(By special request of Uncle Seth)

Introduction

Michael “The Beer Hunter” Jackson once suggested that Portland, Oregon deserved the title of Beer Capital Of The World because it is home to more breweries in one city than any other, even Cologne, Germany. I feel fortunate to have started drinking beer only after moving to Portland- it was a great introduction to local pub and craft brewing culture, and just one of many things that makes Portland such a special place.

Although we aren’t cataloging all the beers we try with the same dedication as we are with wine, we still believe that comparing and contrasting the same thing (food, animal life and architecture are some other options) as it has developed in different locations is a wonderful way to get the most out of traveling. With that in mind, we will try to present an overview of the variety and quality of the beer that is available in each country that we visit.

History

In addition to Captain James Cook landing and claiming New Zealand for Great Britain in 1769, he was also apparently responsible for New Zealand’s first beer- he ordered it to be made in the belief that it’s nutritional value would help combat the scurvy that was rampant during long voyages at sea.

By the mid 1800’s English settlers were brewing English style beer in their new home, and soon after that commercial breweries such as Nelson Brewery were started.

Industry Overview

Despite the apparent variety of beers available in New Zealand grocery stores, most of the breweries are actually owned by only two companies: DB Breweries and the Lion Nathan Ltd.

The State Of The Nation

DB Breweries produces Export Gold, DB Draught, Tui, licenses the right to brew Heineken and Amstel Light locally, and owns the Monteith’s Brewing Co., which is more of a craft brewer than the others, while Lion Nathan Ltd. makes Speight’s, Lion Red, Steinlager, Canterbury Draught, Waikato Draught, and their own craft brewery, Mac’s.

This duopoly makes it very difficult to experience the full range of craft brewing in New Zealand, because most pubs and restaurants only carry one company’s beers at the exclusion of smaller breweries. With the exception of the craft brewery labels, all of popular domestic beers are made using the continuous fermentation method, which may explain why most of them taste the same. To try anything more interesting it’s necessary to visit a decent liquor store or stop by the breweries in person. You could also just brew it yourself, as evidenced by the selection of homebrew kits available at any local supermarket:

40 litres of beer for $12 seems like a good value.

Experiences

Our introduction to New Zealand’s beer culture began almost immediately after we arrived in Auckland. It was there that we first tried Speight’s and also noticed that at every bar that we passed, the locals were all drinking Heinekein. The best explanation that we got for this was that the big domestic beers were all 4% but the Heinekein’s were 5%, even though the Heinekein served in New Zealand is also brewed there under contract.

Within a couple of weeks we had tried most of the big domestics- Speight’s, Waikato Draught, Lion Red, etc., and although they were darker in color and fuller bodied than big American beers, they were uniformly sweet and underwhelming. There wasn’t anything offensive about them, but Oregon brewing has spoiled us. We began craving either strong, creamy stouts or strong, hoppy pale ales, but we had to wait until the day we left Hawke’s Bay to discover the first really good beer we’d had since arriving in NZ.

Did you notice the feet in the barrel?

Chris O’Leary, the amiable fellow who founded Limburg Brewery, was introduced to us by the Howells, who were the first family we stayed with in New Zealand.

Soon after meeting Chris we discovered another NZ-OR connection: one of Chris’ best friends is on the board of directors of Full Sail Brewing, and had just left New Zealand for home before we showed up. It was cool being on the other side of the world and discussing all different Oregon beers with another big appreciator. I assume that eventually we’ll be able to have similar conversations with people about wine, but our inexperience is still somewhat limiting. Beer, on the other hand…

Limburgh brews a delicious pale ale called Hopsmacker, a dark and rich porter, an interesting belgian wheat beer (Witbier), a red ale, a “Czechmate” lager, and a strong ale. Chris even let us try a (literally) stunning barleywine that he doesn’t even sell.

…and then we got on a bus and went to sleep.

We left Limburgh with several bottles of great beer, o

ur spirits high in the knowledge that at least some people in New Zealand take brewing as seriously as they do back home.

For the next few weeks we relied mostly on the Craft Brewery labels of the larger breweries like Mac’s and Monteith’s. Mac’s is superior to Monteiths both in varieties brewed and overall quality, but they both fell short once we reached Dunedin on the south island and managed to find Emerson’s Brewery hiding out in an nondescript industrial yard near the water.

We didn’t call ahead, but when we showed up and introduced ourselves we were given a personal tour by an employee named Stephen. Stephen explained the history of Emerson’s to us and gave us tastings directly from the stainless steel tanks of whatever was being brewed that day.

Later we were joined by the brewery’s founder, Richard Emerson, who first began brewing beer in his garage, then a larger garage, and now runs the largest truly independently owned and operated brewery in New Zealand. Michael Jackson, mentioned above, has an excellent article about Richard at his website.

Richard’s mother also happened to be visiting that day, and after tasting many wonderful brews he opened up a bottle of his Dunkelweiss, a fascinating brew that tastes a bit like chocolate and banana with a dash of clove. After chatting with Richard about brewing philosophy for a while longer, we said goodbye to him and Stephen and headed back out into the Dunedin sunshine.

On our way back to our hotel we decided to give Speight’s the benefit of the doubt and stopped into their original brewery, where we were told that we had to pay $20 each and take a tour of the brewery in order to do a tasting there. They wouldn’t even let us pay for just a tasting! Obviously we declined, and left bewildered at the idea of a brewery making it difficult for people to become better aquainted with their products.

Our final experience with New Zealand Craft Brewing took place on our last day in the country at a Christchurch restaurant and brewery called Dux de Lux. “The Dux” brews a full range of decent beers, but the suprising standouts were their Nor’wester strong ale (essentially a solid American Pale Ale) and their Ginger Tom, an alcoholic ginger beer with a unique and really refreshing flavor, perfect for the warm Spring (late November) afternoon that we were enjoying as we tasted.

Conclusions

Because of the limited selection of beers available in grocery stores and bottle shops in New Zealand and the fact that we only visited a few craft brewers in person, it wasn’t until researching this article that I came across many, many more independent breweries in New Zealand. Having now left NZ, I wish I had done a little more research, but then again, a little more “research” probably would have led to us seeking the opinions of the namesake animals of the beers being tasted, and you have to draw the line somewhere.

Tags: Beer, Breweries, Destinations, New Zealand, Posts by C.J, Pubs, Tag Index

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