Brayden Rawlinson, sole brewer at Wellington brewpub, Fork & Brewer, celebrated his recent win at the NZ Brewers Guild Awards in August, nabbing 11 medals and the title of Aotearoa’s Champion Microbrewery. He took time out from a brewery-hopping jaunt in Europe to chat about the power of a reset, brew dogs, and filling some big, industrial-grade brewery gumboots to forge his own path.
Q: How did you feel about your chances of winning, going into the competition? Did you have any inkling?
Brayden: I honestly had no idea at all. The Micro category is one the most heavily contested with a fair number of [Guild] members. I was quietly confident in the beers I’d entered, but you never know what other breweries have put forward.
Q: What was your reaction when Fork & Brewer’s name was called out as Champion NZ Microbrewery?
Well, everyone at our table reacted before I did. They were all up, clapping and cheering before I had even put two and two together. I was a few Lion Reds deep at that point, so maybe that had something to do with my delayed reaction time.
Q: You followed a hefty legacy with Fork’s previous brewer, Kelly Ryan, winning back-to-back [Brewers Guild] Champion NZ Small Brewery titles — tell us about your path?
I’m not going to lie — the first few years at Fork were a struggle, both physically and mentally. Following in the footsteps of the legendary Kelly Ryan, constant equipment breakdowns, and dealing with the brewery’s “unique” set-up were both a challenge and motivation. I just needed to reset and focus. I didn’t initially agree with the directors’ decision to reduce production volumes from Small (50,000-200,000L) to Micro (less than 50,000L), but it had a silver lining. It allowed me to focus on producing less volume of much higher quality. The whole quality over quantity ethos, I guess.
Q: Tell us a bit about your gold-medal beer, Otto — we know it has personal significance for you.
Otto is a Light Lager, inspired by our dog of the same name. He frequents the brewery and is a fantastic brewery assistant — he’s in charge of brewery morale. It was amazing seeing our little guy’s name come up on the gold medal list for International Lager Styles!
Q: Which of your medalled beers are you most proud of and why?
Otto, of course. I’m also stoked that my fifth grape beer entered in four years won a medal! That means that I retained my 100% medal count for grape beers entered at these awards.
Q: How did you celebrate? And did you celebrate with Otto?
A few beers and when we got back to Wellington, Otto also got some fresh chicken necks and a new ball to celebrate — he’s not much of a beer drinker.