Brad’s backyard Balhannah barrel brew

By Lauren Ferrone

Adelaide Hills beer enthusiast, Brad Bown, has a thirst to bottle and barrel the perfect brew – and he’s doing it all from his 6×9 backyard shed in Balhannah.

Brad’s “farmhouse style” beer is part of his new barrel aged beer line Left Barrel Brewing.

After launching just a couple of weeks ago, Left Barrel Brewing is already on tap at a couple of local cafes and bars, including Semaphore’s Sweet Amber Brew Café and Adelaide’s Kings Head Hotel.

Other local pubs, such as NOLA Adelaide and Uraidla Hotel, also have kegs of Brad’s craft beer ready to be put on tap.

Before finding himself in his backyard, Brad’s brewing journey started when he purchased a Grumpy’s Home Brew kit in the mid 90s.

“I started brewing beer with my best mate, Mike, in the cellar of his father’s house in Bridgewater,” Brad says.

“We quickly moved from kit and kilo to partial mashes and worked our way through the expansive list of beer kits available at the time,” he adds.

With a university degree in engineering and a natural desire to build and create something from nothing, Brad started a TAFE SA brewing course, teaching him the intricacies of beer – yeast, water, malt and hops.

“After seeing how easy it was to create a beer from those base ingredients, I was hooked.  My thirst for beer was now overtaken by a thirst about beer,” Brad says.

He then began to build various brewing sculptures fellow brewers, including his own current three vessel RIMS system.

“All of which were a great joy to construct as a left handed civil engineer,” he laughs.

While Brad’s transition to barrel aged sour beers has been unexpected, the variety and depth of his beers has been worth it.

“There’s a challenge in making these beers. Patience is often tested with some of these beer styles taking years to come to fruition with the slow acting yeasts and microbes involved,” he says.

“The barrel ageing and sour beer cellar area is also a great passion of mine. Some of these beers are ready to consume in a matter of months, but others will take years to come together.”

Despite enjoying brewing from his backyard, Brad hopes to expand to a larger premise and open an Adelaide Hills cellar door with barrel storage area for ageing beers.

“It has taken a year of hard slog and planning to get to where we are. People are drinking more craft beer and want to know more about what goes into that beer,” he says.

“Right now it’s about contacting venues that push craft beers themselves, dropping off samples and talking to them and hopefully they like the beer and take one or two more kegs on.”

Left Barrel Brewing’s second beer – an India Pale Ale named ‘Pay Hoppage’ – will launch at Fork on the Road next Friday (November 18).

As part of the event, Brad is building his own mobile bar from stainless steel sheeting and recycled timber from Uraidla.

“I’ve always been an eater and drinker at these types of events in Adelaide,” Brad laughs. “It’s the first time I’ll be working on the other side of the bar,” he adds.

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