South Australian Brewing Company
South Australian brewer of West End Draught since 1888.
The South Australian Brewing Company, Limited operated a brewery in Thebarton, an inner-western suburb of Adelaide. It now functions as a subsidiary of Lion, which is itself owned by the Japanese beverage company Kirin. The company produces West End Draught beer.
The business was founded in 1888 under the name South Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Company. It was formed by merging the West End Brewery on Hindley Street in Adelaide’s city centre, the Kent Town Brewery, and the wine and spirit merchants Rounsevell & Simms. In 1938, it acquired the Walkerville Brewery, whose main site was at 107 Port Road, Thebarton—the original location of the Torrenside Brewery, established in 1886. Operations continued at both the Hindley Street and Thebarton breweries. After the takeover, the Thebarton site was first called the Nathan Brewery, then reverted to its former name, Southwark Brewery, before being rebadged as the West End Brewery following the closure of the Hindley Street premises in 1980. The Thebarton brewery shut down in June 2021.
The company’s origins trace back to February 1888, when Sir Edwin Thomas Smith’s Kent Town Brewery, William Knox Simms’s West End Brewery, and the wine and spirit merchants Rounsevell & Simms (run by Ben Rounsevell and Alfred Simms) combined. The managing directors were Robert Alfred Stock, Alfred Simms, and W. B. Rounsevell. Provisional directors included Edwin Smith, W. K. Simms, W. B. Rounsevell, R. A. Stock, Alfred Simms, Charles H. T. Hart, and Frank Rymill of Adelaide, along with Hon. N. Fitzgerald, John Robb, Malcolm McEacharn, John B. Watson, and John McIlwraith of Melbourne.
The new company expanded brewing facilities at West End and centralised malting work at Kent Town. It began buying hotels outright or leasing them, and by the end of the 1880s controlled 44 hotels outright and leased 65, giving it a strong grip on the Adelaide market. In 1893, it sold its wine and spirit business to A. E. & F. Tolley Pty Ltd and Milne & Co., and changed its name to South Australian Brewing Company, Limited.
Robert Stock, Edwin Smith’s brother-in-law and former manager of the Kent Town Brewery, became chairman and general manager. After Stock died in 1904, Samuel Jacobs took over, serving until 1937. Jacobs’ son, later Sir Roland Jacobs, was managing director from 1948 to 1967.
- Founded
- 1888
- Headquarters
- Thebarton, South Australia
- Parent
- Lion (subsidiary of Kirin)
- Key beer
- West End Draught
- Closure of thebarton brewery
- June 2021
- Site size
- 8.4 ha
- Government purchase price
- $61.5 million
Lore & Background
The South Australian Brewing Company was established in February 1888 as the South Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Company by the amalgamation of Sir Edwin Thomas Smith's Kent Town Brewery, William Knox Simms's West End Brewery and the wine and spirit merchants Rounsevell & Simms. The new company set about enlarging the brewing facilities at West End and centring the malting work at Kent Town. It began a campaign of purchasing hotels freehold or leasehold, and by the end of the 1880s had a stranglehold on the Adelaide market, owning 44 hotels and leasing 65. In 1893 they sold off their wine and spirit business and the name was changed to South Australian Brewing Company, Limited.
The Walkerville Cooperative Brewery, which produced the popular Nathan beers, was taken over in 1938, after which operations were concentrated on the old Torrenside Brewery. The brewery was renamed Nathan Brewery in 1939, then again renamed Southwark Brewery in 1949. From 1955 operations were split between the company's two major factories, with the West End Brewery in Hindley Street making only draught beer in kegs; bottled beer only was produced in the Thebarton plant. In 1980 the original West End Brewery closed and operations moved to the Southwark Brewery in Thebarton, which was rebadged 'West End'. The Thebarton brewery closed in June 2021.
Reader's Guide
The South Australian Brewing Company was a dominant force in the Adelaide beer market from its founding in 1888, owning or leasing over 100 hotels by the end of the 1880s. Its most famous product, West End Draught, a 4.5% abv pale lager first brewed in 1859, became the largest selling beer in South Australia in 2007. The company's black and red colours originated from the West Adelaide Football Club's 1911 victories. A notable tradition began in 1954 of painting the brewery chimney with the colours of the SANFL premiership team and runners-up, a practice that continued at the Thebarton site until 2020 and then moved to the Hoffmann Kiln at the Brickworks Marketplace. The company was the original sponsor of the AFL 'Showdown' in 1997. After the Thebarton brewery closed in June 2021, the South Australian Government purchased the 8.4 ha site in 2023 for $61.5 million, intending to develop over 1,000 homes, with the heritage-listed West End Brewery chimney tower preserved.
Did You Know?
- The company was originally named the South Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Company when formed in 1888.
- The tradition of painting the brewery chimney with SANFL premiership colours began in 1954.
- The Thebarton brewery site was purchased by the South Australian Government in 2023 for $61.5 million.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is South Australian Brewing Company?
A long-running Adelaide-based brewer that has been producing beer in South Australia since the late 19th century. It is best known for its West End Draught brand and is headquartered in the suburb of Thebarton.
What beer does South Australian Brewing Company make?
Their signature product is West End Draught, a beer deeply tied to Adelaide's brewing heritage. It has served as the company's flagship label for well over a century.
When was South Australian Brewing Company founded?
The business traces its origins to 1888, when it was created by combining the West End Brewery, the Kent Town Brewery, and the wine-and-spirit firm Rounsevell & Simms into a single entity. It originally carried the much longer name South Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Company.
Who owns South Australian Brewing Company?
It operates as a subsidiary of Lion, which is itself a division of Japan's Kirin Holdings. So while the brand feels distinctly South Australian, its ultimate parent is a Japanese beverage giant.
What happened to the Thebarton brewery?
The 8.4-hectare Thebarton site shut down in June 2021, bringing an end to more than 130 years of brewing on that Adelaide inner-west location. The closure marked a significant shift in how the West End Draught brand is now produced.
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