Tag Archives: craft beer

Art Deco Beer – combining a quality brew with a local identity

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When Hawke’s Bay-based beverage company Parkers decided to add a craft beer to its portfolio, it started with a simple objective.

“Our aim was to produce best-in-class beer,” says Parkers founder Doug Speedy.

“Before we considered the branding, our starting point was that the beer had to be good.”

Doug spent about six months researching pilsners and IPAs – the two varieties Deco City Beer launched late last year.

“It involved a lot of tastings of other people’s beers in the quest to find the right flavour profiles. We wanted the profiles to be quite accessible for a craft beer – and not excessively hoppy – so people who were new to craft would find it approachable as well as appealing to seasoned craft beer drinkers who have reached peak hop,” he says.

“We wanted to appeal to the drinkers of mainstream European lagers, to encourage them to move across to craft beer.”

As he worked on developing what would eventually become Deco City Beer, Doug had been talking to Simon Gilbertson, co-founder of Napier contract brewing facility bStudio.

bStudio, a top-end, multimillion-dollar brewery built using state- of-the-art German equipment, opened last year in the old National Tobacco building, which is depicted on Deco City cans.

One of its founding customers was cult Wellington craft brand Garage Project and since opening, the facility has been busy brewing and packaging beers for a range of clients around the country.

Doug says Parkers initially looked at starting its own brewery but decided it made more sense to use bStudio.

“They’ve got the best equipment and the best staff. On a global scale, they’re the best at what they do.”

bStudio has a canning line and the decision was made to produce beer in cans rather than bottles for quality reasons, Doug says.

“Beer keeps better in cans, it’s as simple as that. There’s no light- strike, no oxygen exposure. On top of that, it chills faster and is lighter to carry.”

With flavour profiles and brewing facilities sorted, Doug turned his mind to branding and says the Deco City Beer name was born.

“It was a no-brainer, really. Those of us involved in the company are from Napier. The beer is brewed in the former National Tobacco building, the most photographed art deco building in New Zealand, if not the world.”

But before the naming decision was made, Doug talked to the Art Deco Trust, and those discussions have blossomed into a strong working relationship, which is a win-win for both organisations, he says.

Deco City has become the official beer of the trust’s annual Napier Art Deco Festival.

The brand is now in about 600 retailers around the country and more than 90 per cent of production is sold outside of Hawke’s Bay.

That makes it a strong promotional tool for attracting visitors to the Bay, as well as an ideal brand to have on hand at the trust’s events.

The beer will expand its presence at next February’s festival with a Deco City tent bar being set up near the Marine Parade waterfront. Doug says he plans to partner with other local brewers to showcase Hawke’s Bay craft beer at the event.

By then the Deco City range will have expanded. Doug says a third variety, a pale ale, will be released in time for Christmas.

parkers.kiwi/decocitybeer

Zeelandt Brewery – connecting the old and new

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It doesn’t get much more Kiwi than this: a brewery run out of a large steel shed just off the Napier–Taupo highway. There’s even a Kingswood ute parked outside.

But on closer inspection, there’s also a strong European vibe at Zeelandt Brewery in Eskdale.

Zeelandt is the Dutch province New Zealand is named after and founder Chris Barber says he picked it as his beer brand to signify a brewing connection between the old world and the new that dates back hundreds of years.

Chris has brewing in his blood. His great- great-grandfather,JessePrestidge,starteda brewery in Hororata near Christchurch in the late 1880s.

Chris was never a home-brewer but stepped into the industry through a job at Cornwell’s St Austell Brewery in the UK in 2004, followed by a spell at Auckland’s Hallertau Brewery, and then more time in the United Kingdom completing a diploma in brewing technology.

Chris’s family bought land in the Esk Valley in 2007, which is now home to Petane Station, the wine label run by his brother Phil, as well as the craft brewery that opened in 2012.

Zeelandt (pronounced “Zay-land”) is focused on producing “true to style” European-style beers, although that’s not all it does.

“Most of our beers have that European influence,” Chris says, “although we do have an American pale ale, Long Range Bomber, and our seasonal fresh hop pale ale, Pulling Cones.”

While Zeelandt’s brews are available at a number of Hawke’s Bay outlets and also in the main centres, Chris says one of his current priorities is to increase distribution to help grow the business.

And while craft beer enthusiasts can currently pop in and buy the beers, he also has plans to turn the Esk Valley headquarters into more of a visitor destination featuring both Zeelandt beers and Petane Station wines.

“It would be great to go down the beer garden route so we can showcase our products at the brewery and hold a few more festivals or events to highlight our seasonal beers.”

Chris believes Hawke’s Bay has developed a strong craft beer scene over the past few years and he’s confident enthusiasm for local brews will continue to grow.

“We’ve had great support over the years from Hawke’s Bay’s best restaurants and bars,” he says.

“Craft beers are continuing to chip away at the mainstream market. We’ve got a good mix of breweries in Hawke’s Bay, each doing their own thing.

“That can only help the market and hopefully it continues to inspire the region’s restaurants and bars to sell more local beers rather than just going down the mainstream channels.”

www.zeelandt.co.nz

A brewpub where you’re spoilt for choice

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Much has changed in the world of beer appreciation over the three decades Jeremy Bayliss has been running pubs in Hawke’s Bay.

He recalls that in the early 1990s, when he was managing Napier’s Criterion Hotel, beer drinkers weren’t exactly spoilt for choice. So it was a big deal, for example, when Steinlager launched a second label and punters suddenly had the option of a Steiny Green or a Steiny Blue.

Fast forward to today’s very different beer scene. Jeremy is the proprietor of the Westshore Beach Inn, Napier’s only ‘brewpub’ where beer is made on-site and 30 varieties are available on tap alone.

The Westshore Beach Inn is home to the Napier Brewing Co, a joint venture between Jeremy and Paul Anderson, founder of Indian restaurant Indigo.

Jeremy began a push to offer drinkers the ultimate in choice about seven years ago when he stocked the Westshore’s fridges with about 200 different craft beers. But in the past few years the focus has shifted to the fresher option of a regularly-changing range of tap beers, including – but not limited to – those produced on-site.

“It was just a natural progression for the business. It was about delivering an experience to our customers and giving them a reason to come here,” he says.

One thing the focus on craft beer wasn’t, he says, was any kind of reflection of his personal skills or interest in brewing.

Jeremy says he has never been a home brewer, failed School Certificate science and “I can’t match two chemicals together, I can’t cook.”

Jeremy says he remains convinced the brewpub model is the way of the future.

“Family-focused, child-friendly brewpubs are more about family than beer. They’re an environment where people can relax and converse, with a great offering of food and beer – that’s what pubs stopped being.”

About 45 to 50 percent of the Westshore Beach Inn’s beer sales are now craft product.

“We don’t make more money from the beer we brew here but we think we’re more successful because we’re presenting to the public something that’s interesting and varies all the time. It’s not that the beer is cheaper – it’s not, it’s more expensive. We can’t brew on-site here cheaper than mainstream beers because of economies of scale,” he says.

“On that basis, for most brewers, if they costed their time, brewing is a labour of love. But not everything’s about money.”

Jeremy believes Hawke’s Bay is well served by its range of craft brewers and hospitality venues selling their products, along with other quality beers.

“There’s a good local community of brewers in Hawke’s Bay. I think we all realise the market is there to be grown. Rather than battling with one another, it’s far better to grow the market and for everybody to rise with the rising tide.”

For those reason’s Napier Brewing Co has always employed a brewer. The role was first undertaken by Damian Birchman of Crazy Bay Beer, then by Matt Searle of Sneaky Brewing. Last year John Bradbury, previously of Eskdale’s Zeelandt Brewery, took up the job.

Jeremy says the three brewers have each brought their own style and personality to the role, producing a wide range of beers, “which is part of the fun”.

“We’ve had a leaning towards American pale ales and done a really good job with those. With John we’re branching out a little bit more. He’s done more work with more malty and English-style beers while still maintaining the APAs.”

www.westshorebeachinn.co.nz

Worshipping craft beer at the Abbey

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When you pitch up at Abbey Cellars, in the Bridge Pa Triangle wine district west of Hastings, the first difficult decision to make is whether you’re there for a beer or a wine.

The Haworth family established the Abbey Cellars wine brand in 2002 and a decade later, son Dermot started getting serious about beer. He began selling small-batch brews through the cellar door, leading to the creation of the Fat Monk label.

“We’re still predominantly a winery, which means we focus much of our energy on wine,” Dermot says.

“But we do now have 10 different styles of beer out in the market – probably the largest number for a Hawke’s Bay brewery.”

The Fat Monk brand was retired last year, with the beer now sold under the Abbey Brewery label. Dermot says the change reflects a maturing of the beer side of the business and aligns it with the wine brand. The distinctive monk imagery associated with the previous name has been retained, however.

Dermot describes Abbey’s beer business model as “half brew-pub, half-brewery” because it involves a combination of selling packaged product nationally while also having the cellar as a destination where visitors can enjoy a beer with food and music.

While Abbey Cellars does well attracting patrons – including cruise ship visitors and cyclists taking advantage of the local cycle trails – Dermot says that trade is limited to the summer months.

So in a bid to extend the cellar door’s appeal as a destination from spring right through to autumn, plans are underway to build a 12-metre covered beer garden on site.

The addition of a bottling and labelling line to the on-site brewery in late 2016 – making the brand “self-sufficient” in terms of beer production–had been a significant investment but one that was quickly paying off, he says. Away from the cellar door, like all the region’s craft beers, Abbey Brewery has faced the challenges of growing its brand recognition with local drinkers in a market where almost all Hawke’s Bay bars are tied into supply contracts with the two major brewing companies, Lion and DB.

On the other hand, a number of pubs have recently added ‘independent’ taps for craft beer and interest in Hawke’s Bay-brewed beers has also been enhanced by New World’s supermarkets in Hastings and Havelock North, which both stock local labels among a fairly extensive range of beers.

“Their range is as good as in larger centres such as Wellington, and this has encouraged people to sample different styles of beers,” Dermot says

“And it’s great to see the bars that have started putting some independent taps in over the last couple of years and are noticeably busier and doing well because of their new offering. It meets the current market demand that we haveinNewZealand.”

 

Brewing success on their own patch of God’s Own

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In the heart of wine country on SH50 west of Hastings, Godfrey Quemeneur and Rachel Downes have established GodsOwn Brewery – a rural haven where craft beer enthusiasts can sample product brewed on-site.

The couple bought their 6.5ha property at Maraekakaho in 2010, embarking on a project to establish an environmentally sustainable brewing and hospitality business complete with a hops farm.

Rachel, a kiwi, and Godfrey, who grew up in South Africa, met in England where they discovered they shared a dream of developing some land that “brought people together”.

Godfrey, whose work as a chemical engineer has taken him to several countries, first dabbled in home brew while he and Rachel were living in Nigeria. He and a mate later built a small brewing system he designed in the carport of the couple’s home in Perth.

It was while in Western Australia that the couple observed the concept of breweries establishing themselves as visitor destinations within a wine region, a business idea they pursued when they resettled in New Zealand.

The search that led them to their Maraekakaho property involved a tour of the country in a 1973 caravan.

“We had a few boxes that we needed to tick. We wanted land because we wanted to be more of a destination [business] and we wanted to grow hops and we wanted to have a lifestyle for ourselves as well – we’d always planned to live on the site,” Rachel explains.

“We also wanted to be on a highway. We needed a good water supply, we needed a liveable house and some flat land. This property just ticked a lot of boxes for us. We knew it as soon as we walked in.”

The GodsOwn brand became a reality after a brewery was installed in a shed on the property in 2014 and the couple opened their cellar door (based out of the same 1973 caravan that brought them to the Bay) the following year.

They were fully licensed and operational by January last year and say they have been pleasantly surprised with how the business has grown over the past year.

“A lot of people said to us, you’re too far out of town, it’s not going to work,” Rachel admits, “but we thought, we’ve seen this work before so we were pretty optimistic from the beginning.”

GodsOwn Brewery is not bottling its beers and while it sells kegs to a few pubs – including Havelock North’s Rose & Shamrock – Godfrey says drawing visitors to the site to enjoy a brew and the food menu is the key focus.

“Our plan was to try and keep everything on-site as much as possible, we’re not looking too much at the distribution side,” says Rachel.

“It’s something we’ll look at in the future but at the moment we’re just trying to create a destination here and make it something you have to come and find.”