Alice Springs Brewing Co are expanding across their southern border with the Northern Territory operation purchasing Beer Garden Brewing in South Australia’s Port Lincoln.
Alice Springs Brewing founder Kyle Pearson told The Crafty Pint they’d been looking to expand for some time and, while finding somewhere in Darwin was their initial focus, Port Lincoln offered an appealing prospect beyond its proximity to the beach.
He says buying Beer Garden complements their existing business with the coastal city's busiest months occurring over summer and Alice’s peak tourism season coming in the middle of the year.
“Port Lincoln is an amazing spot,” Kyle says. “So, I’m looking forward to splitting my time between Alice and down there.
“Port Lincoln’s peak season is the opposite of Alice’s. If we set something up in Darwin, we’d be facing the same off-season; this way, we can utilise capacity in each brewery to back the other up; when one’s cranking the other one will be quiet.”
Once they take over the space in early December, the plan is to keep many of the fundamentals in place, including the Beer Garden name and staff.
“We’re not really going to change anything for the foreseeable future, it will still exist as its own entity,” Kyle says.
“Everyone’s been offered their jobs and there’s a really strong team there already. We’ll be bringing on some more staff but all these people are really passionate about the place.”
The Port Lincoln brewery was founded in 2016 and had been on the market for some time. Kyle says a lot of investment has gone into the hospitality side of the business, while the ten-hectolitre brewhouse also gives them comparable capacity to their 12-hectolitre system in Alice Springs.
“A lot of work has gone into the venue and the kit,” he says. “They’ve had some really good results with the beer they’ve been making and we obviously don't want to go there and undo any of that good work.”
While the local beer industry has suffered considerably over the last couple of years, Kyle believes there are some shining lights in the market. His professional background is in hospitality and he says a focus on that side of the business has worked well for them in Alice; as such he believes a strong regional brewery can still find success, including in Port Lincoln, which is located a few hours' drive west of Adelaide.
“While parts of the industry aren’t going great at the moment, I think regional breweries have found their strengths in recent times,” Kyle says.
“I think there’s a lot to be said for having a strong hospitality business in these times,” adding with a laugh that there are also personal benefits to splitting his time between the desert and the coast.
“I get to go hang out by the beach: water you can swim in that isn’t full of crocodiles.”
Will Ziebell is a history graduate who knows more about The Wire than he does about beer. He was awarded the AIBA Best Media trophy for 2018; HBO have told him to please send his fan mail elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer:
Spending time living in the UK (and backpacking across Europe) when I was 21 certainly gave me a better understanding of the beer and different styles of the world. But I'd say it was a holiday to the High Country a little while later when lunch and a tasting paddle at Bridge Road Brewers created an obsession with Australian breweries and locally made beer.
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
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Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.
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Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.
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Stone & Wood Pacific Ale: As the father of my oldest friend once said to me: "It's the perfect refreshing pint that smells like they've loaded it with the God's herb."
The last beer you enjoyed:
Garage Project's DFA while sitting at the bar at Miss Moses as the sounds of The Rolling Stone drifting in the background.
Three things that represent you:
- Bruce Springsteen
- Ken Burns
- The State Library of Victoria
