The origins of what would become South Australia’s largest brewery can be traced to the banks of the River Torrens in 1886, when brothers Arthur Wellington Ware and Thomas Lincoln Ware constructed a substantial six-storey brewery at Southwark, at a cost of approximately £2,000. The site was located just south of the existing Hindmarsh Brewery operated by Haussen & Co. The Ware family brought with them a strong brewing pedigree. Their father, Charles James Ware, had brewed beer at Burra during the 1850s, while their mother, Fanny Ware, was the eldest daughter of Edward Crawford, one of South Australia’s earliest brewers. Brewing, therefore, was firmly embedded in the family’s heritage. From its inception, the new brewery, known as the Torrenside Brewery, earned an excellent reputation for quality. It won multiple awards at the 1887 Adelaide Exhibition, followed by further accolades at exhibitions in Melbourne and Paris. These successes greatly enhanced the brewery’s standing and enabled its beers to be exported across Australia, including to the Northern Territory, Victoria, and the Western Australian goldfields. Demand for Torrenside beer in Victoria became so strong that the Ware brothers established a second brewery in Richmond, Victoria, in 1888. This venture, known as the Beverley Brewery, proved to be short-lived, and the Richmond site was offered for sale in February 1890. In 1893, Charles Boxer Ware and George J Ware joined the family business. Following the death of Thomas L Ware in 1896, Arthur’s brother Charles assumed Thomas’s responsibilities within the company. By this time, the Torrenside Brewery was widely regarded as one of the most technologically advanced brewing operations in the colony. In 1898, the brewery amalgamated with Edward Clark’s East Adelaide Brewery. As part of this arrangement, the East Adelaide site was closed, and all brewing operations were consolidated at Southwark. Later that same year, the business was sold to the Walkerville Co-Operative Brewing Company Ltd, which subsequently closed its Walkerville brewery and transferred all production to the Torrenside site. Despite the change in ownership, Charles Ware remained closely involved with the business, becoming a member of the Walkerville Co-Operative Brewing Company’s board, ensuring continuity of experience and leadership during a formative period in South Australia’s brewing history.