The Lovely Valley Beverage Factory with Ron Kandelaars in the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia

Just fifty minutes drive south of Adelaide and you're into another world - amid the rolling hills at the back of Myponga on the State's Fleurieu Peninsula. Here the back roads take you into hidden valleys and coastal hideaways that seem a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

At Myponga Beach the waters of the local creek make their way to Gulf Saint Vincent. But nowadays the creek's flow is heavily regulated by what happens further up stream. In 1958 work began on one of the great infrastructure projects of the Fleurieu Peninsula, the construction of the Myponga Dam. It was completed four years later and with its completion came the demise of what had long been called 'the lovely valley'.

Today there are still lovely views to be had, but the old valleys and ridges once grazed by cattle - have made way for the peninsula's major water supply - with the Myponga Dam servicing the needs of towns from Goolwa through to Victor Harbor.

Local, Allan Brown loves this forgotten part of the Fleurieu - so much so that he's named his boutique brewery - and its unique line of beers and soft drinks - after the "Lovely Valley" that disappeared more than forty years ago.

Allan Brown, The Lovely Valley Beverage Factory: "We have four different stouts and eight different beers and we've introduced a wheat beer, a brown ale and an English bitter. So we're trying different types all the time."

From Grumpy Tonk's Green Death to the Lovely Valley's unique portergaff - it's all here bubbling away in worts or vats stacked in what was once the local farmers store.

The local cockies used to come here to pick up supplies after many having delivered their milk to the old Myponga Cheese Factory nearby. That historic connection hasn't been forgotten with Allan's Milk Stout a definite winner.

It's a range large and diverse enough to empty the nearby Myponga Dam but the water used in the "Lovely Valley's" unique line comes from an underground source that's much much older - the underground aquifer.

The Lovely Valley Brewery at Myponga is located behind the old cheese factory and is open daily.

The Lovely Valley Beverage Factory
Off Hanson Street
Behind the Myponga Markets
Open daily 10am to 5pm