Adelaide Hills cheese champs open Verdun microbrewery and pizza restaurant Grünthal Brew

In 2016, one of the Adelaide Hills’ best-known spots for pizza and beer was destroyed in a fire. But now it’s been reborn, with a new name and look.

The Adelaide Hills has a new destination venue with gastronomic entrepreneurs Sheree and Saul Sullivan launching Grünthal Brew, fusing pizza, cheese, wine, gin and of course beer into a new recipe for success.

The pair sold a majority stake in their Adelaide Hills cheese business Udder Delights to Japan’s Megmilk Snow about five years ago, staying on to run the business.

After later selling their remaining 10 per cent stake, and being presented with the opportunity to redevelop the former Grumpy’s Brewhaus site at Verdun, – which was destroyed in a fire in 2016 – Ms Sullivan said the opportunity to realise Saul’s long-held ambition to do something in the pizza space beckoned.

The site already had a licence and microbrewery, so Saul – formerly the master cheesemaker at Udder Delights – set about turning his food manufacturing expertise to the craft of beer making.

Saul an Sheree Sullivan from Grünthal Brew. Picture: Supplied.

Grumpys at Verdun was destroyed in a fire in 2016 and the land in Verdun has remained vacant until now. Picture: Dylan Coker

This extended as far as installing a mini microbrewery at their home at the start of the three-year process, so he could experiment and perfect the range, which now includes an XPA, a pale ale, a hazy NEIPA and even a nitro stout.

They are also offering gin in three flavours, with that product distilled off-site. Hesketh Wines has a cellar door within the venue, while Udder Delights also has a presence.

Ms Sullivan said the idea of launching a large-scale tourism offering had been percolating for six or seven years, and when the site came up, it provided the impetus to act.

“While we could have stayed on at Udder Delights in executive roles we’re just generally entrepreneurs,’’ she said.

“It just scratched that itch … you’re called to it. I enjoy the creative process.’’

Sheree Sullivan from Grünthal Brew. Picture: Supplied.

Like the launch of any start-up business, it’s been a mix of vision and planning, and months of heavy workloads bringing it across the line, however the end result is a $2.5m tourism destination with several offerings across the culinary spectrum.

Ms Sullivan said the goal was always to build something that was “more than a restaurant’’, with customers able to eat in and also have a cellar door-type experience across a number of brands.

“The whole premise has been I want people to feel like they’re coming to my house because that’s really what hospitality is,’’ she said.

“We’re there to serve and we’re there to invite people into our home . that’s the culture I want in that venue.’’

The name harks back to the history of the area, although Ms Sullivan says they’re quite relaxed about how people choose to pronounce it.

“Grünthal was the name given to Verdun when the Prussians first settled there,’’ she said.

“It means Green Valley and speaks to us of greener pastures and hope for the future. We want Grünthal Brew to be everyone’s greener pasture.

“It has long been a special site for locals and visitors alike, and we look forward to our new home … contributing to an emerging cluster of exciting venues in the Adelaide Hills.”

The venue, which sits next to the Onkaparinga River, opened in late March, and Ms Sullivan said they were looking forward to Easter after a strong start to trade.

Grünthal Brew employs more than 30 people, and the project received a $275,000 state government grant from the Tourism Industry Development Fund.