Epic sold to Hancocks and a construction firm

Altitude reach new heights at Beervana. And lots of good beer stories — beer made from thin air, beer better than probiotics say scientists, and beer helps salmon swim home.

Happy Friday Beer Lovers

The big news today is that Epic Brewing will live on after the business was bought by a combination of a construction company and Hancock’s Wine Spirit & Beer Merchants, a company founded in 1859.

The Hancock’s hook is not unexpected in some ways as it gives Epic and instant distribution platform and opportunity to grow.

The other party in the deal is the Russell Group, one of New Zealand’s largest construction companies. They own Dominion Constructors, Acrow Ltd, Russell Property Group, Stresscrete and Russell Gordon Contracting.

Russell Group director Brett Russell has previously appeared on the NBR rich list.

The deal allows Epic founder Luke Nicholas to stay on at the brand and their Onehunga taproom will continue to operate.

In a statement, Russell said the new ownership partnership was working with Nicholas and his wife Wendy on plans to ensure the essence of the business into the future.

“As two family-owned businesses, we understand the pressures at a low point in the cycle, and didn’t want this iconic, almost two-decade 'game changer’ brand, developed by a family-owned business, to disappear,” said Russell. “We’ve bought it to strengthen what is already a great brand into the future,” he said.

Jedda Jakicevich of Hancocks said the acquisition ensured that Epic would keep trading with minimal loss of momentum. He said that the terms of the deal were commercially confidential, but the company would have more to say as it completed its business planning now that a new ownership structure was in place.

Well, there will be a lot more to pick up on this next week. But it’s great that such a critical brand is not lost to the New Zealand scene.

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Sobering news

And the other piece of news that’s filtered through to me is that SOBA, the Society of Beer Advocates, may have come to an end.

This is not entirely unexpected but a shock nonetheless.

SOBA was set up in 2008 to promote good beer and advocate for consumers. Fifteen years later it has reached a point where a falling a membership base, rising admin costs and a lack of volunteers has impacted its ability to keep going, it seems. No decision has been formally announced but the organisation posted this on their website:

“Following a productive national committee meeting on Tuesday, July 18th, a decision was made to temporarily pause accepting membership renewals, starting immediately. Considering the current financial climate, the committee is actively evaluating the feasibility of running a volunteer-led society. As the committee works through this process, we welcome comments and feedback from our members.”

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Altitude reach new heights

As always, I loved my Beervana experience but for the first time I wondered whether it can continue to sustain the “full circle” of Sky Stadium. There were fewer stands, for sure, but that came with the added bonus of having some breathing room if you wanted it. But I also need to see it through fresh eyes and I got that from a friend who was first-time visitor and he was blown away by the sheer abundance of weird and wonderful offerings along with the great vibe.

I was rapt for Altitude Brewing who took out the top beer at the festival with their Croquembouche Pastry Stout. The fact they headed off Sydney sweet beer specialists One Drop for best in show is indicative of how good it was (though it wasn’t my favourite Altitude beer … more on that later).

Altitude co-founder and brewer Eliott Menzies said: “Creating the beer has been a real journey, from the name to sourcing the ingredients which included Canterbury hazelnuts and chocolate husks from Dunedin, we threw in a bunch of vanilla and caramel for good measure. It ended up being a truly delicious beer, and seeing it take out number one is a real treat.”

One Drop filled out the podium with Dragon’s Breath Triple Fruited Smoothie Sour and On the Lam Yellow Lamington Smoothie Sour.

My beer of the festival however was …

Beer of the week No 1

My Beervana experience was loosely based on the high-octane imperial stouts, often of the pastry variety, as you shall read as I go on. That’s what you want at a wintry festival I reckon.

But having said that, at the start of the day Hop Federation’s Brut Pilsner was a perfect kick-start for some brunch drinking (actually more on brunch drinking later as well) and went down a treat with their crayfish cheese rolls.

Given all the talk of sweet stouts, it should be a surprise then that the best beer of the event for me was Brave Brewing Terrible Lizards West Coast IPA. This beer won the IPA trophy at the New Zealand Beer Awards and was runner-up in the Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge.

For me it was a perfect, modern IPA, and it had more than enough flavour to get palate cut-through on a day when some much bigger beers were competing for my attention.

The good news is that it’s going to be rebrewed and this time there may be some packaged. I wish they had pre-orders!

‘Jurassic’ success: Hastings brewery’s Terrible Lizards judged country’s best IPA - NZ Herald

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The state of the beer nation

On the day of Beervana my phone was lighting up with messages from beer people after my analysis of the current state of the of the beer industry was published on The Spinoff.

I was pleased that that feedback from those in the industry was along the lines of “nailed it”. if you missed it, here it is again:

Is this the beginning of the end for craft beer in Aotearoa? | The Spinoff

And Duncan Greive, founder of The Spinoff, followed up with a related article on the fall of Epic:

Hoppy days: Epic and the New Zealand craft beer boom | The Spinoff

The state of the global beer industry is something I keep a close eye on and it’s one of the reasons this newsletter had frequently asked “when is this going to happen here?” So what follows may offer more insight into what we can expect.