LITTLE Rippa Brewing Company founder Lachy Mutton received a crafty surprise recently, claiming a prestigious TAFE SA award during its 2019 graduation dinner.
Mr Mutton was awarded the TAFE SA brewery student of the year title after completing a six-week course at Regency Park in Adelaide earlier this year.
Starting his brewing journey over 20 year ago, Mr Mutton said the award was recognition for the hard work he had dedicated over the recent months.
“Like a lot of people, I first began using old cans and tubs to make beer,” he said.
“My brother actually received a home brew kit for his 21st birthday, he used it once and then I pinched it.
“It grew from there, brewing my own beer on and off for a period of 10 years.”
Also the co-owner of Sorrentos Cafe, Mr Mutton said around seven years ago he started whole-grain brewing.
“This involved making all my beer work from scratch so I eventually bought three systems from Jim at S.E. Bingo & Diamond Cue as a pilot,” he said.
“I had three beers at home in the shed and my mates said to me I should put it on at work, but at the time I thought I really did not want to take that on.
“We decided to do it, so I scaled up the system as much as I could with what I had.”
Soon after, Mr Mutton said he discovered a huge demand and struggled to keep up with the volume.
“I started travelling to Melbourne and Adelaide to talk to commercial brewery manufacturers and looked at what we could do to develop a better system,” he said.
“I ended up initially going to look at a 500-litre system, but then decided in the end to go to a 1200-litre system which was quite a big jump.
“We only just purchased a system through Spark Breweries & Distilleries through the middle of this year and I have since done around eight to nine brews.”
Mr Mutton said increasing the volume of beer he was able to brew had opened doors.
“It is actually very hard work … I am doing 1000-litre batches by myself, which most people would have three or four working on,” he said.
“It is quite labour intensive and most of my brew days go out to around 15 hours spent in the brewery.
“It is pretty much non stop on your feet … a lot of people think you have been drinking all day when you tell them you have spent the last 15 hours brewing beer.”
With a technical and complex side to the crafting, Mr Mutton said he did not drink any beer until it was completed.
“I am pretty happy with the consistency of the beer and being able to produce consistent products,” he said.
“I am going to put it down to continually brewing two to three times a week on a smaller system to produce a smaller amount of beer.
“Doing the same things over and over again has allowed me to refine my skills and produce beer which taste the same in flavour, has alcohol content and meet the same requirements.”
Mr Mutton said the business had grown over the past year with five selections available at Sorrentos Cafe and 5290 Bar and Function Room as well as other options at various outlets including Jen’s Hotel and Bay
Pizzeria.
“I am doing a bit of an experiment at the moment and have created a Portland Strawberries saison,” he said.
“It is a Belgian summer ale style beer which is infused with fresh Portland Strawberries produce.
“Hopefully this will suit the female market more and will hopefully be an option for people who like ciders or slightly sweeter things to give it a try.”
Mr Mutton said Sorrentos had always tried sourcing food and fresh products from the Limestone Coast region.
“Through Little Rippa Brewing Company, we are trying to provide the same great experience through the beer market to our local community,” he said.
“We have access to some great products in our region.
“Our beer uses the great pristine water from the Limestone Coast, Australian grains and hops.”
Mr Mutton said in the next few years he would like to continue to wholesale his products of the greater Limestone Coast region and have beer readily available for people to take home.
