Who Brews Shifty Lizard Beers?

May 15, 2017, by Matt King

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Who Brews Shifty Lizard Beers?


The word Stone is already one with well established connections in the beer industry, most notably the San Diego based home of Arrogant Bastard and one half of the name of one of Australia's biggest, Stone & Wood. However, another Stone is entering the fray as brewer Lee Stone launches Shifty Lizard Brewing Company in South Australia. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly he didn't fancy trying to launch as Stone Brewery so Lee reverted back to his video game playing days where he had encountered a similar problem. After trying out numerous code names on Call of Duty, he settled on something a little left field: Shifty Lizard got the nod and, from there, the name just stuck. 

In early 2017, with the help of brand ambassador Danny Strapps, Shifty Lizard’s Pale Ale and IPA hit the shelves of bottleshops across South Australia and a few stores in Melbourne. Initially, Lee brewed the beers in his back shed on a 100L system but, after garnering support with locals, it was time to ramp things up and a successful Pozible campaign was launched. 

Within weeks, Lee was on deck at Vale Brewing contract brewing Shifty Lizard’s first large batch of beer while continuing to use his backyard setup to develop trial batches for new beers they may want to launch under the Shifty Lizard tag down the track.

We featured Shifty Lizard in last year's South Australia’s Next Wave article but now they're up and running, here they are as our latest Who Brews? respondents. 



Where do you brew?

Old Noarlunga.


Why do you brew?

Because if I didn’t I’d be chewing someone’s ear off about it anyway!


What beers have you released to date?

To date we have our Pale Ale and IPA, with a few in the pipeline.


What’s the inspiration behind the brewery name?

With every brewery name related to Stone taken five times over, I had to look back to my gaming days and my old profile name. Hence the Shifty Lizard.


Was there a beer or a moment that set you on the path to becoming a brewer?

Whilst living in London installing beer equipment I came across one beer in particular that I started installing more of, it was BrewDog Punk IPA. This beer completely changed the way I viewed beer forever and sparked my interest in craft beer.


What beers are in your fridge right now?

Brewboys GTS, Brewboys Ace of Spades, Big Shed Golden Stout Time, Prancing Pony Black Ale, Lobethal Crème Brulee, CVBC Extra Stout, Woolshed Aus Amber Ale, Shifty Lizard Pale Ale and IPA and two test brews from Forktree Brewing.


What would be your desert island beer?


If I could be deserted on an island with a lifetime supply of BrewDog Jack Hammer IPA then I’d be a very happy, drunk man!!!


If your brewery was a band, who would it be?

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.


Where do you hope your brewery will be ten years from now?

First Lizard to set foot on Mars to help ye old adventurers quench a new kind of thirst.


Where can people find your beers?

We are in selected venues in South Australia with a few Melbourne venues recently adding to our ever growing list. Check out www.shiftylizard.com for more details.


If you're in Melbourne for Good Beer Week 2017 you can catch the Shifty Lizards at the Pint of Origin SA venue, The Palace Hotel, on May 16.

You can read other Who Brews? articles here.

About the author: Matt is our main SA contributor – and you can check out his SA craft beer focused site too.

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