Mount Brewing at the summit of NZ beer
BOP brewery adds NZ Stout Challenge to Malthouse WCIPA Challenge trophy to complete an award-laden 12 months. Lion records big loss after "onerous" contract. Urbanaut release SIX non-alcs for Dry July
Welcome to July beer fans — whether you’re doing it dry or not!
I wanted to start this week with an ode to the team at Mount Brewing in Mount Maunganui.
Last weekend they took out the annual NZ Stout Challenge hosted by Moon Under Water and Punky Brewster in Christchurch with a dessert stout called Shades of the Pacific. It’s brewed with cacao, vanilla, toasted coconut and orange.
The NZ Stout Challenge doesn’t get the same the hoopla as the upcoming Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge, or the just-completed Smith’s NZ IPA Challenge, but some extremely good beers come out of that event.
Why I want to focus on Mount Brewing is that they are the first brewery (according to my research) to hold both the Road Cone (the NZ Stout trophy) and the Gumboot (Malthouse WCIPA trophy) at the same time.
Add to that, they had two beers in the New World Beer & Cider Awards Top 30 in May.
By my reckoning that makes them one of the most successful breweries over the past 12 months — the only hole in their CV being a NZ Beer Awards trophy.
I spoke to Niall Harley, who runs the brewery alongside wife Briar, the daughter of the original founders Glenn and Virginia Meikle. The couple married in March, another momentous event in the highlight reel of the past 12 months.
Harley, originally from Donegal in Ireland, said the past year’s success is the result of a thorough quality programme dating back three years.
“Three years ago we entered a lot of beer into the Brewers Guild Awards and we thought our beer was in good place but we got only two or three medals and it was tough to take. It brought us down to earth and we realised we had a lot of work today.
“Pavel [Lewandowski] our head brewer worked on the recipes, the off flavours, and honed in on every process.
“He’s trained team up and everyone is doing the exact same process and in past year-and-a-half, everyone’s really bought into it.
“There’s no complacency anymore.”
He said Mount Brewing like to enter as many awards as possible to get feedback from experts.
Shades of the Pacific was created by one of their younger brewers, German-born Leonie Hoenig, who started with Mount Brewing working behind the bar before moving into the brew team a couple of years ago.
Here she talks about how she created the award winning brew.
Lion’s big loss
It turns out it’s not just smaller, independent breweries who are doing it tough right now.
New Zealand’s largest brewery, Lion, posted a $46.4 million loss last year, outlined in newly published statements — a sharp drop from the $5.47m profit it made in 2022.
A large chunk of that loss was due to a $26.2m “onerous contract”.
An onerous contract, according to the New Zealand Herald, is a contract likely to cost your business more to fulfill than you’ll receive in return. Lion didn’t give any more information about the contract, citing commercial sensitivity.
Lion’s sales were up by nearly $30m in the year to $664.2m but it faced higher operating costs and higher financing costs.
Lion NZ managing director Craig Baldie said: “It is always disappointing to report a loss, but particularly so when we are in many areas making good progress against our strategy.
“The loss can largely be attributed to changes in our group cost base, a one-off cost relating to an onerous contract and higher interest costs on our debt.”
Baldie said Lion grew its market share across alcohol and in all channels last year.
Beer of the Week No 1
In the spirit of Dry July I’m going to be doing one non-alcoholic beer a week for the next month … or in the case of Urbanaut: six non-alcoholic beers.
I love the audacity at Urbanaut. They were crazy enough to try six Fresh Hop beers last year. And before that they came up with the ephemeral but sublime Crystal IPA for Beervana.
But I think brewing six non-alcoholic beers for a “Cool Out” mixed pack of non-alcs is either madness or genius.
To be fair, there are only five new beers because the Little Rock IPA has been around for a while, although I do think they’ve tweaked that a little bit to tone down the bitterness.
The mixed six has three clear and three hazy offerings. Split another way, three are quite sweet and three are drier. The fruitier versions include a Pineapple Hazy (total pineapple juice experience) and a Motueka-hopped hazy that’s so limey it could be mistaken for a radler!
The Grapefruit IPA is astonishing. Refreshing, lithe and punching out a lovely yet restrained grapefruit note in perfect harmony with the underlying base beer.
The Red IPA is unusual in that it tastes more like a creaming soda, which is not a bad thing!
There’s also a more traditional non-alc Hazy IPA to round out the six.
And this is your reminder, not that you need it, that New World stores are very good at the Dry July options, via their Zero Zones. Look out for this mixed six-pack in your local home of craft beer.
In praise of Canterbury Draught
Last week we noted the passing of Canterbury Draught into the final recycling bin in the sky.
In the wake of the decision to stop production of that beer, my friend and colleague Denise Garland penned a delightful obit for Radio New Zealand, complete with a fantastic picture of her dad Colin from his days working at the Lion Brewery in Christchurch.
An obit for Canterbury Draught | RNZ News
A slice of heaven in Chch
Staying in Christchurch and connected to Canterbury Draught via the old Ward’s brewery, there was a lovely story about Beer Baroness in The Press this week, with some stunning pics from Iain McGregor.
Three businesses, three kids, one mum’s ‘slice of heaven’ | The Press
Which brings us to …
Tim’s Beer of the Week
Here’s a sneak preview from one of Beer Baroness’ upcoming range of barrel-aged limited releases. Lady Danger (one of the all-time classics from the Christchurch brewery) serves as the platform for this imperial red ale, further embellished by blending in a portion that was aged for over a year in barrel.
Double Danger Imperial Hoppy Red Ale (7.9%) features aromas of dried stone fruit and sumptuously rich roasted malt, counterbalanced by just a thread of vanilla and tart barrel funk. That hint of barrel-borne brett, along with notes of char and oak tannin serve to dry an otherwise rich and heavily malt-driven palate as it meanders into a long and complex finish.
Keep an eye out for this and other barrel-aged treats from the team at Beer Baroness soon.
Dusty’s Beer of the Week
Tropic Stout from Hallertau provides an idyllic temporary escape from winter’s ravage, this jet-black beauty is full of rich dark chocolatey notes with an underlying pineapple sweetness, mouthfeel is thin yet silky with a semi-bittering cacao finish — a 440ml liquid bon voyage.
Beer of the Week No 2
Peach Hop Salad has been out for a while, but it’s an absolute belter from New Zealand’s champion brewery, Warkworth-based 8 Wired.
This literally does what it says on the tin: with the aroma being just like opening a can of peaches.
The amazing aroma is followed by an intense fruit salad experience on the palate, with peaches again dominant but complemented by other fruit-bowl flavours such as kiwifruit, blueberry, oranges and a hint of strawberry.
With a bundle of the most aromatic hops on the planet — Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic, Citra and Galaxy — this is a stunning creation, elevated to that super-fresh flavour category with the addition of the peaches.
And a heads up to 8 Wired (and Hopwired) fans: for their 15th birthday, 8 Wired are releasing a version of Hopwired brewed with Southland-grown hops from Garston Hops. It should be a treat. If you’re ordering, throw in one of these ⬆️
Beeryani anyone?
Credit to this Indian brewery for the idea and the name!
Blockbuster Beer, based in Hyderabad, says the beer has the cinnamon and star anise aromas of biryani, the iconic dish of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states in India. Whatever it tastes like, the name is a winner.
Wait! Is alcohol good for you again?
Last week I shared a story from the New York Times looking at what we’re now calling “safe” levels of drinking.
It came with the now-accepted stance that there’s no safe level of drinking, but that a few drinks a week is pretty low risk.
Now, admittedly the following story was published by The Drinks Business, which might have a bearing on things, but they’ve done an excellent job rounding up a bunch of research on the benefits of wine, red wine in particular.
Despite the current debate about whether wine is good for you or not at moderate levels, there are also recent scientific studies that have provided evidence to support these claims, highlighting the positive effects of wine, particularly red wine, on various aspects of human health…
… Wine, when consumed in moderation, offers a range of health benefits, from improving cardiovascular health and bone density to managing diabetes and even preventing cancer. The antioxidants and flavonoids present in wine, particularly resveratrol, play a crucial role in these health benefits.
The scientific studies showing the health benefits of wine (thedrinksbusiness.com)
Beer of the Week No 3
There’s been a Mild revolution going on lately! Either that or it’s just a coincidence both McLeod’s and Garage Project released dark milds in the same week.
Depending on your source material, Mild is a mild version of a traditional English Bitter: milder in taste, less bitter.
But Mild also draws a line back to when beer was aged in, and served from, casks: mild was the name given to the younger, fresher beer poured from the cask.
And Milds are lower in ABV than many other beers, traditionally in a sub-4% realm so mild on your liver.
Malt and yeast-driven, and usually well-attenuated, Milds offer lots of complex flavour on a low ABV — a sweetish profile without being cloying — and the low hop content means your palate stays fresh and clean — in other words they are great beers for a “session”.
Anyway, British Steel (3.5%) from Garage Project has a descriptor on the can that references Toffee Pops biscuits and it’s hard for me to give a better summation of the intense nutty, caramel, biscuity flavour. Stunning beer!
An update from Aussie
With the GABS festival recently held in Melbourne, the ABC in Australia decided to trek around the venue and talk to breweries about the state of the industry.
It’s well-balanced round-up that captures the state of the Australian industry right now.
Australia's breweries hang on, as craft beer industry issues come to a head - ABC News
Thanks for joining me and catch you next weekend.
