The Hills Are On Fire

May 1, 2014, by Crafty Pint

The Hills Are On Fire

Regular readers of this site will be aware that much has been brewing in South Australia in the past year or two. Craft beer stalwarts such as Lobethal Bierhaus, Steam Exchange, Brewboys and Barossa Valley Brewing have been joined by an ever-growing number of startups. We ran a piece on Smiling Samoyed earlier this year, while Crafty Pint’s occasional SA contributor, Matt Carty, has brought us news of Big Shed Brewing and Clare Valley Brewing; he now brews at the latter, whose beers have started appearing on a handful of taps outside their home state.

One of the biggest recent success stories is that of Prancing Pony Brewery. Located in Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills, they proudly proclaim themselves as Australia’s only “fire brewers” in recognition of the fact that their self built brewery is, in effect, a scaled up version of brewer Frank Samson’s home brew kit, complete with large fire burner underneath the kettle. In little more than a year, under the tagline “Dude, it’s so good!”, they have watched demand for their products grow rapidly and are already looking for a new, larger site for their brewery and cellar door.

Frank believes his preference for old school fiery methods, rather than using steam jackets in the brewing process, helps create greater levels of caramelisation within his beers and also means the outcome of each brew relies more heavily on his skill as a brewer. It is something he’s been doing for three decades, having started brewing at home shortly after moving to Australia from Germany in 1982.

Today he has a core range that includes an amber, blonde and pale, while he has also released short run specials including a smoked beer and an India Red Ale that has become the beer for which the brewery is perhaps best known. Originally created as a one-off, limited release brew – the first in Prancing Pony’s 500ml bottled Thoroughbred range – it has proved so popular that it is now brewed year round.

“It’s really taken off in a big way for us,” says co-owner Corinna Steeb. “It’s the one beer that everyone comes to the brew shed for.”

Another new beer will be unveiled when the Prancing Pony team heads to Melbourne for Good Beer Week later this month. While in town they will debut a rather intriguing beer at the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular. Described as a weizen-doppelbock-IPA hybrid, it started out as a hefeweizen. Prior to fermentation, the wort was split into two tanks, with one portion fermented with a lager yeast and one with an ale yeast before they were brought back together for dry hopping.

“It is amazingly complex,” says Corinna. “It has the spritzy nature of a hefeweizen but the strength of a doppelbock and an amazing hop aroma from the dry hopping. You drink it and different flavours develop.”

Before entering the microbrewing world, both Frank and Corinna had lengthy careers in other industries – Frank is a former physicist and mechanical engineer, while Corinna has a PhD in medical sciences and had been doing marketing for startups – something they believe has stood them in good stead on the new venture, as they brought business nous as well as brewing talent and passion to Prancing Pony. Indeed, they have words of advice for others considering entering the brewing world: Corinna believes that talent and passion will only take you so far if you don’t have the practical business application as well.

“We had worked in other businesses before so we understand the cycle – bookkeeping, marketing, operational requirements, managing growth and so on. That really helps. If you are just a brewer who loves making beer but has no business experience it is an incredibly tough gig.

“Having good product is a must, but so is having business experience. People need to understand just how much hard work is involved; it isn’t just a case of drinking beer but also working very long hours, knowing your customers and knowing what they want.”

 

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Corinna serving at the brew shed bar with Frank peering out from the brewery

 

Emphasising just what she means by hard work, she points out that Frank hadn’t taken a day off in 18 months until joining some friends to indulge his passion for racing bikes for an afternoon recently. Even then, he headed back to the brewery afterwards.

That said, while the financial success of the business is crucial, she says positive feedback from customers doesn’t hurt either.

“It is a massive reward when people say they love our beer or the brand. That’s a greater reward than the sales and keeps you getting up in the morning.”

Support has been strong locally. The couple has lived in the Adelaide Hills for years, with a large property on which they have all manner of animals – dogs, cats, alpacas and more, including the donkey that Frank was watching when the name for the brewery (which is also the Inn in The Hobbit) came to him.

“We know that it is hard for people to come and visit us in the Hills and that maybe we could be bigger if we win the city,” says Corinna, “but we have been supported locally and people round here are proud to have a local brewery.

“There is a great community spirit here. We have sponsored the international sculpture symposium and been involved in other community activities and are looking to set up a Mt Barker industry event based around fire.

 

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Peering ponies

 

“It is natural for us to want to stay in the Hills.”

Whether that will be at their current address for much longer is unlikely.

“We found a new space so we have started negotiations there,” says Corinna. “Now that we are kegging as well it has introduced a whole new logistical situation for us so we’re actually having to stifle growth a little bit so that we don’t run out of space. We are regularly getting 300 people coming to the shed every week now.”

Also on the horizon is interstate distribution while anyone heading to the Hills this weekend may even get to take part in a brew too. As part of Tasting Australia, on Sunday (May 4) they are holding an event at which Frank will take guests through the brewing experience as well as guiding them through his range of beers matched with “specific and quite unusual food”. Tickets cost $25 with the shed open from 10am to 6pm. You can book by calling (08) 8398 3881.


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