ChinChiller take over Five Peaks

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Happy first day of Spring beer lovers,

And to celebrate the changing season, some good news out of the beer world, with Christchurch brand ChinChiller today taking over the Five Peaks brewery in Kaiapoi.

Granville and Nadine Denton, owners of the Brew Academy in Christchurch, partnered with their head brewer Jared Stewart to start ChinChiller in 2021. They've been contract brewing around the South Island in the intervening years, but with the move into their own brewery, the aim is to expand their range nationwide.

The 444m² Five Peaks brewery, which was built with a large dose of crowdfunding, has lain largely dormant through the Covid years after its former owner’s incendiary exit from the industry in 2021.  The brewery, housed within what was originally called Port & Eagle, was home to Eagle Brewing, but when owner-brewer David Gaughan made a racially-charged comment on Facebook the brewery faced a massive backlash and boycott.

Gaughan’s now ex-wife Marilyn Yosores took over the ownership of the brand and changed the name to Five Peaks to create separation from Eagle. However, she struggled through the pandemic and the brewery lay mostly idle. In the end, she decided to sell up and get out of the business.

ChinChiller’s arrival will see the brewery in action once more, and hopefully restore the brewpub atmosphere to the magnificent complex on Kaiapoi’s riverside promenade, with (initially) six taps pouring their beer.

The restaurant side of the business will be taken over by Lynette Grig and Gareth McKenzie who own The Platform Restaurant and Bar in Ohoka.

I’m a big fan of ChinChiller, every beer (admittedly only a handful) has been outstanding and their Mango Banana Sour was one of my picks at Beervana 2022.

As I wrote then: “… a brewery you may not have seen much of is ChinChiller from Christchurch but they are doing some really good things. Their Mango Banana Sour packed more flavour into a 4 percent beer than anything in recent memory.”

We wish them all the very best and if you’re in Christchurch or know anyone who lives there, tell them to get along to the new venue and support a great brand.

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Epic’s grand reopening

In breaking news, Epic has just posted that their Onehunga taproom will be open again from October 5, with the indication that funder Luke Nicholas and his wife Wendy will be involved in the venue after their business went into liquidation and was sold last week to Hancock’s and The Russell Group.

“It's going to take a few weeks to get everything sorted with the new owners,” Luke Nicholas wrote on Facebook. “And Wendy and I need a bit of a break too before we kick off the taproom for summer. More exciting details coming soon.”

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For your listening pleasure

ChinChiller’s move to Kaiapoi is a piece of bright news in a recently bleak beer scene, which I delved into on a podcast for Radio NZ alongside Ava Nakagawa from Beer Baroness and Pomeroy’s. I’m told it’s a good listen … (and when you hear mention of Juice Head there’s an update there, with that brand returning after announcing it was closing down last July, of which we will have more at a later date).

Or if you want the link for later, it’s here: Tough times brewing for the craft beer industry | RNZ

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Catlins brewery shuts

This is late news rather than breaking news, but thanks to an eagle-eyed reader, Tim, I was alerted to another brewery closure that had slipped under the radar — Catlins Brewery announced they were shutting down earlier this year with owners Norm MacLeod and Peter McNab telling the Otago Daily Times the legacy of Covid and rising costs hit their bottom line. 

"It’s definitely disappointing, that’s for sure. It’s a hobby-turned-career and I’ve loved every moment of it, but until we find a way to invest and take the next step for the brewery, we can’t do much else," MacLeod said. 

McNab added that they couldn’t make the leap to the next level of growth needed to survive: “To be commercial we need that next size jump, and it’s just become so much harder to get there.”

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Beer of the week No 1

Staying in the deep south, I’ve commissioned a story on Glenorchy Brewing in the upcoming edition of the Pursuit of Hoppiness magazine, and while we were planning that story the brewery entered five beers and came away with four medals at the recent NZ Beer Awards so I decided it was time for a taste test. Now, the first thing you may notice about Glenorchy is the similarity of the branding to Taranaki’s Shining Peak … I reserve any further comment other than to say breweries that use the logo of the sun shining behind a mountain make very good beer! I was impressed with all three of the Glenorchy beers I tried. The Pilsner was a showcase for Motueka hops and just popped with that zingy lime and had a great water profile, but it was the Mountain Ale that really captured my attention. It hovered somewhere between rustic and elegant, and again the water profile from unfiltered glacial water adds an exceptional layer of minerality and complexity. It was a very good — and endearing beer.

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Australia’s version of Moa?

I can’t claim to fully understand Australian drinks business Mighty Craft except that they have a stake in a number of beer brands, including the much-hyped Better Beer.