Historic craft beer back on tap
Boneface rebrand just around the corner. Beer Baroness and Pomeroy's pub merge. British punters struggle to identify independent breweries; can you? Read poll: Milkshake IPA — love or hate?
Welcome to the start of the long weekend beer friends.
We kick off this week with the good news you didn’t know you needed to hear!
I posted a while back about Mike’s Bistro in New Plymouth being temporarily closed. After “temporary” turned into a “quite a while”, I started to worry about the future of a brand that ties back to New Zealand’s nascent microbrewery scene in the 1980s, and their legacy beer Mike’s Mild.
I chased up owner Ron Trigg who noted that Mike’s Mild Ale was back on tap at the newly-opened and reimagined Mike’s Bistro (now at 40 Devon Street East).
Background: Mike’s Brewery, the original, started in Urenui in 1989 but a few years ago after some financial trouble, a liquidation and a restructure, Mike’s ultimately moved down the coast and into the city in 2018, transforming from a brewery to a bistro, with the beer made under contract.
When the temporarily closed sign went up at the former premises, there were concerns that time had been called on the brand.
“It’s been a long time between drinks, but Mike’s Mild Ale is back on tap,” Ron said.
“We have been closed for five months to relocate, but we’ve had the taproom open for a few weeks, we’ve got a new head chef, and as of last night [Wednesday this week] the bistro is open for dining too.
“We’ve got a temporary tap set-up, but the flash version is in production.”
Mike’s beers have been made under contact at a variety of other breweries but now they are being brewed at the old Shunters Yard brewery kit in Hamilton. Pete McKenzie sold the brewery and assets to Patron’s in Hood Street, with the brewery now located out the back of that brewpub.
McKenzie is one of the OGs of craft brewing in New Zealand and he brews the Patron’s beers.
He said Mike’s is the first contract client for Patron’s.
Boneface rebrand coming soon
The Boneface rebrand under new owners Mike and Anna Neilson is just around the corner judging by their latest Facebook post! I’m pretty excited to see what the new look says about the business and where it’s headed!
Beer of the Week No 1
I love a beer that gives me pause for thought; something a little different and distinctive. In the IPA world that’s a hard thing to do, but hats off to Sunshine Brewing in Gisborne for creating an IPA that in surfing terms is goofy-footed compared to all the regulars out there. And by that, I mean it has a different stance and is by no means inferior, in fact it’s pretty tasty.
First up it’s a caramel-malty, old school style IPA with a generous amount of sweet orange-coloured citrus (tangerine, mandarin) but layered with pine and a spicy-woodiness. It’s robustly bitter and finishes very dry and light.
I think where it differs from a lot of IPAs we see here is that it’s entirely Aussie-hopped (Galaxy, Eclipse and Vic Secret). I think we’re so used to seeing American- and New Zealand-hopped IPAs (and NZ-US combos) that a pure Australian hop bill stands out distinctly. I took my time getting acquainted with this beer but now that I now it well, I thoroughly enjoy its offbeat presentation.
Brewery-pub merge
I sent an email the other day to Ava Nakagawa of Beer Baroness for a story I’m doing on urban brewpubs. In it, I noted that while Beer Baroness and the legendary Pomeroy’s were separate businesses, for the purposes of the story I was going to roll them into one.
The reply was along the lines of: “Well, funny you should say that…”
Because that’s exactly what’s happened: Pomeroy’s and Beer Baroness have merged into one business, or rather Pomeroy’s has absorbed Beer Baroness. For the customer it doesn’t really have much impact, but for the two businesses operating under one roof and largely within one family, it makes a whole heap of financial and administrative sense.
The background is that Ava’s parents Steve and Victoria own the pub, which she manages, while also owning and running Beer Baroness, alongside Andi Hickey. Beer Baroness brewery is out the back of Pomeroy’s and they also brew the popular Pomeroy’s house brand beers. So, it makes sense to turn two businesses into one.
The one regret Ava has is the fact she can no longer call Beer Baroness a totally woman-owned business.
“Having a brewery owned solely by women was really important but we can’t hold on to something like that if it stops progress. We were doing a disservice to ourselves by keeping them as separate businesses.”
For instance, Beer Baroness was selling kegs to Pomeroy’s at the same rate they’d sell them to other local pubs, while there are other housekeeping gains such as not having to file two annual returns to the IRD, having one set of Xero accounts and associated fees, one set of insurance premiums, one payroll etc.
Ava noted the current status of the beer economy (it’s tough) was a factor.
“We’ve talked about on and off about it over the years and maybe if it was a more buoyant economy we wouldn’t have done it, but when you’re counting dollars and cents it makes a big difference.”
Tim’s Beer of the Week / Beer of the Week No 2
Not quite a tale of two cities but a tale of two takes on the same beer. When Tim sent me in his review of Bach Brewing’s new release Moojoo Mango Milkshake Hazy IPA (try saying that fast!) it landed after I’d just started writing my own, so here goes:
Tim Newman: As a critic, it’s important to resist falling into the habit of sticking to ‘safe’ styles that you’re most likely to enjoy. I could drink West Coast IPA (and enthuse about it) all day long, but I have to get out of my comfort zone every now and then to challenge my palate and shake loose any critical views that might have ossified. Moojoo Mango Milkshake Hazy IPA (6.5%) from Bach Brewing (Auckland) could not be further from my comfort zone…
Mango, Milkshake and Hazy (to a lesser extent), are amongst my most dreaded red flags when assessing a beer label, so that’s three just in the name. It also displays an image of a man drinking beer through a straw, so make that strike four. But here goes…
While the mango is immediately present in the aroma, it isn’t nearly as dominant as I feared it would be; if anything the pineapple and passionfruit ring a little clearer as they mesh more directly with the blend of New Zealand and American hops. The weight and heft of the palate is amplified by the lactose, which also serves to round off the sharper edges of the fruit notes (hop driven and the actual fruit), which leads to a slow and languid finish that is eventually arrested by the rising bitterness. Smooth, thick and undeniably fruity. Could I enjoy a glass of this on a hot afternoon? Yes. Has it changed my mind about milkshake IPA? Absolutely not. But hey, I went there.
Michael: Tim’s given you all the descriptors and I’m here to tell you that while it’s one hell of a flavour bomb, it’s also an experience. It’s thick and creamy but the body isn’t weighed down, in fact it’s quite spritely (or is that fanta-ly?) with a good carbonation and texture. The sweetness could have run away with the show, but it’s tied down tightly by a well-judged bitterness. Sometimes all you want from a beer is a bit of fun, and I reckon a couple of these shared amongst friends in a coupe cocktail glass on a summer evening would set the tone perfectly. Plus, you gotta love beer that does exactly what it says on the tin. In terms of Milkshake IPAs, Duncan’s Whippy IPA has been my style benchmark, but even that great beer might have to take back seat to this one. Like Tim, I wouldn’t drink this style a lot but if you love your beers like this, get in! And it’s perfect with a burger, believe me.
Woolworths follow up
Last week I reported on Woolworths’ dramatic cutbacks on how much craft beer they’d stock in the future, and the subsequent delay to the implementation of the plan while they reviewed data after a massive protest from breweries caught out by the sudden nature of the change.
Woolworths came back after publication of last week’s story with their response.
We have limited space on our shelves, and customer shopping preferences are constantly evolving. This means we need to regularly review and update the products we sell in our stores, and ensure we showcase these in a way that customers can easily find what they’re looking for.
Our category review process is led by customer preference and with each review we aim to tailor our range to better reflect what customers are looking for and improve the overall experience.
It’s also an important opportunity for us to introduce new products to our customers and, to make space for the products customers are looking for, we will remove products that no longer resonate with customers, either across all of our stores, or in specific areas where it does not sell well.
More specifically, the beer category review that you’ve referenced included the below objectives:
Optimise our range based on changing customer needs, including reviewing customer demand for slow-moving lines
Improve on-shelf availability of products and make it easier for customers to choose and find the products they want
Improve the range of local craft beers
Move all craft beer to chilled areas
We have had feedback from our suppliers regarding the proposed changes, and we’ve held a number of meetings with our suppliers to discuss that feedback. We value our supplier’s input and based on this, we have made the decision to delay the review until further notice.
Meanwhile Grant Caunter from State of Play had his own take in his regular email:
There has been quite the drama over the past two weeks with the announcement of the new planograms across Woolworths stores for craft beer.
Woolworths is different to Foodstuffs (PaknSave, New World, 4 Square) as they have one round of changes each year that gets implemented across the stores.
Back in June we had the reviews and new products presented. All breweries are then advised what is in and what is out. State Of Play had the Mixed Pack added. Very happy with this.
Then two weeks ago the list of stores each SKU will be ranged in was presented. Woolies HQ was making a big play for all craft beer to go into a chiller. The chiller space is a lot less than ambient so as a result NZ breweries got quite a shock with the reduction on stores our products would be ranged. State of Play no exception and pretty hard to take when stock has been packed ready for launch.
So, there was quite a flurry of emails and calls from all breweries and even the Brewers Guild of NZ got involved. We got hold of the data used to make the new ranging decisions and were able to present back on missing stores and how to improves sales opportunities to head office.
Well done Woolworths Head Office team who could see that some of the new planogram recommendations were not going to work for all parties and have delayed any changes. All new products will still find a home, including the State of Play Mix Pack. Whew!
Dusty’s Beer of the Week
A three-pronged attack of Mosaic Cryo, Simcoe Cryo and Nelson Sauvin feature in this 6.5% Westy from the “party forever” crew at Urbanaut Brewing. Casa Viejo is rich robust malts meets ripe pineapple-apricot upfront, followed by secondary notes of pine, melon, gooseberry. A resiny bitterness and mellow carb round out a tasty example of a Westy here, cheers and hoppy Friday! — Dusty
Craft. To be or not to be?
Dylan Jauslin in his dormant blog The Bottleneck came up with a great line about craft, which riffed off the famous line about pornography by US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who famously said:
“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hard-core pornography], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case [The Lovers] is not that.”
Dylan’s view about craft was that it’s ill-defined and hard to describe but you definitely know it when you see it.
In recent years, I reckon it’s become increasingly harder to know it when you see it. In fact, while craft is a useful catch-all phrase it does little to demarcate a clear point of difference. The distinction between real craft and high-volume global lagers (at two edges) is a wide grey field.
I could go on all day but what an ill-fitting descriptor “craft” is, but for now it’s the best we have. But what about “indie” — does it work any better?
I’m certain, because you’re reading this missive, you’d have a good idea of whether a New Zealand brewery is independent or not. But put it to the wider population and there’d be confusion for sure.
And that’s exactly what’s happened in the UK, as craft/indie/boutique/artisan/microbreweries struggle to convey their collective unique selling point to the nation. They know craft is busted flush but right now they’re losing the “indie” battle as well.
Beer of the Week No 3
Failure on my part to get a picture to go with this one, so apologies! I was too busy chatting.
Anyway, long story short I spent a whirlwind 48 hours in Christchurch last weekend where every beer was a treat, including Townshend Sutton Hoo on handpull at Craft Embassy. I caught up with friends at Moon Under Water in Somerfield and had a delightful Sprung (as in spring has sprung) pale ale from Brew Moon, which only advanced my thesis that NZ Hops Ltd’s Superdelic is sensational partner to punchy American hops, in this case Mosaic. Superdelic’s offbeat profile (lollies and berries) fills in lots of gaps around American hops. Anyway, it was a beautiful spring day and this was a beautiful beer.
Speaking of Christchurch, if you’re in the city tomorrow, Volstead are hosting the second Christchurch Breweries Festival where every brewery in the wider Christchurch area will be represented
And in Auckland don’t forget the Auckland Beer Mile is the Zombie Beer Mile tomorrow.
Speaking of Auckland events, the crew at Twofold in Parnell have finally got a taplist that features a full range of house-brewed beers and to celebrate they’re having their official launch party — which they are calling Twofoldapalooza — on the weekend of November 1, 2 & 3.
As well as full-range of their own beers on tap, they’ll be pushing out into teh neighbouring Heard Park, which will be transformed into a beer garden for the weekend, with outdoor seating and activities for the whole family to enjoy including, live music, lawn games, hourly giveaways, and baily partyfaß tappings.
It’s all just beer
I’ll finish with another typically irreverent but spot-on Hop Take from Dave Infante about the state of the US beer industry as it faces yet another challenge: this time “hard water”, if you can believe it.
And there’s a line in there that calls back to the earlier piece about punters not being able tell the difference between indie and big beer. Maybe it’s not that they don’t know. They just don’t care!
A recent analysis of 2024 Brewers Association survey data by Sightlines, a subscription platform that offers analysis of the alcohol, cannabis, and functional beverage industries, shows that despite the incredible variety in the modern American beer aisle, consumers mostly consider domestic, import, and craft beer as highly interchangeable with one another. In other words, if it feels like it’s time for a beer, any kind of beer will do, and if it doesn’t, well, tough shit, brewers.
“While the range of styles and flavors from craft beer may seem more closely connected to many of today’s ‘fourth category’ of RTDs, FMBs, or cider, the survey showed customers saw craft as part of a singular beer realm, where domestic beer, imports, and craft all clustered together,” wrote Sightlines’ director of insights Bryan Roth. “Beer is beer.”
That’s just one of the great insights, which come in waves:
‘Beer-Flavored Beer’ Can’t Save the Category on Its Own | VinePair
Have a great long weekend!
Michael
Hi Michael, great Friday Night Beers as per usual.
I was interested in the Woolies story. I live in Australia and although major supermarkets here can't (or choose not to?) sell beer, they do own the main bottle store chains ie Dan Murphys, BWS etc.
Anyway the reason I bring this up is because Woolies (the Endeavour Group) own at least 15 "craft" beer brands which they tend to give prominence in their fridge space at their bottle-o's. This has led to independent's share of the craft beer fridge space falling from 56% in 2020 to 38% in 2023. Details here https://craftypint.com/who-owns-your-beer and https://www.beerreflections.com.au/who-owns-my-beer-from-pillar-to-post/
I wonder whether their moves in New Zealand are a part of a plan to rationalise the number of independent craft beers they range to create fridge space for their own labels. If so then this is the first step in an ongoing marginalisation of independents so Woolworths can capture more of consumer spend directly themselves.
Easy for me to say but as consumers we need to - through our spending - send a signal to Australian owned companies like Woolworths that part of the enjoyment of drinking craft beer is to support small local businesses.