For 150 years, Halls Soft Drinks was one of South Australia’s most-loved brands, until  Coca-Cola Bottlers, which had acquired the company in 1972, discontinued the name. In 2023, to much fanfare, Halls was revived under new ownership.

Halls Soft Drinks traces its heritage back to 1849, when George Hall and his wife, Ellen, arrived in Adelaide from England. The company may be taking some licence with the date, as other accounts cite 1851 as the year that George established himself as a manufacturer of soda water and ginger beer.

In 1869,  George’s sons Henry, Thomas and Edward joined him in the firm, which was renamed Geo. Hall & Sons. Three years later, the company moved from the original premises in the Adelaide inner suburb of Marryatville to a new factory in nearby Norwood. In 1874, after taking over a competitor, the firm advertised “the best of all sorts of Aerated Drinks, Gingerbeer, Cordials & c.” and by 1876 were winning awards for their cordials and bitters at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Wine Show. Among the awards was their first prize for Sarsaparilla, prompting an advertisement in the South Australian Register claiming that:

…on account of the large importations and great demand for Sarsaparilla [G Hall & Sons] have been induced to add the Manufacture of the above to their list of Superior Cordials, and have succeeded in manufacturing an article which competent judges pronounce to be the best and most palatable yet produced in the Colony. They therefore confidently recommend is as a purifier of the blood, invigorator of the system and an excellent remedy for the following complaints: – Asthma, Poorness of Blood, Skin Diseases, Indigestion, Nervour Disability, Coughs, &c., &c.

The range of Halls soft drinks expanded  in the 1870s to include six aerated waters, seven different cordials, and six types of bitters as well as Ginger Wine, Ginger Brandy, Rum Punch and Kummel (a sweet liqueur flavoured with cumin and caraway seeds). The awards tally grew, with success at the 1880 International Exhibition in London. Further extension of the factory saw Halls employing some 50 workers with “twenty horses, six vans and three carts constantly in use” by the mid-1880s.

George Hall died in 1881, but the company continued in family hands for generations. Times changed, and so did the range. Cloves cordial, for example, disappeared, while Stonies Ginger Beer and Sarsaparilla endured. In the 1930s, Barrossa grape growers hailed the introduction of Grape Dew, a carbonated grape drink. Later, the company introduced new and distinctive soft drink flavours, including Fruita (a mixed fruit drink) and Lemon Twist.

In 1972, Halls was taken over by British Tobacco Australia, which later became Coca-Cola Amatil, in an acquisition drive that saw the company buy many popular soft drink brands throughout Australia. The Halls name continued until 2000, but ceased to exist when Amatil rebranded its entire soft drink range as Kirks.

In 2023, the South Australian Bottling Company relaunched Halls Soft Drinks after acquiring the trademark from Coca-Cola. At launch, the range included Stonies Ginger Beer, Lemonade, Fruita, Lemon Twist, Classic Cola and Bubbly Soda. Fans clamouring for the return of Raspberry and Creaming Soda were told “we’re working on it”.