Nestled away in Industrial Place just outside the bustle of Queenstown’s CBD is Searchlight Brewery. The independently owned and operated brewery was first started as a passion project in 2015, with doors opening to the public in 2018 – it’s since changed hands to local business owner Ilan Peretz. Once a tortilla factory, the empty warehouse was transformed and now boasts a sunny beer garden, loads of character and a 12hl brewhouse that pumps out delightfully flavoursome craft beer.
All of Searchlight’s beers are brewed, tested and packaged onsite in Queenstown where new brewer Ash Hutchinson is at the helm. Originally from Auckland, Hutchinson cut his teeth in the industry first working at Hallertau and Liberty. Since then he’s dabbled in different industry roles at Panhead, Tuatara, Urbanaut and Garage Project before jumping on the opportunity to move to the South Island.
“The role for head brewer at Searchlight came up, so I decided to pack my bags once again and come down to Queenstown and live in the prettiest place in the world really,” Hutchinson says.
Before he was brewing he came from a mechanical background, enjoying pulling things apart, fixing them and putting them back together. An opportunity came up at Hallertau where he was helping out with their bottling machine. He’s always had an interest in the equipment side of breweries, which is a theme that has continued throughout his career. Originally he was happy on that side of the brewing fence, not expecting to become a professional brewer – it was during Covid that he learnt more about brewing before an opportunity arose. He describes himself as more of a mechanical-orientated brewer as opposed to an artistic brewer.
“I’ve found a creative outlet in making beer, writing recipes, finding ways to combine different flavours and apply that mechanical background and efficiencies background that I’d picked up to apply it to the brewing side of things.”
Hutchinson’s roles at breweries have varied in the past, working as the packaging manager at Garage Project and a brewer at Urbanaut, but he has always had a passion for homebrewing. It was something he’d shared with his father in the past, but he soon started creating some funky recipes and developing his skills. While it’s been a couple of years since he’d brewed on a commercial level, he’s hit the ground running and is loving it – he’s currently working solo, too.
“Transitioning back into brewing was quite exciting but quite daunting at the same time. I guess not to have anyone else to lean on in the brewery – it’s just me, myself and I – but it’s given me the opportunity to test some theories, try out some recipes, work on efficiencies and get some consistencies in some of the beers that we’re making. It’s an opportunity to work on my brewing skills and hopefully bring something to the table.”
Searchlight has a humble kit – 1200 litre batches and six unitank fermenters, which allow them to brew once or twice a week on average. Since starting, Hutchinson has done an audit of the brewery’s large core range and made some tough decisions – a couple of beers have been semi-retired while a few new ones have been added to the mix. He’s also really enjoying working on some seasonal brews, too.
“It’s been fantastic to test some of my own recipes – new recipes as well as old recipes of mine from my little homebrewing shed. We’re looking to do a lot more trial and experimental beers in the upcoming year. We’ve got some new equipment coming, which I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on and just sinking my teeth into it, really.”
Hutchinson describes a recent stout brew where he worked with a couple of malts he’d not used before as well as using a cold-steeping technique to extract more flavours and aromas, “Just trying out new stuff that I’ve never really done before – that I’ve read about, seen or heard about – having a crack myself,” he explains.
What’s on the horizon when it comes to Hutchinson’s creations? There’s an Irish rye stout to keep you warm over these cooler months, boasting lots of rich flavour. For something a little different, a hard hazy pink lemonade has just dropped, too. With a myriad of ideas for some experimental beers, he knows that these may not always be well received, so he’s also looking forward to brewing smaller batches to discover what people want to see more of.
If you’d like to wrap your lips around one of Hutchinson’s latest creations, keep your eyes peeled at your local liquor outlet or head to searchlightbrewery.co.nz/shop to pick up a six-pack. If you’re lucky enough to be in Queenstown, you can also swing by the brewery.