E-Malt.com News article: New Zealand: Craft brewers struggling to fill orders as demand for their beers soars

Wellington microbreweries are struggling to fill orders as Aucklanders' newfound penchant for craft beer sends demand skyward, Stuff.co.nz reported on January 28.

Leading craft breweries Garage Project, Panhead Custom Ales and ParrotDog are all adding capacity to their breweries as they frantically try keep up with orders.

"We're just running as fast as we can to catch up with demand," ParrotDog director Matt Stevens said.

ParrotDog's brewery in Te Aro, Wellington was running at full capacity and beer lines were constantly running out, he said.

To help keep up with demand, an additional 5000 litre tank would arrive within four weeks adding to existing capacity of 300,000 litres of beer a year, he said.

Craft beer makes up about 2 per cent of beer sales in New Zealand, according to an ANZ craft beer industry report released in August.

It is the fastest growing segment of the brewing industry, increasing by about 25 per cent per year, the report said.

The sector is expected to keep growing as the Auckland market catches up with Wellington, and as New Zealand catches up with more advanced overseas markets like Melbourne in Australian and Portland in the United States.

Wellington was still ParrotDog's main market but Auckland was a good growth area, Stevens said.

Wellington's Aro Valley-based Garage Project, which was named the country's best brewery in last year's Society of Beer Advocates Awards (SOBA), has also been under the pump particularly to meet increasing demand from Auckland.

"It's just been a constant battle of ours since we started," co-founder Jos Ruffell said.

"We've been able to send a bit more beer to Auckland but it's nowhere near what people want."

The brewery was upgraded early last year and already more tanks were being added to increase brewing capacity, he said.

Most of Garage Project's beer was sold in Wellington with about 25 per cent of production exported and 10 per cent sold in Auckland.

A couple of years ago it was sending nothing to Auckland, Ruffell said.

Garage Project customers were having to go on waiting lists and container loads of orders from overseas customers were being turned down because there was not enough beer to fill them, he said.

"I know of a number of breweries around the country who are at capacity or are expanding and putting in more production."

Upper Hutt's Panhead Custom Ales owner Mike Neilson said he had struggled to keep up with demand since late 2013, shortly after the brewery opened.

Panhead, which won SOBA's best beer for 2012 with its India pale ale The Vandal, has a waiting list for orders which could not be filled until the following month, he said.

"We keep adding tanks and the orders just keep growing," Neilson said.

Another 500,000 litres of brewing capacity would arrive next week which would help meet demand, he said.

ANZ Marlborough regional manager of commercial and agriculture Rob Simcic said the craft beer industry shares similarities to where the New Zealand wine industry was 20 years ago.

Back then annual sales of New Zealand wine were about NZ$41 million, which was similar to export sales of New Zealand beer were in 2014, including sales from the big three overseas-owned breweries, Lion, DB Breweries and Independent Liquor, he said.

New Zealand's wine industry is now worth NZ$1.3 billion a year, and while craft beer may never reach such lofty heights it was certainly heading down the right path, he said.

"One of the challenges will be stepping up production and retaining the quality that they're known for," Simcic said.


28 January, 2015