One of the true legends of the New Zealand beer scene, John Harrington, has died.
Harrington started Harrington’s in 1991, and the Christchurch brewery grew to be one of the biggest independent breweries in the country in the early part of the 21st century.
Originally from the West Coast, John Harrington had a business selling sausages and fish out of the back of a van around Blackball. He inherited that business from his father, Stan.
As his son Carl Harrington recalled in 2011: “It was his father’s business before him and Dad had done it for about 14 years when he decided to sell up and move over the hill [to Christchurch].”
John came to Christchurch with his wife Val and two sons, Craig and Carl.
“He had the West Melton Tavern for a few years and then moved to the Hillsborough Tavern. Did he know anything about beer? Probably not, but he enjoyed drinking it. But through those pub days he saw what the breweries were doing and he thought, ‘I can sell a jug at a better price,’ and when industry deregulation came in 1989 he said, ‘Right, I’m going to do a brewery’.”
John Harrington prepared for his new trade by home-brewing in his garage, doing 200 litre batches and selling flagons to his mates before setting up for business in the old Ward’s Brewery on Kilmore Street, now the site of Pomeroy’s.
“When he started the brewery he just multiplied the home-brew operation by six and off he went, brewing 1200 litre batches.”
Harrington’s started with the bog-standard three beers – lager, draught and dark – before creating a name for itself with the potent Big John Special Reserve, which was high in alcohol and infused with bourbon.
They quickly outgrew their original home and moved to Ferry Road, and soon opened a second brewery in the area.
At the height of the craft beer boom Harrington’s had two breweries, eight bottle shops and two restaurant bars, and was highly visible around Christchurch.
When Lion’s Christchurch plant was knocked out by the February 2011 earthquake, Harrington’s became the biggest brewer in the city, with production of more than 1.5 million litres annually.
As Carl remembered it, when I spoke to him for my book, Beer Nation — The Art and Heart of Kiwi Beer, Harrington’s success was driven off John’s personality. “Dad’s pub days sowed the seed for John Harrington — he’s loved by bloody everyone and he’s got a great personality.”
Despite the fallout from the earthquakes — their smaller Ferrymead brewery had to be demolished — Harrington’s won Champion New Zealand Brewery in 2012 at the annual Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards.
There was significant structural damage to the larger Phillipstown brewery and Harrington’s ended up moving to Wigram, buying the Matson’s Brewery and installing a state-of-the-art packaging line in 2014.
In 2018, the family sold the business to Lion, which continues to brew two Harrington’s beers: the Rogue Hop Pilsner at the Pride, and the Yank Dak APA, brewed at Emersons in Dunedin.
Main image: John and Val Harrington