By Jen Barwick
Turning a hobby into a career isn’t easy but with a little dogged determination, success can be achieved, according to craft beer brewers Simon Dunstone and Kate Henning.
In 2013 the couple gave up their full-time corporate careers, Simon a software engineer and Kate a lawyer, to take their passion for home brewing to an all new level.
With the help of their family, the pair took over the Myponga brewery and began their craft label, Smiling Samoyed (named after their three Samoyeds, Mia, Cooper and Hoppy).
It’s been a pretty steady and steep learning curve for the young couple, who have also turned their brewery into a popular food and beer destination in the little coastal community of Myponga, an hour south of Adelaide.
“We wanted to start our own business together and being pretty passionate home brewers the opportunity to take on the brewery here was too good to miss,” Simon said.
“It was also a great time to step into the industry – there’s so much interest out there now regarding craft beers. Restaurants and bars are much more open to the idea of taking on craft labels but the awareness just at a consumer level is fantastic too.”
The Smiling Samoyed range available for tasting in Myponga.
Having their own retail outlet and tasting bar has helped immensely, Kate said.
“Having this direct selling point here has meant there’s been less pressure to pound the pavement and get our beers into numerous restaurants and bars.”
“It’s allowed us to focus on the product, keep business ticking over while we got the grounding we needed to run a commercial brewery… it’s considerably different to making batches of beer at home.
“It’s also allowed us to talk directly to the consumer. It helped us realise pretty early on that food was a really important part of the deal for those who came to visit us. We didn’t initially intend to go down that track – but we started doing platters, and then pizzas and we now have a chef on board – and we plan to do more special food and beer tasting functions.”
Kate and Simon are about to graduate from a two-year Graduate Certificate of Brewing at the University of Ballarat, partly funded through a Food and Beverage Development Fund grant.
And, last year, Kate also participated in the South Australia Young Entrepreneur Scheme which is run by Business SA – and won the 2014 South Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
The brewery currently produces a 1000 litre batch of beer every week. Almost 70% of their weekly beer goes into bottles and the rest into kegs – mostly for South Australian restaurants and pubs, and a little into Victoria.
However, plans to expand their fermentation capacity means the couple will be able to double production in around 12 months.
While always intending to grow, the speed of growth has taken the couple by surprise.
“I was expecting to continue to work full-time for the first 12 months while we set up the business but I had to give up my job after two months,” Kate said.
Everything just clicked into place, Simon said, “So it’s been a pretty full-on learning curve – from the regulatory side of things to packaging and distribution.”
The brewery produces four staples – its Kolsch (a German-style golden ale), a Pale Ale, an IPA and a mid-strength Dark Ale. There’s also a range of seasonal and regional beers, which they release for special events or local festivals.
Based on current capacity, the couple are still focussing mainly on South Australia with a small distribution also in Victoria.
“It’s all we can do for now… but it’s been pretty exciting to see the beer getting picked up at more and more places. We felt pretty pleased with ourselves when the Wheatsheaf, in Thebarton put us on tap (it’s like the Adelaide craft beer mecca), and The Royal Oak in North Adelaide too,” Simon said.
Smiling Samoyed Brewery use the State Brand on their packaging.
The South Australia State Brand proudly displayed on the Smiling Samoyed six pack packaging (bottom left).