On Saturday the 2nd of December I visited The Smiling Samoyed Brewery in Myponga, South Australia. This brewery was started by the married couple of Kate and Simon.
They have a background in home brewing and had the dream to start their own brewery. They searched for two years before finding their venue, that was five years ago.
They then spent nine months purchasing and installing the brewing equipment. They have now been brewing for four and a half years.
The brewery consists of a 12 hectolitre two vessel brewhouse and several single and double size fermentation tanks. They also have their own bottling line, but this is due to replaced with a newer eight head line to help speed up their production. At present 50% of the beer goes into bottles and the other 50% into kegs.
The sales of their range is confined to South Australia at present, but the new bottling line may allow them to expand.
They produce a core selection of four beers, these being; Kolsch, IPA, 12 Paws Pale Ale and a Dark Ale. They also have a regularly changing range of seasonal and special beers.
The venue is fantastic with space inside and out, they have food available including wood fired pizza and they have live music on Sunday.
Although Kate and Simon are the only ones to work in the brewery they employ twenty people to help run the bar and restaurant.
The beers that I sampled were :
1. Kolsch, 4.5% abv, this won a Silver Medal at the 2017 Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards. It has a straw colour and a subtle malt aroma. It has a sweet malt taste and then a clean, crisp, dry finish. True to the style.
2. 12 Paws Pale Ale, 5.5% abv, this won a Bronze Medal at the 2017 Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards. It has a golden straw colour and a citrus and passionfruit aroma. It has a sweet fruity flavour with a good bitterness on the finish.
3. IPA, 6.8% abv, this won a Bronze Medal at the 2017 Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards and a Silver Medal at the 2017 Australian Craft Beer Awards. It has a golden colour and a sweet malt and fruit aroma. It has a well balanced flavour of malt and fruit on a mild bitter finish.
4. Dark Ale, 4.5% abv, this won a Bronze Medal at the 2017 Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards and a Silver Medal at the 2017 Australian Craft Beer Awards. It has a dark brown colour and a coffee malt aroma. It has a lovely chocolate and coffee malt flavour. Very nice!
5. Poppet, 7.6% abv, this is a Strong Brown Ale that was named after one of the original Smiling Samoyed dogs. It is an amber colour with a sweet fruity aroma. It has a wonderful, rich, complex flavour of toffee and fruitiness. Delicious!
6. Saison Farmhouse Ale, 6.0% abv, this has a straw colour and a subtle yeast aroma. It has a wheaty, yeast flavour with a gentle spiciness. Nice!
7. Aged Sparkling Ale, 6.0% abv, this is aged for six months on Mosaic hops, it has a golden colour and a floral and fruit aroma. It has a sweet fruity flavour and a mild hop bitterness on the finish.
The Smiling Samoyed Brewery is producing some fantastic beers and has a wonderful venue to enjoy them in. It is definitely a brewery worth visiting if you have the opportunity.
I would like to thank Kate and Maddy for their hospitality when I visited.
