A bright newcomer to the beer scene is closing up after less than three years — and not because they weren’t successful.
Liam Blunden started Salt District Brewing in Whangamata in 2022 with a tiny 100-litre brew kit located in a relaxed tasting room. It was the first craft brewery in Whangamata.
He’s closing shop for a number of reasons — personal, regulatory and societal.
First up, the building he’s in is up for sale.
Second, he and his partner Emma found their “dream home” in Piha late last year and are expecting their first child, so the travel back and forth to the Coromandel was draining.
But he also dreamed of elevating Salt District Brewing from a tasting room/retail shop to a brewpub but found council regulations just too demanding.
“I seriously looked at five buildings in two and a half years and every single time I would approach the council and they’d say, ‘you have to do this, this, this and this’, and it was going to cost close to $100,000 each time. That’s a lot to spend in uncertain times.”
Not that the council was against him, he said. “They were actually really supportive, but they still can’t change the regulations, you know. The guy that heads the council was actually one of my best customers.”
But Liam was had concerns as to where the industry was headed given emerging social-cultural attitudes to beer.
“It’s [council regulations] and then it’s also like the industry itself. I feel like the industry is in a tricky spot.
“I’m only 30 and a lot of people my age aren’t even drinking beer and I never thought that would happen.
“And even with my best friends in Whangamata, if we went to barbecues they would consistently buy six packs of Mac’s or Monteith’s at $16 bucks a six-pack.
“And they’re like ‘oh yeah, it’s beer, it tastes okay, I’m happy’.
“I also find consumers are getting a little bit confused. They’ll pick up can because it’s got cool artwork and then they go ‘that tasted rubbish’. They’re not willing to really dive into who’s making good beer and doing things authentically and stuff like that.”
Blunden said Salt District had a “fantastic” summer but with so many factors lined up against him, he decided to pull the pin and will return to his previous career as a butcher.
“I’ve sold my little brew kit and a few bits and pieces to a young guy who’s starting something down in Taranaki. And then I’ve just got a few tanks I need to sell.
Salt District will close after a “bit of a shindig next weekend for customers and friends to come down and basically drink all the kegs dry”.
Having met Liam and talked to him a couple of times, he’s a loss to the industry as he is a real character, and I also think Salt District Brewing was a super-cool name.