Tuatara Strikes Gold

Each year, the Wellington Gold Awards recognise the very best in Wellington business. Run in association with the Dominion Post, they have become the region’s premier business awards. Last year, we were delighted to be selected as a finalist in the Emerging Gold (smaller enterprises) category. On May 18 2011, we went one better when Tuatara Brewing Company won the Emerging Gold award.

To do so, we had to compete against a worthy group of finalists - Celcius Coffee, Corner Solutions International, Shott Beverages and Urban Harvest. Congratulations to them for their success in reaching the finals. Our thanks also go to the Dominion Post for supporting the awards and the ANZ for sponsoring our category.

The eleven Wellington Gold awards were presented over the course of a (very) long glitzy gala event at the TSB arena. The overall winner was Mesynthes, the company which developed a hi-tech, stable tissue substitute to help people with burns or severe skin conditions. They also won the Discovering Gold category which recognised the best research and development work. Wellington business legend Lloyd Morrison was also recognised in a tribute.

Director Sean Murrie accepted the Emerging Gold award on behalf of the Tuatara team. Our category was one of the first to be announced and Sean had barely sat down before being called up on stage to accept the prize. Looking very sharp in his rarely seen suit, he delivered a succinct speech thanking the staff, customers and judges for the company’s continued success. It would turn out to be one of the shortest speeches of the evening by a considerable margin.

Speaking after the event, Sean said he believed the award was based on a number of inter-linked aspects of the company. He felt the judges were impressed by the fast growth rate of Tuatara, significant increases both in production and distribution, a boost in staff numbers, greater customer awareness of the brand, a move into exporting and positive media coverage, all achieved while keeping the beer quality high.

So, we are delighted with the award which will take pride of place at Tuatara HQ. We want to thank all our customers and suppliers who are the heroes of our organisation – without you guys this never would have been possible. We cannot enter Emerging Gold again so next year we may need to have a little look round and see if there is another category we might compete in – watch this space.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Sponsoring the next generation of Tuatara

Like most people, we are very fond of the humble Tuatara – those uniquely New Zealand reptiles which are the sole survivors of an order which all but died out over 200 million years ago.

It was this Kiwi pluckiness which inspired us to take up the name for our brewery and to use images of real Tuatara in our (by necessity limited) marketing and advertising campaigns.

As such, we feel it is important we give something back to our scaly friends. Tuatara Brewing Company has been a long-term supporter of Zealandia – the Kaori Sanctuary Experience – and their long-term efforts to protect and nurture the still endangered Tuatara.

Zealandia’s flash website notes that Tuatara “were extinct from the mainland since the late 1700s until they were released into ZEALANDIA in 2005. A total of 200 have been transferred. Evidence of breeding was recorded in November 2007 and the first hatchling was spotted in March 2009 - an extremely significant breakthrough in the restoration of this species on the mainland.”

Regular readers of this blog will recall that we also helped present a beer and food matching event to celebrate the first baby’s second birthday.

Now, Tuatara Brewing Company has taken things one step further and become the official sponsor of the new Tuatara hatcheries which are currently being built and nearing completion in Zealandia. The importance of those hatcheries for the eleven juvenile Tuatara who will live there cannot be over-stated. Unfortunately, young Tuatara need protection from adult Tuatara who are actually quite inclined to eat them!

Of course, we are not the only ones to link the reptiles with the brewery. Our friends at WellingtonNZ did a pretty amazing job in this 15-second ad which speculates that Lonely Planet may have dubbed Wellington the Coolest Little Capital in the World because of the Tuatara at Zealandia and/or the Tuatara at the Malthouse.

We are not necessarily claiming all the credit but we do know for sure that the author of the Lonely Planet section on Wellington did a beer tasting at the Malthouse and became a bit of a Tuatara Pilsner fan subsequently… we are just saying…

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

The Great Tuatara Tap Hunt – The Tuatara Triangle

One of the main functions of this blog is to highlight some of the exceptionally cool venues which have made the decision to stock our beers. At Tuatara, we acknowledge that, because of the way our industry runs, making that choice is not always as easy as it should be in an ideal world, and there can be some costs or lost incentives involved.

This week, we are looking at three venues all within a 100m (or so) radius in central Wellington – D4, One Red Dog and the Featherston. We have dubbed this area “The Tuatara Triangle.”

D4 is upstairs at 143 Featherston Street. It is named after the Irish postcode Dublin 4 and is billed as “a leading Wellington Irish Bar/Pub and high quality restaurant.” Their website describes the place as “an intimate open plan setting, nestled above the bustle of the capital's beating heart. From the hot pink velvet staircase to the bespoke Kanemail chandelier, D4 brings understated elegance to the culture capital. Service is efficient but discreet, cooking, invariably excellent and D4 presents great value for money.”

They currently have six Tuatara beers on tap – all of them apart from the Ardennes which, given the hot pink stairs, may be wise. As a match, try a baker’s dozen of their new hot and spicy chicken wings with celery and ranch dressing accompanied by a quenching Tuatara Pilsner.

A block or so away on the ocean side is One Red Dog Queens Wharf. They describe themselves “the newest edition to the One Red Dog, but we ain't no runt. Always one of the busiest places on the waterfront One Red Dog, Queens Wharf is a pure bred red.” Their food speciality is definitely pizza and they are hard to resist.

All seven Tuatara beers are on tap and available in jugs ($25 or $20 on Fridays). The suggested match here is the Godfather pizza (pepperoni, tomatoes, red onions, Portobello mushrooms and capsicum) with extra anchovies matched with Tuatara IPA. Do not be put off by the on-line beer menu which still has the Loaded Hog beers listed. The Tuatara chased those guys off years ago.

The Featherston Bar and Grill sits on the corner of Featherston and Johnston Streets, again about a block from D4 but this time towards the train station. After a dramatic and much-needed renovation, their website rightly describes the place as “An exquisitely refurbished art-deco masterpiece, Featherston boasts a reputation as Wellington's finest bar and grill. Featherston Bar and Grill is eternally popular with tourists, government and financial sector workers, food lovers, sporting enthusiasts and a whole range of local wits and raconteurs alike.”

Tuatara APA is on tap and looks set for a long stay. The Featherston steaks are amazing and any place which serves a dish of pork belly and spare ribs is always going to appeal to the Tuatara team. However, for something snackier, try the crab lemongrass and chilli dumplings washed down with Tuatara APA.

With three quality bars all serving Tuatara with a couple of blocks of central Wellington, the Tuatara Triangle could be one of the world’s easiest pub crawls. In fact, some people could probably do laps!

Cheers from the team at Tuatara