As much as wine makers love wine, there’s nothing better for a big thirst than the cool stream of an afternoon beer.

A decade ago the De Bortoli family – using skills honed through years of crafting wines – produced a keg beer, mainly for consumption by winery workers.

Since then, more and more adventurous souls have joined the search for more interesting beers. With taste buds expanding into new frontiers of flavour, the De Bortoli family felt people were ready for a new kind of beer.

This was the opportunity to take the Red Angus to the market. They had the beer. They just needed a brewery to make it in.

And, in honour of the people who settled the area, the family named the brewery after William Bull – one of the first pioneers to the area.

True to their winemaker’s hearts, and an abiding love of their craft, the brewers at the fledgling William Bull Brewery wanted to ensure Red Angus lived up to its heritage.

They imported a world-class brewing set up from the USA.

They tested and re-tested the ingredients – sourcing over 50 malts, hops and yeasts from five countries.

They spent 6 months trialling each brew – fine-tuning the malts and the hops, trying it on a tasting panel of 25 seasoned palates – until they had the beer – the big flavoured beer – they were after.