Garage Project jump into gap left by Lion
Taylor Swift's boyfriend buys a brewery. Lion shuts down Malt Shovel Brewery in Sydney. Beer with spicy food — is it the right choice? Campari lose trademark battle to tiny microbrewery.
It’s Friday, beer fans and I’ve had one of those weeks where Friday couldn’t come fast enough.
But it also means there’s no hard news here this week, which should be seen as a blessing of sorts!
So I’m changing tack here and wondering aloud whether Lion hasn’t opened a door for Garage Project (an admittedly small door) by not pushing the zero percent version of Guinness.
This is driven by the release this week of Garage Project Tiny Stout, in a four-pack (which is a good move but one that reflects the reality of the dark beer market, let alone the non-alc dark beer market).
To be honest, I was going to save this commentary for Dry July but considering I’ve almost finished the four-pack I got, I thought it was worth profiling this beer now.
Background: You may have heard (or certainly read here) that Guinness 0.0 is setting the world on fire as it riffs off two growth markets: non-alc and the rising popularity of full-blooded Guinness. It’s even huge in Ireland, where special technology allows it to be poured in draught form, which is always a risk with zeroes.
I did ask Lion (the Guinness distributor in NZ) whether they’d seen a spike in Guinness sales in line with the world-wide trend and the short answer is yes!
The longer answer is a bigger yes: “Guinness is the best-selling stout beer in New Zealand with the majority of volume sold on tap. In New Zealand, Guinness has grown in popularity with sales volumes increasing from around 1 million litres in 2021 to around 1.5 million litres in 2023.”
In a shrinking beer market, that’s colossal.
And I reckon that market is set to grow further with confirmation this week that Guinness and Guinness 0.0 will be the official beers of the English Premier League — certainly the most watched football league in the world.
Which begs the question: why isn’t Lion bringing in Guinness 0.0? Instead, it’s been left (I’m told) to another importer.
That absence of distribution clout means there’s a natural gap in the market here for a non-alcoholic stout and Garage Project have filled it with their third Tiny variation.
Make no mistake, this is a cracking non-alc beer. Roasty, creamy, full-flavoured. What’s more, it doesn’t have any lactose in it, which has been the default positioning of other non-alc stouts I’ve had — notably Big Drop Galactic Milk Stout, which was the industry leader before Guinness muscled in.
Tiny Stout has got 6.9g of sugar per serve for 73 calories per can. It includes two additives, tannic acid and lactic acid, to broaden the flavour profile.
It’s an honest-to-goodness surprise and quite delicious.
I’m sure this will get a big push in Dry July and you can find it at your home of craft beer, New World.
And by the way, that above ⬆️ qualifies as Beer of the Week!
Beervana tickets are now on sale
The general admission tranche of Beervana tickets are now on sale. There are four sessions across the two days and four ticket categories to choose from:
🟡 General Admission - $55
🔴 Fast Pass (30min early access) - $73
🤍 Fan Passes (multiple sessions) - $95-150
🟢 Group Discounts - 5-9 people $49pp, 10+ people $47pp.
You can get yours booked here.
Lock, choc and beer
Speaking of festivals, Luke Owen Smith, who has done plenty of beer writing in his time, has returned to his first love, chocolate. And he’s running the Chocstock festival in Wellington next week.
I mention this because, well, who doesn’t love chocolate, but also because there’s a beer made especially for the festival, Milow and Oatis, a chocolate oatmilk stout from Double Vision.
Read it and weep
One of the great joys of being an editor is recruiting (arm-twisting?) great writers to contribute to your magazine. In that regard, I’m delighted with Kieran Haslett-Moore’s wonderful comeback column.
Kieran, head brewer at North End, wrote for Pursuit of Hoppiness back when it started in 2008 and it’s a real delight to have him back on board with a regular column entitled “Fermented Culture” in which he looks at beer as part of the fabric of life.
In his first offering he pays tribute to legendary Wellington couple Ted and Frances Verrity, as well as the positive role beer plays in our culture. As I wrote in my editorial for the magazine: Enjoy. Cry. Both.
Fermented Culture — Verrity's Wake | Pursuit of Hoppiness
Dusty’s Beer of the Week
If there’s one dark brew you should deep dive into this winter, or this year even, it's Crumbs, a 10% imperial cookie stout which is a global colab featuring two legendary breweries — NZ’s 8 Wired and Poland’s Pinta. This is insanely brilliant: how a cookie in all its solid glory replicates in liquid form. It’s rich, decadent, liquid chocolate. Uplifting additions of coconut and the background spice of cinnamon on a velvety smooth mouthfeel (yet u still think crunch) escalate this beer to a level seldom seen in the 440ml market ... must try, at least twice! — Dusty
Kelce Brothers buy into Garage Beer
Travis Kelce, better known these days as Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, and his pro football brother Jason, have taken an ownership stake in light lager maker Garage Beer.
In a press releases, the Kelces are referred to as “the largest investors” and they “will be involved in every aspect of the business, including brewing, distribution, sales, marketing and national expansion efforts.”
Maybe they know how to brew, but I’m betting they’ll stick to football in the foreseeable future.
Jason Kelce said in the press release: “People crave quality and simplicity, and Garage Beer nails both for me. We are light beer drinkers and Garage is the best light beer. For me, the brand fits my lifestyle, and having a few beers is a great excuse to get the neighbors together.”
Travis Kelce added: “I think everyone knows I like to have a couple of beers now and then, so being an owner of Garage Beer and heavily involved in making the best light beer is exciting, man! There is nothing better to bring people together than an ice-cold beer, and for Jason and me that is what beer is all about — friends, family and fun.”
“I have worked with [Garage Beer owner] Andy [Sauer] for years and I really trust the team and their approach to running the business. We look forward to taking Garage Beer to the next level.”
The investment received press on all significant sports news sites. Not sure if it hit the music sites.
Travis Kelce has won three Super Bowls as a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, including the most recent championship, hosted in Las Vegas in February. Jason Kelce retired from the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year after 13 years with the team, which included a Super Bowl win in 2018. The brothers’ fame has transcended football, as they host the popular podcast New Heights.
Add the Taylor Swift angle and I’m sure they’ll sell a lot of beer.
Also in the celebrity beer stakes, professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, aka Terry Bollea, has launched a new premium brand “Real American Beer”.
The Hall of Fame wrestler will distribute his easy-drinking light lager across 17 states in the US and according to the press release, the malt “is meticulously brewed with 100% North American ingredients”.
Tim’s Beer of the Week
Of the emerging styles seen over the last year (or two) West Coast Pilsner looks to be the one gaining the most traction. Whether this new style is outpacing the previously emerging Cold IPA or merely presenting the same thing with a more fashionable name is a matter for debate but, by the rule of: ‘if Emerson’s is doing it then it’s probably a thing’ — then West Coast pilsner is here to stay, for the time being at least.
In Emerson’s Once Upon a Time in The West (5.6%abv) Amarillo, Cascade and Citra hops all lend their weight here, but it’s the Citra that leads on the nose, with a tangy lime and mandarin-focused aroma that leads into more tropical (but still sharp and clean) and nectarine notes. The palate is crisp and clean; weighty, but keenly focused on its sharp hop character and snappy bitterness. A drier, tighter and intrinsically more American-tuned take on the New Zealand Pilsner style. — Tim Newman
File under: ‘What a waste of everyone’s time!’
A microbrewery in Britain won a David and Goliath legal battle with drinks giant Campari over a trademark, that to the average right-thinking person should never have ended up in court.
Steve White, a retired police officer and keen amateur astronomer, set up Dark Sky Brewery two years ago — shortly thereafter getting a legal threat from Campari, who accused him of infringing the trademark of its Skyy Vodka.
Campari, founded in Italy in 1860 and with a multi-billion-dollar global turnover, warned White that if he wanted to avoid a legal fight, he should stop using the Dark Sky name.
Lawyers for the global brand claimed consumers might get confused between its vodka and Dark Sky beers, which are only available in a handful of pubs in rural County Durham.
After an 18 month legal battle in which White largely represented himself, officials from the Intellectual Property Office threw out Campari’s objection.
In its ruling, the IPO said it “did not consider that the common element, being the word Sky, is so strikingly distinctive that the average consumer would expect only one undertaking to be using it”.
And as White pointed out, Campari couldn’t even spell “sky” correctly!
Like I say, a complete waste of everyone’s time.
Beer of the Week No 2
I love unexpected beer moments, such as going into an Auckland restaurant and finding a decent beer list!
That happened the other week and I had the joy of ordering a Sawmill Pilsner.
It was, as always, excellent! Bright, fruity and refreshing. It’s a can’t-go-wrong beer choice for sure.
Speaking of Sawmill, I’ve been lucky to edit the copy of veteran Auckland writer Colin Hogg. He’s started a new series of taproom reviews and in the most recent one he visited Sawmill and 8 Wired’s Barrelworks in Matakana.
Mr Goodbar — Matakana | Pursuit of Hoppiness
Top of the hops
I’m fascinated with hops and what different people like and don’t like about them. So I enjoyed this quick take from Jeff Alworth on his Top 10 hops, which features one Kiwi hop in the mix.
The Book of Lists: Best Hops — Beervana (beervanablog.com)
For what it’s worth, I don’t think I could compile a list of 10 hops, but off the top of my head I can give you three:
Amarillo
Riwaka
Motueka
I think I like citrus because that list covers orange, grapefruit and lime!
A taste of ancient Egypt
Using recipes from ancient Egyptian papyrus and a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies, an American home brewer has created a beer based on recipes nearly 3,000 years old.
Dylan McDonnell used yeast from ancient pottery to recreate what he called an authentic ancient Egyptian beer recipe.
McDonnell derived the recipe for his beer from the Ebers Papyrus, a text of medicinal herbal knowledge dating back to around 1550 BC.
“What I did was I took every recipe that mentioned beer … and took the top eight ingredients from that recipe and used them to make the beer,” McDonnell said.
Among the ingredients he used were purple Egyptian barley, emmer wheat, Egyptian balsam fruit, Israeli golden raisins, and frankincense.
The yeast came from a group of scientists in Israel who extracted it from a jar that dates back to the 9th Century BC.
McDonnell has spent the past six months crafting his beer.
“Three thousand years ago, there was some guy in Egypt that was likely putting the same ingredients into a pot and boiling it with the hope of making the same thing.”
As for the taste, it’s tangy, with a hint of citrus. It’s like a sour, but no hop flavor whatsoever.
Small Gods, big ideas
That story, above, kind of reminds of what Small Gods did when they released their Mumme, a collab with Double Vision.
And this week, I filed a piece for the Crafty Pint in Australia about Small Gods, partially riffing off their success at the New World Beer & Cider Awards with Desperate Glory, the collab they did with 8 Wired.
Small Gods; Big Ideas — The Crafty Pint
Lion shuts down Malt Shovel Brewery in Sydney
The famous Malt Shovel Brewery in Sydney which produced the James Squire range of beers, will be closed down as the cost-of-living crisis bites hard in Australia.
Malt Shovel was established by Chuck Hahn in 1988 and was sold to Lion in 1993.
Lion Australia managing director James Brindley said the company had informed team members of the “difficult decision” to close the brewery in just under three months.
“It’s been a tough time for all players in the Australian beer industry – with overall volumes declining by 100 million litres since 2019, continuing a long-term decline in consumption of beer,” he said.
“There have also been ongoing cost of living pressures reducing discretionary spending, and continuing increases in costs like energy, labour and ingredients, as well as government excise, which is now the third-highest in the world.”
Beer of the Week No 3
It’s rare for me to veer away from New Zealand beer, but I finally got to try one of Australia’s most-awarded IPAs, Bentspoke Brewing’s Crankshaft IPA.
As a one-time resident of that most underrated city of Canberra, it’s always been a beer I wanted to try.
It’s been a long time since I had such a polished, refined and … sculpted IPA. There were just no rough edges, everything was perfectly aligned, in balance, linear yet 3D, if that makes sense. A cohesive beer that doesn’t smack you in the face but just keeps throwing gentle flavour jabs.
Beer and curry — is it the right combo?
Having literally just published a column for Kia Ora magazine about spice and beer, I was intrigued by the science behind what to drink with spicy food.
We all love a cold beer with spicy food, but is it the best thing to wash away the spice if that vindaloo is stinging a little too hard?
Why doesn’t water help with spicy food? What about milk or beer? (theconversation.com)
Corona breaks into world’s Top 100 brands
London-based market researcher Kantar releases an annual list of the most valuable brands in the world.
As you may expect, Apple is the world’s most valuable brand for the third year, and the first brand to surpass a brand value of $1 trillion.
They are followed by Google (No 2; $753.5bn), Microsoft (No 3; $712.9bn), Amazon (No 4; $576.6bn) and McDonald’s (No 5; $221.9).
Kanta noted there were five newcomers in the Top 100, including activewear brand Lululemon (No.92; $20.6bn) and Corona (No.100; $19.0bn).
Which gives you some idea of where beer sits in a global sense.
Thanks everyone and catch you next week for the mid-winter review of the best beers from the last quarter.
Michael