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.
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.
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.
Tickets https://shop.sabrew.com/ You’ll need to log in to get your tix.
This month we’re meeting at the Wheaty. Wednesday 18 from 7pm. Bring a bottle of your beer — good or bad! — to share for anonymous assessment and feedback. A table of members will taste your beer and try to guess the style and give feedback on it. It can be anonymous so bring an unmarked bottle. You can ‘fess up it’s yours too! Add an extra bottle to share in bottle bingo too. New members are welcome to join us.
Brew the Burra team beers. Two months ago, for inspiration, the club formed teams to brew beers emulating Lady Burra Brewhouse beers as a jumping-off point. Also to get brewers together to make some beer as a community catchup while Covid lingered.
At a special extra meeting for all on Tuesday, May 24 from 6.30pm, the teams will present their beers to the brewer Mark who will taste the creations at Lady Burra at a special club meeting.
Drop by, join in and have dinner and some of the real Lady Burra Brewhouse beers.
The club committee is also meeting to knock off a few planning details for the upcoming club event BeerBQ and our winter competition as well as some forward events like Beer & BBQ, brewery visits and more.
Members are more than welcome to join us and bring your ideas to contribute.
If you missed the news, our club’s premier event BeerBQ is on Saturday, June 4 from 6.30pm . What are you brewing for it? There are no limits on who brings beer, so brew something this weekend! Brew it and bring it! You can serve from kegs with taps, mini-kegs, bottles or growlers. There will be a lot of people to share it with.
Food! We’ll do food too. There’s a plan to slow cook some meats. If you are handy with the BBQ let us know.
The venue is the newly renovated East Torrens Kensington Gardens Tennis Club.
Tickets https://shop.sabrew.com/ You’ll need to log in to get your tix. Members free. Partners etc, $25.
If you missed the news last week, our BeerBQ is back on Saturday, June 4 from 6.30pm in your diaries. Now we need YOUR BEER. There are no limits on who brings beer, so brew something this weekend!
Brew it and bring it! Kegs, mini-kegs, bottles or growlers. There will be a lot of people to share it with.
Food! We’ll do food too. If you are handy with the BBQ or knock up a great salad, let us know.
The venue is the newly renovated East Torrens Kensington Gardens Tennis Club.
It’s free for members but RSVP is required and will open soon. Tickets for partners TBC.
Facebook event.
Casual brewery visits on the first Sunday of the month*. Yesterday we visited the brand new Brightstar Brewery in Thebarton and got a bonus tour and Q&A with head brewer Steve. His experience from WA to the USA and Mismatch was worth the visit.
*Next month TBC. Because BeerBQ is the night before we’ll look at the best dates taking into account the long weekend.
Is your SABC membership up to date? Don’t miss out on great homebrewing experiences like this.
Go to https://sabrew.com/join-sabc/. Tips on joining, renewing or checking here.
It’s been a disrupted start to the year. Some of you have asked about getting a 2022 calendar. Now, thanks to Nick, it’s available. Download as a PDF to print and stick on the dunny door. We hope to fit a few more things in, in particular a celebration of SABC’s 10th birthday. Stay tuned.
Also, this month’s meeting will be a cracker. Our guest host will be Briony from Flavour Logic. She is a cicerone and an avid sensory analyst who enjoys sharing how to boost tasting skills and better appreciate what’s in your glass. She works with the food and beverage industry, general consumers and beer lovers of all kinds. RSVP on the Facebook group event please so we know numbers.
Now the medals and trophy for the summer comp have been presented, it’s time to look to the club’s winter competition.
Embrace the dark side, the theme this year is Dark and Stormy.
Brew your best beer in any of the following categories by Bjcp 2021 style guidelines:
Three entries max per person. One per category.
Judging will take place Sunday, 10th July, 2022. Venue TBA
Club competition rules will appear on the competition website. Open to financial members of SABC ONLY (renew or join here).
At last week’s meeting, we announced the first brewing challenge for the year. It’s a simple one – brew the Lady Burra. In short, make a well-balanced beer that would quench the thirst of after-work city drinkers in the style of one of their current core or seasonal beers.
We’ll sample (judge) them at the May meeting.
Teams were roughly arranged last year around geography. If you want to get involved in a team’s brew day, drop us a line and tell us where you live and we’ll put you in contact. There are teams – Southern, city, inner northern, hills, western and inner northern suburbs.
Or leave a comment in the Facebook group.
Try to replicate a beer but more simply, get together, enjoy yourselves and make some beer to share.
Brenton Shoemaker won best beer of summer comp a few years ago and now he’s opened his own brewery that’s really got Adelaide beer lovers talking – Kick Back Brewing.
We’ve booked a spot for 12 on April 3 from 2pm. We know in the past we get around that many to a casual catchup and as people come and go we hope we’ll fit. We’ve told them we’re coming so we might get some flexibility. Just turn up and enjoy a beer.
This month’s meeting is next week, Wednesday, March 16. It will be at Lady Burra Brewhouse in Topham Mall, in the CBD.
We’ll meet from 7pm as usual but the kitchen is open from 6pm if you want to eat before.
Mark and the team will give us a tour and some insight into how they brew. We’ve also lined up a special ‘teams challenge’.
Last year there was the random supermarket ingredients challenge, this month we’ll kick off another one. This one is much more traditional.
The idea was brewers joined together in teams to brew. It was generally by geographic location. Don’t worry if you weren’t involved before, we’ll get you into a group. It’s fun and you’ll get to meet some members and learn a few things too.
We’ll also present the medals from last month’s Summer Competition.
The SABC Winter competition will be held on July 9 or 10. The theme is ‘Dark and Stormy’. More details and categories to come.
Finally, SABSOSA 2022 — or the SA Homebrewing Competition as we’re probably calling it now — the state’s peak open amateur brewing competition, will be held on September 10 and 11.
Other events to look forward to:
Keep Sunday, April 3 in your diaries for a casual club get together at Kick Back Brewing in Aldinga.
A ‘classic’ SABC BeerBQ in July (food and all member’s beers now restrictions have relaxed), a special guest and beer pairing in April and a special celebration for the club’s 10th anniversary later in the year.
This Sunday, Feb 20 is competition judging day. To run a club comp we need as many members as possible. Whether you’re BJPC or can raise your arm with a glass to your lips, you can judge. Register in the portal so you can be allocated. https://comps.sabrew.com. If you can’t use it, just send us an email at info@sabrew.com
We can’t hold competitions if we don’t get the support to run them, especially with judging. If you’re new to the club and think judging is beyond you, don’t worry. Have a go. We’re not in it for sheep stations.
The location is at Unit 3/77 O’Sullivan Beach Rd Lonsdale in a new brewery.
If you can’t be there from 12, come along at 3.30pm and bring one or two beers to share around. We’re making it a social event too where we’ll announce the winners. Here’s a Facebook event for it.
Of course, you can still enter your beer for the competition. Bottle drop on the day from 11.30am, at this week’s meeting or BeerBelly by 5pm Friday 18th. Entries close on Thursday 17th February
This Wednesday’s meeting is at the Wheaty from 7pm. Again with numbers probably lower, we’re getting out and supporting a local business that does appreciate us being there.
As always, if you’ve got a beer to share or an idea to raise, bring it along.
The competition is running on Sunday, Feb 20. The event is up and entries are coming in — now we need your help.
As always we need judges. Even if you’ve never judged before, we need your help. It’s just drinking beer after all.
Register in the portal so you can be allocated even if you’ve entered. We place you in a different style or flight. https://comps.sabrew.com
Don’t be nervous. It’s fun, you’ll be with other experienced judges and you’ll learn a lot that benefits your own understanding of tasting and brewing beer.
The location is in Lonsdale in space that will become a new brewery. So you get to see it in development.
We can also welcome members to come to the venue for the winners’ presentation and share a beer or two. Bring one or two to share around. It’s a social event too.
Of course, you can enter your beer for the competition too. There are limits on the number of entries and entries per style.
Bottle drop will be on the day, at the meeting the week prior and at BeerBelly by 5pm Friday 18th.
The categories are;
One beer from each category will be crowned the winner with medals for second and third.
Entry is only open to SABC financial club members, including new financial members who join the club. There can be one entry per category and a maximum of three entries. There will be a cap on total entries..
Entries close on Thursday 17th February. Judges and stewards will be needed. Register your availability in the portal.
We still hope that the winning beer will be brewed by a commercial brewing company and released on tap at our very own stand at the July Beer & BBQ festival.
Despite the pandemic, goddamit we will have a regular meeting next Wednesday at The Wheaty from 7pm.
After seeking you opinions in a poll, we know many are hesitant about meeting and are waiting for booster shots to soak in so we’ll keep it simple. Catch up with brewing buddies and bring a beer if you’d like to have it assessed. We thought about cancelling but we also don’t want to let down The Wheaty who are also doing it tough.
If anyone wants to present either a beer or a topic, drop us a line. We’re into it.
Be aware, the Wheaty will have capacity limits and restrictions we must follow.
It’s likely we’ll also do an Australia Day Zoom meeting. Stay tuned for that.
Summer competition update.
We know you are as disappointed as we are that the summer comp has been postponed. We would like this to go ahead and we propose provisional judging on the weekend of 19-20th February. We may need to extend this to the following weekend in sessions to minimise exposure numbers for gathering etc.
We know a lot of people will want to avoid larger gatherings and keep a low profile but to run it we do need help from the community with a suggestion for venue. Preferably outdoors and undercover (at least spacious), close to facilities and central. It’s likely bottles will need to be dropped on the day and maybe at the meeting in the week prior.
We also hope to be able to offer the best beer to be pro-brewed and served at the winter Beer n BBQ (if that happens).
Can you also indicate in an email or vote/ comments on the Facebook poll if you would consider judging or stewarding?
This Wednesday is our last meeting of the year and as usual, it’s a casual affair with nothing planned except we’ll get in some pizzas.
Bring a bottle of homebrew to add to the ‘secret Santa’ swap.
We’ll also be presenting the club award to SABC Brewer of the Year.
Reminders: Summer Comp closes before judging at Homebrewed on Saturday, Jan 25. That’s only six weeks to brew a beer in the styles being judged.
It’s also only eligible for current financial members — as are all events, meetings, pizzas, barrels and extras the club offers — so if you’re reading this and your membership has lapsed, it’s time to log in and renew. What better gift for the beer lover mate or family friend.
From us at SABC have a merry Christmas and a safe New Years.