Prominent Christchurch-based distributor Hop And Vine says the loss of three potential new customers combined with changing drinking habits and tough economic conditions led to their liquidation.
Hop And Vine and another company it half-owned, ABV Beverages, both went into liquidation this month, leaving several breweries out of pocket to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. Most of the breweries, and a large number of wineries, will recoup little of their lost income — judging by the published accounts.
The breweries on Hop And Vines client list were: Three Boys, Emerson’s, Duncan’s, Shining Peak, Laughing Bones, Black Sands, Burkes, Volstead, Waitoa and Brothers.
Hop And Vine, owned by Terry Mitchell and his wife Carole, owes Inland Revenue an estimated $5,000 in GST and unsecured creditors an estimated $80,000.
ABV Beverages, jointly created by Hop And Vine and Auckland-based Beer Fridge just six months ago, owe unsecured creditors around $700,000 and the liquidator estimates they’ll be able to repay $213,000 of that leaving a shortfall of $487,000.
In a statement sent to Pursuit of Hoppiness, Terry Mitchell said there were a number of factors that impacted a business that had been running for 26 years.
“Hop and Vine was built from the ground up by Terry and Carole over 25+ years. We’ve been humbled by the messages of support received from across the industry. This is not the way we ever intended to exit.
“In 2024, we were approached to form a merged business — ABV — combining our sales and distribution expertise with a 3PL model, based on the assumption that three new brands would come on board. However, the reality deviated from this vision:
“One brand never came on board and has since ceased trading.
“The second had previously been in liquidation. We underestimated the effort required to rebuild credibility, but with a new, credible brewer on board and significant work from our team, after 4 months we began to see progress. By the end of February, they withdrew from ABV t/a Hop and Vine.
“The third joined but soon stopped producing their top-selling 330ml six-packs, leaving us with only 440ml cans, which limited our market reach.
“It was the start of the perfect storm. While sales did grow, they weren’t enough to offset rising overheads. The liquor industry was shifting dramatically. We were impacted by a number of factors. Consumer behaviour changed—more people were abstaining or choosing 0% beer.
“Economic pressure meant fewer people dining out and drinking. These changes flowed through the entire industry, placing further strain on small restaurants, liquor stores, and distributors like us.
We have worked tirelessly — often seven days a week, 80+ hours — exploring every possible avenue to keep going. We put our heart and soul into this business, and making the decision to close was not taken lightly. Despite our team’s best efforts and significant cost-cutting measures, the numbers simply didn’t stack up.
“We worked to recover debtor payments, maintain supply, and meet commitments, but it became clear that continuing would only deepen the financial strain and impact those who had supported us. We made the decision to enter liquidation, with both ABV and Hop and Vine ceasing trading as of 5pm Wednesday April 2nd 2025.
“We are immensely grateful for the trust and support placed in us over the years.”
The first liquidator’s report on Hop And Vine, published on the Companies Office website said:
“With the changes in the economy the Company has been struggling with working capital. A new company was set up in September 2024, this was a venture with another distributor. This company is also in Liquidation. [Hop And Vine] continued to own plant and equipment but trading was done from the new company ABV Beverages Limited (In Liquidation). Directors sought professional advice and decided to place the company into Voluntary Liquidation.”
The liquidator’s report on ABV said:
“With a difficult trading environment since its inception, the Company struggled with working capital. A number of key brands which were targeted to be distributed were not converted to suppliers.”
It’s the fourth (or fifth depending on how you count these two) distributor to go under in recent times after Beer NZ, Quench, and Beertique. Each time breweries have been left massively out of pocket.
Breweries left reeling
Craig Hebblethwaite of Black Sands said he was close to $30,000 out of pocket and the liquidation came close to forcing them out of business.
“Thirty grand is huge for a business with two employees.
“That’s enough to potentially cripple us. Luckily we did well this summer and we’ve tripled the size of the business in the past three years but if this happened to us even a year ago, we would have folded.
“Even now I’m worried about paying my excise tax — I might not have enough money to pay that which means I’ll have to get another bank loan.
“It’s hard enough keeping your head above the water in this industry, at this time, without people shafting you.”
Craig said he’d signed with Hop And Vine because of their solid reputation formed over 25 years.
“We’ve been with them for one year now and since day dot there were odd dealings, changed communications, false promises.
“And then late last year, they just stopped paying.”
Hebblethwaite had set up a payment plan with Hop And Vine and was expecting an instalment to be paid this week.
“The money didn’t come through. So on Wednesday, I started texting, calling … no response. And they liquidated at 5pm that day.
“Even 12 days ago they were ordering stock and I wasn’t going to fulfill the order until I got payment, but Terry assured me ‘mate, you’ll get your money’.
“I’m disappointed because I trusted him.”
Ralph Bungard from Three Boys has been through this before and was stoic about the realities that face both brewers and distributors. He had some sympathy for Hop And Vine, saying they were victims of “unscrupulous” people in the hospitality industry who didn’t pay their bills.
He also believed the new business became an anchor.
“There is that thing of over-expansion but in some ways, you have to expand to make a living.
“Terry’s had 25 years of Hop And Vine, and it’s this latest move that seems to have put a spanner in the works.”
Hospo business who don’t pay bill
But Bungard said there were too many rogue businesses who refused to pay bills.
“It’s a broken system that we deal with in New Zealand. There’s no simple recourse for going after people who don’t pay their bills.
“If someone owes you $500, $1000, you cannot chase them because it costs you more to chase them than it does to just let it slide.
“And that compounds for the likes of someone like Hop And Vine because we are dealing with some businesses who are very good at being shitters.
“There are unscrupulous businesses at the top of this food chain — the bars that don’t pay their bills on time, the bars that don’t pay at all.
“All those relatively small bills accumulate, and they flow down to us, the brewers.
“And there’s zero recourse. We are the ones taking the hits on this through no fault of our own. But that money has gone into someone’s pocket.”
Three Boys is a secured creditor of both liquidated companies but Bungard doesn’t expect that will help them.
“It doesn’t mean anything — we might get a few cents in the dollar if we’re lucky.
While Three Boys will lose a “huge amount of money” Bungard says 21 years in the industry means they can survive this.
“We learned not to be in a position where a scenario like this will tip us over.”
Dan Hously of Beer Fridge said he was still working through the ramifications of the liquidation but added: “I can say that Beer Fridge and its 3PL services are unaffected by the liquidation of Hop & Vine and ABV.”
ation but added: “I can say that Beer Fridge and its 3PL services are unaffected by the liquidation of Hop & Vine and ABV.”
The Silver Lining
There’s the positive side of all this which Craig wanted to emphasise.
“When I saw the email from the liquidators, I freaked out.
“I had 24 hours to get my stock out, otherwise it goes to the liquidator for auctioning. But I’m in a different city. Do I have to fly down? And even if I got it out where do I put the stuff?
“Ralph from Three Boys came in said, ‘look, I’m on my way there now. I’ll pick up all your stuff, and I’ll store it for free in our cold storage.’
“And I don’t even know this guy! It was so nice of him.”
In return, Craig went to the Auckland warehouse of ABV and sorted out all the Three Boys and Volstead stock.
And he’s been blown away by the support of the others in the industry.
“The Beer Spot came in said: ‘we’re gonna put in a big order next week and another one the next week, and we’ll buy whatever stock you have’. They’re doing the same with the other guys as well, I believe.
“And you know, the legendary good people like Matt at Moon Under Water said he’d pick up kegs from Three Boys and put on a keg a week until it’s gone.
“The same thing with Andi [Hickey] at Pomeroy’s and I’ve never even met Andi.
“Jamie from Beers Beers Beers says ‘I’ll take eight kegs now if you need’.
“This was the kind of help I really needed. So to know that when push comes to shove those people have my back is an amazing feeling.
“We won’t make a full financial recovery, but what I will lose won’t sink the boat and that’s thanks to these people, just selflessly offering to help out in whatever way they can.
“There’s bars in Auckland offering to pay all my accounts upfront early this month so I have cash flow. Northern Line, Vultures, Beer Spot 16 Tun.
“It really made me so happy.”