Swell Brewery & Taphouse

Dan Wright is the nomadic type, living a life that’s seen him travel far and wide searching for great surf and rolling snow covered mountains while absorbing the buzz of the local craft beer scene wherever he roams.

The owner and head brewer at South Australia’s Swell, he first came up with the idea of owning a brewery while on a two-year surf/snow odyssey through the Americas. The craft beer industry so impressed Dan over the course of his extended holiday that ideas of brewing beer under his own label were soon swirling.

So, with notebook in hand and time to plan on the extended bus rides between surf breaks, he soon had the right combination of enthusiasm and ideas to turn his dream into reality; once he arrived back in Australia, of course.

Upon touching down back on home turf, he set about fine-tuning beer recipes brewing in his back shed. And, once those recipes were ready to go, Dan turned yet again to his nomadic ways, brewing his beers across state lines in Mildura.

It was way back in 2010 when Swell’s first set rolled in across SA in the form of a lineup featuring pale, golden and amber ales and a wheat beer. The contract brewing approach was to continue for years too, far longer than most who’ve set out on that path.

After Mildura Brewery was sold in 2017, Dan instead looked to the rather more local Vale Brewing, where he invested in a single tank and settled in as a permanent fixture. Fast forward to 2019, however, and witnessing the craft beer industry gathering an unstoppable momentum and becoming a permanent fixture of its own in the country’s food and drink landscape, he made the decision to invest in a brewery and cellar door of his own a short drive away in McLaren Vale.

The 16-tap venue is set on a family-owned vineyard on Olivers Road. The vineyard views stretch all around, with a giant underwater mural offering a nod to the brewery’s surfing name and its founder’s passion.

The brewery and venue share the same giant shed, with punters able to look in on the brewing magic via windows on the mezzanine floor. There’s plenty of seating both in the downstairs bar area and on the mezzanine. Or, if outside is more your thing, there are two options there as well. From the upstairs patio, punters can drink and eat while soaking up the picturesque wine country vistas; downstairs, kids are free to burn off energy on the lawns while families and beer tourists picnic on the grass or at high tables.

The taps pour all of Swell’s core range beers as well as a constant rotation of limited releases, which typically takes in fruited sours, a variety of different IPAs and a collection of stouts. To help soak up the booze, the kitchen offers a simple, but tasty, burger style menu, with cheeseburgers, fried chicken burgers, loaded fries and the like gracing the menu.

Helping Dan brew the beers is Shane Parkes, who draws his brewing experience from many years at Vale. It’s a lineup of beers that’s remained consistent over the years, with the longstanding Golden Ale claiming Best Australian Style Pale Ale at the AIBA awards in 2016, an award Dan cherishes.

In his spare time, Dan manages the family vineyard called Rayments block. It produces premium grapes that are sold to wineries including Penfolds and Wirra Wirra, while the pedigree for quality beverages runs through the family: Dan’s wife Corrina is the winemaker at Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards, also in McLaren Vale.

The Swell story might have started thousands of miles from home as Dan chased big waves on another continent, but now the brewery is part of an industry making big waves of its own and ensuring this popular SA wine region has much to offer the beer lover.

Matt King

Name
Swell Brewery & Taphouse
Address

168 Olivers Road
McLaren Vale
SA 5171

Phone
(08) 8323 0879
Open Hours

Weekends only during COVID-19
11am to 6pm


This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

Swell Brewery & Taphouse Regulars

Swell Brewery Lager

Make your way through the Swell range and it's not hard to see the influence of the American craft beer scene on Dan Wright's brewery. With his Lager, however, he's trained his sights on the home of such beers: Northern Europe. Sure, he opted for New World hops out of New Zealand to pair with the European malts, yet the result is still very much something you'd expect to find on your travels through the Old World. Bready, cereal like malts form the platform for gentle hops of the floral, herbal and… Read more
Style
Lager
ABV
4.5%

Swell Brewery Pale Ale

Dan Wright first had the idea of launching a brewing company while surfing and skiing his way through America. And you can smell and taste the roots of his brewing journey in his core range pale ale. While many brewers in Australia have moved firmly into the world of tropical fruits and stripped back the malt character in their pale ales to the point the latter's flavour and aroma impact is negligible, here the hops and malt both have a role to play. You might find memories of Sierra Nevada's classic… Read more
Style
American Pale Ale
ABV
4.7%

Swell Brewery Golden Ale

Given the way tastes have changed over the past decade (or, perhaps more accurately, tastes and naming preferences for beers), Swell's Golden Ale stands as one of the few survivors. It wasn't that long ago that brewers were adding golden ales to their lineups at a rate of knots; today, it's XPAs Pacific ale style beers. Not only is Swell's a survivor but it's a trophy-winner too, collected a gong at the country's largest beer competition, the Australian International Beer Awards, in 2016. Presumably,… Read more
Style
Golden Ale
ABV
4.5%

Swell Brewery North Coast IPA

Like its stablemate Pale Ale, Swell's core range IPA is one that nods to founder Dan Wright's craft beer epiphanies in the US. Tagged North Coast but taking America's West Coast IPAs as its model, it's the sort of IPA that helped build the style into a global force. The hop character is very much of that traditional American IPA ilk, with piney aromas leading the way, with some floral and citrusy flourishes for company. As is typical of Swell's year round lineup, their years in the game serve up… Read more
Style
American IPA
ABV
6.5%

Swell Brewery & Taphouse Specials

Swell Brewery Out Of The Juice & Dominical Express

Published April 21, 2023
Swell's fans lapped up their first oat cream IPA, with Into The Juice selling out in quick fashion. So here's Out Of The Juice, which focuses on just two hop varieties – Galaxy and Citra – compared to the five in the first iteration. It possesses the tell-tale signs of an oat cream IPA, namely the juiciness, the soft body, and next to no bitterness. There is a sweet sugar milk vibe early, punching through the earthy peach and juicy apricot. The hop characters are incredibly clean and juicy, while… Read more
Style
Oat Cream IPA & Choc Hazelnut Porter
ABV
7.2% & 5.0%

Swell Brewery Mid-Length

Published March 17, 2023
Mid-length is a session-friendly hazy that serves two purposes: proving drinkers with a schooling about the mid-length surfboard; and delivering a lesson on how to use Galaxy and Mosaic in a low ABV beer. Mid-length boards sit between 6'8" and 8'0" while the beer itself registers at 4.2 percent ABV. Despite its smaller size, Mid-Length shines through the Galaxy and Mosaic hops. Pouring a very hazy light orange, first impressions are good: juicy tropical mango and passionfruit riding high… Read more
Style
Hazy Session Ale
ABV
4.2%

Swell Brewing Suffolk Park & White Horses IPA

Published February 22, 2023
Swell continue to give surf chasers a guide to the great breaks around the country via a new hazy pale, while reaching into Greek mythology to name their new unfiltered IPA. The hazy pale is Suffolk Park, named after a break in Byron Bay: along the stretch of coastline, they tell us lies a small bay where the beach break goes on for days. Once a quiet haven but now a well-known spot the Swell team associates with the Hemsworth Effect, it's been imagined in beer form as 4.8 percent ABV pale veering… Read more
Style
Hazy Pale & IPA
ABV
4.8% & 6.2%

Swell Brewing Chilly Bin, Southport Sunset 2022 & Reef Break

Published December 21, 2022
Swell are finishing off their year with a flurry of new releases leaving their McLaren Vale home. Chilly Bin is, as the name suggests, a New Zealand-hopped session ale featuring a hefty load of Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka, Motueka and Waimea upon a simple malt base. Those hop varieties are showcased to perfection in a beer that doesn't drink like a 4 percenter. Familiar crushed white grapes, some gooseberry and rockmelon star, while bitterness is restrained. It’s choice as, bro. If the Southport Sunset… Read more
Style
NZ Session Ale, Fruit Sour & Hazy IPA
ABV
4.0% & 4.0% & 6.3%

Swell Brewing Gizzy Pipe IPA

Published August 25, 2022
Another limited release from Swell means another guide to one of the world's stellar surf breaks. This time we venture to Poverty Bay in Gisborne where we meet Gizzy Pipe at Midway Beach. We're told this is a consistent break that provides sweet barrels in both directions – so how have the McLaren Vale brewers represented that in beer form? As a hazy NZ IPA featuring Nectaron, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin hops. Gizzy Pipe pours an incredibly light yellow straw colour with a cloudy appearance, and… Read more
Style
Hazy NZ IPA
ABV
6.3%

Swell Brewing Double Black Diamond & Getting Barrelled

Published June 21, 2022
Swell launch into the cold, dark winter of 2022 with two big, dark beers: this year's version of Double Black Diamond Imperial Stout and the bourbon barrel-aged version aptly named Getting Barrelled. The two beers are essentially different versions of the same beer: an imperial stout base served straight and after time in barrels – Swell’s first foray into oak. Double Diamond Black 2022 is just as dark, just as boozy, and just as delicious as last year. Hazelnut, espresso coffee, dark fruits… Read more
Style
Imperial Stouts
ABV
10.1%

Swell Brewing Down With O.P.G., Heat Waves & Blue Horizons

Published March 9, 2022
The start of March sees three newbies flow from McLaren Vale’s Swell as they raise a final hurrah to the summer season with some last-minute tropical refreshers. The smallest of the bunch is the 3 percent ABV kettle sour Down With O.P.G, featuring a flurry of orange, passionfruit and guava added to a light malt base. An ode to the 90s when the brewers remember waking up on a Saturday morning and turning on RAGE. While sipping tropical fruit juice with some mates, they reminisced about hearing Naughty… Read more
Style
Fruit Sour, Session Ale & Hazy IPA
ABV
3.0% & 4.2% & 6.8%

Swell Summer Sessions & Into The Juice

Published December 11, 2021
With the festive season imminent, we're into that time of year when brewers start to release beers that are more sessionable, lighter and refreshing. That’s exactly what Shane and Dan have done at McLaren Vale’s Swell Brewery, releasing a 4.2 percent ABV tropical pale that matches the aforementioned brief, while also satisfying their own tastes. An unfiltered pale ale, Summer Sessions pours a light golden colour and is loaded with El Dorado and Mosaic. Tropical fruit is what they wanted and… Read more
Style
Tropical Pale Ale & Oat Cream IPA
ABV
4.2% & 7.5%

Swell Brewing Taranaki Dreaming

Published November 4, 2021
The haze craze is set to continue in McLaren Vale as Swell venture to New Zealand in search of hoppy goodness; well, at least in the sense Taranaki Dreaming contains a NZ hops-only lineup. Riwaka, Motueka and Waimea join their regular male base for such beers: ale, Vienna, rolled oats and wheat base. And true to form, there's a surfing reference to go along with it. On the West Coast of New Zealand's North Island spans Surf Highway 45, a stretch of road that contains some the best surf breaks in… Read more
Style
Hazy NZ IPA
ABV
6.3%

Swell Brewing Hold Down Hazy IPA

Published September 29, 2021
Another limited release and another surfing inspired name for McLaren Vale’s Swell Brewing as they reboot their hazy IPA series ahead of summer. This time, the name also incorporates a second reference, with "Hold Down" taking on multiple meanings. If you've ever been swimming in the ocean when a decent wave is rolling in, there's a good chance a wave has taken you under. "Hold Down" here refers to being taken out by a big wave, which sends you rolling, tumbling and gasping… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.8%

Swell Brewery The Dawny & Double Black Diamond

Published June 1, 2021
Another day, another two stouts from McLaren Vale’s Swell – and they're not messing around either with both venturing well into imperial territory, housed in 500ml cans, and landing just weeks after their last pair of stouts. The Dawny is their GABS 2021 festival beer, an imperial breakfast pastry stout that utilises fresh ingredients from local SA companies: organic Colombian single origin, cold brewed coffee from Goodness Coffee Co, whole croissants from Croissant D’Or, plus cocao nibs, vanilla… Read more
Style
Imperial Breakfast Stout & Imperial Stout
ABV
9.0% & 9.5%
Stockists

Double Black Diamond only available via Swell's taproom

The Dawny hits stores from June 6

Swell Brewery Winter Sessions & Pororoca Stouts

Published May 7, 2021
During the hot months, the Swell brewers are all about finding the perfect waves and firing out surf-inspired hazies and summer smashers; as we head towards winter, the ocean is traded out for the slopes (or maybe the boardshorts for the wetsuit) where a warming stout is needed after a session. So, just as the temperature hints at a drop in South Australia, the Swell team have come in heavy with not one but two very different stouts. Winter Sessions starts out as the more traditional of the two… Read more
Style
Foreign Extra & Chocolate Stouts
ABV
5.9% & 5.0%

Swell Brewing Feathering Peaks Hazy IPA

Published March 3, 2021
Swell’s surf-referencing series continues with Feathering Peaks, an ode to the next set of white caps on the horizon, getting closer as you float atop your board, anticipation and adrenaline building. The McLaren Vale crew have decided such an experience is best represented in beer form as a hazy IPA, one that makes a feature of Idaho 7 and Simcoe hops, themselves floating atop ale and Vienna malts with some rolled oats and wheat in the mix as well. The beer pours a quite cloudy light orange with… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
7.4%
Stockists

Available direct from Swell [online] now

Hitting SA retailers w/c March 8

Swell Brewery Lagundri Bay Tropical Session Ale & Southport Sunset Blood Orange Sour

Published January 19, 2021
Lagundri Bay is a popular tourist surf beach located off the island of Nias in Sumatra, Indonesia. Several years ago, Swell founder Dan Wright spent time there surfing, reading brewing books and drinking Bintang. The Lagundri Bay Tropical Session Ale has been brewed as a beer he wished he'd had available to him: a session IPA that smacks of lazing on the beach in the summertime sun. The tropical vibe has been harnessed well, with juicy mango, pineapple, some lychee and a little papaya on the nose.… Read more
Style
Session IPA & Blood Orange Sour
ABV
4.2% & 3.2%

Swell Brewery Evening Glass Off DIPA

Published December 16, 2020
They sure are enjoying playing in the IPA space at Swell right now, with another to follow the likes of their first NEIPA and the Tropical Hazy DIPA landing before 2020 bids farewell. Evening Glass Off refers to the end of a surfing session when the winds die down to produce glassy clean waves. As for the beer bearing the name, it's a double IPA featuring no less than 22 grams per litre of Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo to produce a hoppy hit for those seeking a full-flavoured reward after a long session… Read more
Style
Double IPA
ABV
8.2%

Swell Brewery Corduroy Lines Hazy IPA

Published November 14, 2020
Fashion styles tend to work in a circular manner, yet I imagine most would be happy if humanity makes an exception for the corduroy pant. Apart from the dreary colour spread spanning light beige, beige, medium beige and darker beige colour selection [I dunno, I've seen some pretty mean purple ones! – Editor], they were just plain unexciting. Which puts them at stark contrast to Swell’s new hazy IPA, Corduroy Lines, which is an ode to a dream surf day at the beach. Lines upon lines of perfect… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
7.0%

Swell Brewery Small Swell

Published November 14, 2020
Man can't survive on 7 percent ABV, fruit-laden monsters, much as we might like to; sometimes we need a stayer. Something to mix with a burst of activity or a long chill session in the outdoors. Enter Small Swell, a 3.4 percent ABV mid-strength with those longer sessions in mind: a refreshing ale to clean the salt from the mouth after a long day riding waves. Pale, Vienna, oats and wheat combine to provide a solid base so the Wai-iti and El Dorado can throw down some fruity vibes. Light in body… Read more
Style
Mid-Strength Pale
ABV
3.4%

Swell Brewery NEIPA

Published September 28, 2020
Swell continue to ride the rolling wave, pumping out limited releases in rapid succession. Here, after dipping their toes into the world of haze with their NE XPA and Tropical Hazy IPA, they've delivered their first NEIPA, with rolled oats and wheat added for haze and body and Vic Secret, Mosaic and Simcoe the hops of choice. It's lightly hazy rather than heavy in the glass, with burnt orange glow and the aromas ready to lure the drinker in with a medley of sweet stone – namely apricot, peach… Read more
Style
NEIPA
ABV
7.0%