Lockdown love for Craft beer
Preface: A slightly different version of this article appeared in the print version of Pursuit of Hoppiness (out now), using the previous round of data from Stats NZ with the 12-month period from Oct 2019-Sept 2020. As your humble correspondent learned the hard way,...
Epic Brings LA Experience To Taproom
Luke Nicholas will celebrate his 50th birthday in style with the opening of the long-awaited Epic taproom in their Onehunga, Auckland, warehouse tonight. Reaching his half-century means Nicholas has spent half his life working in beer … and it probably felt like it...
End of An Era At Fork & Brewer
After six years at Fork & Brewer, multi award-winning brewer Kelly Ryan is leaving to join Boneface Brewing in Upper Hutt
Giant taking big strides
After keeping a low profile, Giant Brewing are now taking big strides as the Hawke's Bay beer scene continues to grow. Over the past few years Giant has stayed under the radar and their beers hardly ventured outside the Hawke’s Bay region but a new brewpub promises to...
Seltzer Wave about to break
The seltzer wave is breaking across New Zealand this summer, creating a flood of alcoholic sparkling water. Wave is more than a useful metaphor – the seltzer craze that’s swept the United States over the past three years is driven by a brand called White Claw, which...
The battle of 1812
One of New Zealand’s longest-running craft beers was “retired” this year, only to be given a second lease on life thanks to the local community. Emerson’s 1812 is as old as the craft beer movement in New Zealand, dating back almost three decades to when Emerson’s was...
Fact Checking Monteith’s 1868 Claim
In the light of DB's proposal to close the Monteith's brewery in Greymouth, I thought I'd resurrect this story from 2018 when Monteith's celebrated their 150th birthday (exclamation mark, question mark) ... * I saw a new Monteith’s billboard in Avondale the other day...
Return of the Craft Beer geeks
It’s not all that long ago – less than a decade, even – that Wellington, New Zealand’s Craft Beer Capital, boasted very few specialist beer bars and breweries. Despite having just a handful of good beer outlets though, the windy city was still crammed full of beer...
Aces of Arts: Label Design Award winners
Who amongst us hasn’t bought a beer based on looks? Are you sure? One of the beauties of the beer industry is the huge investment many breweries make in artwork. It makes browsing the shelves an experience in its own right. To celebrate the creativity of the breweries...
Home brew boom
When a slightly off-beat idea went “nuts” Tim Ward knew he was on to a winner. Ward, the brewer-owner of Lower Hutt’s Abandoned Brewery, has created a unique home brew competition in which brewers are given the same set of ingredients work with – in this case his New...
