E-Malt.com News article: New Zealand: New Zealand’s craft brewers now brewing overseas to reduce shipping costs

New Zealand's craft brewers are not letting the tyranny of distance stop them from delivering fresh beer to the world, Stuff.co.nz reported on July 7.

Wellington breweries Yeastie Boys, Panhead and ParrotDog have all started brewing overseas as a way to reduce shipping costs, overcome capacity constraints and deliver fresh beer to international customers.

Kapiti Coast brewer Tuatara has already revealed plans to brew in two other countries before the end of the year, which were being kept secret.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise research found craft beer exports could increase by up to 300 per cent in the next decade, while New Zealand consumption was expected to increase 80 per cent by 2019.

Many breweries are already stretched to capacity and brewery expansions require significant investment, which has led some to look overseas.

Yeastie Boys "headboy" Stu McKinlay said he moved to Britain in April to oversee brewing of the company's biggest selling beers, Pot Kettle Black and Gunnamatta, at the brewery of Scottish craft beer producer BrewDog in Aberdeen.

The first brew was 10,000 litres - four times the batch size it could produce in New Zealand - and would be ready to distribute in both kegs and bottles throughout Britain in late June, he said.

Yeastie Boys beer brewed in New Zealand would continue to be sold in Pacific Rim markets including New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Japan, China and United States, he said.

In January Yeastie Boys raised NZ$500,000 through an equity crowdfunding campaign which outlined a focus on selling beer to markets in Britain and Europe.

Brewing in Britain was more sustainable than exporting beer and helped keep the price down, he said.

It also provided easier access to European markets, he said.

By brewing in Scotland Yeastie Boys increased its potential market from about 40 million customers to 500 million.

BrewDog also gave Yeastie Boys the opportunity to scale up if need be, brewing up to 80,000 litres of beer at a time, which was almost as much as Yeastie Boys brews each year in New Zealand.

An increasing number of craft brewers would look to make beer overseas, he said.

"If the big breweries can do it then why can't we."

Wellington's ParrotDog has been contract brewing in Australia through a Melbourne brewery since late 2014, director Matt Stevens said.

Brewing in Melbourne allowed the company to sell keg beer in Australia that was fresher than exported beer and more competitively priced, Stevens said.

ParrotDog had been sold on tap in about 25 Australian bars which was helping drive bottled beer sales, he said.

All of ParrotDog's bottled beer was still produced from its Wellington brewery, he said.

So far in Melbourne the company was brewing about one 4000 litre batch a month using New Zealand ingredients except for water.

ParrotDog's head brewer flew over to Australia every time a new brew was being made, he said.

"So he makes sure it's brewed to the exact quality he wants."

There were no plans to brew in other countries, Stevens said.

Panhead Custom Ales also contract brews keg beer in Melbourne for the Australian market.

Owner of the Upper Hutt brewery Mike Neilson said Panhead was brewing up to 7000 litres a month in Melbourne because it did not have capacity to meet demand in New Zealand and Australia.

"That frees up capacity in our brewery to service New Zealand," Neilson said.

He said New Zealand hops and malt for its Melbourne beer was sourced from an Australian supplier.

Brewers could produce beer at lower cost in their own breweries but when capacity was an issue it made sense to contract brew, he said.



08 July, 2015