Rarely does the story of beer start with a baker, his brother and a Jacuzzi. But at Saggy Stone, this is exactly how a fruit and wine farm became a microbrewery, brewpub and restaurant.
Whilst in a Jacuzzi, brothers Adrian and Phillip Robinson, decided to buy a fruit farm situated in the heart of Nuy Valley, west of Robertson in the hopes of turning its grapes into wine and exporting its fruit overseas.
They changed course after travelling through Australia, where Phillip noticed a trend of microbreweries scattered in the Outback’s vineyards. This gave him the inspiration to become Robertson’s first “beer-brewing farm”.
Their dream kicked off in 2007, with a couple of experimental kit beers made for friends and family. A combination of Phillip’s recipes and Adrian’s 12-year stint as a baker, ensured they perfected the art of brewing using the all-grain brewing method, while discovering that the pure mountain water on the farm made the perfect pint.
Content with the outcome three years later, the plan was to distribute their beer to pubs but this left them feeling unsatisfied. Not knowing or being able to see how beer drinkers received their beers resulted in the birth of Saggy Stone Brewpub in 2010. Set amongst the plum orchards and built from natural river stone found on the farm, this pub puts the “craft” in craft beer.
Today, Saggy Stone offers 5 distinctively different and satisfying brews, the result of using only natural spring water found on the farm and taken from the head spring at the top of the Langeberg Mountains. This pure, moss-filtered spring water that flows over the smoothest granite, is the key to a great tasting craft beer and as the brothers know, great mountain water, makes better beer.
And the name?
While under construction, a troop of over-zealous baboons danced on the walls of Adrian’s gabion style lapa, causing the stones to sag. On inspection, his then 10-year old daughter called it “The Saggy Stone Lapa”. The name stuck, not only as a charming story but one that is as natural as Saggy Stone itself.
Our Beers
