Favourite beer in your core range?
So hard to choose a favourite child! Favourites change on a weekly basis, but right now I’d probably pick Maverick stout. This is a simple, 5 per cent hoppy American-style stout that we have had in 440ml cans and kegs for a while and will put in a 6-pack in a few months’ time. It’s got a lot of flavour for the ABV, great balance, and excellent drinkability, even in the height of summer.
The beer you are most proud of?
Probably Wild Feijoa. This is the only barrel-aged beer that we release on an annual basis, and we have really honed it, to be somewhat consistent, even though it’s very hard to control the wild fermentation.
Which new beer of yours are you most excited about?
A Fistful of Raspberries was released right before Christmas and is a very close approximation of a traditional Framboise Lambic. It just has the right amount of funk and complexity, yet still very refreshing and drinkable. I get quite excited about our interpretations of old world classic styles.
First beer you fell in love with?
In 2005 my wife and I were living close to Little Creatures in Fremantle and this was the first beer that really opened my eyes to craft. But the first beer I’d say I fell in love with was Invercargill’s Pitch Black Stout. In 2006 we did a road trip of the South Island and found this at a small cafe in Te Anau. This was a very special flavour experience and definitely one of my epiphany moments. I spent a lot of time looking for the beer when we got back to Auckland. Eventually, I found it in stock at Hallertau, and that then opened up a whole other level of excitement and desire to open up a brewery of our own.
Global beer you’d like to have now?
Pliny the Elder, fresh from the tap at Russian River’s original tap room in Santa Rosa.
A NZ beer your are enjoying lately?
I recently got stuck in to a 6-pack of McLeod’s Longboarder Lager. That was very nice indeed!