DB swoops on Wellington venues
Pick of the Fresh Hop bunch. Fun side of big brewery bluster. Dunedin institution taken over by tiny craft brand. New brewery for Christchurch. Are milk & lactose the same? Lion closes Aussie brewery.
Kia Ora Beer Lovers
There was a big news item that came to my attention last week and I’m surprised it hasn’t made mainstream news: namely DB Breweries’ takeover of the Kāpura hospitality group (formerly Wellington Hospitality Group) and the Joylab group bars and restaurants in Auckland.
The two are being merged into one entity called Star Hospitality Group and together add 58 venues to DB’s portfolio.
Kāpura operates 41 venues around the country but mostly in Wellington and Joylab has 17 venues in Auckland. The Joylab side of things is not such a drastic change as DB was already a shareholder in that business.
The Kāpura deal means many Wellington venues known for decent craft beer will now be ultimately owned by Heineken. These include Southern Cross, Fortune Favours, Bethel Woods, Brew’d and even the Mac’s Brewbar … which currently pours Lion products.
There have already been concerns raised about so many venues falling into the hands of one large brewery and the potential (further) loss of independent taps.
Comparisons have even been made to the bad old days of the 1950s to mid-1970s when the brewing duopoly of Lion (aka NZ Breweries) and DB were in an arms race to own as many pubs as possible, which was definitely not in the interests of the New Zealand drinker.
The flip side is that the investment could be seen as an indication that hospitality is on an uptick.
I asked DB what will happen to Fortune Favours and Mac’s and got the following reply:
“In terms of Fortune Favours, some aspects of the deal are still being fine-tuned but once the transaction closes in April we’ll have more details for you on that.
“The future form of Mac’s Brew Bar is also obviously being looked at right now, but we can say that DB products will be pouring.”
In other news Parrotdog have hit the minimum $2 million target in their crowd-funding bid after the offer was extended by two weeks. Getting close, and then over, the line seemed to accelerate interest and the pot is growing past $2m at the time of writing.
The fresh hop beers are starting to hit the taps and shelves around the country so we’ve taken a look at that this week. In the following link, Tim Newman looks at what makes a good fresh hop beer.
When living green vivacity creeps up your nose, when the most impossibly fragile fruit purity shimmers on your tongue, when you’re suddenly standing between the vines on a Motueka hillside in the rain. That’s a good fresh hop beer.
Plus, Tim and myself look at our favourite annual releases and I’ve got a list (possibly not definitive) of the fresh hop beers destined for New World stores so you can pen a dream purchase list! And there are a lot…
The Pick of the Fresh Hop Bunch | Pursuit of Hoppiness
Beer of the week No 1
When non-alcoholic beers in the craft spectrum started to come out, there seemed to be a split between those who went for a clear variant and those who went for hazy. Bach were first out with their All Day IPA, which was clear. Garage Project followed with Tiny, which was hazy. Sawmill went clear with a pale ale, Good George went hazy, Epic clear, Sprig & Fern hazy, Deep Creek clear, Brothers hazy … etcetera. Then Bach made a hazy version of All Day, which to me seemed like the pinnacle of the genre. It is very good. State of Play had a clear beer and then a hazy, Nectaron Unfiltered, which is excellent. Before you know it, Bach were back with a clear beer, All Day Pilsner, and that made me rethink my opinion that hazies were the best medium for non-alcoholic beers because of the extra mouthfeel they deliver. At this point my head was spinning — and then Garage Project came out with another variant on Tiny, Anytime XPA, a clear beer. And now, with this on the back of the Bach non-alc pilsner, I’m certain that clear is the way to go. This is superb. It’s clean and fresh, pours with a loose but large head that dissipates slowly (unlike many other hazies that lack the proteins to keep a shapely head), and most of all it tastes like beer. Perhaps the high point is the lingering aftertaste of gently-tuned hops. Honestly, I feel I can now call myself an expert in this non-alc field — I’ve tried so many from around the world — and this is one of the very best.
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