Shining Peak move south with Sumner venue
Popular experimental hops move to advanced trials. Jimmy Carter's impact on craft beer. Who's up and who's down in 2024. 6 trends for the beer industry in 2025. A visit to Twofold and St Leonards.
Welcome back to Friday Night Beers!
We start with the worst-kept secret in the industry: Shining Peak are opening in Christchurch, with a new venue at the Sumner Post Office.
Shining Peak have been looking for a new venue for some time and briefly looked at opening in Queenstown, but they didn't actively seek out Sumner, the popular Christchurch beachside suburb.
"In essence Sumner picked us," says Shining Peak co-owner Jesse Sigurdsson. "The developers of the site got in touch with us and asked if we'd be interested in coming and having a look.
It was as simple as that really. We came down, had a look and got a good feel for the region. We fell in love with the building, fell in love with Sumner."
Sigurdsson says the ongoing post-earthquake revitalisation of Christchurch also makes it a vibrant spot.
“I find Christchurch just has so much life to it, whereas some of the other big centres are lacking a bit of that at the moment. I feel like there's always something going on in Christchurch and it's a good scene for beer and food and hospitality as well.
“So, it felt like it was the right fit and Sumner just felt like it could really use something similar to what we do here in New Plymouth — great beer but also great food, great service and a really nice environment.”
Shining Peak had been looking at alternative venues since 2020.
“We started to look into Queenstown at one point and that was probably the industry's worst-kept secret at that time. But that just ended up not being right for us. Since then we've just been looking and constantly talking about it.
“We looked at plenty of options and nothing was right so we thought, ‘we don't need to force it, we'll just wait until something comes along that feels right’. And this does feel right.”
Sigurdsson admits the new venue will put more pressure on the brewery in New Plymouth which is already stretched past capacity.
“Production is going to be our next problem — making sure we can keep up while also keeping up with our wholesalers as well.”
They currently get some beer brewed under contract at Steam in Auckland and have looked at adding capacity to their Gill Street brewery.
“We'd love to be able to chuck some more tanks in the back here but being an inner-city brewpub, it's not as simple as that.
“So, we either start getting really creative or we start looking at another site but the easy solution at the moment is obviously how much we get contract brewed.”
Two Thumb open in neighbouring Redcliffs
No sooner had Shining Peak opened in Sumner than Christchurch locals Two Thumb announced a new venue — their fifth — in neighbouring Redcliffs.
They have four Christchurch venues: the original Manchester Street site, Colombo Street, Diamond Harbour and now Redcliffs, as well as a Nelson venue.
Sigurdsson thinks the addition is a positive, rather than a competitive worry.
“Anything like that only helps build the area. And I think we complement each other with slightly different offerings at both ends. And perhaps people start bar hopping between the two of them. So, if we complement each other like that, I see a lot of value.”
Beer of the Week No 1
It was hard figuring out where to start this year, so I went with the beer I drank the most over the holidays: Brave Brewing Tigermilk IPA. This is partly because I saw a couple of them at my local supermarket — a rare sighting! — so I grabbed them, only to see a few more huddled down the back of the shelf. So I bought them all. I try not to repeat beers in this dispatch and I’ve reviewed Tigermilk before, but rules are made to be broken, right?
This is such a compact, efficient, well-balanced, refreshing, inviting, easy-to-love IPA. It’s just excellent beer and I love it.
Jimmy Carter’s impact on beer as we know it
Just before the New Year rolled around, former US President Jimmy Carter died, aged 100.
Carter, it can be argued, singlehandedly changed the direction of brewing in America and ushered in the craft era when he repealed a law — dating back to the Prohibition era — that banned home brewing of beer above 0.5%.
Here’s a great wee tribute from the Wall Street Journal.
Dusty’s Beer of the Week
New sud tube from New Plymouth’s Shining Peak, La Laguna is a 4.6% cerveza and their entry into the Rising Tide’s Lagerfest this weekend. Built for all summer activities whether it be beaches, fish ’n’ chips, hikes or the hammock, it’s hopped with the legendary Green Bullet with some backup from Motueka. It’s crisp asf with zesty pops of citrus and subtle floral spice with an initial underlying sweetness courtesy of the malted maize. A vibrant mouthfeel and slow, drying finish round out an all-day crusher! — Dusty
Experimental hops go to next phase
There’s good news for lovers of NZ Hops Ltd’s trial hops NZH-106 and NZH-109 — and I know there are few of you out there who are all over these two varieties.
The two varieties have burst out a pack that includes NZH-104, 105, 110 and 111 to advance to the next stage of testing.
Late last year, I spoke to Andrew Sutherland of Oast House Hops ahead of the upcoming harvest.
“They’re two very promising varieties that have got to what we call pre-commercial planting, which is less than one hectare on a range of farms across the growing region to test their agronomic performance.
“They’ve come through the Bract Brewing Programme and had a lot of good feedback so NZ Hops is taking the next step with those two varieties — testing them on a range of farms on different soil types in Tapawera, Motueka, Moutere and Wakefield to see their performance.”
They couldn’t have asked for a better start with another great harvest on offer.
The 2024 harvest impressed brewers and drinkers alike with the quality of the hops, notably Nelson Sauvin, and Sutherland said it’s tracking nicely for a similar harvest quality in 2025.
With one proviso.
“Well, it’s farming,” he says, knowing from experience that you can’t get ahead of yourself or the weather.
“What you’re often doing is dealing with, or reacting to, things you don’t have control over, particularly weather — whether that’s excessively wet or excessively dry.
“But we haven’t had the problem with a wet spring limiting our ability to get our spring tasks done, specifically hop-training. So things are tracking along really nicely. We’ve got even plant growth, We’ve got the plants on the twine when we wanted to and we haven’t had to stand down for extended rainy periods.”
Before that the winter was almost ideal.
“In winter we like to see some nice frost, some nice chilling. It helps to put the hops into a deep dormancy. The reason that’s good is that when we get to springtime and we get some warm temperatures, that wakes them up and gets them growing in a nice uniform way.
“And then in spring we had relatively mild temperatures without any late frosts. The advantage of that is that it doesn’t stop the plant growing. So, it woke up and it didn’t have anything that checked it.
“So yeah, across the board everything’s in a very nice place because of that.”
It’s all been so ideal that right now the plants are tracking “in advance of a normal year”.
The dry spring and quick start to summer means plenty of irrigation is needed to stop the plants bolting but Sutherland says it’s better to have that problem than too much rain.
“That is something we can control a little bit better than excess rain. The general commentary is that this spring has presented us with a really nice set of conditions, nice warmth, nice growth rate and we’ve been able to irrigate in a timely fashion to give the plants what they need.
“So, yeah, it’s a pretty sweet spot just at the moment.”
Beer of the Week No 2
I put my hands up: I’m one of those people who actually like low-carb beer. OK, not all low-carb beer, just the well-made variations.
I think it’s the lightness and sheer quaffability of these beers that I enjoy, especially at the height of summer when it’s hot and humid up in Auckland.
For those who are thinking January is a time to hit the low carb options I’d recommend quite a few: Urbanaut Miami Lager, Epic Blue and Emerson’s Super Quench would be my go-to options, but over the holidays I loved smashing a few of these Ultra Low Carb Lagers from Sawmill.
Who’s up and who’s down according to data
I love getting emails from Grant Caunter at State of Play. He’s very open about what’s going on in the industry and is always happy to share data from supermarket sales.
Grant’s background with DB and Heineken means he understands how to interpret this data.
Grant noted that craft beer (which includes what many of us wouldn’t necessarily call craft — Boundary Road, Monteith’s and Mac’s primarily) was down 1% in volume in 2024 and up 1% in value — so we’re buying a little less for a little more.
This is supermarkets only, not bottle shops, bars and direct sales, but it’s a good snapshot.
Grant’s analysis is that that the “big brands went hard to stay in the game” but at best that involved standing still apart from Boundary Road (Asahi).
Lion was flat at 24% market share via Macs, Panhead and Emersons.
DB were down 8% in value and now make up 13% of craft with Monteith's and Tuatara.
Asahi up 7% in value and now has 12% share of craft via Boundary Rd.
Of the independent Kiwi brewers, it seemed the bigger you are the better placed you were to withstand the economic drag of 2024.
Grant says Parrotdog, Garage Project, Stoke and Moa make up 22% of the total craft beer volume and collectively had an additional $3.75 million in sales in 2024.
Parrotdog was up 9%
Stoke “have had a huge year” — up 21%
Garage Project were up 8%
And Moa up 4%
So what about the remaining 28% (other supermarket craft breweries)?
“The rest are caught in the squeeze of having great brands and ok distribution with high production, delivery and merchandising/promo costs.
“All in all it has been tough in grocery as a middle-sized brewer,” Grant wrote referring to the likes of Behemoth, Good George, Urbanaut, Lakeman, Eddyline, Bach Brewing, Liberty, and Double Vision.
The ones to buck the trend?
Sawmill had a great year up 25% and Cassels were up 8%.
What are we drinking?
There has been a lot of change in the craft beer styles we are drinking
IPA up 7%
APA down 20%
Pilsner/Lager up 3%
Ginger Beer up 6%
How about zeros?
“More on the zeros next week. Here is a sneak peak — craft zeros made up 6% of total craft volume with a growth rate of 29%.
“And good news State of Play grew 58%. Still NZ's fastest-growing brewery.”
Tim’s Beer of the Week
The post-Christmas slouch is usually a slow period for new beers, but Brothers have kicked 2025 off with a BANG, with Nirvana, a triple hazy IPA. What better way to begin a new year of reviews!
I’ll say up front (and my musical knowledge is admittedly low) I do not get the can. It’s called Nirvana, but I’m definitely looking at the Hanson brothers … right? Am I confused? Are they confused? Did AI generate this entire beer? I just don’t know, but it doesn’t matter because this is a flatout 10% hazy that actually works, and that’s the real story here.
Hazy IPA as a style is just fundamentally difficult to scale up past 7%. The further past that barrier a brewer treads, the more treacherous the path becomes, and once the alcohol hits double digits I would honestly put the success rate at 50%.
Brothers, however, have more than pulled it off with this one.
Superlatively ripe passionfruit, pineapple and lychee burst out on the aroma, while the palate adds some mixed berries and a distinctly tutti-frutti element that’s become the hallmark of Superdelic hops. There’s absolutely no getting around the malt sweetness at that ABV, but it’s a testament to the force and balance of the hops that the flavour keeps its focus into the finish, without spilling into cloying stickiness along the way. Decadent and drinkable in equal measure.
Here’s to a new year in beer. — Tim Newman
More tough times in Aussie
KAIJU! Beer have become the latest brewery to enter voluntary administration, appointing DBA Reconstruction and Advisory to oversee a financial restructure of the overarching business, South East Brewing Company.
The Crafty Pint reports that through the voluntary administration process, KAIJU! will continue operating as usual, with the doors to their Huntingdale brewpub remaining open and their production schedules continuing without interruption.
Co-founder and CEO Callum Reeves told The Crafty Pint the decision was made due to the level of debt they were carrying, including an excise bill owed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
“I'm really confident about the business going forward; we've had a really good couple of months, it's just we were never going to be able to work through the debt,” Callum says.
KAIJU! was named Champion Medium Australian Brewery at last year’s Australian International Beer Awards and took home the Pilsner Trophy for their Köldspliff.
KAIJU! Beer Enter Voluntary Administration - The Crafty Pint
Beer of the week No 3
I was rapt to get along to the Beer Spot in Morningside to have a first t.aste of a new release from Urbanaut and St Leonards, Saison d’Huff, named for Urbanaut brewer Dave Huff.
The brew was done as a collab because St Leonard’s smaller kit was better for this kind of experimental brew — the Urbanaut kit is just too big for playing around on.
They launched it on “neutral” territory at the Beer Spot, which is just across the road from Urbanaut.
This is a great example of a modern Saison. Peppery phenolics, woody, herbal hops, slick mouthfeel and a lovely dry finish with a sweet perfume flavour threaded through.
And speaking of St Leonards, they and the other recent Auckland opening, Twofold, impressed our brewpub reviewer, Colin Hogg.
Right, I’ve promised myself this email will remain relatively “tight” for 2025 as some of them got quite long last year! So I’ll leave you with this attempt (below) to see into the future of beer. Honestly, I can’t argue with any of them. And hard data seems to reflect the view that “trusted” beers and breweries will be the ones to find success in a continued challenging environment.
That sentiment seems to be reflected in the item further up ⬆️.
6 Beer Industry Trends to Watch in 2025 | SevenFifty Daily
I’ll be back next week with plenty more news and views, including heaps I couldn’t fit in this time around!
And if you’re heading to the Great Kiwi Beer Festival in Christchurch next week come along to the Craft Beer Academy tent where I’ll be hosting chats with Mike Neilson of Boneface, Joe Wood from Liberty, Andy Duke from Brew Moon, Rachael Norcross from Punky Brewster and Cam Burgess from Southpaw.
Michael
Grant noted that craft beer (which includes what many of us wouldn’t necessarily call craft — Boundary Road, Monteith’s and Mac’s primarily)
"And Moa up 4%"
Some craft beer purists would also baulk at Moa being included - but they do some good beers. The hostility actually stems more from how Moa has been marketed in the past.