South Australian Brewing Company

TheSouth Australian Brewing Company, Limitedwas a brewery located inThebarton, an inner-west suburb ofAdelaide, South Australia. It is a subsidiary ofLion, which in turn is owned byKirin, a Japan-based beverage company.It manufacturesWest End Draughtbeer.
The company was created in 1888 as theSouth Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Company, from an amalgamation of theWest End Brewery(inHindley Street,Adelaide city centre), theKent Town Brewery, and the wine and spirit merchantsRounsevell& Simms.In 1938 the company took over theWalkerville Brewery, whose main site was at 107 Port Road, Thebarton (the original site ofTorrenside Breweryestablished in 1886).  The company's operations continued at its two breweries on Hindley Street and Thebarton, with the Thebarton site becoming known as theNathan Breweryafter the takeover in 1838, then again reverting to its former name,Southwark Brewery, before being rebadged theWest End Breweryafter the Hindley Street premises closed in 1980.
The Thebarton brewery closed in June 2021.
The South Australian Brewing Company was established in February 1888 as the South Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Companyby the amalgamation of SirEdwin Thomas Smith'sKent Town Brewery,William Knox Simms'sWest End Breweryand the wine and spirit merchants Rounsevell & Simms (Ben Rounsevell and Alfred Simms). The managing directors of the new company wereRobert 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, andFrank Rymillof Adelaide, and Hon.N. Fitzgerald,John Robb,Malcolm McEacharn,John B. Watson, andJohn McIlwraith(brother ofThomas McIlwraith), ofMelbourne.
The new company set about enlarging the brewing facilities at West End and centring the malting work atKent Town.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.In 1893 they sold off their wine and spirit business toA. E. & F. Tolley Pty LtdandMilne & Co., and the name was changed to South Australian Brewing Company, Limited.
Robert Stock, Edwin Smith's brother-in-law and manager of theKent 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.
The black and red colours of the SA Brewing Company came about after theWest Adelaide Football Club(whose colours are black and red) defeatedPort Adelaidein theSouth Australian National Football League(SANFL) 1911  Grand Final, and defeatedVFLpremiersEssendonin the Championship of Australia play-off atAdelaide Ovalshortly afterwards in the same year.
In 1927 T. A. Nation was the brewer and G. B. Bryant the general manager. His board of directors comprisedS. J. Jacobs(later managing director), SirLancelot Stirling, K.C.M.G., Edward Fitzgerald, LL.D., and H. W. Morphett.
TheWalkerville Cooperative Brewery, which produced the popular Nathan beers,was taken over by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1938,after which operations were concentrated on the old Torrenside Brewery (established 1886, a precursor of Walkerville Brewery).The brewery was renamed Nathan Brewery to remove the Walkerville's "Southwark" brandingin 1939.
In 1941, architectF. Kenneth Milne(who was contracted to the company from 1912 until 1946) was responsible for upgrading the Hindley Street building.
From 1949, the brewery was again renamed Southwark Brewery,administration was centralised at Hindley Street, and in November 1951 Walkerville's Nathan beer (Bitter) was renamed Southwark beer (Bitter). "Southwark Bitter" (actually alager) became the most well-known product.
From 1955 operations were split between the company's two major factories, with the West End Brewery in Hindley Street making onlydraught beerinkegs; bottled beer only was produced in the Thebarton plant.
Until 1974, when theWhitlam governmentrevised theTrade Practices Act, they were legally able to dispense only the company's beer in their pubs.
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,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 Nathantook over the West End brands.
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 namedSouthcorp. One of Southcorp's major assets was "Southcorp Wines", (acquired from theAdelaide Steamship Companyin 1990), and subsequently acquired by Lion Nathan's main Australian rival, theFoster's Group.
West End Draughtwas the largest selling beer in South Australia in 2007. West End Draught is a 4.5%abvpale lager, first brewed in 1859.
In October 2020 it was announced that the Thebarton brewery would be closing in June 2021, with the loss of over 90 jobs.It finally closed at close of business on 17 June 2021, with about a third of the workforce, mainly those in sales and sponsorship roles, staying on with the company in South Australia. Artefacts in the on-site museum were catalogued and donated to theState Library of South Australiaand other local institutions.
The South Australian Government purchased the 8.4 hectares (21 acres) Thebarton site from Lion Nathan for $61.5 million in 2023, intending to develop it with over 1,000 homes, of which 20% would be economical residential. The site is within 2km of the CBD, and is well serviced by trams.
The West End Brewery chimney tower has beenheritage-listedand will be preserved when the site is redeveloped.
The tradition of painting the brewery chimney with the team colours of theSouth Australian National Football League(SANFL) premiership team began in 1954,when a West Adelaide player and employee Clarrie Cannonsuggested painting the chimney in theWest Adelaide Football Clubcolours, red and black, as the West End Brewery (then still in Hindley Street) was located in their territory. General manager C. R. Aitken agreed, but only if West Adelaide was the winning team that year. HoweverPort Adelaide Football Clubcoach and captain,Fos Williams, said that he expected his team to win, and the men agreed that if Port Adelaide won, their colours would be painted on the chimney.Port Adelaide won that year, so the chimney was painted in black and white vertical stripes, but Williams suggested that a red stripe be painted below the black to honour the runners-up.
The tradition of painting the colours of the premier and runners-up was maintained at the Hindley Street premises until its closure in 1980,before transferring to the Thebarton site,which was rebadged "West End".It continued there until the last finals before the closure of the brewery in 2020, with theWoodville West Torrens Eaglescolours aloft.The tradition of painting a chimney in the two teams' colours would continue at the Hoffmann Kiln at theBrickworks Marketplacein nearbyTorrensvillefrom 2021,with the cost of the painting continuing to be borne by Lion.
SA Brewing was the original sponsor of the"Showdown"in theAustralian Football Leaguein 1997, and is one of the sponsors of the"Slowdown"charity football match.