Champion brewer leaving McLeod's

Marchfest ticket giveaway. A part of Dunedin brewing history for sale. Where to from here for craft beer. Highlights from Great Kiwi Beer Fest. Are turbo-charged radlers the next big thing?

Jan 31, 2025

Happy Friday Beer Lovers!

We start this edition of Friday Night Beers with a bombshell of sorts: head brewer Jason Bathgate is leaving Waipu-based McLeod’s and is moving to Nelson with his partner Monica Mead to set up a new business.

Jason has been at McLeod’s for nine years after stints at Renaissance in Blenheim and then 8 Wired in Warkworth, where he was seriously burned in a workplace accident alongside Andrew Childs from Behemoth.

After recovering from that accident, he joined McLeod’s and helped transform that brewery into a cult favourite among New Zealand craft beer drinkers.

Last year McLeod’s were crowned Champion Medium Brewery at the NZ Beer Awards and also won the Champion Beer title with Tropical Cyclone, a Double IPA.

Jason and Monica are buying a business in the Nelson region but he can’t yet say from who as there’s still paperwork to be signed and money to be transferred but all will be revealed next week — stay tuned.

Jason says they’ve been looking for a way to move back to Nelson for a while — it’s where they first lived when they arrived in New Zealand from the United States in 2009.

“There's an opportunity that presented itself to Monica and I, and we've been working with the current resident of that place and just trying to figure out when this person wanted to move out and when we wanted to move in.

“Unfortunately, I can’t at this stage divulge what our next step is as we haven't signed the paperwork. We probably won't be able to make a public announcement about that until Monday, at the soonest.

“I can say I’m going to stay in the brewing industry.

“We’re going to be at a much smaller scale [than McLeod’s] — just something that is manageable for Monica and I and maybe have a little bit of growth over the years.”

Jason said it’s a move that’s “been a long time coming”.

“We arrived in New Zealand in December 2009 and we landed in Nelson and we never had any intent to leave. We really, really love that area. I mean every time I get off a plane when I go down there, I feel like I’ve come home.

“Not that we don't like it up here. It’s lovely but the lifestyle, the speed of life in Nelson is a little bit slower, a little less people. I mean, no offence to Auckland but it's just not us at all.

“So when the opportunity presented itself for us to move back where we wanted to be, it was a pretty much a no brainer.”

Jason said he was a bit worried about telling McLeod’s owners Geoff and Clayton Gwynne who will be losing a valuable asset.

“But it’s very amicable and everybody's cool, very supportive even. So that has taken away a lot of the stress that I've had on my shoulders, knowing that this day was coming.”

His contract requires 90 days’ notice so he will brewing there until the end of April, unless a new head brewer is found sooner.

In the meantime he and Monica need to sell their house as that will go a long way towards the investment in the new business.

“We’re really excited and terrified about our next step, but we've got most of our branding done — we're about probably 85% there — and we’ve got a pretty good list of the beers we’re going to open with.

“We’re not going to be making beer that’s too far-fetched from McLeod's because the beer I've been making here, is the beer I've always wanted to always make.”

It’s hard to think of McLeod’s without thinking of Jason’s beers — Longboarder Lager, Paradise Pale Ale and the iconic 802 series of unfiltered IPAs — all which have been synonymous with the rise and rise of the brand.

“I'd set my goal to make a brand that when people walk up to a tap and see our beer, they know that they were going to get something of quality. And I can tick that box at this point.

“It’s taken a small army of family, of people, to get us to where we are today — all the people that have worked here and have moved on, the people that are here still today doing the mahi.”

There will be a send-off I’m sure, and Bathgate says he has a special keg of Oyster Gose stashed away in the cellar that been saved for just such an occasion.

In other comings and goings, Neck Of The Woods in Tauranga have hired their brewer, snaring Reid Lidington from Good George, where he was production manager.

Marchfest giveaway

Thanks to the good people at Marchfest we have a pair of tickets (valued at $80) to giveaway for the 2025 event at Founders Heritage Park in Nelson on Saturday, March 29.

To go in the draw just comment on this post and a winner will be picked at random on Monday morning.

And if you need an incentive to get to Marchfest, whether you win tickets or not, ponder this: American website Hop Culture named Marchfest as one of the 17 “can’t miss” beer festivals of 2025 — also including Beervana in Wellington.

The website noted that one of the festivals features is that “you’ll drink beers exclusively made just for Marchfest. Yes, you heard that right. Each and every beer poured at Marchfest has never been tasted anywhere else.

“For instance, local brewery Hop Federation plans to create a special collab XPA with MacHops to celebrate the iconic hop farm’s 125th anniversary.”

(Personally, I can’t wait to try that one!)

The 17 Can’t Miss Beer Festivals of 2025 • Hop Culture

And remember that this year they’ll be having the inaugural Marchfest Sunday Session (not included in this giveaway). Come back on Sunday, March 30, for a chilled, family-friendly BBQ feast with top-notch beer and relaxed live tunes in the sun. It’s the ultimate weekend to celebrate the best of Nelson — craft beer, live music, and good vibes.

Just remember to comment on this post to go in the draw.

Beer of the Week No 1

After that opening story, I couldn’t avoid a McLeod’s beer.

I will not shy away from touting Cold IPA. I don’t care if you think it’s a hoppy lager! Just joking … I do care what you think, it’s just that I’m not that bound up in arguing the case one way or the other, except to say Cold IPA works for me.

And let’s face it, here in New Zealand we’ve been brewing lagers with ale yeasts for years, and plenty of your favourite IPAs could well be brewed with lager yeast without you even knowing!

Cold IPA and The Myth of Lager Vs Ale | Pursuit of Hoppiness

McLeod’s Cruisin’ is superb. It’s lush and smooth and packed with sweet citrus, pine sap and, to me, it feels like the bitterness is dialled back just a tad compared with other Cold IPAs I’ve had, which does bring it more closely aligned with an India Pale Lager. (Post-script … I wrote that line before talking to Jason about the lead story and he informed that Cruisin’ is exactly the same beer as the now retired Dank Harvest, which was marketed as an IPL!)

But as Kelly Ryan noted in the story linked above, it doesn’t really matter how it’s made, what matters is how it tastes: and this tastes fantastic.

And remember, if you’re looking for great craft beer, make sure you visit your local home of great beer, New World.

Piece of Dunedin brewing history for sale

I was perusing TradeMe the other day when I saw an advert for 17 Brownville Crescent in Dunedin … Dunedin being one of the places I would like to move to one day, maybe.

For those following my ongoing saga of where to live; the future — mis-paraphrase Talking Heads — is uncertain.

Anyway, as soon as I saw the advert, I recognised the house as one I visited a number of times to talk to Ingrid Emerson about her son Richard when I was doing research for his biography, The Hopfather.

I bumped into Richard at the Great Kiwi Beer Festival in Christchurch last week and we discussed the house sale — which comes after Ingrid passed away last year — and the fact the advert mentioned the Emerson’s connection.

“This home is steeped in local history, as it was here that Richard Emerson, founder of the iconic Emerson's Brewery, brewed his very first beer in the kitchen,” it read.

And Richard followed up with the equivalent of “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet” and directed me to this advert on YouTube where his acting skills are fully on show!

Dusty’s Beer of the Week

Crikey! What a lil ripper! Sprig + Fern’s latest sud tube Ridgey Didge is an all-Aussie hopped 4.4% hazy pale ale featuring Galaxy and Vic Secret. Notes of lemon, grapefruit and peach lead out here with undertones of floral & passionfruit. A pithy bitterness, light biscuity malt backbone and a drying finish tie together a beaut of a brew. — Dusty

Some highlights from Great Kiwi Beer Fest

I had a great time hosting some chats at the Great Kiwi Beer Festival in Christchurch last week.

Some of the highlights for me included:

Mike Neilson of Boneface saying that he prefers Boneface Spinal Hop to Panhead Supercharger. OK, maybe he has to say this now that he owns Boneface but in my view, and that of many people I talked to; he’s not wrong! Spinal Hop is a cracking good beer.

Joe Wood of Liberty Brewing talking about the creation of his Joekatsu Hop Popsicle: an alcoholic hop water (5%) that just blew people away with its flavour. Joe noted that he created this for many of his taproom customers who wanted gluten-free, low-carb, low-sugar alternatives to beer and that it now outsells most other taps (with the exception of Knife Party) 2:1.

Cameron Burgess from Southpaw on his brewery’s relocation to New Brighton and his role in lifting up the beachside suburb — which often get a bad rap. His new brewpub will be open soon — maybe within two months — and will be worth the visit. The Hazy Rye IPA he brewed as a collab with Emerson’s is excellent.

Rachael Norcross from Punky Brewster is a born entertainer and she offered a number of great insights into the business of selling beer. But her passion for West Coast Pilsner was infectious. And the Waitaki District Council should use her piece about Oamaru as New Zealand’s ultimate beer destination in a brochure!

I didn’t get much of a chance between finishing up at the Craft Beer Academy and last drinks, but I can tell you the vibe at the festival was fantastic and it’s certainly worth a visit if you haven’t been before.

It’s spacious and relaxed and very focused on beer.

Beer of the Week No 2

OK, I’m going off-piste here, but it’s worth the journey.

Yeastie Boys sent me some of their new beers, which are now brewed at Steam Brewing after they were previously brewed at bStudio.

Prejudice is a Ginger Biscuit IPA and the blurb on the back of the can says “imagine dunking your favourite ginger biscuit into a pint …”

Naturally, I immediately thought of their Gunnamatta Earl Grey tea IPA.

The Ginger IPA on its own was interesting — as Yeastie Boys note, it’s a conversation starter! — but the blending of the Ginger Biscuit and the Earl Grey worked. It was slightly two-tone initially with the sweet ginger chased by the floral and slightly bitter Earl Grey but they slowly merged into quite an intriguing brew!

Some crystal ball gazing on craft beer

I got a call the other week from a journalist at Stuff to comment on a story about the future of craft beer.

I always dread these things, mainly because I hate being on the other side of the journalist’s notepad and I always wish they could find other people to talk to.

But Aimee Shaw did a brilliant job with her story, published in the Sunday Star-Times (and she did find other people to talk to).

Where to from here for craft beer? | The Post

You need to get all the way to the end for the contribution around excise tax from yours truly, but I truly believe some kind of excise tax relief or rebate for small brewers is a pivotal move the government could make.

In Australia, breweries get their first $350,000 of excise tax refunded — which provides a huge boost for small operators and hardly impacts the bigger breweries.

In the story, Luke Robertson from Shortjaw in Westport echoed the idea of excise tax relief noting that all that money “stays in our economy and floats around — I don't think there’s any downsides to it.”

And, just as I was about to send this out, this story popped up. I didn’t have time to fully analyse it but the data speaks for itself, I think.

Low-carb beers on the rise as brewing now 0.9% of GDP - NZ Herald

Tim’s Beer of the Week

The advent of Cold IPA (yeah, we went there again! — Michael) has been exciting for all kinds of reasons, but for those like me who like to go full nerd on their beer, one of the most intriguing aspects of the style is how precisely it can laser focus on solo hops. Some previous standouts focused on up-and-coming examples, within the bounds of the NZ Hops Bract program, but Behemoth have gone right back to the beginning (to 1996 anyway) with this solo Motueka-hopped example.

For me, Motueka hops have always represented the taste and aroma of pure ‘green’, and that’s exactly what this IPA is. Zesty lime sparks over honeydew melon and dense leafy bush, with a peculiar (but strangely refreshing) mineral element of freshly wet pavement and ozone. It’s Motueka alright but presented at such high resolution that I’m discovering elements to one of my favorite hops that I never knew existed. — Tim Newman

A trend coming your way

I read a story the other day about shandy making a comeback. If you substitute radler for shandy, then what follows holds true!

It riffs off the growing popularity of fruited IPAs. These beers had a lift in sales last year and play off the idea of blending beer and lemonade (or other soft drinks). Notably we’ve seen lots of grapefruit, orange, apricot and peach IPAs.

The idea of Radler becoming a thing again in New Zealand is helped by DB Breweries relinquishing its trademark on the term meaning other breweries can start using it (and I’ll have one or more of those for you next week!).

I can see the confluence happening here and it could well look like what Firestone Walker are doing in the US with an extension of their Mind Haze to include Mind Haze Rage, which they dub a “turbo radler”.

Firestone Walker chief sales officer Tony Amaral explained how “providing flavour seekers with high ABV isn’t a new idea for beer — but packaging it into an 8% ABV radler is”.

Amaral told The Drinks Business: “The response from our retail and wholesale partners has been energising” and insisted that “there’s real enthusiasm for the brand, and in typical Firestone form, the juice speaks for itself”.

Firestone Walker’s marketing boss Dustin Hinz added: “This is definitely not your grandma’s hard lemonade. Mind Haze Rage is intentionally disruptive, fun and crafted to stand out.”

Beer of the Week No 3

Riffing back to the “where to live?” quandary, my wife and I made a trip to New Plymouth this month.

On this scouting mission, I met my cousin Craig, who owns the old New Plymouth Savings Bank building which is home to Three Sisters.

There’s some amazing stuff going on at that site, not the least being the fact that Three Sisters has leased more of the building, creating room to open up a second bar area, which is more of an actual bar compared to the restaurant seating next door.

It offers great choices: you can sit in the restaurant booths, at the bar leaners or at outside tables.

There’s still a plan in place to put golf simulators on the first floor, which would be a fantastic addition via a third party.

Anyway, on a beautiful summer’s evening, all the beers were tasting great but I was particularly enamoured with Trippin’ Balls, a classic West Coast IPA.

Brewed with Chinook and Simcoe hops, it had a sweet grapefruit expression over the top of a lovely earthy-spicy baseline and a strong, contrasting bitterness.

Craft beer’s endgame?

We’ve talked in the past about British breweries Magic Rock and Forepure being bought and sold by Lion’s (Kirin’s) Little World Beverages.

Lion sold the two iconic brands in 2022, but the company that bought them, In Good Company Brewing, fell into financial trouble last year.

Now the brands have been picked by Keystone Brewing Group, which said it had “saved” the brands.

Keystone chief executive Mark Williams said: “Keystone Brewing Group has secured an exclusive license with the brand owners to take these fantastic brands forward in the UK and worldwide.

“We have managed to save two iconic beer brands for future generations of beer lovers.”

In August Fourpure closed its Bermondsey taproom and moved production up to Yorkshire after 11 years.

Production of Fourpure’s beers had since been based at the Magic Rock brewery in Huddersfield, but Keystone confirmed this site had since closed.

Williams said: “The Magic Rock brewery has unfortunately closed, and we are naturally saddened at the loss of the Magic Rock site, and the employees and their families directly affected by this. The Magic Rock brewery had already ceased brewing due to cash issues, several weeks prior to agreeing the deal today, as such there was no viable business left.”

Which brings me to … a post on LinkedIn by James Beeson, an excellent British beer writer.

He wote:

Is this craft beer's endgame? 🍺
A decade ago, Fourpure Brewing Co. and Magic Rock Brewing Co. were at the forefront of the craft beer revolution. Exciting breweries creating cutting edge beers and with fantastic founders leading them and successfully stealing market share from established, mainstream beer brands.
To see them reduced to this, and sold off for peanuts to a private-equity backed brewing conglomerate which sees them as purely names on pump clips to be produced anywhere, by any old brewer, in the pursuit of efficiency, feels like the antithesis of what the craft beer movement was all about.
If we lose sight of what made craft beer great — the history, the authenticity, the relentless focus on quality and terroir that helped shape the beers themselves, we may as well just all go back to swigging on Carling.

And with that I’ll leave you to your weekend and I’ll be back next week, sandwiched between Waitangi Day and what promises to be a super-long beer weekend.

Michael