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.
Happy New Year. The committee hopes you brewed a fine beer for the season. There’s not a lot to say at this time except welcome to our new members who joined over Christmas from gifts from their family or friends or new year’s resolutions to brew better beer.
The only news we have is, tickets for the McLaren Vale bus tour will go on sale Tuesday, Jan 2 from 8pm, from the SABC website shop at
The date is FEBRUARY 2. Tickets are $30. There are 21 seats available and are for members only – one per purchase and due to demand, you cannot buy for non-members.
*Please note, you will need to log in with the same you use to buy or renew SABC membership to see the item to buy.
The tour takes in some of McLaren Vales newest breweries and tap rooms, as well as an old favourite. Matt from My VIP driver will be driving us to:
Goodieson Brewery – meet head brewer Jeff
Shifty Lizard Brewing Co – meet head brewer Lee
Forktree Brewing – meet head brewer Ben. Lunch in the restaurant.
Swell -TBC
Pickup/dropoff point will be the Wheaty:
Depart: 9:45
Return: 17:45
If you live down south and would like to be picked up on the way, please contact us. We’ll look at adding a southern pickup point depending on numbers.
Please note that these venues have been booked based on our numbers. If you plan on driving yourself you may not be able to join our group for tastings/tours due to capacity limits.
~ Gus
Future Dates
January 16: January Bridge Road head brewer at The Wheaty (TBC)
February 20: Monthly meeting (at Little Bang TBC)/ Summer comp close and judging. Competition details here.
[artwork by Samantha Wallwalk]Another year is done and dusted and again it’s time for our final meeting of the year. As is tradition, it’s a casual catch-up at The Wheaty on Wednesday from 7 pm. The club will put on pizzas from 7.30. We’ve also got an InkBird digital temperature controller up for raffle thanks to InkBird Australia. If you think you’re not the winning kind, you can buy one from their eBay shop and use SABC for a discount.
Like last year, we’re also doing a secret Santa beer gift. Please bring a bottle to drop and wrap it so no one can see what it is. Ideally, we’d like it to be your homebrew but if you’re stuck, please bring a bottle of something commercial you’ve enjoyed this year.
It’s been another big year for the club; our membership has grown and we’ve got great members making a fantastic contribution to the club and community. We did really well in competitions like SABSOSA where John Van der Zalm won best beer and Kieren best brewer and nationally at AABC where Greg and Kieren both won joint runner-up. The club hosted another excellent BeerBQ in May and members who brewed at Left Barrel Brewing in October got a lot out of the experience and some free beer! Our tour of West End was also an eye-opener as was Sweet Amber and Little Burra at the other end of the scale. Finally, our monthly meetings have been really well attended with over 35 regularly attending to hear about faults, yeast, malt and from guests like Stephen Nelsen from TAFE Regency Park a highlight for many.
If you can’t be with us on Wednesday, on behalf of the committee, have a happy, fun, relaxing and safe Christmas and New Year.
~ Gus
Future Dates
January 16: January Bridge Road head brewer at The Wheaty (TBC)
February 2: Southern Vales breweries bus tour – tickets on sale soon. Limited numbers. More to come.
February 20: Monthly meeting (at Little Bang TBC)/ Summer comp close and judging. Competition details here.
Give the gift of a club membership for Xmas (even if it’s to yourself)
South Australian Brewing Club memberships are a great Christmas gift idea. You can buy online, and even grab a gift card as a gift for someone else.
If your membership has lapsed or you’re looking for a gift for a friend, memberships are for 12 months and include some great extras, such as monthly meetings with technical topics and beer tastings, access to member-only bulk-buys, bottle swaps and collaborative brewing events and free catered social events – jam packed full of excellent extras for less than the price of a slab of crafty beers.
Crashing towards the end of the year, we hope your Christmas beers are in the keg or fermentors for the holidays. This newsletter only has celebration content too.
December meeting, Christmas drinks
We made the decision to cancel the end of year event at Flinders Tavern and make our regular meeting on December 19 a casual catchup but still stacked with some cool raffle prizes (and InkBird temp controller). We’ll also order in some pizzas. Also as we did last year, we are doing another secret Santa bottle swap. Everyone brings a bottle in a brown paper bag and leaves with another. While we expect it would be homebrew, if you’re stuck you can buy something commercial so everyone gets something. Stick your name on the bottle so the recipient knows whose it was. We’ll be there from 7 pm as usual and probably roll on until closing.
Club casual meetup: Wildflower sours masterclass Topher Boehm
We are jumping onto this Wheaty event this Wednesday, December 6 as a social gathering. Join SABC members for a sour beer masterclass at the Wheaty with Wildflower head brewer Topher Boehm. Topher recently presented at the Australian National Homebrew Conference and we can assure you he is a wealth of knowledge in sour brewing and blending. If you missed the conference, this was one of the standout presentations and you’re getting an opportunity to experience it on home soil.
As a bonus, The Wheaty is offering a free Fancy of choice to current SABC financial members who attend the tasting. You need to indicate in this event that you are ‘going’ so we can generate a list on our group Facebook event. If you’re not on Facebook, email us. Currently, there are 14 members going.
This is a Wheaty seated event like Good Beer Wheaty so bookings ($20+bf ) are essential through OZTIX here. Find out heaps more on their website.
Final reminder: Please take five to fill out our member survey. We’ll close it on Wednesday night. It’s mostly tick-a-box style responses with a few places to write a broader answer. It’s also anonymous. Click here to start the survey
Summer competition
The categories for our summer competition, judged at our February meeting, are:
Saison BJCP 25b: A great style for summer competition brewing because it ferments we’ll in warmer temperatures, so those who do not have temp control can experiment with the yeast.
Milk Stout: Based on 16a sweet stout. Emphasis is on a milky creamy mouthfeel with lactose the main source of the sweetness.
Milkshake stout will also be allowed. They should be higher in mouthfeel. Roastiness and hoppyness should be increased to balance the extra mouthfeel and sweetness. Any additions like chocolate strawberries vanilla etc should be noted in the entry.
NEIPA: From a stylistic standpoint, NEIPA is itself a bit of a conundrum. Opaque, cloudy and occasionally turbid in appearance. NEIPA is most often characterised by restrained bitterness, intense aromatics and “juicy” hop character.
Future dates
January 16: January catchup at Little Bang’s new digs.
February 20: Monthly meeting/ Summer comp close and judging.
Our monthly club meeting week has come around again. This Wednesday 21, 7pm we’re back at The Wheaty with special guest Gabi Michael, brewer and owner of NZ’s craft malters Gladfield Malt. She’ll be taking questions on how to get the best out of your malts and in particular Gladfield malts.
We recommend you grab their smartphone app that converts well-known malt names by other maltsers to their product and adjusts the amount required. It also converts full recipes including mash temperatures. Take a look and prepare your questions on how to brew your favourite styles with Gladfield. Also joining Gabi will be Jade from Wheaty Brewing Corps in taking your questions. She’s used Gladfield extensively in her beers and will give us her experienced view.
We’ll also be tasting a few of the beers brewed at Left Barrel six or so weeks ago.
All welcome, including non-members who want to come and check us out. Drop us a line to let us know you are interested in coming.
Christmas
Our Christmas event is on Saturday, December 8 at the Flinders Tavern from 1pm – 5pm. Members are free and guests are welcome to join us. Even though you’re a member, please grab a ticket here so we can generate a list of everyone attending and work out catering. You need to use your member log-in to find the free ticket in the shop. You can also buy one for a friend for $25.
Our Christmas event is on Saturday, December 8 at the Flinders Tavern from 1pm – 5pm. Members are free and guests are welcome to join us. The ticket for non-members is $25 which gets them a Burger Theory meal (inc. pint) and homebrew tastings.
Even though you’re a member, please grab a ticket hereso we can generate a list of everyone attending and work out catering. You can buy one for a friend
The committee takes a lot of time and consideration to plan the events and direction of the club. We want to know from you how you want us to give you the most value from being a member and what you want from the club — from the simple to big events. Please take five minutes to fill out this survey. It’s mostly tick-a-box style responses with a few places to write a broader answer. It’s also anonymous. The survey is now closed.
More on Christmas.. This years summer event will be held at the Flinders Tavern by Burger Theory at Flinders University. Saturday, December 8 at the Flinders Tavern from 1pm – 5pm.. Burger Theory is proudly South Australian small business and showcases a range of local and interstate craft beers in the tav including Big Shed, Mismatch, Hawkers and Green Beacon. As always the event is free for members and non-members can purchase a ticket. Snacks, a burger meal and pint will be provided.
Members raffle
We have a couple of prizes up for grabs for members only, you just need to be in attendance to go in the draw
1 x ticket on next years McLaren Vale brewery tour
1 x Inkbird temperature controller
Kegging and pressure filling demo
Thinking about moving away from the cleaning all those bottles and getting into kegging? We’re going to provide a kegging 101 demo and will show you how to:
-connect a basic keg & co2 setup
-transfer beer from keg to keg under pressure
-fill PET bottles from keg under pressure
A limited number of PET bottles will be filled with beer from the Left Barrel brew day and available for takeaway!
As is the tradition we’ll be announcing club brewer of the year and awarding the coveted trophy. There will be a couple of brew samples available from the Left Barrel brew day. The cricket will be on the TV, and the sun shining on the balcony.
Directions
Head to the main University entrance on Registry road. Enter the Student Hub and head upstairs.
Transport
Car
– car park 6 off Registry road. Free parking on weekends.
Uber
– enter ‘Registry road, Bedford Park’ as the destination for best results.
Bus
– catch the G10 direct from the CBD to the Flinders University interchange
– catch a bus to the Flinders Medical Centre interchange and walk 10 mins or catch another bus
Ride
A bike path follows the Sturt river from Anzac Highway to Maccas on South Road – then take the backstreets.
Congratulations to all our members who placed at the Australian National Homebrew Championships judged late last week in parallel with the Australian National Homebrew Conference.
Overall SA placed third in the state rankings with 11 winning beers (not all SABC members) — which is an excellent result showing we punch well above our weight compared to the numbers from the bigger states (that have more than one club).
SABC members Greg Weider (three silver) and Kieren Vercoe (two gold, seven places) were both placed second as best brewer but it was Greg who took it out on a countback. The full results are here.
Along with great wins by Greg and Kieren, other club members with places were: Clinton Fisher (x2), Michael Handran-Smith (two silvers), Wolfgang Trenkler, Adrian ‘Wol’ Reich (x2), John van der Zalm, Matthew Kennedy (a 3rd), Neill Gardner, Joel Gaskin, James Edwards, Gary Waters, Stuart Kirk (x2, including a silver) and Paul Reck.
With those wins, SABC won joint best Club at ANHC Clubnight with our ‘snake oil salesmen’ themed bar. Gary’s Saison won third place in the Hopco Southern Cross hop challenge. The prize was a piece of shiny SS Brewtech that we’re going to work out how the club members can use it.
Overall the National champs and ANHC conference was a huge success for us. A big thank you to everyone who won a place, attended the conference and dressed up or brewed for Club Night but especially Gary Waters and his wife Lee who not only dreamt up our theme, they also sourced the props (thanks Pirate), helped all of us find our costumes (thanks Priddo) but also brewed two excellent beers, drove our kegs and props over with Kieren. It all came together so well and topped off by Sam’s great labels.
Finally, to acknowledge that Mike Leupold awarded John Preston Award for his running SABSOSA over the last 20+ years. This is a prize awarded at the Australian National Homebrewing Conference recognising his outstanding contribution to Australian home brewing. Mike was in Melbourne to accept his award even though he didn’t know he was getting it. Congratulations!
As the warm weather arrives it’s time to start thinking about summer smashable beers to brew and what could be better than a simple well-made pilsner? This Wednesday we’re meeting at the German Club for what is probably the final time before the building goes under the auctioneer’s hammer. We’ll meet from 7pm. The kitchen is open and if want to eat, it’s advisable to get there early
The theme in part will be German beers — last year Gary presented a history of altbier, this year it will be lager. We’ll have lots of tastings too — a couple of German beers but we’re also welcoming anyone who wants to share any beers they’ve made with the Vic Secret hops many members got as a gift baggie. If you’ve got a beer to share, let us know ASAP by email.
Bottle swaps. If you just want to bring a just a single bottle or two to swap and taste later, that’s fine too. We’re trying to encourage more one to one random bottle swapping at meetings. Bring it in, label what it is, who you are and a contact if you like — even get fancy and link to the recipe online — and drop it on the beer bingo bench. If you bring a beer, you leave with a beer. Simple. Feedback to the brewer is encouraged.
The committee is also planning the next six months soon. If you have a meeting idea, want to present a talk or an experiment, let us know by email. All ideas welcome.
Events
Last Saturday a group of members had a brew day at Left Barrel Brewing at Balhannah while the rest of us stood around the bar watching and enjoying the beers. By all accounts it was fun and a bit of a learning experience and they’re all looking forward to tasting their beers that are now fermenting separately with brewer’s choice of yeast and dry hops. The results will be presented at the December Xmas drinks meeting. Thank you to everyone who signed-on. We’ll do it again next year.
While on Christmas, our club end of year event will be on Saturday, December 8 at the Flinders Uni Tavern. Put the date in your diaries now. As always, it’s free for members and that includes a meal by Burger Theory and some homebrew tastings. The bar is open with a wide range of ‘crafties’ on tap too. Guests welcome – non-members ticket price TBC.
We’re also announcing a breweries tour by bus in February at Wednesday’s meeting too.
Free beer. The Wheaty is presentingBridge Road Brewers – Mayday Masterclasswith Bridge Road founder Ben Krauss this Thursday, October 18. Jade has offered a free pint to SABC members who want to go. You need to get your name to us by email by 5 pm Tuesday to get on the list.
Membership
Phew! thinking about what’s been happening and putting a value on it — brew day wort, hops, free pints, Xmas party meal as well as raffles and meetings — it adds up to more than the cost of membership. That’s pretty good. If you’ve got a friend who’s interested in joining, or you’re reading this and have a membership that has lapsed, now’s a great time to join SABC.
Forward dates
October 25-37: Aust Nat. Homebrew Conference, Melb.
Just a quick reminder email this week that the regular club meeting is on Wednesday at the Wheaty. As the newsletter post said last week, we’ll be having a casual Q&A chat and hear tips and tricks from winning brewers, judge’s advice and comp organisers on what makes a great entry, how to improve your own beer by taking on the feedback from the judge’s scoresheets.
We’ll have some member’s beers to taste and have an opportunity to apply BJCP judging to them. Even if you’re not competition driven, it’s still about making the beer you brew even better.
If you have a beer you want to share at the meeting, or you’ve made something with the Vic Secret hops, drop us a note on Facebook or email us.
There will be a food truck serving as well.
Also, get thinking of what we can brew for ANHC Club challenge with 1kg of Southern Cross (NZ) hops (there’s already been some discussion in the FB group.)
And if you’re interested in taking part in the brew day at Left Barrel, it’s on Saturday, Oct 13. It’s free and you’ll get to brew with Brad Bown and take away 20L of wort. You’ll need to clear your diary and be ready to sign up on Wednesday because spaces are limited. See more about it HERE. If you can’t make the meeting, let us know now if you’re super keen.
SABSOSA best brewer Keiren Vercoe (L) and best beer winner John Van der Zalm with Tim Harriss. [photo: Gary Waters/ SABSOSA/ composite image]The State Amateur Brewing Show of SA (SABSOSA) is over for another year and SA Brewing Club members didn’t go empty handed placing in most categories but most impressively, John Van der Zalm won best beer with his English best bitter, 46.33 points, and Kieren Vercoe winning best brewer (as he did with Gawler Show too) with 3 x 1st, 2 x 2nd, 3 x 3rd = 16 points.
Congratulations to both of them and everyone else who entered. All the scores are now online. {PDF}.
With 362 beers judged from 128 brewers, it was the biggest field in the competition’s 21-year history. Now as SABC takes over the running of the competition, it’s only set to grow but it’s a challenge we’re ready for. Congratulations to Mike Leupold, Tim Harris and all the team for building it into a strong and respected competition. Also huge kudos to everyone who helped judge and steward. A competition of so many entries cannot run smoothly without volunteers.
At our next meeting we’ll be having a casual Q&A chat and hear tips and tricks from winning brewers, judge’s advice and comp organisers on what makes a great entry, how to improve your own beer (and enter to win if comps are your thing) and how to read judge’s scoresheets and act on the feedback to make your brewing better. We’ll have some member’s beers to taste and have an opportunity to apply BJCP judging to them. Even if you’re not competition driven, it’s still about making the beer you brew even better.
If you have a beer you want to share at the meeting, or you’ve made something with the Vic Secret hops, drop us a note on Facebook or email us.
One of the excellent opportunities our events co-ord Lachlan has been working on for members is a brew day at Left Barrel Brewing with Brad Bown on his 250L system on Saturday, October 13.
This is a great opportunity for 10-15 members to come together and brew a 250 wort and all take away 20L each (or split in pairs/Left Barrel keep 50L). It’s then up to brewers as a group choose what to make and as individuals to ferment with their own choice of yeast and add dry hops. The club will cover the cost of the grain and boil hops.
So not only is this a great opportunity to brew with knowledgeable, award-winning brewer (and foundation SABC member and prez) but brew a top notch beer for your enjoyment saving about $50 on brewing your own. That’s the same value as your club membership. The only catch is we’d like to have tastings (2-3 longnecks/2L) to compare the different decisions made on the ferment side at our Christmas drinks meeting in December.
More info on this and sign on will be at our next meeting. The numbers are limited for brewers so jump on the offer. Everyone is welcome to visit the brewery on the day and be part of the social side of course.
**Event open to SABC financial members only. You need your own 20L vessel to take away wort. Own transport required. Two litres to be made available for club tasting. Does not include yeast or dry hops or any food or drinks consumed on the day.
The annual Gawler Show brewing competition results were announced over the weekend and SA Brewing Club members dominated the podium with their entries as well as taking out best of show and best brewer. Greg Wieder won best of show beer with his Dark Mild and Keiren Vercoe took home best of show brewer with three first places, two second and four third-place medals.
Congratulations to both of them for this outstanding result as well as; John Van der Zalm, Gary Waters, Gus Kingston and Neill Gardner for places in categories. This is hopefully a good indication that SABC will also do well in the State Amateur Brewing Show, SA (SABSOSA) that is being judged this weekend.
This year’s field is the highest number of entries in the competition for a long time (if not a record) at 372. The judges and stewards will surely have their work cut out for them.
The results will be announced next week with the presentations being held on Sunday 9th September at the Wheatsheaf Hotel at 12:30 pm. We’re making this a club social gathering, so drop by for a beer and celebrate the state’s top brewers.
![SABSOSA best brewer Keiren Vercoe (L) and best beer winner John Van der Zalm. [photo: Gary Waters/ SABSOSA/ Composite image]](https://sabrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/SABSOSA_composite_image.jpg)
