesday at the Wheaty from 7pm.
This month we’ll be interrogating our medal-winning brewers and generally opening up the floor to questions, feedback and ideas about brewing winning beers from ABCSA.
We’ll glean tips and taste some and learn how they crafted their winning entries.
Congratulations to all the SABC brewers who placed: Percy Balls* (7 places and best brewer of show), Mark Lehmann (4), Charles Nzama (5), Lucas Veitch (3), Lachlan Johnson (2), James Edwards (2), Matthew Kennedy (4), Gary Waters (3), Gavin Pennell, John Van Der Zalm, Brendan Macey, Gus Kingston, Darren Williams, Maz Ali, Aaron Young, Russell Saint.
Judges’ score sheets are now available in the portal for downloading as PDFs.
Thank you to everyone who helped judge, steward and administer ABCSA. It went very smoothly and we couldn’t do it without you.
Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday! Bottles for bottle bingo swapping are encouraged.
New members are welcome to join us.
AABC entry
The Australian Amateur Brewing Championship will be judged in Brisbane on October 26th. To register, visit enter.aabc.org.au and submit your beer(s). If you are interested, SABC will organise a shipment to Qld. Drop your entries with labels affixed to bottles at the September SABC meeting or at SA Brewing Supplies by October 5th. Entries will be shipped on October 8th. Alternatively, you can send your entries directly to the competition. Good luck!
This Wednesday’s monthly club meeting, August 21, is at The Suburban Brewat 26-30 Provident Avenue, Glynde (not Goodwood!). The owner and brewer, Tony will give us a tour of this brewhouse and give us the secrets to producing the Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards Gold Medal-winning Sunday Session Ale.
Formally from 7pm but the taps are open before that of course. Parking is available on site or bus 174, 176, or H33 from the city.
Hello brewers, Here’s what happening next week, soon and beyond.
ABCSA is on like Donkey Kong
The ABCSA Home Brewing Championship for 2024 is open for entry! Formerly known as SABSOSA*, this esteemed event has been celebrating home brewing for over 20 years.
ENTER NOW and don’t leave it to the last minute when your printer is busted. You need a new account in the portal even if you have entered previously.
If you can judge or steward – get involved! Register your interest in the entry portal.
For full competition details, including bottle drop venue and deadlines, visit the website at ABCSA.org.au
Good luck!
*seriously, this is the last time SABSOSA will ever be uttered.
Next Wednesday’s club meeting
Next Wednesday’s monthly club meeting on (August 21) is at The Suburban Brewat 26-30 Provident Avenue, Glynde (not Goodwood!). The owner and brewer, Tony will give us a tour of this brewhouse and give us the secrets to producing the Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards Gold Medal-winning Sunday Session Ale.
A night not to miss. Parking is available on site or bus 174, 176, or H33 from the city.
Xmas case swap – get brewing
We did it last year and it’s on again. Members brew a batch of beer, bottle it and swap the lot for a random selection of other beers. Put 20L in, and get back 20L of Christmas beers bathed in sunshine and good cheer. Put this in your brewing schedule and we’ll get back with more info soon. Swap venue TBC.
SABC members Blessed with good beer in Laura, SA
A bunch of members had a road trip to see the newly minted Little Blessing Brewing in the old church in the small mid-north town of Laura. Completely built from the shell of the deconsecrated church hall, club member Craig Blessing and his partner have done an incredible job building their brewery. All reports are the beers are great and the atmosphere excellent.
Events and meetings
Club dates are below and in our online calendar. After next Wednesday’s The Suburban Brew meetup, we know the September meeting (18/09) we will hear from the club’s best brewers who scored great results at winter comp and ABCSA. Get the low down on their secrets to success and try their beers.
October meeting (16/10) is looking at all the brewing tools, tech, and gadgets you need, you never knew you needed and the garbage ones you wish you kept the receipt for (curse you Temu!).
Beers offered for presentation and member tasting are always welcome, drop us a line and as always, bottle bingo is always on. Bring a bottle, and leave with a bottle. Anonymous or not, it’s up to you.
SABC Is excited to announce the ABCSA Home Brewing Championship for 2024 is open for entry! Open to all residents of South Australia, this competition is your chance to showcase your best home-brewed beer, cider, or mead. Formerly known as SABSOSA, this esteemed event has been celebrating home brewing for over 20 years, and we invite you to be part of this year’s competition.
ABCSA is South Australia’s largest amateur brewing competition and a qualifying round for the Australian Amateur Brewing Championship (AABC). All 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in the ABCSA categories will be eligible to enter the national competition. ABCSA is a fantastic chance to showcase your brewing, get feedback on your beers and win the prestigious South Australian Brewer of the Year perpetual trophy.
As ABCSA is closely linked with AABC, we use the AABC Style Guidelines, which are available on the AABC website. Please review the latest guidelines to understand what the judges will be looking for in both competitions.
ABCSA is entirely volunteer-driven. If you’re interested in entering, participating as a judge or steward, or even if you’re a business considering sponsorship, we encourage you to get involved! Register your interest in the entry portal.
For full competition details, visit our website at ABCSA.org.au
Greetings brewers. We hope you are enjoying the ‘dark beers’ season. The club met last week for some housekeeping, awards announcements and upcoming events. We also tasted an excellent barleywine that was the result of a member-led barrel project. Delish.
Here’s a big summary of what’s happening below. Get your spex out and read on.
Winter Competition: ‘The Euros’ Results
Congratulations to Russell Saint for winning the Belgian class and Best of Show with his Belgian Single. Other class winners include: German: Kieren Vercoe (German Leichtbier), English: Nat Warnock (English Porter), Scottish: Ben Key (Scottish Export), Irish: Brenton George (Irish Stout).
See the full results on the competition’s page. The judges’s score sheets are available to download. And of course, Spain won the football.
Upcoming ABCSA State Competition
The entry portal and website will update in early August. Key dates to remember:
Bottle Drop: closes at drop-off locations, COB August 31 or by 12pm Saturday at The Irish Club.
Judging: Saturday, September 7 and Sunday, September 8 at The Irish Club, Carrington Street
The portal will also invite judge and steward registrations. We need help to run the competition, so any time you can give is appreciated. There’s still time to brew a comp-winning beer. Good luck!
AGM / Committee Update
The Annual General Meeting was held at the club meeting as required by its constitution. The minutes including treasurer’s and president’s reports will be available soon.
Lachlan Johnson was elected as president. He’s supported by:
VP: Sam Beard, Treasurer: Leon van der Linden, Secretary: Gus Kingston. The General committee members are: Chief Steward: Nick McCauley, General Officer: Chris Kerr, IT: Julien Gibson, Competition Director: Gerrard Flynn, Head Judge: Gary Waters
The committee meets bi-monthly and welcomes the contribution of ideas and feedback.
August Meeting Venue Change
The August club meeting on August 21 (3rd Wednesday of the month) will be at The Suburban Brew Glynde. Owner and brewer, Tony, a former club member, will give us a tour of his one-year-old facility. This brewhouse produces excellent beers, including the award-winning Sunday Session Ale, which recently won a gold medal at the Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards.
Transport: Buses 174, 176, or H33 from the city and plenty of on-site parking is available.
Mmmm remember sunny warm days at a brewery
Beer tour to Little Blessings Brewing, Laura
The date is getting close, August 3! Join SABC members for a road trip to Laura in the mid-north on the first weekend in August to enjoy beers crafted by our member Craig Blesing at his brand new (old church) brewery!
Limited spots are available, so please RSVP (or email) if you’re certain you’ll attend. Also, let us know if you’re planning a day trip (about 2 hours drive) or staying overnight. Depending on numbers, we may need separate sessions.
For overnight stays, check out the Laura Caravan Park directly across from the brewery. Everyone gets scones on arrival. It’s a delightful place. When we know more, we can coordinate shared accommodation or rides with fellow members.
Membership Renewals
Many of you might not realise your annual club membership has expired. To renew, head to the SABC Shop and pay to keep access to club events, meetings, competitions, discounts and extras, online group and member brains trust. If you’re unsure of your current status, find out how to check it here. The annual subscription of $60 hasn’t changed in many years and will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future. The club aims to give members the best value for money it can, all for the price of a batch of beer.
What’s in planning: another Southern Vales brewery bus trip!
I was pleased to nominate Julien Gibson for SA Brewing Club Life Membership at the AGM last week. It was seconded and passed without opposition. As he was unable to be there, the award will be presented at a meeting in the future.
There’s a theory of clubs and groups that says, for every 100 people in a group, nine will be active and one person will be super-active. Julien Gibson is SABC’s one. He has been a key member of our club since its inception and puts a lot in to make it run well.
He oversaw the club’s transformation from a group of homebrewers to an incorporated club.
Introduced a modern cashless and online membership system — said to be one of the first brewing clubs to offer it. This reduces the workload for everyone else from the treasure down.
We have a shop to manage and buy club merchandise.
Our website is never down and is an important feature in presenting what the club is to the interested outsider.
He has set up and managed the competition portal for all our club competitions and SABSOSA is also said to be the first in Australia to do so.
He is the club’s public officer to keep us legal and within the associations’ laws.
He’s won many Best Beer of Show awards and places in competitions.
He was a club president and has been on the club committee for all of its existence.
His contribution to the ideas and progress of the club is highly valued.
Another year is done — a year that wasn’t without Covid disruptions but we managed to work around it. The club finally managed to host its premier event, BeerBQ, in its old format in June. All brewers bring whatever creation they want to share, food cooked and provided by the club and everyone digs in. The new venue at the ETKG Tennis Club was great and my only regret was I couldn’t be there (bloody Covid).
Our alternative events were also well attended and enjoyed — like our British cask beers night at the Hilton Hotel. In an attempt to work around the restrictions on gatherings, we introduced the team’s brew-off. The first was the supermarket challenge that resulted in some interesting and very drinkable creations.
The second was Brew The Burra — a brewing challenge to replicate Lady Burra beers. Something closer to known styles than the supermarket beers.
While fun, the team events allowed newer members to connect with others often in their local area and in turn strengthened connections within the membership.
Again we successfully ran SABSOSA, won by our own Brendan Macey, and two club competitions. Throughout the year members had some social catch-ups at local venues including Shapeshifter, Kickback and Brightstar.
All of this including regular monthly meetings couldn’t be organised by a single person and I thank the committee for all their work, even with life’s commitments, serious illness, Covid and weddings.
I won’t be standing again for president this time. I’ve enjoyed it a lot and I feel it’s time to let someone else have a go and new committee members to share their fresh ideas.
I’ll still be a part of the club of course. Thank you. Gus
It’s been a big few weeks in beer with our Winter competition and Beer n BBQ on the weekend. We hope you can join us for the regular monthly meeting at the Wheaty on Wednesday from 7pm.
Our AGM meeting special guest is a club founding member, president, brewer and owner of Left Barrel Brewing, Brad Bown. He is also now 2022 Champion Beer of Show brewer with his Bob’s Ya Dunkle judged at the SA Beer Awards last week. He always has a lot to say about brewing and going pro.
We’ll also hold our AGM and to begin the celebration of the club’s 10th anniversary, the club will put on some special treats for everyone attending.
The AGM agenda is here (but will probably be updated on the night), including nominations received so far, and the minutes of the 2021 AGM here. You can still nominate for a committee place now via email or on the night at the meeting. As we wrote before, joining the committee is rewarding, fun and helps steer the best brewing club in Australia in the right direction.
We’ll also be presenting the medals to the winners of the Winter Competition.
Greetings. It’s that time of SABC’s year for two things — the winter competition and its AGM.
Monthly meeting, July 20. 7pm at the Wheaty
We’re going to have a special guest speaker in July and to begin to celebrate the club’s 10th anniversary, we’re putting on some special treats for meeting attendees.
As notified last week, the club’s AGM will be held at 7pm. Official business doesn’t take long. The main task is to present the club’s finances and elect the committee for 2022/23. This is where you come in.
The club invites members to nominate for committee positions to help the club grow, develop ideas, events and projects and make it a friendly club to be part of.
The club has a committee meets every two months and keeps in touch via the chat app Slack to organise things (as well as banter and talk beer and brewing). It’s not all business.
The time commitment is not onerous. We acknowledge that everyone has commitments, work, family, travel and life’s ups and downs. The bi-monthly committee meeting is over dinner and beers in the city. It’s a fun catchup and an excuse to get out for a meal and try a new venue.
While they are four required roles of president, VP, secretary and treasurer (all open for nomination), there are five general committee members positions. There is scope for you to have a dedicated task if you are interested in comms, social media, managing the t-shirts and caps, planning events or competitions and SABSOSA. Anything you dream up.
The committee is a strong group that is mostly going to renominate but also has a turnover. It always needs new blood. Please think about getting involved. We promise it’s a satisfying experience.
Nominations (self or by someone else) are open by email at info@sabrew.com (by Thursday, July 7) or on the night from the room. Your club needs you.
Cheers,
Gus – pres; Clinton, VP; Lachlan, treasurer; Brendan, secretary and general committee members; Julien, Nick M, Nick H, Leon and Gary.
Winter competition now open for entries
The entry portal for the Winter Competition is now open. https://comps.sabrew.com/ Log in, or create a new profile if you’ve never entered a club competition before, and enter your beers.
The theme is dark and stormy so the categories are limited to the darker range of the EBC pallette.
Judging will be on Sunday, July 10, at the East Torrens Kensington Gardens Tennis Club with bottle drop from 11 and judging to get going from 12pm. Winners will be announced on the day. We welcome everyone to come along for a beer and celebrate the winners. The announcement is expected after 3pm.
As always, we need judges. Drop your beer and stay to judge. If you’ve never judged before, have a go. It’s fun and you’ll learn a lot from other experienced and BJCP-accredited judges. Don’t worry, you’ll be placed at a different table to your beer.
Entry is $5. Entries close on 07/07/2022 at 11pm. Enter and print labels by then.
Is your SABC membership up to date?
Go to https://sabrew.com/join-sabc/
Check your membership by going here and log in, navigate to My Membership and then Member and Manage to see the expiry date. Alternatively, look at Membership/orders to see the most recent payment.
The Annual General Meeting for the SA Brewing Club will be held on Wednesday, July 20 at The Wheatsheaf Hotel, George St Thebarton at 7pm.
All financial members of the club are invited to attend. The agenda can be downloaded here. Nominations for all positions can be submitted by email in advance.
Our monthly meeting is on this Wednesday night from 7pm at the Wheaty. Bring a beer to share and swap. If you would like to present your beer to the meeting and talk a bit about it, bring two or three long necks along.
Thank you to everyone who helped cook, set up and make our BeerBQ event on June 4 a great success. Despite the poor weather, there was around sixty in attendance enjoying more than thirty home brewed beers and awesome low and slow BBQ and smoked salmon.
The Winter competition is still on schedule for Sunday, July 10. We’ll have more info at this week’s meeting and online. We always need judges so make sure you block out that Sunday in your calendar.
Don’t forget our extra meeting tomorrow night, Tuesday 24th, at Lady Burra in Topham Mall Adelaide to taste the Brew the Burra team beers.
The teams will present their beers to the brewer Mark who will taste the creations. Drop by, join in and have dinner and some of the real Lady Burra Brewhouse beers.
The club committee is also going over a few plans for BeerBQ and our winter competition. Members are more than welcome to join us and share their ideas.
BEERBQ – Saturday, June 4
Free member tickets and $25 for guest tickets are now available for BeerBQ. It’s on Saturday, June 4 from 6.30pm. Bring your beer in whatever container you like to share.
There will be slow-cooked BBQ and excellent salads.
The venue is the newly renovated East Torrens Kensington Gardens Tennis Club.
We have a shop to manage and buy club merchandise.