Controversial Five Peaks brewpub for sale
Subscriber discount on unique fresh hop beers. Supermarkets in police spotlight for selling high ABV single serves. Japanese company designs a two-tab can. McLeod's Forty Acre IPA...is the hype real?
Welcome to Friday Night Beers, friends, and a huge wall of news. We start with an exclusive (or if I was a tabloid an EXCLUSIVE!)
The former Port & Eagle Brewpub, which changed its name to Five Peaks in the wake of the scandal around previous owner Dave Gaughan, is for sale.
Five Peaks, in Kaiapoi, north of Christchurch, was home to Eagle Brewing, but when Gaughan made a racially-charged comment on Facebook the backlash forced him to exit the business as a shareholder, director and brewer.
His wife Marilyn Yosores changed the name to Five Peaks but has struggled through the Covid era to make it work and the brewery operation has been largely dormant since April 2021 when Gaughan exited.
PLC Group, working with Yosores on the sale, said any potential purchaser will have to undertake their own due diligence but “we believe reactivating the brewery operations combined with the restaurant & bar turn over will provide positive income streams”.
Yosores is the majority shareholder but around 7-8% of shares are held in small parcels by a number of investors who came on board via crowd-funding.
Five Peaks is situated on a busy main road and overlooks the Kaiapoi River. There are two income streams available including the 441m2 restaurant, bar and deck and fully-fitted out 515m2 brewing facilities.
Yosores told Pursuit of Hoppiness she was selling the business to have a complete fresh start “without Dave still hovering behind the scenes”.
“I can carry on make this business a success, but he won’t let go. Therefore, a fresh start outside Canterbury will be best for me and I will temporarily go back nursing while I’m settling down to a new place.”
She one day hopes to open her own hospitality business again “without the stain of the past”.
“I am so looking forward to my new future and to be in the craft beer scene one day.”
Subscriber Special: Emporium discount
These double as the Beers of the week No 1 and if you like what I like, then think about grabbing a box from Emporium in Kaikoura with a subscriber-only discount.
Paul Finney of Emporium was kind enough to send me a box of his four (4!) fresh hop beers and they are all unique and excellent. Unique in a number of ways. First, three of them are made with fresh hop Rakau hops, which I’ve not seen anyone else do (although I do recall Hop Federation used to do a single-hopped Rakau IPA). Anyway, I love Rakau. I used it a lot when homebrewing and found it brought a lush fig-apricot quality to the beer. Of course, Garage Project use it in Pernicious Weed. To me it’s one of the most under-rated hops and I loved it in the prickly, lively Green Freshies XPA. It complements the Saison beautifully and I can’t wait to try it in the Barleywine, where I think it will be amazing. The other unique beer is the Wet Exit Cold IPA. This beer was brilliant, not least because it was made with Motueka hops grown in Banks Peninsula, Canterbury. So, you’ve got a special “terroir” element going on there. With new hop-growing areas opening up all over the country, Finney (as Paul likes to be called) said the Canterbury area — as climate change impacts — resembles that of 1970s Nelson.
If you want to try these limited-edition beers you can get $5 off the already low price for a box by using the code FRESH2023 at checkout.
And in the interests of full disclosure, as always there’s no benefit for me in this, I’m just sharing the love!
A fortunate outcome
A month or so ago we talked about the DB acquisition of the Kāpura hospitality group and what that might mean for Fortune Favours, who were majority-owned by Kāpura.
We can report that the brewpub will continue as an independent brewery, fully-owned by founder Shannon Thorpe and brewer Dale Cooper, after a brief period when their future was uncertain.
The DB Breweries-owned Star Hospitality is a newly formed body that took over Kāpura and rolled in the bars and restaurants formerly operated by Auckland’s Joylab.
Star Hospitality now owns several former Lion pubs in the capital, including the Mac’s Brew Bar on the waterfront, and popular craft beer bars Bethel Woods and One Fat Bird.
As a brewpub with a distribution deal with Coca-Cola, Fortune Favours were in an odd position with regard to the takeover and Thorpe said the new shareholders “did the right thing” by him and Cooper.
Fortune Favours will be allowed to keep taps at former Kāpura venues until February 1 next year as part of the deal.
Thorpe said complex contractual relationship with Coca-Cola made it hard for Fortune Favours to be part of the deal with DB.
Read more: Fortune Favours Stays Independent | Pursuit of Hoppiness
Brew Day goes Disco
A heads-up for a fantastic festival later this month in Palmerston North, which is growing quite a craft beer reputation, thanks to Brew Union, the amazing Pak’nSave and the newly-opened Tony’s Pizza which doubles as a craft beer bar.
BrewDay Palmerston North will be held on May 27 at Fly Palmy Arena 2. The theme for 2023 is “Disco” with local DJ spinning tunes. There are a boutique 15 vendors including wider regional breweries — Brew Union, Martinborough, Roots, Ruapehu and Three Sisters — as well some great under-the-radar Wellington breweries such as Mean Doses and Te Aro.
As a festival with a cause, the organisers ask everyone who attends to bring an item of food for the local Palmerston North Foodbank — this was very successful in 2022 and with the cost of living rising just now, we hope it will be successful this year as well.
All details are on the website www.brewday.co.nz.
Sunshine launches beer for cyclone-hit farmers
After the success of Zeelandt’s Back on the Horse fund-raising beer for first responders in Hawke’s Bay, I’m hoping Sunshine Brewing in Gisborne will get the same success with their just released Cyclone Gabri-ale.
Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed the homes and livelihoods of many farmers in the Tairawhiti Region so Sunshine have brewed this Red IPA to help the farmers in their area. All proceeds after excise tax and freight will go directly to the Gisborne Tairawhiti Farming Recovery Fund.
You can buy the beer here: Sunshine Brewery
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