Mismatch Brewing Co

Bringing together a bunch of seemingly mismatched people to start a business might not seem the smartest of ideas. But take a look at where Mismatch Brewing Company – and its associated operations – sits today and you’d have to conclude the founders were onto a good thing.

Mismatched they might have been in some ways, but the folks that came together back in 2013 had one crucial thing in common: they were all industry professionals, drawn from different corners of the beverage industry. What’s more, they had big ambitions to leave their mark on the craft beer world, not to mention the worlds of cider, hospitality, spirits…

When the brewing company first appeared, it was with Archie’s Red Ale, a beer brewed via the contract route. With ex-Little Creatures employee Ewan Brewerton wielding the mash paddle, they became the first customers at Big Shed Brewing Concern’s fledgling communal brewery and continued in the same vein for some years, adding BrewPack and Hawkers to their list of partner breweries as they grew, even utilising the canning line at Vale to meet demand, something that had been growing fast following the release of their second beer, a 4 percent ABV quaffer aptly named Session Ale.

Despite starting out in the beer world in sales, Ewan’s desire was always to get involved in the making of great beer. So he travelled to Sunderland in the UK, where he completed a diploma at Brewlab: a four-month course that gave him comprehensive knowledge in brewing from the raw materials, through to the lab and packaging.

It's knowledge he brought back to Adelaide, where he set to work on developing an evolving lineup of Mismatch beers, one that’s gone on to span a broad spectrum over the years, from a Strawberry Berliner Weisse and Helles style lager through their bright and fruity Pale Ale and a hefty 7.5 percent ABV IPA, to bigger, darker beers, such the Evil Archie’s – a more aggressive version of the original red ale, and a Chocolate Stout that rears its head in the colder months.

Ewan and his growing team of brewers don’t just offer variety. As evidenced by a series of trophies – not least Champion Independent Beer for their Lager at the 2018 Indies and a trophy for their Pale the following year – they’re knocking out consistently high quality beers too.

Mismatch and the beers only tell part of the story, however, as the owners have involvement in other local SA businesses too. In 2016, the SA state government announced the awarding of a $950 000 grant that allowed four of them – Mismatch, Hills Cider, ADL Hills Distillery and Ashton Valley Juices – to open a unique venue in the Adelaide Hills.

Lot 100 opened to the public in 2018 and isn’t your typical cellar door venue; sure, you can try all the Mismatch beers here, including small batch brews rarely elsewhere, but it’s more a super venue of sorts – the SA booze world’s version of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Under the one roof, you’ll find the aforementioned companies along with Vinteloper wines. Throw in an Italian-inspired kitchen and the venue is complete; well, almost…

It’s not just drinking and eating that takes place at Lot 100 – that’s just the front of house. Out the back is a vast shed that houses Mismatch’s 35hL brewhouse, fermenters, a lab, one of the biggest cool-rooms around and a canning line, alongside Adelaide Hills Distillery’s still and spirit making equipment. Then there’s the water treatment plant that filters the on site bore water with a reverse osmosis filter system to be used in production, while also treating their wastewater to be used for its original purpose of irrigating crops, plus plans for a barrel room at some point in the future, housed in a separate shed and earmarked for a wild beer program.

Drinkers can book in to a tour of the facility, using the indoor, purpose-built patio that looks over the entire facility. Outside there is ample room for continuous development, including the introduction of a variety of different farm animals and crops that will eventually be utilised by the kitchen staff. Want more? There’s a natural amphitheatre that’s set to host numerous musical parties and performances. Travelling from interstate in style? Why not use their helipad?

Just as well known across Australia as Mismatch is sibling operation Adelaide Hills Cider; you’ll often find both companies side by side at events. The cider business is actually the older of the two, starting out in January 2010 and hitting the ground running. Using nothing but Adelaide Hills fruit, the company helped rejuvenate the fruit growing industry in the Hills through the use of fruit that that might previously have been rejected for minor blemishes. Their range of ciders has enjoyed consistent awards success, too, regularly adding to a swelling trophy cabinet.

There might be plenty of moving parts at play, with some of the owners also involved in other venues and events companies, yet the seemingly mismatched gang has woven them into a smooth-running operation. Balancing ambition and grand vision with quality, consistent products, they’ve created a proudly South Australian collection of businesses with a fine reputation throughout the country’s booze industry.

Matt King

Name
Mismatch Brewing Co
Address

Lot 100 Chambers Road
Hay Valley
SA 5252

Phone
0412 398 046
Open Hours

Thurs to Sun: 11am to 6pm

Tours

Sat and Sun: 11am and 2pm (or on request)


This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

Mismatch Brewing Co Regulars

Mismatch Brewing Dark Ale

Published July 25, 2022
They might not put out darker beers that often, but when the brewers at Mismatch do, they tend to do it well. Various iterations of big and barrel-aged stouts have made our annual Best Of... lists for SA, while their Traditional Stout – a recent returnee for winter 2022 – is a sessionable, straight-up offering, even at 6.2 percent ABV. Such beers have always come and gone, sometimes just the once, sometimes annually, but with Dark Ale the Adelaide Hills team have created one for their core range. Essentially,… Read more
Style
Dark Ale
ABV
5.5%
Bitterness
25 IBU

Mismatch Brewing Co Session Ale

One of the very first Mismatch releases and one that lives up to its name. Aussie hops give Session Ale a welcoming tropical aroma with mango to the fore, while it skips lightly across the palate. Clean (as is the Mismatch way), with a bitterness that's fruity and drying at the same time, setting you up nicely for the next one in your session.… Read more
Style
Session Ale
ABV
4.0%
Bitterness
26 IBU

Mismatch Brewing Co Lager

For all the experimental and out there beers hitting taps and fridges across Australia in recent years, it's often been those of a more traditional bent that have picked up the country's major trophies. Sitting happily in that lineup is Mismatch's Lager, winner of the prestigious Champion Independent Australian Beer at the 2018 Indies. It's not a beer that tries to reinvent the style or offers any twists, just a classic lager inspired by the helles of Munich that's darn well made. Malt led, with… Read more
Style
Helles style Lager
ABV
4.5%
Bitterness
20 IBU

Mismatch Brewing Co India Pale Ale

If something ain't broke, why fix it? Sure, the IPA family tree has taken some pretty interesting routes (or should that be roots?) in recent times, many of them delicious too. But there's a reason the style was such a strong point from which to launch: the classic India Pale Ale as reimagined by American craft brewers is just a bloody awesome beer when done right. And Mismatch are clearly very aware of that. They've used a combination of US hops Idaho #7 and Mosaic with Moutere out of New Zealand… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
7.5%
Bitterness
70 IBU

Mismatch Brewing Co Pale Ale

There's been a move in recent years to strip out as much of the malt character in pale ales as possible, leaving the pale gold beers as pure hop delivery systems: all the fruit, some bitterness, and nothing else to get in the way. It makes pouring a glass of Mismatch's Pale something of a change – a throwback, perhaps – to when brewers here were first mimicking their peers from across the Pacific and looking to create Sierra Nevada (or Little Creatures) inspired pales. Here, they've used Crystal… Read more
Style
Pale Ale
ABV
5.0%
Bitterness
45 IBU

Mismatch Brewing Co Specials

Mismatch Brewing Peach Sour

Published March 21, 2023
Just as the sun sets on summer, Mismatch aim to hold on to the last flickers of warmth by releasing the Peach Sour that debuted at NOLA’s Acid Trip sour beer festival in cans. Drawing upon fruit from their home base in the Adelaide Hills, the brew team used purée to infuse the peach flavour into a kettle sour base beer created with a typically simple malt bill of pale and wheat. It's an approach designed to allow the fruit to shine unencumbered while keeping the beer light and easy to drink. Aroma… Read more
Style
Peach Sour
ABV
4.0%

Mismatch Brewing Hazy Pale Ale

Published November 4, 2022
It's getting close to two years now since we figured hazy pales were set to have their time in the sun – dedicating a feature and blind tasting to the emerging style – and, as summer 2022/23 approaches, they're appearing in ever more brewers' lineups. Joining the party here are Mismatch, with the SA brewers pitching theirs as an "everyday version" of their AIBA gold medal-winning Imperial NEIPA – one featuring no less than seven hop varieties from the US and Europe as well as plenty… Read more
Style
Hazy Pale Ale
ABV
4.5%
Bitterness
20 IBU

Jetty Road & Mismatch New Age IPA

Published September 15, 2022
If you're a follower of the machinations of the modern beer world, you'll spy this collaboration and note it's taking place between two of the brewing companies that now operate under the Mighty Craft banner. But it comes with a cuter side too. With the founding head brewers at both Jetty Road and Mismatch no longer at the breweries they helped launch, the two people now holding those roles are former colleagues: Sean Varley (Jetty Road) and Tom Wood (Mismatch) brewed together at Bright Brewery back… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.2%

Mismatch Brewing Barrel-Aged Barley Wine & Imperial Stout & Imperial NEIPA

Published August 7, 2022
Winter is an exciting time for fans of big, dark brooding beasts of beers, a season when many breweries roll out new vintages of sought-after barrel-aged favourites. In South Australia, Mismatch’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout is one such highly anticipated release and, in 2022, another barrel-aged offering has also joined the fold: the Shiraz Barrel Aged Barley Wine. Both come in tallboy 500ml cans and, given they weigh in at 14 and 9 percent ABV respectively, you may require a tasting… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Barley Wine & RIS & Imperial NEIPA
ABV
9.0% & 14.0% & 8.0%

Mismatch Brewing West Coast IPA

Published March 21, 2022
Over the years, Mismatch have ventured far and wide within the broad style category that is IPA: from hazies, reds, oat creams, New England, white, triples. Here, it appears they thought it was about time the good old West Coast had its time in the limelight, building a base of pale malt with a touch of light crystal and wheat upon which American Simcoe, Strata and Centennial hops balance the sweetness with a West Coast style bitterness. The 6.4 percent ABV IPA pours a burnt orange colour, with… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
6.4%

NZ Hops 2022: CoConspirators & Mismatch

Published January 14, 2022
Several years ago, if you were learning about craft beer, you may have discovered that IPA was a style of beer. Well, that lesson would look somewhat different today: IPA is no longer a style but an ever-broader and diverse category all of its own. You could even argue IPA is more of a hoppy approach or a state of mind. Take these two beers from The Great Brew Challenge as clear evidence, both featuring Wa-iti hops from New Zealand. In the case of CoConspirators, the Melbourne brewers haven’t… Read more
Style
Double Cold IPA & Oat Cream IPA
ABV
7.8% & 8.0%
Stockists

You can order packs from Carwyn Cellars here

Then join NZ Hops for a virtual tasting with growers and brewers on February 5

Mismatch Brewing Cryo Imperial Hazy

Published November 3, 2021
The Mismatch brewers have cranked out quite a few hazy pales and IPAs – not to mention the juicy New England Lager – and have aimed to perfect the art with this limited release. As the name suggests, the beer uses nothing but Cryo hops – a version designed to give brewers intense aromas and flavours – namely Azzaca, Simcoe and Idaho 7 to bring you a beer dripping with tropical juice. The booze level here has risen to 8 percent ABV, which in turn means, in classic Mismatch fashion, the beer… Read more
Style
Imperial Hazy IPA
ABV
8.0%

Mismatch Brewing New England IPA

Published September 28, 2021
With the colder months making way for some warmth and sunshine, Mismatch have unleashed the hops in creating a 6.8 percent ABV New England IPA. The tasting notes provided announce this beer as their first true to style NEIPA, one in which they've experimented with Sabro Cryo Pop hops and the London Ale 3 yeast. Joining the Sabro are Mosaic and Idaho 7, upon a Maris Otter base, plus malted and rolled oats and a touch of honey malt. Some pastel colours grace the cans and decal label to complete the… Read more
Style
NEIPA
ABV
6.8%

Mismatch Brewing Red Rye IPA

Published August 12, 2021
Back in 2013, when Mismatch launched, they started their journey with a beer called Archie's Red Ale, a malt driven beer that paid homage to a friend who was ill at the time. The beer was an instant hit and soon other variations made an appearance: Evil Archie's, Super Evil Archie's and Archie's Evil Twin. The beer was then retired for a while, put to one side so the recipe could be revamped. Now, in August 2021, Red Rye IPA hits the shelves, using the original malt structure with a touch of rye,… Read more
Style
Red Rye IPA
ABV
7.0%
Bitterness
65 IBU

Mismatch Brewing Bourbon Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout 2021

Published July 16, 2021
In 2020, Mismatch released their first Bourbon Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, an outstanding beer that picked up its fair share of silverware. Now it's back, albeit in slightly different form. Sure, the 14 Buffalo Trace barrels haven't changed but the 2021 version has a toned down ABV – albeit still sitting at a tidy 11.2 percent ABV – and, while the original version dripped with bourbon, here that is dialled back a touch, resulting in a rich, complex, balanced beer. The limited release… Read more
Style
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout
ABV
11.2%

Mismatch Brewing Co Choc Malt Shake Stout

Published June 20, 2021
In this era of anything goes, and why not try that too while you're at it, it's not uncommon to be presented with a beer that looks a million miles away from the pale lagers of yore. The past few years have seen many graced with epithets like turbid and murky, and now, for the second time in a few weeks, I've encountered one that can be best described as looking like gravy (Bad Shepherd's black NEIPA The Haze Of Revan was the other FYI). The "Choc Malt Shake Stout" counts vanilla pods,… Read more
Style
Sweet Chocolate Stout
ABV
6.0%
Bitterness
30 IBU

Mismatch Brewing Berry Pie

Published May 24, 2021
Mismatch are coming in hot and heavy, releasing another small batch beer on the back of a strong showing at the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards, which included a trophy for their Lager. This is a rather different beast to that award-winner, however, with the booze content in double figures – as with their Triple Crush – and also steers a rather altered course from their previous hop-focused heavyweights. Berry Pie is an imperial kettle sour brewed with a mixed berry purée, lactose… Read more
Style
Imperial Fruit Cream Sour
ABV
10.5%

Mismatch & Hop Nation Meet In The Middle

Published May 14, 2021
South Australia’s Mismatch join forces with Melbourne’s Hop Nation for Meet in the Middle, a beer designed to be equal parts West Coast and East Coast, complete with a solid haze for good measure. Originally planned for the cancelled 2020 Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival, it's instead been brewed in time for Good Beer Week 2021. And they didn’t mess around, going head with heavy-hitting hops Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe to rain down juicy tropical fruit and hazy deliciousness. As for the beer’s… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
8.0%

Mismatch Brewing Hazy IPA (Batch 2) & Strawberry Sour

Published April 8, 2021
South Australia’s Mismatch Brewing have two returning beers out in tins for April 2021. Well, in the case of one of them, it’s not quite a returning beer and more a variation on a theme, with Hazy IPA following a similar release in 2020. The idea for the IPA series is to let Mismatch's brewers explore different ingredients, alcohol levels and tweak other aspects of the recipe, with Batch 2 coming in at 6 percent ABV and using Galaxy, Sabro, Citra plus experimental Kiwi hop NZ-107. Pouring a very… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA & Strawberry Sour
ABV
6.0% & 3.0%

Mismatch Brewing Triple Crush

Published February 26, 2021
It's not as if Mismatch haven't released big beers before. The SA brewer's Bourbon Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, for example, was one of the very best dark beers of 2020. Yet, when it comes to their hop forward beers – both core and one-offs – I tend to think of them as masters of delivering flavours and aromas in a crystalline, finely-honed manner, not as purveyors of double figure booze content hazies – beers that typically make a play of their voluptuousness and olfactory-obliterating… Read more
Style
Hazy IIIPA
ABV
10.0%

Mismatch Brewing Pink Lemon Ale

Published January 31, 2021
When the Mismatch team was looking for inspiration for another limited release, they turned to co-founder Marc Huber who suggested a refreshing lemonade-inspired beer to service drinkers' needs in the sizzle of summer. Head brewer Ewan Brewerton and his team got to work, designing a sour base recipe in which lemon juice was added to lower the pH levels. In keeping with the lemon theme, Lemondrop hops were added alongside lactose and raspberry purée to give the beer a light, dusty pinkish tinge not… Read more
Style
Fruited Sour Ale
ABV
6.0%

Mismatch DDH Hazy Session & Double Hazy

Published December 7, 2020
To see 2020 off in style, and wrap up their handsome contribution to the plethora of limited releases from Aussie brewers this year, Mismatch have doubled down on two very different double hazies. The first takes the bones of an old favourite, Mismatch Session Ale, than adds a double dry hop and a boost in ABV to 4.5 percent. The second is a double hazy IPA: a bigger, meatier version of the former at exactly double the alcohol content. Fans of the OG Session will find the DDH Hazy Session’s aroma… Read more
Style
Hazy Session Ale & Double Hazy
ABV
4.5% & 9.0%

Mismatch Brewing Negroni IPA

Published September 29, 2020
When it comes to collaborating outside the beer world, it doesn't hurt when you share a home with a few other drinks producers. At Lot 100 in the Adelaide Hills, you find Mismatch alongside Hills Cider, Vinteloper winers, Adelaide Hills Distillery and Ashton Valley Fresh, and for this in-house collaboration the brewers have partnered with the distiller. It's seen them bring back an old favourite, resurrecting the Negroni IPA that first made an appearance at GABS in 2016; a red IPA base is the starting… Read more
Style
Negroni IPA
ABV
7.0%

Mismatch Brewing Hazy IPA

Published August 7, 2020
If there's been a silver lining to Melbourne's stage 4 lockdown on a personal level, it's been the kindness shown by interstate brewers in sending care packages to Crafty Towers. It's fair to say that, less than a week in, if the lockdown is extended (please no!) we won't be short of beer. Among those to lend a liquid helping hand are the folks at Mismatch, who sent over a collection of their most recent releases, with which I promptly committed a faux pas. I posted a shot online of the beers that… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.8%
Stockists

Available for pre-order from Mismatch online from Aug 7

Shipping Aug 18

And in Mismatch stockists nationwide

More stockists...

Mismatch Brewing Pizza Beer

Published July 12, 2020
Mismatch's headquarters reside on the same block of land as their affiliated restaurant and cellar door, Lot 100, where they're known for great wood-fired pizza amongst other things. When restrictions were put in place due due to COVID-19, the Lot 100 crew found themselves with a lot of excess pizza dough destined for waste if not used soon. Given Mismatch's focus on sustainability, they stepped in: the dough was first cooked off in the pizza oven then added to the mash. Hey presto: pizza lager was… Read more
Style
Lager
ABV
5.0%

Mismatch Brewing Super Evil Archie's

Published July 12, 2020
Every year, Mismatch fans wait in anticipation for the release of their autumn seasonal, Evil Archie's Red IPA. In 2020, the beer again proved to be incredibly popular, selling out online in no time at all. However, to keep their lineup fresh and invigorating, the Mismatch crew decided to put this particular beer on the shelf for the foreseeable future. Instead, to honour Evil Archie's, they decided to make it even more wicked, malevolent and sinful, adding a double dry hop to proceedings. Still… Read more
Style
DDH Red IPA
ABV
6.66%

Mismatch Brewing Bourbon Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout

Published July 9, 2020
The Mismatch team’s first crack at barrel-ageing dates back to when they brewed out of Big Shed, when they created a sweet coffee stout aged in whisky barrels. Now they have a bit more room at their Adelaide Hills brewery, they brought in fourteen Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels have moved in and whipped up a big 12.75 percent ABV RIS that spent several months inside them. Upon opening the can, the beer exudes bourbon, even before your nostrils become within cooee. Pouring pitch black with a creamy… Read more
Style
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout
ABV
12.75%

Mismatch Brewing Chocolate Stout 2020

Published July 9, 2020
Every year, Mismatch reach out to Adelaide Hill chocolatiers Melba Chocolate for help with a chocolate stout. The final product is slightly different every year and, for 2020, Melba decided to whip up a liquid chocolate that was then poured into the base stout featuring a stack of specialty malts along with further additions of vanilla. There's no mistaking the chocolate goodness; even Willy Wonka would be impressed. On the nose it's pretty sweet with milk chocolate, a hint of vanilla, some nuttiness… Read more
Style
Chocolate Stout
ABV
5.6%

Mismatch Brewing Traditional Stout

Published July 9, 2020
Lactose, peanut butter, cocoa nibs, vanilla, pastries, berries, chilli, coffee, chocolate... the list goes on. In today’s beer world, there's a whole array of adjuncts used in a wide variety of beer styles but sometimes you just want a good old fashioned beer. And that's what Mismatch have created here: a stout that's straight up solid and drinkable and brewed using just water, hops, yeast and malt. There's a flicker of red within this dark mahogany-hued Traditional Stout that kicks off with sweet… Read more
Style
Stout
ABV
6.2%

Mismatch Brewing Evil Archie's Red IPA

Published April 17, 2020
Back in 2013, Mismatch launched as a contract operation with Archie's Red Ale, a malt driven beer that soon caught the attention of the SA beer community. Fast forward to 2015 and Archie's evil twin was born, ramping the original up to 6.66 percent ABV and supercharging the hopping schedule too. The final tweak beer came in 2016, when it shifted from red ale to a red IPA. Today, still sitting at 6.66 percent ABV and popular as ever, Evil Archie's takes all the finer elements of its forefathers,… Read more
Style
Red IPA
ABV
6.66%
Stockists

Fresh batch being canned late April 2020

Mismatch Brewing Crush Ale

Published March 23, 2020
When South Australia heats up, people come out to play and drink, and eat and party [At least when they're allowed too – Editor]; this is when the Adelaide Hills comes alive during their Crush Festival. Held over a weekend in late January, it showcases the Adelaide Hills region and draws in hordes of people to their favourite wineries. In 2020, Mismatch decided to get involved, teaming up with a few Adelaide Hills wineries – Vinteloper, Murdoch Hill and Howard Vineyards. To satisfy the beer… Read more
Style
Golden Ale
ABV
4.2%

Mismatch Brewing Not Your Average Plum Gose

Published February 11, 2020
If you've ventured to the home of Mismatch Brewing at Lot 100 in the Adelaide Hills, you'll know their restaurant serves up a distinctive menu featuring rustic Italian cuisine with a native Australian twist. For Mismatch’s latest release, this native Australian twist spilled into the brewery, where they used head chef Shannon Fleming’s knowledge of the Davidson plum to their advantage. The flesh of the fruit takes on a deep Burgundy appearance and is quite acidic, hence a gose was order of the… Read more
Style
Plum Gose
ABV
2.9%

Mismatch Brewing White IPA

Published December 10, 2019
Alongside their very consistent and frequently award-winning core range, the team at Mismatch also punch out a long list of limited release beers over the year, many of which are rarely poured outside their home base at Lot 100 in the Adelaide Hills. Now, however, thanks to the installation of a labelling machine at the brewery, these limited releases are set to be packaged and sent further afield. First up is not one for the traditionalist; instead, it's a merging of two styles into one only seen… Read more
Style
White IPA
ABV
6.8%

Mismatch Brewing Co Strawberry Berliner Weisse

Published November 1, 2019
Mismatch's can designs have something of the classy cricket club's logo about them, yet still work even when taken into bold colour territory. And they're rarely bolder than when they put out one of their fruited Berliner Weisse. The livery for this strawberry-laced affair might not be as bright as its mandarin predecessor but it's strawberries-and-cream lolly shades are a good precursor for what lies inside. That said, there's no even a hint of pink to the liquid; but there is a creaminess to the… Read more
Style
Strawberry Berliner Weisse
ABV
3.0%

Mismatch Brewing Co New England Lager

Published October 1, 2019
Having praised Mismatch's Lager elsewhere on this site for approaching the style with the classics in mind, here they served up something very different for their spring 2019 release. Where most brewers have opted to pair "New England" with IPA when creating something hazy and hopped to the eyeballs, they decided to follow the path less trodden and go to work with a lager. And, boy, was it worth it. It pours a very hazy (as it should) pale gold and is all mangoes and pineapples on the nose.… Read more
Style
New England Lager
ABV
5.0%