South Australian Brewing Company

The South Australian Brewing Company, Limited is a brewery located in Thebarton, an inner-west suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is a subsidiary of Lion, which in turn is owned by Kirin, a Japan-based beverage company. It manufactures West End Draught beer.

For other uses of the name West End Brewery, see West End Brewery.

West End brewery building, Hindley Street, S. side c.1920

The company was created in 1888 as the South Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Company, from an amalgamation of the West End Brewery (in Hindley Street, Adelaide city centre), the Kent Town Brewery, and the wine and spirit merchants Rounsevell & Simms. In 1938 the company took over the Walkerville Brewery in 1938, whose main site was at 107 Port Road, Thebarton (the original site of Torrenside Brewery established in 1886). The company's operations continued at its two factories on Hindley Street and Thebarton, with the Thebarton site becoming known as the Nathan Brewery after the takeover in 1838, then again reverting to its former name, Southwark Brewery, before being rebadged the West End Brewery after the Hindley Street premises closed in 1980.

In October 2020 it was announced that the Thebarton brewery would be closing in June 2021.

19th century: foundation

The South Australian Brewing Company was established in February 1888 as the South Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Company[1] by the amalgamation of Sir Edwin Thomas Smith's Kent Town Brewery, William Knox Simms's West End Brewery and the wine and spirit merchants Rounsevell & Simms (Ben Rounsevell and Alfred Simms). The Managing Directors of the new company were Robert Alfred Stock, Alfred Simms, and W. B. (Ben) Rounsevell. Provisional directors were Edwin Smith, W. K. Simms, W. B. Rounsevell, R. A. Stock, Alfred Simms, Charles H. T. Hart, and Frank Rymill of Adelaide, and Hon. N. Fitzgerald, John Robb, Malcolm McEacharn, John B. Watson, and John McIlwraith (brother of Thomas McIlwraith), of Melbourne.[2]

The new company set about enlarging the brewing facilities at West End and centring the malting work at Kent Town.[3] It began a campaign of purchasing hotels freehold or leasehold, and by the end of the 1880s had a stranglehold on the Adelaide market, owning 44 hotels and leasing 65.[4] In 1893 they sold off their wine and spirit business to A. E. & F. Tolley Pty Ltd and Milne & Co., and the name was changed to South Australian Brewing Company, Limited.[3][5]

20th century

Robert Stock, Edwin Smith’s brother-in-law and manager of the Kent Town Brewery, became chairman of the board and general manager of SA Brewing; Stock died in 1904 and Samuel Jacobs served from 1904 to 1937. Jacobs' son (later Sir) Roland Jacobs was managing director from 1948 to 1967.[4]

According to legend, the black and red colours of the SA Brewing Company came about after the West Adelaide Football Club (whose colours are black and red) defeated Port Adelaide in the 1909 South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Australian rules football Grand Final.

In 1927 T. A. Nation was the brewer and G. B. Bryant the general manager. His board of directors comprised S. J. Jacobs (later Managing Director), Sir Lancelot Stirling, K.C.M.G., Edward Fitzgerald, LL.D., and H. W. Morphett.[6]

1838: Walkerville/Nathan takeover

The Walkerville Cooperative Brewery, which produced the popular Nathan beers,[7][8] was taken over by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1938,[9][10] after which operations were concentrated on the old Torrenside Brewery (established 1886, a precursor of Walkerville Brewery).[1] The brewery was renamed Nathan Brewery to remove the Walkerville's "Southwark" branding.[11]

The West End brewery was closed between the wars.. In 1941, architect F.Kenneth Milne was responsible for upgrading the Hindley Street building.[12][13]

From 1949, the brewery was again renamed Southwark Brewery,[1] and in November 1951 Walkerville's Nathan beer (Bitter) was renamed Southwark beer (Bitter). "Southwark Bitter" (actually a lager) became the most well-known product.[11][14]

From 1955 operations were split between the company's two major factories, with the West End Brewery in Hindley Street making only draught beer in kegs; bottled beer only was produced in the Thebarton plant.

Until 1974, when the Whitlam government revised the Trade Practices Act, they were legally able to dispense only the company's beer in their pubs.[4]

1980: Hindley St site closed

In 1980, faced with mounting problems with traffic on West Terrace and ageing and inefficient equipment, not to mention the rapidly increasing value of City land, the original West End Brewery closed and the property sold,[4] operations moved to the Southwark Brewery in Thebarton, which was rebadged "West End". The old Hindley Street building was demolished in 1983, and in 1993, Lion Nathan took over the West End brands.[5]

1993 Lion acquisition

Prior to the acquisition of the brewing assets by Lion Nathan in 1993, SA Brewing split its brewing assets into "SA Brewing Holdings", and its diversified operations were formed into a new listed company named Southcorp. One of Southcorp's major assets was "Southcorp Wines", (acquired from the Adelaide Steamship Company in 1990), and subsequently acquired by Lion Nathan's main Australian rival, the Foster's Group.

21st century

West End Draught was the largest selling beer in South Australia in 2007. West End Draught is a 4.5% abv pale lager, first brewed in 1859.[15] The brand is actively involved with the SANFL, was the original sponsor of the "Showdown" in the Australian Football League, and is one of the sponsors of the "Slowdown" charity football match. The tradition of painting the Thebarton brewery chimney with the team colours of the SANFL premiership finalists began in 1954, suggested by an employee. Ever since then, the chimney has been painted in the colours of the winners and the runners-up each year.[16]

In October 2020 it was announced that the Thebarton brewery would be closing in June 2021, with the loss of over 90 jobs.[5]

See also

References

Notes
  1. "History". West End. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  2. "Advertising". South Australian Register Supplement. LIII (12, 880). South Australia. 24 February 1888. p. 1. Retrieved 25 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "South Australian Brewing Company". The Advertiser (Adelaide). XXXV (10722). 28 February 1893. p. 6. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Alison Painter. "South Australian Brewing Co. Ltd". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  5. Richardson, Tom (13 October 2020). "End of the West End: tears flow for historic brewery as Lion quits SA". InDaily. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  6. "Captains of Industry". The News (Adelaide). VIII (1, 167). South Australia. 11 April 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 26 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Early Breweries". The Mail (Adelaide). 15 (757). South Australia. 27 November 1926. p. 17. Retrieved 28 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Amalgamation of Breweries". The Express and Telegraph. XXXV (10, 425). South Australia. 26 July 1898. p. 2. Retrieved 28 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "More Capital for S.A. Brewing Co". The News (Adelaide). XXXI (4, 670). South Australia. 13 July 1938. p. 12. Retrieved 28 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "Big Brewery Deal". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 25 June 1938. p. 26. Retrieved 9 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "Southwark Bitter". Beer Adelaide. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  12. "Architect Details: Frank Kenneth Milne (F. Kenneth Milne)". Architects of South Australia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  13. "Building Details". Architects of South Australia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  14. "Nathan Beer Renamed: 'Same Brew'". The News (Adelaide). 57 (8, 818). South Australia. 12 November 1951. p. 2. Retrieved 30 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. West End Draught Archived 2 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Lion Nathan website, retrieved 2008-10-10.
  16. "Chimney Ceremony". West End Draught brand information, retrieved 2008-10-10. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009.

Bibliography
  • Deutsher, Keith M. (2012). The Breweries of Australia (2nd ed.). Glebe, NSW: Beer & Brewer Media. ISBN 9780987395214.

Further reading
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