Garage Project's US success

Boneface get new central Wellington venue, "sports" beer wins Rare Beer Challenge, Yeastie Boys founder selling shares to fund trip home, worst beers in the world, plus your weekend recommendations.

Huge kudos to Garage Project this week with the Wellington brewery winning the People’s Choice for the top brewery at the annual Firestone Walker Beer Festival in Paso Robles, California. The festival is a who’s who of the brewing world and for GP to win the People’s Choice is a testament to what they do so well.

This was a nice summary from the website Porch Drinking:

“For those who have regularly attended this festival, Garage Project comes as no surprise, however, for first-timers, it might have been a bit shocking to find one of the longest lines at the fest stemming from a brewery based out of Wellington, New Zealand. However, their cocktail-inspired series which features a layered “beer float” lived up to the hype. With a tart raspberry base and a sweet yuzu topper, Yuzu Rising was an absolute revelation.”

Garage Project Yuzu Rising. That’s Jos from GP with his head down. / Photo: Tristan Chan

---

Beer of the Week No 1

Staying with a Garage Project theme, even though this is a summery type beer, their Hatsukoi Neo Tokyo Lager won a place in the New World Beer & Cider Awards Top-30 and for me it was one of the biggest revelations in the contest. I like GP’s Beer beer and it’s either that or Crispy Club my default when going for a lager-style beer from them. But Hatsukoi really impressed me. It was light but edgy and I almost gave a little cheer and punched the air when I first drank it. Here’s what Hoppiness reviewer Tim Newman thought about it:

The international lager style has always been an exercise in precise and minimalist brewing, and Japanese style even more so.  So what caught the eye of the judges at the New World Beer & Cider Awards to make this 5% ABV “neo-Tokyo lager” from Garage Project a Top-30 winner?  There’s a delicate, almost fragile, noble hop aroma of fresh grass and faint florals that invites the senses further into the glass.  Then a striking lime acidity lights up the palate and kicks off a surprisingly energetic finish.  It is a superbly dynamic lager that is both reserved and racy in the same breath.

---

Yeastie Boys shares available

Stu McKinlay from Yeastie Boys is interested in selling up to 40,000 ordinary shares (full voting rights) in the company to help finance a trip back to New Zealand for himself and his family. Stu told shareholders they could buy shares in one lot or in any sized parcel of 10,000 or more. So far around half have been snapped up, I’m told.

If you’re keen, You can contact Stu directly to discuss this share sale on stu@yeastieboys.co.nz.

“All of our staff took considerable cuts to normal salaries over the course of the pandemic, including [partner] Fritha and I, so our only option is to sell some shares to fund this trip,” Stu explained.

The company does not set or recommend a share price — it is negotiable between seller and purchaser — but shares have traded at prices between $0.86 (peak pandemic) and $3.50 (peak growth, pre-pandemic).  The brewery recently sold a 12.5 per cent stake to distributors KBE and are about to relaunch in NZ.

---

Rare beer challenge winners announced

There’s a life-imitating-art connection between last week’s Rare Beer Challenge hosted by Fortune Favours and some news out of Australia this week.

The Rare Beer Challenge, a fund-raiser for Rare Disorders NZ, was won by Choice Bros with their sports drink-styled beer called A La La La La Long Imperial Isotonic Sports Beer.

You can read Denise Garland’s report on the event and the top beers here.

But I had to laugh at how the news cycle moved. No sooner had this beer won the trophy (and I assumed it was an all-in-fun kind of crazy experiment) than an actual isotonic beer was launched in Australia!

Dubbed the first of its kind in Australia, Wilde Isotonic is a naturally brewed electrolyte drink, created to taste like a regular Pale Ale and designed to replenish you by adding lost electrolytes and essential vitamins.

I think I’d rather drink Choice Bros 7 per cent version, if I’m being honest.

---

Beer Baroness brewing for the future

Beer Baroness in Christchurch are on a real awards binge at the moment. They took out a trophy at last year’s Brewers Guild Awards with Dare to Diva, a berry sour, and just landed a New World Beer & Cider Awards Top-30 with Sunshine & Spaceships Hazy IPA. Our Christchurch correspondent Tim Newman caught up with the team.

---