[The ex] Official Tuatara Blog

New New New

2011-07-13T10:11:00.000+12:00

In news which will no doubt sweep across the interwebs like Google buying Facebook, Tuatara is pleased to announce we have a new home for our blog. Please head over to www.tuatarabrewing.co.nz for our latest blog post and snazzy new website.Cheers Blogspot, and cheers to you our reader and cheers, to good beer.Tuatara

New home away from home for Tuatara

2011-06-01T11:47:00.001+12:00

There has been a great deal of interest in the announcement that a new brewpub will open in Wellington’s Bond Street before the Rugby World Cup. The yet-to-be-named establishment will be located in the upstairs premises at 14 Bond Street which previously housed ventures such as Syn Bar, the Ruby Lounge and even the old Loaded Hog.

The driving forces behind this exciting development are Sean Murrie and Colin Mallon who are both involved in Tuatara and the Malthouse. They announced on 16 May that they had sufficient investors – a number of whom already have a stake in Tuatara – and had acquired the site.

Work is already underway with Sean saying “our designers have been extremely busy and, as a team, we already have a very clear idea of what our yet-to-be-named bar will look and feel like.” It is going to be an extensive re-fit (estimated at around $1 million) and the result should be a spacious (460 square metres) venue with a range of areas and atmospheres.

While there will be around 40 beers on tap, most of the beery attention has focused on the state-of-the-art 1,000 litre brewery which will be installed on the premises and supply much of the draft beer.

In addition to producing a range of house craft beers, Colin Mallon says the on-site brew kit will “allow us to create a range of collaborative and speciality brews with Tuatara Brewery along with like-minded visiting brewers.” He says it is a hugely exhilarating opportunity to bring brewing back to the heart of the Capital and it would also be a point of difference for the bar.

Collaborative brews are intensely popular at the moment and Colin is already drawing up a ‘dream team’ list of brewers they would love to work with. Tuatara brewer Carl Vasta is top of that list and we know he already has quite a few ideas he is desperate to try out. The new venue hopes to lure in top brewers from New Zealand and overseas to produce an ever-changing range of unique, limited-edition brews.

It is not just about the beer though. There will be particular attention paid to producing high quality pub food from the spacious kitchens (well, spacious compared to the Malthouse…)

The new brewpub – whatever it is called - is going to be an exciting development and we can’t wait for the doors to be thrown open and the first pint to be pulled. Best of luck chaps!

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Strikes Gold

2011-05-29T18:37:00.000+12:00

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

2011-05-18T20:19:00.000+12:00

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

2011-05-03T12:51:00.000+12:00

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

Excuse me waiter, there’s a Tuatara on my plate

2011-04-26T17:20:00.000+12:00

Dr Samuel Johnson – poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer.but best known to most Kiwis as the fat dictionary guy on Black Adder the Third – famously said "There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn."

He is completely correct. Tuatara is proud to support and supply many of the finest taverns, inn and even pubs around New Zealand. One of the newest and best is The Hop Garden on Pirie Street in Mount Victoria, Wellington. It is next to the KFC – an appalling description of the location but sadly most people then know where that is. It is the former site of Theo’s Greek Taverna. The proprietor is the legendary James Henderson of Bar Edward fame and he has bought in long-time Tuatara friend Scott Boswell, multi-award winning barman and proud plaid shirt wearer.

The beer selection is exceptional. The food is amazing – even David Burton, a feared food critic who can be exceptionally harsh on food in pubs was impressed. Consequently, a beer and food matching event there made perfect sense. The Hop Garden made the official announcement on their handsome new website:

The Hop Garden in association with Tuatara Brewery is proud to present "Excuse me waiter, there's a Tuatara on my plate": a six course food and beer matching extravaganza. Head Chef Gavin Grant and Mr Tuatara Carl Vasta will offer their insights into the dishes, the beers, and the symbiotic relationship between the two. Wednesday May 4, from 6.30pm. Tickets are $80 per person, and strictly limited to 40 places. To book, please email thehopgarden@gmail.com

None of us here are brave enough to call Carl “Mr Tuatara” far less make jokes about “symbiotic relationships.” It is going to be a mouth-watering event and places are selling out fast.

Like most normal people we regularly Google our own name and this week came across this gem about the Tuatara romance film – “Love in Cold Blood - which is up for three awards at the International Wildlife Film Festival. Here is how the documentary makers describe their film which is "not your ordinary wildlife documentary":It is the twisted tale of the long-running courtship between two tuatara at the Southland Museum. After nearly 40 years of their on-again off-again relationship with enough drama to rival Coronation Street , Henry, 111 and Mildred, 80, were finally caught "in the act" in their enclosure. Henry and Mildred survived rival suitors, love triangles and medical mysteries to triumph with fantastic results for the tuatara captive breeding program.

Tuatara wishes those crazy kids Henry and Mildred all the best and the documentary makers every success at the Festival!

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara on the hunt for Gold

2011-04-18T11:33:00.001+12:00

In late February, the staff at the Tuatara office were busy completing the company’s application for the 2011 Wellington Gold Awards. These awards are sponsored by The Dominion Post and are basically the premier annual business event for the Wellington region. Readers may recall that we were finalists in the Emerging Business category last year, though we were pipped to the Award by Yellow Brick Road who were worthy winners.

We got our application in on time (just) and were delighted to find out last week that we have again been selected as a finalist in the Emerging Business category. This category, kindly sponsored by ANZ, is for “smaller enterprises”. The finalists will be judged again in the coming weeks with the Awards being presented at a black-tie dinner on May 18. It is one of the rare occasions the Tuatara team will dust off the monkey suits and try to look respectable for an evening.

Our fellow finalists are:

Celcius Coffee – boutique family owned coffee roasting and cafe company
Corner Solutions International – world leader in R&D for bending paper faced plaster boards
Shott Beverages – specialists in premium, innovative hot and cold beverage syrups
Urban Harvest – an online farmers market representing 70 local growers and foodmakers

There are lots of great local companies who have made the finals but Tuatara wishes the best of luck to our friends at Wellington on a Plate who are short-listed in the Vibrant Gold category. That category covers events, visitor and hospitality facilities.

We will, of course, keep you posted on the final results. In fact, Sales Manager Will may well live tweet the entire Awards ceremony. On the subject of Twitter, @TuataraNZ has recently passed 1,000 followers. That is over 800 more than Hon Peter Dunne but a demoralising 3,583,000 or so behind Charlie Sheen.

On the subject of winning, the Kingsgate Hotel in Wellington is running a Devour Wellington promotion with rooms priced at just $129. Now, that is a tidy price but they will also throw in breakfast for two and a six pack of Tuatara beer for every night booked. We hear the deal has been very popular since it was launched at the end of March.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Another first for Tuatara

2011-04-08T10:00:00.000+12:00

Monday was a milestone day for the Tuatara Brewing Company. With the help of a large crane, we installed our first ever billboard on Cable Street in central Wellington. It’s near Te Papa, the Capital’s number one tourist destination, so we figured there should be plenty of traffic going past and eager to learn something about our beers.

Yes, we acknowledge there are already hundreds of beer billboards all over the country. Some of the best-known ones contain a rotation of witty sayings. Others are pictures of beautiful people in exotic locations. A large number refer to a major sporting event later in the year. None of them really talk about the flavour of beer though.

We wanted to do something a bit different. With the help of our creative team, we came up with a simple design and a powerful message. The billboard exhorts passers-by “don’t just open a beer – open your mind.” That seemed appropriate so close to the national museum. The target market for the billboard is drinkers who are just getting into craft beer or existing craft drinkers who haven’t tried our whole range yet.

The central image is our very cool APA bottle flanked by our best-selling Pilsner and the dark Tuatara of the family, Porter. In all modesty, we think they look great up on the big canvas. Because of the large size, it is quite easy to see the subtle differences in the APA branding compared to the two more established beers.

Like many small breweries, we place a few newspaper adverts and use social media (primarily Twitter, Facebook and this blog) to get our message across. You won’t see a Tuatara TV ad (for a while at least) but sometimes you can’t do everything on Twitter. Sometimes you just need a really, really big sign.

And now we have one. Any feedback on the design is welcome as are suggestions for other affordable billboard sites because we will probably do some more. In fact, we already have a few ideas.

Seeing the billboard up in all its glory has actually inspired the Tuatara crew to do up the ever-reliable brewery van. Currently, it is basically a big white blank canvas but, given the miles it travels on deliveries and jobs, we have decided to treat it as a mobile billboard. Once the work is done, we should be even easier to spot on the road.

For those that can’t see the billboard “live”, we have put up a photo or two. Enjoy!

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Sells Out

2011-04-01T10:39:00.000+13:00

The rumours are true – Tuatara Brewery is now part of a multinational corporation after being purchased at last week’s Auckland Beer Festival in Ellerslie Racecourse.

Tuatara Sales Manager Will Cass reported that business at the Tuatara festival stand was brisk despite the poor weather. Over the course of the day, both he and Director Sean Murrie were delighted by the number of Aucklanders who appeared to know and appreciate Tuatara beers.

One group of customers who stood out even in the big crowds were the Beer Arabs – a group of authentically dressed men from Waiheke Island. Near the end of the event, they returned to the Tuatara stand, formed a semi-circle, dropped to their knees and gave prolonged high-pitched praise. The leader then approached the table and delivered a framed formal document to the rather startled Tuatara crew.

Sean said he was initially delighted to receive what he assumed was the supreme award for the festival but was astonished to be told by the group’s leader that it was actually a deed of sale for Tuatara

The full text of the document is reproduced here:

The Beer Arab Decree
That the Tuatara Brewery came to The Oasis bearing BEERS of such fine quality that the BEER ARABS decided to buy the entire brewery on the spot.

The purchase was made through various companies under BEER ARABS central before being sent via an assortment of subsidiary organisations that we don’t really want to explain in any great detail, then onto our good friends in the Cayman Islands (May Allah shower blessings on their tax and banking laws) before being concluded via a disposable mobile phone just minutes ago right here at The Oasis itself.

Your brewery now joins our worldwide portfolio of fine and reputable companies including:

Honest Achmel’s Used Camel Yard, Tripoli. (Currently closed due to bombing. Please leave a message with Mrs Hakeem next door)
Real Ales of Riyadh (incorporating The Mecca Boozeatorium)
Sayeed’s House of Falfels (Come for the cous cous, stay for the explosions!)
Bashhar’s Menswear and Jihad Supplies, Baghdad (Martyrdom in style at prices you will thank Allah for!)
The Gaza Strip Nightclub for Men (The beer is so good you won’t CARE what is under the burqas!)
The Ramallah Inn Hotel, West Bank (Please no weapons to be fired in the rooms after 8pm)

This purchase of your brewery will not affect your day to day activities. All staff will be retained and no alterations to the brewery will be made. Simply continue to make FINE BEERS and all will be well.

Concerned at this potential takeover, particularly without any money coming their way, Tuatara immediately engaged celebrity fake lawyer May Chin, the best legal counsel they could afford. After looking deeply puzzled for ten minutes, Ms Chin concluded:

“As far as I can tell, it is a valid contract. It meets all the requirements – lots of big words, some of them in bold, the language is complicated and there are lots and lots of signatures at the bottom. Granted, none of those signatures are from Tuatara but the contract is in a lovely picture frame which more than overrides the lack of consent from the actual brewery being bought. Those guys sure know how to bargain.”

So there you have it – official confirmation that Tuatara has sold out to a shadowy multinational organisation.

Enjoy the rest of 1 April.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

The Very Best of Twitter

2011-03-30T17:15:00.000+13:00

It may be some time before you see Tuatara adverts on the television. Until then, we have to find different ways to stay in touch with our customers, potential customers, friends and venues. We are active on Facebook, Twitter and even follow the old ways of face-to-face meetings, usually over a pint or two.

Increasingly, Twitter is our main day-to-day method for communicating promotions and contests, letting people know about new stockists and taps, sharing great comments, making a few jokes and even trying to track down our missing beer banners. Some truly awesome tweets appear in our Twitter feed every day but recently we received our first twoem.

The first natural question is “what the heck is a twoem?” Well, it is a poem done by Twitter. It was Will the Sales Manager (and main Twitter guy) who noticed that a series of scholarly tweets from Andrew Thomas Barrie was “basically an entertaining ode to APA.” It was Will who then put all the tweets in the right order so that a wider audience could enjoy this poetic tribute to the ever-popular Tuatara APA.

Here we go:

An Ode to Tuatara APAA twoem by @HideTheCider, March 18 2011

How do I love thee Tuatara APA? Let me count the ways.

I love thee Tuatara APA to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight. For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee Tuatara APA to the level of everyday's most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee Tuatara APA freely, as men strive for Right.

I love thee Tuatara APA purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee Tuatara APA with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee Tuatara APA with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints.

I love thee Tuatara APA with the breath, smiles, tears of all my life! - and, if God choose, I shall but love thee Tuatara APA better after death.

Generally, there is not a lot of poetry read in the brewery or the office but we really liked this one. Cheers Andrew - though we have to note that Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote something very similar in 1845 though she was only talking about her future handsome and not a lovely hoppy pale ale…

Last week we also marked a series of significant dates. It was one year since the very talented Mike Neilson joined the Tuatara brewery crew. We celebrated the birthday of the Helles beer style by giving out free Tuatara Helles in Auckland and Wellington. Finally, a very special beer and food matching event was held at Zealandia to mark the second anniversary of the first Tuatara born there and to raise money for the Sanctuary. It was a highly successful evening.

In fact, it was a very good week.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Celebrating a baby Tuatara birthday

2011-03-21T13:55:00.000+13:00

We are often complimented about our rather cool brewery name and asked why we picked it ahead of other native New Zealand animals such as the Grand Skink, Kauri Snail or Long-Tailed Bat. Frankly, we just liked the Tuatara’s attitude.

Two hundred million years they were the little guys scuttling through the undergrowth while the big old Thunder Lizards (aka Dinosaurs) stomped around the planet. Now, the Tuatara is still scuttling around the undergrowth but the dinosaurs are in museum exhibits or in our oil.

We simply identify with the scrappy little chap. Contrary to a popular rumour, the Tuatara team doesn’t actually look like real Tuataras (well, not after a couple of cups of coffee in the morning anyhow).

That is why we have been so keen to support our friends at Zealandia (aka Karori Wildlife Sanctuary) who do an amazing job looking after real-life Tuatara. They looked after them so well that there are now lots of little baby Tuatara there and the first one is just about to turn two. There is going to be a rather special birthday celebration.

It is a unique beer and food matching event at 6:30pm on Thursday 24 March 2011. As the website says:

“Well known brewer and beer expert Dion Page will talk you through seven Tuatara beer tastings, each with an interesting food match from Rata head chef Craig Dunshea. Anecdotes from one of our valley rangers will add an interesting tilt to the evening.”

Dion is more than familiar with Tuatara beers as he was a brewer here. Rata has an excellent reputation, environmentally friendly philosophy, great views and superb taste – not least because Tuatara Pilsner and Tuatara Porter headline their beer list. Many of the Tuatara crew have eaten at Rata and even just reading the menu always makes us hungry.

Seven Tuatara beers - seven food matches - singing Happy Birthday to a two-year old lizard from the order Sphenodontia. What is not to like?

The cost for this unique tasting is just $60 a head and bookings are essential. As always, all the money made goes to support the sanctuary. You can book by ringing 04 920 9200 or emailing them.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Trying to make a difference – Part Two

2011-03-14T17:51:00.000+13:00

On Friday 4 March 2010, the Brewer’s Guild of New Zealand and the Society of Beer Advocates organised six simultaneous events in Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton, Dunedin, Nelson and Blenheim to raise money for Christchurch Earthquake relief efforts. These events were on top of fund-raisers done by individual bars and breweries such as Galbraith’s, Hashigo Zake and Malthouse.

The format for each event was similar – a 5pm kick-off, a minutes silence at 7pm, a charity auction/raffle and a toast to Christchurch. Many of the Christchurch beer community were at their own function at the time – Beers and Tears – having a much needed pint together. For each event, breweries, suppliers, venues and bars generously donated products and prizes which were snapped up by often bigger than expected crowds.

The Wellington event was hosted by long-time friend Tuatara friend James Henderson at Bar Edward and organised by Kieran Haslett-Moore who sure sells a lot of Tuatara at Regional Wines. We were keen to be involved and donated four prizes. The first was a voucher for two to spend a day brewing with our own Carl Vasta at Reikorangi. When bidding slowed, the auctioneer promised that Carl would be wearing his shorts which provoked a flurry of (mainly female) bids. That prize also included transport, lunch and, we expect, a few beers.

We also put up three mixed packs of Tuatara beers which all included some great Tuatara merchandise. We even gave up three of the legendary Tuatara bar runners which have not been available to the public before, at least not legally. We were delighted at the prices all these items obtained from a very generous crowd of beer fans. In all, the Wellington event raised a brilliant $6,334.

There are a lot of people who did a lot of work to make this event succeed and we were proud to have played a part. Thanks have to go to the organisers – the Brewer’s Guild, SOBA, Kieran Haslett-Moore, James Henderson, Bar Edward and Neil Miller. Thanks also to the sponsors and those who donated auction items – Regional Wines, Logan Brown, Malthouse, Hashigo Zake, Emerson’s, Mikes, Renaissance, Moa, Coopers, Yeastie Boys, 8Wired, Elite Print, Beer Force, West Coast Brewing, Beer Force, McCashin’s and us!

Above all, thanks to all the generous members of the beer community who did plenty of good things for a good cause on the night.

Here’s to Christchurch!

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Trying to make a difference – Part One

2011-03-10T10:10:00.000+13:00

On Sunday 27 February, Tuatara Brewing Company was delighted and proud to be a sponsor of the second annual Worser Bay Summerfest. This family-friendly event was a celebration of community, music, beer, wine and food with the proceeds going to the Worser Bay School, a learning establishment which Tuatara has strong family connections with.

In light of the tragic events in Christchurch, the organisers also decided to hold an additional collection for earthquake relief, and to encourage the winners of the silent auction items to donate a percentage of their successful bids to the quake funds.

The sun was shining, crowd numbers were well up on last year and people were very generous. This combination meant that sizable amounts of money were raised for the local school and to help the people of Canterbury.

It was a great event for two worthy causes.

One of the main points of difference for Summerfest compared to other school fundraisers was the emphasis on beer and food matching (only for adults we hasten to stress). This year there were five dishes, each matched with a Tuatara beer and a couple from our craft beer colleagues. Guests on the day could purchase tasters of the beers or whole bottles.

The previously secret menu looked like this:

Food: Smoked salmon on cedar plank
Beers: Tuatara Hefe, Three Boys Wheat

Food: Locally caught paua fritters
Beers: Tuatara Pilsner, Mike’s Organic Pilsner, Croucher Pilsner

Food: Authentic samosas
Beers: Tuatara APA, Tuatara IPA, Epic Pale Ale

Food: Strathmore Butchery sundried tomato sausages
Beers: Tuatara Ardennes, Harrington's Belgium Tempest

Food: Chocolate brownie, blue cheese and pear
Beers: Tuatara Porter, Wanaka Tall Black

Quaffing Lager: Tuatara Helles

Thanks to the organisers, volunteers, sponsors, promoters, suppliers and above all the paying public for creating such a spectacular event.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara goes back to uni

2011-03-01T10:30:00.000+13:00

Last week, Victoria University of Wellington held its annual Orientation Week, now known by the far more hip moniker O-Week. As always, the major focus was music and parties, with some token efforts to show new students where things actually were on campus. The focal point for many events was a brand new venue - The Hunter Lounge in the Student Union.

Now, student bars have historically had a very poor reputation, both for the quality of their beer selection and the behaviour of their patrons. Victoria University’s own record has been mixed with the cavernous Mike’s Bar and awkward Eastside Bar never really catching on for the majority of thirsty students. That record looks set to change with The Hunter Lounge created during a massive upgrade of the aging Student Union building.

The result is a funky all-purpose social area described as a “café, bar and gig space.” Their Facebook page lists their specialities as “breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, drinks.” It is the last one of those that Tuatara was the most interested in. A quick look round head office determined that Will the sales manager looked the most like a student. As a result, he was immediately dispatched up the hill to chat to The Hunter Lounge crew about beer.

It is not clear what exactly Will told them but it sure worked. The Hunter Lounge now has our easy-drinking Tuatara Helles lager on tap and will have a few more Tuatara varieties available in bottles soon. The early sales figures are promising which shows that some students are willing to support beers with a bit more class and which are made locally.

Orientation also had a more serious side with Salient (the Victoria University student newspaper) collecting money at all events to support the University of Canterbury Volunteer Army. People affected by the Christchurch quake can contact the Army which then dispatches student volunteers to help. It is an amazing initiative which reflects well on all students and one which deserves the support of everyone. Great work guys.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Talks Tough

2011-02-18T10:20:00.000+13:00

There is no doubt that the overall craft beer market in New Zealand is growing. That argument is supported by official figures from the Brewer’s Guild, our own sales and distribution numbers, and what we see every day in bars, restaurants, bottle stores and supermarkets around the country. In many ways, the craft beer scene is the strongest it has been in modern history.

However, Tuatara Director Sean Murrie is concerned the combination of a flat economy and the perceived ‘threat’ of craft beer could be provoking a backlash from the big breweries. Here are his comments:

“There are a growing number of bars and other outlets who have decided that diversifying into offering craft beer products is the way to go. For a while, the big brewers allowed a bit of latitude. Maybe they would allow a single tap (near the back) or some bottles (at the bottom of the fridge). In many cases, the subsequent sales of craft products were much higher than they had expected. Craft beer has become hot property with consumers and I’m sure the issue is discussed at every board meeting of the big boys.

As a result, their policy seems to have changed – in many cases to a zero-tolerance policy for any other beers on site. Some publicans have had to reluctantly accept, some have successfully fought and won, while others are quietly waiting for their contracts to expire. It is well known in the industry that there have been some pretty big arguments all over the country, including in the key market of Auckland. They certainly were not all about Tuatara but a fair number of them have been.

In my opinion, we are at a bit of a tipping point. The use of strong, binding contracts is quite heavy handed and new owners are seriously considering forgoing the money and support at start-up in order to ensure they can serve the range of beers that they want over the first couple of years. That is a really big deal to forsake those early advantages ‘just’ for beer.

The large breweries will have to change their strategy at some stage – either by being more flexible about ‘ties’, producing better beer themselves or, more likely, acquiring a brewery to do that for them. They are certainly struggling to figure out how to engage with the craft sector at the moment. In some ways the Australian and American markets are ahead of us in this area though in neither case are they particularly good models for craft beer fans.

At Tuatara, we love seeing our taps and bottles next to other craft products. It is the way we think the market should operate – offering choice so that people can pick their favourites. Some days it might be us, some days it might one of our friends in another brewery. Obviously we hope it is us quite often but ultimately we are all trying to satisfy the customer. Those customers should look for opportunities to support outlets which have given up the early monetary advantages of the ‘tie’ in order to have the freedom to offer a proper selection of beer for years to come.”

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara loves food

2011-02-14T15:45:00.000+13:00

While most people readily accept the concept of wine and food matching, they are usually a bit more sceptical about beer and food combinations. Stereotypes are frequently trotted out – “beer goes with chips”, “beer goes with nuts”, “beer goes with pies” – and, yes, it usually does. However, if the right beer is selected, it can do so much more.

We have long known this at Tuatara. We love seeing dishes made with our beers and matched with our beers. It is heartening to see more customers and drinkers asking for advice on beer and food matching. In that context, one of the most important innovations we saw this year was the nationwide release of the Liquorland summer catalogue.

Now, most catalogues from liquor stores are pretty basic - product name, product photo and product price, a list of stores, the website address, a couple of competitions and maybe some photos of the staff in silly hats. It has traditionally been a simple formula. However, this year, Liquorland, now a major stockist of Tuatara, decided to up the ante.

They asked a number of breweries (not just us) to supply some text about their history, their beers and to suggest accessible food matches for customers. As a result, the reader of the catalogue can actually learn more about craft beers and what might be good to eat with them. We think it is a fantastic step forward in beer education and applaud Liquorland’s initiative.

For those that are interested, here were our suggested simple matches:

Tuatara Helles – Enjoy this easy drinking lager with pork sausages done on the barbeque, an oven-roasted chicken or a soft Swiss cheese like Gruyere.

Tuatara Hefe – This cloudy wheat beer is the perfect drink to accompany steamed mussels, grilled white fish or a tasty potato salad.

Tuatara Pilsner – Try this crisp pilsner with smoked salmon, a firm cheddar cheese or use it to make the perfect beer battered fish and chips.

Tuatara is also delighted to be supporting Worser Bay School’s second annual Summerfest. Their press release says:

“Summerfest is a boutique, family-friendly food and beer festival. Supported by Tuatara Brewery, it’s a relaxing afternoon celebration of great beer (as well as wine, cider and Foxton Fizz) and tempting food matches accompanied by hot summer jazz, gypsy folk, blues and laid-back Irish ballads. Entry is $5 at the door (children under 12 FREE) or presales from the website. All proceeds support Worser Bay School.”

The exact beer and food matches are a bit of a secret but we hear they could include Tuatara Hefe matched with salmon cooked on cedar plank (a favoured technique of Martin Bosley and with good reason) and Tuatara Pilsner with outstanding local paua fritters (these delicious morsels bear no relation to the sad things usually served at fish and chip shops).

Sounds like a great way to spend the day and all in aid of a good cause.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

How we rate on RateBeer

2011-02-03T10:24:00.000+13:00

The RateBeer website was created in 2000 which, in internet terms, was a very long time ago. Founder Bill Buchanan intended it to be a “forum for beer lovers to come together and share their opinions of beer and breweries.” It certainly became that – but probably on a much bigger scale than he imagined at the time.

Thousands of members have now rated and commented on tens of thousands of beers from over 60 countries. Two individual members alone are approaching 20,000 ratings each. RateBeer describes itself as “widely recognized as the most accurate and most-visited source for beer information.”

New Zealand has a small but active group of beer lovers reviewing regularly on the site and a large number of Kiwi beers have been rated. That includes all of the Tuatara range and we thought it would be interesting to see how the RateBeer community ranked our current selection. For each, we have also selected a sample (positive) comment from a reviewer:

Tuatara Pilsner – “It’s pretty hard to find clean, balanced pilsners. This one is perfect, my new #1 for the category. Sampled only in New Zealand several different times.”

Tuatara APA – “Rather nice pale ale, quite fruity in the aroma, with a nice floral kick. Taste is quite nice, rather heavy hops for a pale ale, but I’m not going to complain about more hops! Lemon, orange, apricot and sweet caramel, followed by a nice soft bitter finish.”

Tuatara Ardennes – “Pours a medium white head, with some lacing, over a hazy, golden (SRM 6) body... nose is light pear, apple, tiny bit of banana, slight clove, bit of hop floral... taste is light bitter to start, then bits of clove, allspice enter, becoming light pear, apple, bit of peach, leading to apricot, then a final bitter hop bite to finish.... mouth feel is medium, carbonation high, adding a pleasant spritz. This is a nice example of a Belgian Blond Ale. Initially in both nose and palate, it is reminiscent in some ways of a Pilsner, but then the esters and phenols from the yeast come in to change the direction. A worthy effort is this.”

Tuatara Hefe – “Pours a hazy gold with a fairly large frothy white head. Aroma of banana, clove, wheat, yeast, malt, lemon citrus and a dash of vanilla. Flavour is incredibly consistent with the nose. Smooth, medium-full-bodied, sweet, satisfying, and easy to drink. Nice hefeweizen overall.”

Tuatara Porter – “Large tan head, very dark red/brown porter almost mahogany. Aroma chocolate nice malt and good hops, vanilla caramel touch. Flavour roasted chocolate rich and smooth, yeast, taste, fizz, mild, nourishing porter, dark fruit taste. Finish smooth rich mild bitter and fizz - good porter.”

Tuatara IPA – “This India Pale Ale pours a light orange gold colour from a 33cl bottle. Medium sized white foamy head, with nice lacing. The aroma is biscuit and sweet, floral and herbal. Medium bodied IPA. The malts are caramel and bready, slightly sweet. The hops are herbal and earthy. Decent carbonation. A traditional English style IPA. More malty and somewhat sweeter than an American and maybe even an English IPA. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet with some bitterness in the background.”

Tuatara Helles – “Very light and clear with a very large deep rocky head that shows good carbonation. Crisp zesty citrus aroma with a flavour that is light on the palate with a slightly tart finish and long aftertaste.”

Here are our key observations on the RateBeer conclusions:

We were somewhat surprised at the Pilsner beating APA even if it was only by a single point. APA is a hugely popular style with the beer aficionados these days.
One of the biggest positives was the good numbers for Tuatara Hefe. It’s a difficult style to master and wheat beer drinkers are often quite particular about what they like and don’t like.
The two highest rated Tuatara beers are indeed the two biggest sellers though the rest of the rated order does not reflect sales figures. Helles in particular is much further up the sales list.
A number of the most recent reviews of Tuatara products were from international tastings, particularly in Australia and America. This is gratifying given recent efforts to move into exporting.
It was interesting to read how reviewer’s palates differed or perhaps some of our batches differed.
In the reviews, the grammar and spelling could vary but all the reviewers seem to take their role seriously and we appreciate that.
A final revelation was that the Alpine Brewing Company in Alpine, California, USA make an APA called Tuatara. They also make an Emerson Lager with both beers using New Zealand hops. Tuatara and Emerson join the colourfully-named Alpine range which includes beers called Ugly, Great, Willy Vanilly, Ichabod, Boris, Ned, Smore and Bad Boy.

Cheers
The team at Tuatara

The Year of the Tuatara (hopefully)

2011-01-17T14:20:00.000+13:00

2010 just sped by and it is hard to believe that we are almost through the first month of 2011 already. The Tuatara team managed to have a bit of a break, indulging in some of our favoured pastimes including kite sailing (Carl), messing around in boats (Sean) and firing off a cannon to bring in the New Year (Will). It’s a family tradition apparently…

Tuatara could not take too much time off though because there is a huge demand for our beer over summer, particularly seeing the sun has actually come out a few times this year. There is nothing more embarrassing than a brewery running out of beer. Not saying that hasn’t happened to us once or twice, just that it is embarrassing when it does.

The big news, as revealed first on our Twitter feed, is that another 8,000 litres of Tuatara APA is ready. That is about 666 cases heading out shortly. Demand for this hoppy beast has been phenomenal but we did assure everyone that, just like Arnie, it would "be back!"

One Tuatara tradition that will not be back anytime soon is staff Christmas drinks where the crew polish off the low-filled bottles which cannot be sold. There were a fair number of these sitting around because the old bottling plant was, to be honest, old, only Carl really knew how it the thing worked and it seemed to break down every time he left the farm.

As a consequence, Tuatara has wisely invested in a new and much larger bottling plant. Carl went over to China to select the machine and it should be arriving around April-ish. We will give you all the geeky processing stats then and maybe even a few pictures too. The new bottler should make a huge difference to production and consistency.

Another innovation making a difference is the new Tuatara four-pack design. Four-packs are proving extremely popular at a number of supermarkets in the Progressives chain. The design of the four-packs will be tweaked and refreshed shortly as we consider rolling them out to more suppliers and outlets. There has been quite a debate in brewing circles about whether Kiwi drinkers would accept four-packs but in our experience at least the answer has been a resounding “yes!”

I know we have said it before but regular blogging should now resume for the rest of year. There is a lot of news coming and you can catch it here and on TuataraNZ Twitter. Here’s to a superb 2011.

Cheers
The Team at Tuatara

Tuatara goes California Cool at Monterey

2010-11-29T13:25:00.001+13:00

At Tuatara, we take beer quality seriously and we like to think our stockists and venues do too. That certainly does not mean everything has to be boring though. One of our favourite venues is Monterey in Newtown, Wellington. As well as being a top bar and café, we love their funky, cheeky attitude. Here is how they describe themselves on their website:

“We have; burgers made with homemade sauces, quality produce and herbs and leaves from our garden, cocktails from last two centuries made with homemade syrups, fresh fruit and proper liquor, soft drinks that you can’t buy at the dairy next door for half the price, weekend brunch that isn’t just poached eggs six ways, tables you can sketch or write on, staff who aren’t just waiting to finish their bachelor of marketing and move to Auckland, music that isn’t downloaded but on vinyl, books that smell like your grandma and games that remind you of being a kid.”

Monterey serves a number of Tuatara beers on tap, pouring them into a 350ml glass, 500ml glass or 1000ml jug. We caught up with Joseph from Monterey to get a bit more information. He explained that the bar’s name was a reference to an area in California which hosted a lot of writers and authors in the 1960s because “we are kind of mid-century California themed here.”

In terms of picking Tuatara to headline their beer list, Joseph said “the main reason we went with Tuatara was because we wanted to work with an independent company making really good beer. Tuatara was a pretty perfect fit with our style and they were close by as well. Our customers are all very keen about Tuatara and it is selling very well. The APA is flying out of the door. It is a great match with our California/Americana theme.”

Monterey is also a finalist in two categories of the Fifth Annual Wellingtonista Awards – Best Suburban Destination and Best Service. Here is how the Wellingtonista crowd justified the Best Suburban Destination nomination:

“Who knew that drinking in Newtown didn’t have to involve sports? The good people of Kreuzberg Cafe opened up this joint in a small former Vietnamese restaurant, and it’s worth leaving the city for. The mac’n cheese is amaaaazing (although off the menu for summer, grrr), Tuatara beer is on tap, and they make fabulous cocktails and three kinds of pie every day.”

If you listen very carefully, you can almost hear the Tuatara brewery crew going “mmmmm… three kinds of pie…”

Voting closes on 1 December 2010 so be sure to make your vote count.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara X returns as Trade Me ad goes viral

2010-11-26T13:29:00.000+13:00

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Tuatara, we finally let Head Brewer Carl Vasta make the huge, crazy, strong Belgian beer he had wanted to make for years. The result was Tuatara X which we launched at Beervana 2010 and it promptly sold out. Now, X is back. We have bottled some X and it is currently available in bottles only at Malthouse, Hashigo Zake and Long Beach Café in Waikanae.

However, the brewery team ran out of the special big bottles before they ran out of the special beer. That means there are currently six kegs of Tuatara X up for sale to deserving hospitality venues (or even ambitious private residences). To order a rare keg of X, contact Will Cass (Tuatara Business Brewer/Sales Manager) as soon as possible. This is a blog-exclusive announcement – it is not appearing anywhere else.

Speaking of bottles, one of our beloved bottling crew left recently so the Tuatara creative team whipped up a short job ad to put up on Trade Me. It was a little irreverent and (we thought) quite funny. Here is a sample of the text:

“What’s better than doing nothing much? Doing nothing much in a brewery and being paid for it. We’re looking for a man who takes the beer and puts it in a box. Beer. Box. Beer. Box…

We don’t mind what you wear to work – the same shirt you wore to town last night or a batman cap and utility belt – just so long as the job gets done.”

It turns out we were not the only ones to be amused by the “Beer and boxes seek strong man for threesome” advert. In the first five days it got 41,000 views. Even though the vacancy has since been filled, people are still clicking on to view it with the hit counter currently sitting at over 45,000.

As well as providing some laughs, the ad actually worked. Tuatara received over 500 job applications – some very serious, some so funny they made the office staff snort beer out of their noses. We are currently checking the privacy implications involved in sharing some of the very best applications on this blog.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Up Five in Fast 50

2010-11-15T17:50:00.000+13:00

Last week we received the great news that not only had Tuatara Brewing Company retained our place in the annual Deloitte Fast 50 Index, we had actually improved our ranking five places from 39th to 34th. The Deloitte Fast 50 has measured the fastest growing Kiwi businesses for ten years. Tuatara was one of just fifteen companies to be listed both years and was the only brewery on either list.

At the risk of getting a little pointy-headed, Deloitte ranks businesses based on their annual revenue growth. In 2009, our revenue growth rate was 188.48% while for 2010 that figure leapt to 248.40%. To qualify, companies had to be New Zealand registered businesses operating for at least three years with operating revenue of at least $300,000 in 2007/2008.

In one of our rare press releases, Director Sean Murrie said he was delighted by the result:

“This is our tenth year in operation and it has been a big one for the company. We have worked hard to expand our brewery in Waikanae, bought on a logistics partner to improve our distribution, boosted our sales team and even started exporting. At the same time, the focus has been on keeping beer quality up as evidenced by our medal hauls at the 2010 BrewNZ Beer Awards and Australian International Beer Awards.”

Sean said it was great effort to improve on last year’s outstanding result. He gave credit to the entire Tuatara team – in the brewery, at the office and on the road – because the ranking was based on their hard work and dedication.

Our friends at the Brewer’s Guild of New Zealand chimed in writing:

“Tuatara Brewery has made it on to the Deloitte’s Fast 50 Index for the second year in a row. This is further evidence of the burgeoning craft beer sector in New Zealand.”

We’d like to thank the Guild and their indefatigable chairman David Cryer for all the work they do to build the craft beer industry every day. At the risk of beginning to sound like an Oscars speech, special thanks also go all the stockists and customers who got in touch by phone, Facebook, text or Twitter to send their congratulations. We literally couldn’t have done it without you guys.

Sales Manager Will Cass has recently launched the first ever Great New Zealand Tuatara Hunt (with prizes). Basically, he wants to know where people are finding Tuatara out there, especially in Auckland. He knows about most of the big supermarkets (now including Woolworths and Countdown) and liquor stores (now including Liquor King and Liquorland) but is interested in the smaller places.

Here is how the Tuatara Hunt works – post your hot tip to our Facebook Wall or email your inside knowledge to us. Will has promised that the most helpful finders will get some “yummo” Tuatara for their help.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara on Twitter

2010-10-28T13:28:00.000+13:00

In March 2010, Tuatara Brewing Company made the decision to embrace the digital era. Granted, the timing of that decision didn’t exactly put us on the cutting edge of technology but over the last seven months we have steadily built and improved our internet and social media presence.

The website has been updated, expanded and improved. There is now this blog which has a new post (usually) every week. We particularly welcome the growing number of readers and the comments they make on the various posts.

Perhaps the best way to keep directly in touch is through Twitter. Craft breweries around the world are finding it is increasingly the most effective way to reach their consumers and share information. Our Twitter handle is @TuataraNZ (http://twitter.com/tuataranz) for fairly obvious reasons. Since signing up and figuring out how to use it, we have made 313 tweets and have 572 followers.

Sales Manager Will Cass is the main guy behind the Tuatara Twitter though other members of the crew have the ability to log in and make a tweet – assuming they remember the password properly.

Twitter is a marvellously versatile communications channel. In broad terms, each of the 313 (and counting) Tuatara tweets can be placed into one of seven categories. Here are the categories with some examples (everyone mentioned in the examples is worth following on Twitter too):

1. Find out where we are and what we are doing:

Whats up Hamiltron? In town for arvo at famous te rapa new world followed by beers @houseonhood
ChCh tweeps meet the brewer and try all our beers @pomeroyspub tonight from 7

2. Get the chance to win exclusive Twitter-only prizes:

First Tweep to introduce themselves @regionalwines expo today gets a mixed 6...
RT @BabylonianGirl: Beach Babylon is 2 years old today! Come say happy birthday and we'll shout you a beer! Tuatara Helles on tap...

3. Get the Tuatara news even before it even appears on the blog:

I have heard a rumour that Havana bar has Tuatara on TAP!!
Wow the Tuatara Ardennes on the hopinator with pears @malthouse is amazing

4. See what famous people are saying about us:

RT @GreerMcDonald: Just tried to use work swipey to get into apt. Fail. Head full of acronyms. Fail. Home to a @TuataraNZ beer! Win
RT @RuthPretty: @TuataraNZ Thank you Tuatara from the Ruth Pretty Cafe as part of the Conference Expo. We love your beer <-we love your food!

5. See what famous drinkers are saying about us:

RT @chuwyboy: @TuataraNZ Enjoyed your beers at the Great Japan Beer Festival yesterday. Also the tasting in the Baird Taproom afterwards....
RT @buzzandhum: Spent Saturday perfecting my APA tasting with a two-litre FYO from regional. I think I need more practice, however....

6. Provide feedback on the important issues of the day:

ChCh tweeps where shall we go for a decent brekkie?
Auckland Tweeps; Tell us where you would like to see Tuatara. Interested in great cafes and restaurants with owners who love good beer.

7. Assorted pieces of wisdom and insight:

It worries me that Ben Hana always looks at me like he knows me
Tuatara have teeth that are fused to their jaw bone. Kind of like how a pint glass of APA get fused to our hand @malthouse
RT @ruaika: Until I saw the Liquor Free Zone sign, it had never occured to me to party in the middle of Manchester St, Melrose

So, if you are reading this and you are on Twitter, please follow us.

Cheers from the team at i-Tuatara

Tuatara is on Tap in Havana and in Heaven

2010-10-22T18:40:00.000+13:00

Nothing beats a freshly poured pint of great beer. At Tuatara, we are delighted to see more and more venues making the effort to put craft beers, including ours, on tap. In this post, we highlight long-standing Tuatara customer Havana Bar putting our Pilsner on two taps and brand-new client Heaven’s Pizza offering both draft Hefe and draft Pilsner.

These two establishments are not only both located in the Cuba precinct of Wellington City but they are each funky venues with great food, drinks and service. If you haven’t been, you should. If you have been, you should absolutely go again. Havana is located at 32a Wigan Street, Heaven’s Pizza at 247 Cuba Street.

The usually reliable Wotzon website describes Havana Bar as a unique, exotic, comfortable, exciting and friendly bar “that boasts an exciting assortment of live music, great food and drink available from the bar and top notch staff and service.” The Tuatara team makes regular quality control checks at Havana and can endorse that assessment.

While bottled Tuatara beers have long been popular at Havana, the crew there have taken the opportunities provided by their extensions to increase the number of taps. There is one beautiful copper cobra tap now pouring Pilsner in the main bar and there will be a second in the new extension area too. This is opening soon and will provide more room for diners and drinkers.

We are also delighted to see that Havana has added a Cooper’s tap and a guest tap. It will be great to see a selection of craft beers rotating through. An early contender for that guest tap will be Tuatara APA. Havana already has their hand up for some kegs but, as we have had to tell everyone else, there is absolutely none left at the moment. Rest assured, more is on its way. We thought people would love the APA – even we didn’t think they would love it this much.

Heaven’s Pizza only opened in early September but it is already forging a reputation for incredible wood-fired pizza. They also do salads and desserts for those who like that sort of thing. They have put the Hefe on tap (which by all accounts goes brilliantly with their seafood pizza) and the Pilsner (which goes well with most things and is a bit of a conceptual match with the Bohemian crowd down that end of town).

There are a few other matches too. The real Tuatara is a living fossil and looks like it could be a relative of the magnificent dragon being slain by Saint George in the statue built on top of the pizza oven. Words don’t really do it justice so head over to the awesome shot on the Wellington Daily Photo Blog.

That blog also describes the interior of Heaven’s Pizza as “very much like the style of Upper Cuba Street - eclectic, recycled and interesting.” That is also true for the beer taps. We knew Heaven’s Pizza was going for a heavily recycled retro theme so when Tuatara Head Brewer Carl Vasta found a couple of vintage beer taps from the Porirua RSA in the brewery shed, he knew exactly what to do with them. He reconditioned and cleaned them before they were installed in the pizzeria – they are a perfect fit.

It seems to be working. They are apparently roaring through Tuatara, selling three times as much beer as they expected. We are just happy to help. It’s just such a far cry from the early days when Tuatara was only available in Lower Willis Street (Malthouse) and Upper Willis Street (Bar Bodega).

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara is the People’s Choice in Wellington (Again)

2010-10-12T12:11:00.000+13:00

The Tuatara crew celebrated the results of the annual Capital Times Best of Wellington survey when the good people of the Capital once again voted Tuatara Brewing Company their favourite beer brand. We were ranked first ahead of Monteith’s and Emerson’s, the same placings as 2009.

Naturally, we were delighted and proud at the result which was announced last week. In a press release, director Sean Murrie said:

“We are very proud to be a local brewery which can outperform the big boys. It is a great achievement to be able to repeat last year’s accolade from the public. Wellington has the most discerning drinkers in the nation and we thank them for their continued support of quality beer, both ours and products from other craft brewers. I doubt a craft beer brand would have won a similar popular vote in any other major centre.”

It was also heartening to see the staggering number of venues which stock Tuatara and the talented people who serve Tuatara do so well in the 2010 Best of Wellington Awards. These included (rank and category):

Mighty Mighty (1 Bar)
Matterhorn (2 Bar, 3 Fine Dining, 3 Outdoor Bar)
Hashigo Zake (3 Bar)
Gareth Perks @ Pit Bar (1 Barman)
Scott @ Malthouse (2 Barman)
David Wood @ Hashigo Zake (3= Barman)
Sally @ Mighty Mighty (1 Barmaid)
Bryony Skillington @ Pit Bar (2 Barmaid)
Ian McKinnon (1 City Councillor - he launched our APA – it totally counts)
Southern Cross (1 Outdoor Bar)
Shae @ Ambeli (1 Maitre D)
Rusty @ Boulcott St Bistro (2= Maitre D)
Ben @ Sweet Mother’s Kitchen (2= Maitre D)
Logan Brown (1 Fine Dining)
Capitol (2 Fine Dining, 2 Fish)
Crazy Horse (1 Steak)
Martin Bosley’s (1 Fish)
Scopa (1 Pizza)
Chaffers New World (1 Supermarket)
Moore Wilsons (2 Supermarket)
Thorndon New World (3 Supermarket)
Regional Wines (1 Bottle Store)
Glengarry (2 Bottle Store)
Olive (1= Cafe)
Deluxe (1= Cafe, 3 Vegetarian)
Bats (1 Live Theatre)
Downstage (2 Live Theatre)
Dowse (2 Best Gallery)

Tuatara is proud to be associated with at least 32 other winners in the Best of Wellington winner this year. Good on Wellington for supporting great beer and great service. That’s why our city remains the beer capital of New Zealand.

Speaking of great beer, Tuatara will be at the Regional Wines Roadshow this Wednesday. We will be alongside Emerson’s, Founder’s, Harrington’s, Mike’s, Renaissance and about 40 wineries. Here are the booking details:

Wednesday 13 October, 5.30 pm to 8.00 pm, Cost $35.00 pp, Limit 150 places
Venue: First Floor Gallery, St James Theatre, 77-87 Courtenay Place
Bookings: With Ian, Tel: 04 385-6952 or email: ian@regionalwines.co.nz

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Travels to the Land of the Rising Sun

2010-10-03T16:15:00.000+13:00

After a decade in the beer business, Tuatara is putting a real focus this year on getting our beers out to new markets and new drinkers. We are interested in getting into the huge Japanese beer market and so David Bernard went over to Japan to see if he could start opening up some leads for Tuatara.

The main purpose of the visit was to showcase Tuatara at the Yokohama Great Japanese Beer Festival, as well as making contact with possible outlets and distributers.

Eric Miller from the Japanese beer blog Beer+Food@Tokyo actually bumped into David at the landmark Popeye bar where they bonded over several pints and deep fried hops. Here is Eric’s description of the meeting:

“So there I am after my weekly group running/drinking club which happened to be in Ryogoku this week. Naturally, I skipped the after party in favour of a sojourn to Popeye’s, basically the destination for Japanese craft beer. I settled down for a pint and half way through the glass the dashing fellow in the middle of the photo comes in. We get to talking, have a few more pints and I learn a number of interesting things.

First, as it turns out he is David, is in town from New Zealand, and is the export manager for Tuatara Brewing. Second, the Tuatara, after which the brewery is named, is the last living dinosaur in the world, another reason why New Zealand is awesome. Finally, Aoki-sans home-grown hop tempura is delicious. I had a lot of fun and was even more excited to get to the festival and try out his and all the other beers.”

It was a fortunate meeting as David had got quite horrendously lost (several times) on the way to Popeye’s and speaks precisely no Japanese. Part of the problem was that the writing on the piece of paper he showed to eleven taxi drivers was not actually directions to the bar as he thought, but a phone number and therefore not overly useful. Somehow, he got there. Here is how he described events:

“I presented [Popeye owner] Aoki with a Tuatara t-shirt (not the one I was wearing silly) and a bottle of our fine APA. Aoki is a wonderful man and I can see why he is considered the patron of fine beer in Tokyo. Due ceremony and aplomb followed - and he can’t wait to try the Tuatara. If you are ever at Popeye’s, look out for the Tuatara t-shirt on the wall. It’s there. What a bar. What great people. Proud to be representing Tuatara!”

At the Beer Festival, David was fortunate to be working alongside Dominic Kelly from cult Wellington beer bar Hashigo Zake. Dom modestly described himself “the guy who once lived there and knows some people” but he actually has tonnes of Japanese beer experience and probably the best Japanese beer contacts of anyone in New Zealand. He wrote that his role was “helping Tuatara Brewery to spring their products on unsuspecting Japanese festival attendees. And a very successful venture it may prove to be for the local brewery.”

In his weekly newsletter, Dom later said the Tuatara APA “wowed all the industry types around us, while the civilian festival tended to be satisfied with Tuatara's IPA and Ardennes.” In his expert view, “Tuatara has taken a big step towards trading in one of the most vibrant beer markets in the Asia Pacific region.” Thanks for all your help Dom.

There are no guarantees in the export business but we are hopeful Tuatara will become a regular feature in the Tokyo beer scene. The humble Tuatara looks forward to playing with the mighty Dragons!

Kampai from the team at Tuatara

Beer and Food Matching Taking Off

2010-09-22T19:46:00.000+12:00

Beervana was bigger and better this year and so was the fledgling Beer and Chefs competition. This contest, also run by the Brewer’s Guild of New Zealand, challenges chefs from around Wellington to offer their very best beer and food matches using any beer they choose. There were fifteen entries this year, up from ten in the first year, and the overall winner was our friends over at Logan Brown.

Here at Tuatara, we were delighted to see our beer popping up on three of the entries. We have always been hugely supportive of beer and food matching as it is a great way of highlighting the flavours in our products and introducing the range to a more foodie audience.

Lagerfield on Blair Street offered up “Tuatara Pilsner braised duck with apple and fig jam and a cider foam, served with a Tuatara Pilsner Beer.” They described the dish on the menu as “The duck is marinated and braised in Tuatara Pilsner and the whole creation of the dish was based around matching the duck with the beer. Our chef wanted to focus on local products and locally brewed beer. The dish brings together two great New Zealand flavours and the fusion of flavours proved to be mouth watering!”

The dish is still on the Lagerfield menu and several of the Tuatara team have proclaimed it to be ‘meaty, hearty but still sophisticated.’

Over at D4 on Featherston Street, they served “lamb rump stuffed with blue cheese, walnuts and spinach with parsnip cake and fruit stuffing, paired with Tuatara Porter.” Here was their rationale:“With Tuatara Porter’s yeast flavour, we went with the blue cheese which takes some of the yeast taste out and brings other flavours through. The walnuts give it that nutty flavour to complement. Parsnip and stuffing also work really well to enhance the beer’s flavours.”

D4 is also currently selling Tuatara APA – a lot of Tuatara APA.

At Le Carnard on Murphy Street, the dish was “Tournedos of pork stuffed with prunes, wholegrain mustard sauce and Gratin Dauphinois, with Tuatara Ardennes.” Their explanation of this intriguing match read “The Tuatara Ardennes is a Belgian strong ale with smooth malt characteristics which go very well with the texture of the pork. The slight bitterness of the beer blends perfectly with the wholegrain mustard sauce. Finally, the prune adds a bit of sweetness to end in the mouth.”

If you know of places doing great food matches with Tuatara, leave a comment or drop us a line. We would love to highlight them in future posts.

Tuatara also popped up at the Chaffers Dock Building on Monday at a function to promote the 2011 Melbourne Wine and Food Festival. A gratifying number of Wellington hospitality people and various media personalities selected Tuatara Pilsner from the large range of beverages on offer. Tuatara brewer Carl Vasta was there in a suit, celebrating perhaps the fact that it was also his birthday. This basically means that everyone already owes him a beer.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Popping up in Sydney

2010-09-13T10:18:00.000+12:00

Hardly anyone saw them coming as a culinary trend but ‘pop-up restaurants’ are simply huge right now. Empty spaces – anywhere from theatres, shops, closed eateries, warehouses, car parks, tunnels and parks – can be quickly but temporarily converted into a restaurant. The same can be done with a private home but it is not really legal. Well, not legal at all.

A proper ‘pop-up’ always has a finite life span. It will start – usually relying on word-of-mouth for publicity – serve great food then close on a specified date, never to re-open. Equally, no matter how good the head chef is, dining at a ‘pop-up’ should be relatively cheap. This almost-guerrilla style of dining has gained popularity, in part because of the current tough financial climate.

Journalist Matt Campbell from Scene Adviser explained the phenomenon best when he wrote:

“Pop-ups are the embodiment of our high-octane, short-attention-span culture. One minute they're here - restaurants and bars opening in unexpected locations, causing a storm - and then they're gone. The temporary dining spot manages to break all the rules of what a traditional restaurant should be. Which is precisely why the trend for temporary locations dips into our whimsical 21st-century consumer mindset.”

He even went so far as to call them “raves for the restaurant world.” London restaurateur Pablo Flack had perhaps the most famous (or infamous) description saying that ‘pop-ups’ were “the crack cocaine of restaurant-running. We want to do it quick, sharp, full-throttle, and then shut up shop.”

On 14 September, a Wellington ‘pop-up’ will open in Sydney for two weeks and the only beers on offer will be from Tuatara. The restaurant is called WLG and it will be run by four of the Capital’s top chefs who will take it in turns to serve local food and drinks to over 2,500 patrons who have already virtually booked the place out.

In a press release, Tuatara Director Sean Murrie recently said Tuatara jumped at the chance to be involved:

“This will be a brief but intense opportunity to give the people of Sydney a taste of Tuatara and hopefully they will get a bit of a thirst for it. We are already putting in place a distribution network over there so Sydneysiders can find Tuatara on the shelves after they have tried it at WLG.”

“For many of the guests, this will be the first time they have tried a real craft beer. It will certainly be the first Tuatara for the vast majority of them. We are taking across Tuatara Helles, Tuatara Hefe and Tuatara Pilsner to introduce them to quality craft beers. There is huge interest from the dining public in Sydney already and we are expecting a lot of cameras and media interest as well.”

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara APA Launched in Bottles on Friday

2010-09-08T14:40:00.000+12:00

There are a lot of websites out there which let drinkers, both expert and amateur, put up ratings and comments about the beers they have tasted. The one which has really taken off – and which has a vocal Kiwi contingent – is Ratebeer. In a post-Beervana moment, we thought it would be useful to see what the Ratebeer crew had to say about our new Tuatara American Pale Ale (APA):

Reviewer Sdriessen (with a respectable 310 ratings) said “Solid malt, fruity hops. I could drink a lot of this. Very nice from Tuatara.” The aptly named TheGrandMaster (a staggering 2048 ratings) wrote “Plenty of bitterness with this, and that hop flavour really comes through. This will please the hop lovers.” Praise from Caesar indeed!

Mr Winewanker (with just 59 ratings) is of course well known to Tuatara and he described our APA thusly: “Lovely rich malty layers with fresh, zesty grapefruit and grassy hop notes. Probably a bit rich to be a true APA - more like an American IPA.” We at Tuatara can probably handle being called ‘too rich’ in this context. It certainly doesn’t happen very often.

Despite the unusual nom-de-plume, Donfardz64 (519 ratings) has a more than decent palate and noted “Pours amber, white head. Aroma is slightly lemony, grassy. Those American hops don’t really come through here. Bam! In the flavour you’re hit with an assertive grapefruity bitterness, backed up by a rich malt. Probably my favourite Tuatara beer so far. Quaffable and hoppy.” The second batch, pouring now, certainly has a lot more hops on the nose so we might get a second “Bam!” if there is a re-review.

The latest review was from KapitiCritique (119 rating) who seems to hail from our part of the world. They ended their review saying the APA was “evidently not out in bottles yet” but they “would love to see this on local shelves.”

And now they can. In fact, everyone can. From Friday 10 September Tuatara APA will be available in 500ml bottles at a limited range of outlets including Regional Wines and selected New World supermarkets. There are only 360 dozen bottles in total for this batch.

To celebrate, we are throwing a party at Regional Wines and Spirits (by the Basin Reserve in Wellington) from 4:30pm to 7pm this Friday 10 September. The brewers will be pouring samples of the beer, we will cook up some spicy food matches and there will be some classic Americana music courtesy of DJ Shady from Radio Active. It is free of charge and everyone is invited. Tell your friends.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Making more Tuatara and Making it Easier to Find

2010-09-01T18:17:00.001+12:00

Ten years ago, you could get Tuatara on tap at The Malthouse on lower Willis Street, Bar Bodega on upper Willis Street and at the Tuatara brewery up in the hills. That was it. Since then, production and distribution have expanded dramatically, aided by the introduction of our stylish bottles.

Over the last twelve months or so, Carl and the team have been working hard to complete a major plant upgrade at the Brewery. It has basically doubled our brewing capacity and, with a couple more conditioning tanks, we should be able to produce three times as much as beer as we did at the same time last year. The challenge for the brewers, as always, is to ensure that beer quality remains high as we grow.

One area that has undergone a radical transformation is the bottling plant. This was from the old Harvest Cider plant in Gisborne and she certainly has a bit of age on her. However, Carl’s been chatting to her quietly and doing a bit of an overhaul. Today, the bottling plant is working better than ever.

The most tangible result is that the rate of ‘short fill’ has plummeted to virtually zero. That is good news for business but it has caused a bit of dismay for the young guys on the bottling line who used to get the short fills as staff drinks…

Now that Tuatara is making more beer – a lot more beer – we have decided to call in the professionals to help get this massive volume of craft beer into the bars and stores efficiently. We are proud to have partnered up with Toll Logistics. This partnership reflects the maturation of Tuatara as a business and allows our brewers to focus on brewing and bottling.

Their website says “Toll Logistics is Toll New Zealand's specialist in the provision of supply chain management and third party logistics, including: Container Devanning, Pallet Consolidation, Storage, Trucking Consolidation, Pallet and Box Picks, Despatch and Delivery”. What is means for us is that the biggest truck we can possibly get up the driveway swings by twice a week and takes all the beer that is not nailed down. That beer then ends up in the right place in the right time. We have to say, the system is working very well.

So, Tuatara is making more beer and it is being distributed professionally so it should be easier to find.

Finally, the best way to keep up to date with what is happening at Tuatara in the long week between blog posts is through social media. In the last year, we have really embraced technology and now have a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn still kind of confuses us.

So, please ‘like’ us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You can learn the most interesting things.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Beer Awards and Beervana

2010-08-27T13:00:00.000+12:00

The results from the 2010 BrewNZ Beer Awards were announced during a big dinner at the Duxton Hotel this week. Our Tuatara team was well represented in the crowd and we were delighted to see our beers similarly well represented in the medals.

A big team of local and international judges blind tasted a record number of entries (over 450 this year) in a range of categories. Only a third of entries received a gold, silver or bronze medal from the judges.

We entered all of our beers into the awards and were delighted that three of them received silver medals. Specifically, we picked up:

Class E: European Ale Styles	Tuatara Ardennes	Silver Medal
Class F: New Zealand, US and International Ale Styles	Tuatara APA	Silver Medal
Class H: Wheat and Other Grain Styles	Tuatara Hefe	Silver Medal

What makes these awards particularly pleasing is that Class E and Class F were the amongst the most hotly contested categories, both in terms of number of entries and number of medals awarded. Both categories were eventually taken out by Auckland’s Steam Brewing, with Cock and Bull Fuggles winning Class E and Cock and Bull Monk’s Habit victorious in Class F. Congratulations to the team at Steam.

Beervana has arrived and that means the Tuatara stand will be open for business in Wellington Town Hall. Sessions are 12-4pm and 5-9pm on Friday 27 August and Saturday 28 August. Full details, including how to buy tickets, are on the Beervana website. There will be door sales - but only if the session is not already sold out.

We will be pouring the entire Tuatara range and debuting our much-anticipated anniversary beer. In honour of ten years of being in business, Carl and brew team have created a 10% beer in the style of a Belgian Tripel. It is strong, spicy, yeasty and tasty.

It is called X as a reference to the X-Ale we once made and the fact that X, is of course, the Roman numeral for ten. We think it is quite clever really.

There will be strictly limited quantities of X on tap at Beervana and we will be releasing it in bottles relatively soon. Come and see us at Beervana on stall 19 (to the right as you enter the main hall) for one of the first tastes of this special beer.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Goes Upmarket With a Vengeance

2010-08-07T14:29:00.000+12:00

Around 98% of New Zealand has mobile phone coverage but the Tuatara Brewery is clearly in that other 2%. We have zero reception there which is probably why we get so much work done. The lack of coverage is because the entire range of Tuatara beers are created on a working farm in rural Waikanae, an hour’s drive away from Wellington and even thirty minutes from scenic Porirua. Like most farms, the dress code is pretty casual and the food tends towards the hearty.

It could not be more different at one of the latest venues to offer Tuatara – Clooney Restaurant in Auckland. Clooney is located a little off the beaten track (by Auckland standards) on Sale Street in Freemans Bay and is acknowledged as one of the very best eateries in the country.

Tuatara has being paying a lot of attention to the Auckland market recently and this is one of our biggest successes to date. Now, Tuatara IPA and Ardennes have swanked their way into this exceptionally ‘Gucci-Cool’ establishment to accompany some seriously sophisticated food.

Here is how Clooney describes Clooney on their website:

"In October 2006, owner Tony Stewart, in collaboration with Fearon Hay Architects, transformed a derelict warehouse space into a spectacular dining room, creating a completely unique dining experience.

Situated in a forgotten corner of central Auckland, Clooney has fast established a reputation for exceptional cuisine served within a dramatic setting. With its elegant ambience reflecting its industrial beginnings, Clooney offers intimacy within a sumptuous interior.Executive Chef Des Harris's dishes are seen as sophisticated, expertly crafted, expressing assertive flavours and simplicity. Inspired by traditionalism and finished with a modern slant, Chef Harris takes a modern approach to classic flavour combinations."

Clearly they are doing something right; with Clooney yet again a finalist for the Cuisine Restaurant of the Year. Last year, they were runner up in the Best Smart Dining (Metropolitan) section. Interestingly, another multi-award winning restaurant, Martin Bosley’s Yacht Club, also stocks Tuatara with Chef Bosley saying they are amongst his best selling beers.

In brewery news, the second batch of the Tuatara APA is rolling out the doors and off to an extended range of venues. We have been overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response to this beer which proves that New Zealand drinkers simply love big, assertive, hoppy beers at the moment. It is hard to imagine a beer like this having much success ten years ago when we started.

Finally, Beervana is fast approaching and we are just finishing off our very special release for that event. Tuatara has never done this particular beer style before and we actually had to kick start the yeast again last week just to make sure it will be in top condition for the week (or more) of BrewNZ-related festivities. There will be more details on what Tuatara will be up to at BrewNZ later in the month.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

La De Da - Tuatara Gets its Groove on

2010-07-26T17:24:00.001+12:00

By nature, Tuatara drinkers tend to be a socialable lot. At the brewery, we often hear justifiable complaints from them about the quality of beer available at major sporting events and big concerts. We are frequently asked "why can't I get a Tuatara at the stadium or the events centre?" and it's a very valid question. The bottom line is that generally only the big breweries can afford to get involved in these really large events.

That has all changed however. Tuatara is delighted to announce that it will be supplying the beer for the country's best New Year's Eve party – La De Da. New Zealand's newest music festival will be held at the scenic Alana Estate in Martinborough on December 31 2010. We are telling you now because the tickets are already almost gone…

The artists performing are described as a "Kiwi lineup second to none, with the huge live presence of roots/dub/rock act Kora, the chilled out reggae vibe of Katchafire, the rich and soulful tones of songstress Hollie Smith, NZ’s most loved roots/dub act Salmonella Dub, hot new roots/dub/drum and bass act SIX60, the country’s premiere electronic act Minuit, the big sounds of drum and bass act The Upbeats (live), drum and bass/dubstep production powerhouse Mt Eden Dubstep, Northland reggae act 1814, blues, rock, country and roots champions The Thomas Oliver Band, and renowned DJs Nick D and Clarke Gayford."

We reckon that if Tuatara’s had iPods, those mellow nocturnal lizards would probably love a little drum and bass. While the team at Tuatara tend to be more classic rock kind of guys – the head brewer’s love of 1980s power ballads is legendary – we do like to get our dub on and relax to some soulful beats. This year, we will be able to do so with a selection of Tuatara beers.

All of this happened because the concert organisers were willing to look past the dollars when selecting an appropriate beer partner. In fact, they actually let the fans pick the beer. La De Da’s Facebook page, which has a staggering 8,101 fans, posted this message:

"What sort of beer do you want us to serve at La De Da? Remember, we are a boutique festival being held in a winery so we want to serve a boutique beer that is cool, tasty, refreshing… and hopefully a local brand to support the region. Let us know what you think beer drinkers!"

They certainly did. At last count there were over 200 comments on this post and several more suggestions on the wall, including a surprising amount of love for Double Brown. In the end, the people wanted Tuatara and thanks to the wisdom of the organisers they will get it. Most of our team will be up there on New Year's Eve to make sure the beer still tastes good while we dance away 2010. We hope you will join us at La De Da.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

The Little Dragon That Could

2010-07-13T14:50:00.001+12:00

As reported recently in the Dominion Post article "Little local dragon sent to quench China's thirst", Tuatara is sending a pallet of beer to China as samples. We are confident they will lead to big orders as we continue to develop the export side of our business. The beer will be distributed by Tradepoint in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeast China. Appropriately, Xiamen has been a sister city for Wellington since 1987. Tuatara beer already goes to Australia and America in relatively small quantities but the virtually unlimited potential of the Chinese market makes this a very exciting development.

With little fanfare in 2002, China overtook the United States as the largest producer and consumer of beer. This achievement is based mainly on China’s massive population (estimated at over 1.3 billion) as their per capita beer consumption is still very low at around 30 litres per person. That is considerably less than half New Zealand’s consumption figure. The end result is that there is tremendous potential for growth in the Chinese beer market, particularly as sustained economic growth over the last decade has created a growing middle class with higher disposable incomes.

That said, there should be no doubt that China can be a tough place to sell beer. The market is extremely fragmented and the country is basically a collection of distinct regional economies which often require quite different approaches. It is difficult for even the biggest breweries to operate at a national level there. Several large breweries (including Lion) have struggled in China though currently many of the world’s biggest drinks companies (such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and SAB Miller) are highly active in China.

Of course, Tuatara has no intention of trying to dominate even a regional market. Xiamen city alone has a population of 2.5 million. The surrounding Fujian province is home to 36 million people. Instead, we are setting up the relationship with Tradepoint, going about exporting systematically and selecting our targets carefully.

The favoured beer style in China, like many other countries, is golden lager. Tuatara Helles and Tuatara Pilsner would be more flavoursome than most mainstream Chinese beers or global imports but there is a growing thirst for premium products. Tuatara Porter and Tuatara Ardennes would be something quite different to the average Chinese beer palate but again there is potential. Both those beers could match well with Fujian cuisine which is light but flavoursome.

In the Dominion Post article, reporter Hamish Rutherford called Tuatara the "little local dragon" and we think that is a pretty nice description. The mighty Chinese dragon is a benevolent creature symbolic of power, culture and good luck. It sounds like it could well be a mythical relative of the humble Tuatara – there is a certain family resemblance after all.

Ganbei from the team at Tuatara

Ten Years of Tuatara

2010-07-01T13:27:00.000+12:00

For most of us, the year 2000 was the start of a new century and we marked it with a huge party just in case the Y2K Bug really did destroy everything on the stroke of midnight. Of course, if you want to be completely accurate, the 21st Century didn’t actually start until 2001 but we didn’t allow that to dampen the mood.

Helen Clark was Prime Minister of New Zealand. George W Bush would (eventually) become President of the United States. Mission Impossible II was number one at the global box office while Britney Spears arrived with “Oops, I did it again.”

The Summer Olympics were successfully held in Sydney while the All Blacks won all ten tests they played that year. The International Space Station became continuously manned but the Russian submarine Kursk tragically sank.

Proving that some things do stay the same, anti-globalisation protests turned violent, peace efforts in the Middle East were unsuccessful and Microsoft was ruled to have violated antitrust laws by keeping “an oppressive thumb” on its competitors.

In 2000, Tuatara beer was brand new and only really available from The Malthouse (then on Willis Street) and Bar Bodega (then also on Willis Street but much further up). Supermarkets had just been given the right to start selling beer and it would take them a while to start stocking the good stuff. As it happened, it took a few years for Tuatara to start bottling and a few more years for Tuatara beers to start appearing on store shelves regularly.

This is all a slightly roundabout way of saying that Tuatara is almost ten years old. In some ways, the years have simply flown by. In other ways, it seems like our journey started a long time ago. A decade is a long time in this industry. What we do know is that we still have a long way to go but we intend to celebrate this milestone just a little bit. Craft brewing can be a tough business but we are going to keep doing our thing, our way.

The plan at the moment is to brew a special commemorative beer to mark Tuatara’s tenth anniversary. Because of the recent expansions to the brewery and the arrival of new equipment and tanks (even if the forklift got a puncture carrying one of them up the drive in the pouring rain – poor Carl), production capacity has basically doubled. With a few more conditioning tanks, it may even triple.

That has given us the ability to now produce a few more special brews and seasonal releases. Tuatara APA was really just the beginning in this area. If there is any particular style or type of beer you would like to see us make, leave a comment below or contact us on Facebook or Twitter. We will keep you updated here.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Loves APA

2010-06-20T22:37:00.001+12:00

While all the media talk recently has been about credit cards and vuvuzelas, an important news item about Tuatara has largely been over-looked. A pair of University of Otago science masters students won two awards at the New Zealand Reel Earth Environmental Film Awards. Their film, In Cold Blood, is easily the best Tuatara romance movie you will see this year – guaranteed. It even has its own blog.

Speaking of Tuatara love, the team here is loving the new Tuatara APA. Judging by the speed of sales, we are not the only ones. There have been some pleas on our Facebook and Twitter profiles for a list of venues where APA may be available (depending on stocks of course):

Malthouse – The home of Tuatara is naturally the home of Tuatara APA
Hashigo Zake – Underground cult beer bar
Bar Edward – Good beer in Newtown
One Red Dog – Pizza and beer on the Wellington waterfront
D4 – Upstairs Irish hospitality with a fine selection of beers
House on Hood – the ‘home of great beer’ in Hamiltron.

The beer critics have had a few nice words to say too. Here is an excerpt from Kieran Haslett-Moore’s piece in the Capital Times:

“Last week saw the first new release from Tuatara since last year’s malt accented Helles Lager. Last Wednesday Tuatara APA, a hoppy aromatic American style pale ale, was released at the Malthouse. While Helles had been aimed at bridging the gap between craft beer and the mainstream, APA is very firmly aimed at the growing numbers of ‘hopheads’ who have helped to catapult brands like Epic onto supermarket shelves around the country.

Tuatara APA was developed after Head Brewer Carl Vasta returned from attending the World Beer Cup in Chicago this year. A blend of three American grown hop varieties, Cascade, Amarillo and Simcoe were used over a solid English malt backbone of Marris Otter Pale and low colour Crystal malts. Pouring a rich shade of light amber, APA throws up aromas of grapefruit, tropical fruit, pine resin and biscuity malt, in the mouth the beer has a complex range of zesty, fruity hop flavours, and a solid lightly caramel flavoured malt backbone.

Tuatara APA really stands out from the pack of American Pale Ales currently available in New Zealand by striking a fantastic balance between malt character and hop flavour making it incredibly drinkable.”

Absolutely – what he said.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara Makes a Key Appointment

2010-06-07T17:36:00.005+12:00

Tuatara is pleased to announce that Will Cass has taken up a newly created role at a very exciting time for the company. Here is what he had to say about his experience, expectations and beer preferences.

Will, what is your job title?

I’m the National Sales Manager for Tuatara Brewery.

When did you start?

Monday 1 June 2010.

What did you do before that?

I’ve been in IT. In 2008, I sold my IT company Aangel Messaging to a London-based firm. I spent the next couple of years working for them while looking for something new and fresh. I had the opportunity to participate in the TradeMe 'On the Job' competition and discovered the Tuatara position. I knew pretty much straightaway it was what I wanted to do. It ticked all the boxes – small company, growing quickly, iconic brand and fun.

What will you be doing at Tuatara?

I will be managing the sales side of the company. We will be looking to consolidate our operations, fulfilment and logistics processes. The idea is to further improve our supply and create a champion brand – both business-to-business and business-to-consumer. I think Tuatara as a brand is already nearing iconic status, particularly in Wellington. Overall, we want to drive on ahead and become a significant brewery in a burgeoning craft beer scene.

Where do you see Tuatara in two years?

We would have continued our linear growth as a company but also be recognised as the brand which really helped lead the mass adoption of quality craft beer.

Which is your favourite Tuatara beer?

It has got to be the IPA. I’m becoming a little bit of a hophead and at my stage of life it’s all about quality, not quantity.

If you weren’t drinking Tuatara, what would you have?

Well, it depends on the environment really. I’m a fan of wheat beers and a fan of big stouts. I enjoy beers like Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, Guinness, Leffe Brune and Erdinger.

What are the challenges for the craft beer industry?

The big challenge for the industry as a whole is to make craft beer more accessible. We have to lower the barriers to the mass market. We need to help people make taste discoveries which put them on a new beer path. That does not mean we rush it or push them – people just get annoyed that way. We need to be confident in our products. For Tuatara, we also have the challenge of dealing with explosive growth. That will require dynamic and responsive management.

How will you know if you succeed?

I want Tuatara to continue to be a business and financial success. It will take a large-scale business approach but that success will always be based on the amazing skill of our brewer. We need to strike the right balance between bringing in new drinkers and keeping our loyal customers happy. That will require producing consistently good beer as well as the big fun of more seasonal releases which put our spin on the classics.

Welcome aboard Will. We will be hearing a lot more from him over the coming months.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Silver Lining in Awards Week

2010-05-31T14:56:00.017+12:00

It’s been a big week for Tuatara. Tuatara APA was launched at Malthouse and is now available there while stocks last. Head brewer Carl Vasta introduced the beer to a big crowd who certainly seemed to enjoy it. Carl said he had been looking to make an American Pale Ale for several years and was very pleased with the way it turned out.

Last week, a number of the Tuatara team spent several enjoyable days in Melbourne attending the Australian International Beer Awards and the Beer and Brewer Expo. Although Melbournians proclaimed the temperature to be “freezing” and visitors from the Northern Territory would not step outside, the weather was actually very pleasant – certainly far, far nicer than it was in Wellington. The team took the opportunity to try some new beers from across the ditch and around the world.

The big event was the Australian International Beer Awards which received 1170 entries from 243 breweries across 34 countries. There were beers from Norway to New Zealand, Myammar to Mexico. Norway did very well - Mexico less so. Tuatara was delighted to be part of a strong New Zealand contingent in the medals at the Awards.

All six regular Tuatara beers were entered and four of them won Silver medals. Our medals were:

Class 1C Pilsner	Tuatara Pilsner	Silver
Class 3D IPA	Tuatara IPA	Silver
Class 5 Porter	Tuatara Porter	Silver
Class 11D German- Style Hefeweizen	Tuatara Hefe	Silver

It was particularly pleasing to see our Pilsner ranked just behind Trumer Pils. Trumer is one of the most famous names in Pilsners and is pretty much the international benchmark for this style.

The rest of the team were back home representing Tuatara at the 2010 Wellington Gold Awards where we were one of the five finalists in the Emerging Business category. It was a flash event and packed with the best in Wellington business. We were delighted just to be short-listed and want to extend our congratulations to Yellow Brick Road which won the category this year for their funky sustainable seafood business.

There is no shame finishing behind such a cool little company. Of course, we would always be happy to receive a consolation seafood hamper from them – perhaps some nice snapper or cod…. Overall, the supreme Wellington Gold Award this year went to skincare company Trilogy. Congratulations to them and all the other finalists.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

Tuatara APA Unleashed on Unsuspecting World

2010-05-24T16:00:00.006+12:00

There is an old saying about buses – none for ages and then three turn up at once. That’s not quite the case either for Wellington (none for ages then three go on strike) or Tuatara (no new beers for three years, then two in twelve months).

Tuatara is proud to confirm the launch of Tuatara APA (American Pale Ale) both in kegs from 26 May 2010 and, later, in very limited edition 750ml bottles. The official launch party will take place at Malthouse the 26th from 5pm. It will be a chance to try the new brew and mingle with the best and brightest from the Wellington beer scene. We might even get mentioned in the newspaper again! Friends of Tuatara do not need to RSVP – just pop in after 5pm till late.

Now that everyone wants to come to the party, it is probably an appropriate time to explain a little more about the beer. It was inspired by Head Brewer Carl Vasta’s recent visit to Chicago. He had gone to meet Tuatara’s American distributor and later tried some very good APAs over there. He was particularly taken with the phenomenal products from Dogfish Head (“off-centred stuff for off-centred people”) and thought “it must be about time I made one of these.”

So, in his usual matter-of-fact manner, he did. Tuatara APA is the first Tuatara beer to draw its inspiration from America, rather than Europe. It also uses American hops, an exception to the usual brewery policy of using the best local ingredients. American hops really bring a lot to this particular style of beer.

For the beer geeks, it uses US Cascade, US Simcoe and US Amarillo hops. The speciality malts are Maris Otter and Low Colour Crystal which is needed, Carl explains, “to balance out the big hop.” Those big hops produce around 60 IBUs (International Bitterness Units) and there is plenty of weight at 5.7% alcohol. It is the biggest, hoppiest beer Tuatara has ever made and we think it will sell well.

APA is a style New Zealand drinkers are a bit infatuated with at the moment, to be honest. Kiwi tastebuds have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. Tuatara Director Sean Murrie recalls having to “tell off” Carl at the old Polar Brewery for making the lager too hoppy. Back then, people wouldn’t drink it. Today, they can’t seem to get enough.

Tuatara APA is an assertive hoppy ale built on a solid malt foundation. The nose is big and floral while the body is silken yet slightly resinous. There are notes of fruit (passionfruit, grapefruit and even peach) before a cleansing, lingering finish. While the alcohol content is relatively high, it does not dominate the beer. Tuatara’s APA is not as over-the-top as some other offerings. Carl reckoned he needed a bottle of water handy to rehydrate after sampling some of the truly massive APAs in the US. He wanted to create an APA which would allow people to comfortably have a couple of pints.

There is only one way to be sure – try Tuatara APA for yourself.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara.

Tuatara Invades Melbourne

2010-05-19T03:01:00.004+12:00

While Tuatara (the Species) and Tuatara (the Brewery) are proud natives of New Zealand, there are numerous connections between Tuatara and the Victorian Capital of Melbourne. Certainly, Mr Chris Tuatara played rugby league for the Melbourne Storm though perhaps unfortunately for his bank balance he appears to have left just before the salary cap scandals.

A scientist from the University of Melbourne helped produce a report which predicted that climate change could spell the end for Tuatara. According to their research, Tuatara would gradually die out as they would increasingly only give birth to male offspring. Their press release gave this rather depressing prediction the slightly jarring title of "Male Tuatara are desperate, and may soon be dateless." Let’s just say they are not on the Tuatara Christmas Card List anymore.

In terms of beer, Tuatara Brewery has been exporting to Melbourne for some time now. We have some big customers there but it is a truly huge market and we are looking to expand even further. This week, most of the team has headed off to Melbourne to work on a week of beer events centred in and around the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA).

First up, we will be participating in the brewing equivalent of 'speed dating' with a number of potential large customers. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise has set up an event to try and match up craft New Zealand breweries with big Australian beer buyers.

Each brewery has a table to display their beers, promotional material and a bit of food. In the allocated ten minutes, the idea is to talk the buyers through our products and hopefully make a connection. When the bell rings, all the buyers move on one table. It’s going to be fun, intense and hopefully productive. Big thanks have to go to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise for getting behind the craft brewing industry.

On the 19th we will find out the results of the Wellington Gold Awards. Those members of Team Tuatara still in the country will put on their party best and head out to the posh Awards dinner. Fingers crossed all round.

The next day, the Melbourne-based contingent will be at the Australian International Beer Awards in the swanky Crown Palladium in Melbourne. They probably will not be quite as well dressed but will all be hoping for a bit of success at this prestigious contest. The entire Tuatara range has been entered into the awards which have been running since 1993.

Tuatara will also be represented at the Beer and Brewer Expo at Young and Jackson’s. Melbourne readers should buy a ticket and head on in.

It’s a big week for Tuatara – no wonder we feel like a beer!

Cheers from the team at Tuatara.

A Hint of Gold for Tuatara

2010-04-30T11:03:00.036+12:00

Way back in January, Tuatara Brewing Company decided to put aside our traditional Kiwi modesty and enter the Wellington Gold Awards.

These awards, now in their twelfth year, “seek those businesses, both large and small, that keep Wellington sparkling.” The snazzy website is not exaggerating – the list of previous winners does indeed resemble a “who’s who” of Wellington business, which made it all the more humbling to be recently named as a finalist.

We are one of five finalists in the Emerging Gold category – "Illuminating smaller enterprises which are shining beyond their size." Now, we are a pretty shiny little company but we are up against some very tough competition. The finalists are:

Dazzle Tickets	A fresh new event ticketing system
Pet Angels	Wellington’s largestpet care company
The Baby’s Room	A retail store and Australasian baby goods supplier
Tuatara Brewing Company	Producing craft beer from time honoured, traditional recipes
Yellow Brick Road	Moving those cooking seafood closer to those catching it

To put our challenge in context, the lovely Rachel from Yellow Brick Road not only sources some amazing fish, but she was a finalist in the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year 2010. In fact, some of us think she should have won.

The actual winners of the various Gold Awards will be announced at a black tie dinner on May 19. The biggest hurdle for the Tuatara crew may just turn out to be the formal dress code. Still, it is a great chance to continue to lift our profile and introduce our beers to more movers and shakers in Wellington business.

That’s certainly what happened when the Deloitte Fast 50 ranked us as the 39th fastest growing company in the country. Reporting on the launch event, Patrick Smellie from InBusiness Magazine started his article with the observation: "but what stayed with me, apart from a new love of Tuatara Ardennes Ale, was the clips of the winners saying when they get their best ideas. Here’s a secret: none of them said at work."

Wise words indeed – we will post details about some of our best ideas over the coming weeks.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara.

In Pursuit of the Perfect Pint

2010-04-19T14:57:00.018+12:00

Tuatara is delighted to welcome Mike Neilson on board at our busy brewery. He has made a great start and we thought it would be a good idea for people to get to know him a little better. Here is what the man who is “in pursuit of the perfect pint” had to say:

Michael, what was your brewing experience before Tuatara?

I have been home brewing for a few years and got to the stage where I needed to do something different.

[Note: Michael is being quite modest: He won two gold medals, a silver and two bronzes at the 2009 SOBA National Homebrew Championships – the first homebrew competition he ever entered.]

What was your day job before you started brewing?

I was a sales rep for the Plaster Warehouse. Before that I was self-employed.

What do you think you will learn from your time at Tuatara?

To brew big! Basically, it is exactly the same as home brew but on a much larger scale. All the proper practices still apply no matter how big the brewery.

In terms of brewing, what do you bring to Tuatara?

I hope to get a chance to help in the development of new beers. I want to please people’s palates but also to test them.

Which is your favourite Tuatara beer to drink?

Tuatara Pale Ale, definitely.

Not including your own beers or the Tuatara range, what beers do you like to drink?

India Pale Ales – that’s my favourite style. Overall, it would be [Russian River] Pliny the Elder and Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. For Kiwi IPAs, it would have to be 8 Wired Hopwired.

Which Tuatara beer are you looking forward to making the most?

The next one!

So, what’s it like working for Carl Vasta?

Awesome - it’s just good to learn from him. What that man doesn’t know about brewing isn’t worth knowing.

Finally, thanks to all the predominately female Tuatara fans for their many phone calls, emails, text messages and tweets about obtaining a “Men of New Zealand Brewing” calendar featuring Tuatara’s own Carl Vasta. The calendar was promoted on the Malthouse blog and was, of course, an April Fool’s joke by our friends and part-owners there. Seriously, there is no calendar. Please stop calling!

Cheers from the team at Tuatara.

Tuatara on Show – Brewery Tours and the Online Store

2010-03-30T14:39:00.008+13:00

At Tuatara, we are very proud of the award-winning beers we brew. We are also happy to show people where they are all made.

Groups are welcome for brewery tours and tastings but be sure to call or email well in advance to organise them. There may also be a small charge to cover costs.

Notice is required because we have to ensure our busy brewers are available to show you around and talk through the processes and the products. Also, we need to put the sign out at the front gate or chances are you will drive right by us. The Tuatara Brewery, like its reptilian namesake, is well-camouflaged to the untrained eye.

On Saturday 20 March we were delighted to host a big, enthusiastic group from the Society of Beer Advocates SOBA. SOBA supports "beer for all right reasons" and many SOBA members are long-time friends of the brewery. Tell you what, those guys know their beer and asked some pretty tough technical questions.

We also had a television camera crew and celebrity chef in the other day but details of that particular project will have to wait for now. Suffice to say that Tuatara will hopefully be starring on the small screen both here and in Australia later in the year. All the details will be posted here just as soon as they are confirmed.

Even if you can’t make it to the brewery in picturesque Waikanae, you can still show the world that you have excellent taste in beer. The Tuatara on-line store is now open and selling stylish t-shirts, classy glasses and fully-functional bottle openers. Tuatara is the new black.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara.

Dion our Brewer is Stepping Down

2010-03-19T12:20:00.007+13:00

As announced in last week’s post, Dion Page has finished up at Tuatara Breweries in order to spend some more time with his young family. Before we let him go, we asked a few questions about his time at Tuatara and his plans for the future.

Dion, how long did you work at Tuatara?

Just over two years. I never really had a job title, brewer I think!

What was your brewing experience before Tuatara?

I trained at a 1,150 litre brewpub called The Franciscan Well in Cork, Ireland. It was quite similar in size to the old Tuatara brewery. The pub only served the five beers we made, two wines (nasty red and nasty wine in single serve bottles), a few bottles of imported beer and maybe six optics behind the bar. People only really ordered pints. It was hardcore - no singing, no dancing, no straws, no shots, no cocktails.

What was your job before you started brewing?

I was the editor in a legal publishing company. It was five years ago but it seems like a lifetime. I feel so disassociated with it now.

What was the best thing you learned during your time at Tuatara?

Basically, I learned how to be really hands on and use what is available. It is all about working with what you have got. The Franciscan Well was bought as a package so everything was standard sizes and fitted properly. Tuatara has a bit of a mish-mash of tanks and pipes of varying sizes. It pushed me to make good beer under limited circumstances. To make good beer you need a good brewer, good ingredients and good plant. I remember there was one piece of equipment that it took me fifty brews before I finally realised the best way to use it. Carl’s very hands on – if it doesn’t work, he will fix it or find a replacement from the ‘side shed’.

In your opinion, what is the worst job in the brewery?

Well, everyone hates kegs cleaning because it is really monotonous. I always took the approach that you had to do it properly. I don’t want to do all the work brewing in the preceding six weeks only to throw it all away by scrimping it on keg cleaning time. The worst part for me was driving to the brewery – it took me two hours and twenty minutes a day.

Which was you favourite Tuatara beer to make?

Tuatara Hefe because I didn’t have to filter it! The irony is that I don’t drink wheat beers at all. I’m not a fan of cloves, I would never eat them and that’s all I get off a hefe. Most people don’t realise there is a lot to filtration. It’s quite an involved process. I’m confident that I haven’t let a cloudy one out - apart from the Hefe of course!

Which is your favourite Tuatara beer to drink?

Tuatara IPA – definitely.

What are you up to now?

Well, the plan was to sit on my arse and watch Days of Our Lives! That plan has been scuppered. I’m looking after the family, dropping people off, cooking the dinner, training for a marathon and doing the odd bit of work. I’m a very busy unemployed guy!

Will you back in brewing?

Oh yeah - I’m just taking a break!

We wish Dion all the best.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

A New Beginning for the ‘It’s All About the Beer’ Blog

2010-03-11T13:43:00.011+13:00

It is a new era at the Official Tuatara Blog. Between August 2009 and February 2010, we managed just two blog posts. Granted, they were both excellent pieces introducing Tuatara Helles, the first new beer to join our range in three years, and a behind-the-scenes look at the founding of Tuatara way back in 2000/2001.

The intention now is to provide shorter updates every week about a Tuatara-related topic. It could be new faces in the team, shiny equipment at the brewery, some fresh ingredients, new beers (because there are some on the way), events, tours, special offers, tastings, new outlets, what others are saying about us or just general Tuatara gossip.

Wellington has enjoyed a hectic and surprisingly sunny start to the year with The Sevens, Fringe Festival, Round the Bays, Phoenix, AC/DC, International Arts Festival and the occasional tsunami alert.

That fun certainly continued last weekend at the New Zealand Beer Festival held in Westpac Stadium on Saturday. The Auckland festival was a great event earlier in the year but Wellingtonians turned out in force on a beautiful sunny day.

There were some long queues at our stall but we would expect nothing less from our home town crowd. The festival looks set to become an annual tradition and it was a huge night back at the Malthouse afterwards too.

This past week there was some big news at the brewery. We had to bid a fond farewell to brewer Dion Page after several years of sterling service at Tuatara. He is taking a well-earned break to spend more time with his young family. We wish him the very best and will be getting his thoughts about his time at Tuatara for a future post.

To replace Dion, Tuatara is pleased to announce that multi award-winning home brewer Michael Neilson will be joining the team. We are tremendously excited about having Michael on board and he will also be profiled on the blog shortly.

We would love to hear what you think about the ‘new’ blog so leave a comment below or drop us an email at the office.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara.

What the Helles this?

2009-09-01T19:02:00.011+12:00

Welcome to the family, Helles. Finally, a sixth food group has been added to the staple diet of the team at Tuatara. After five big, bold beers, we thought it time to take a look at the lighter side of life.

While many of us love our hops, there are moments when we all need to sit back and reflect on the pleasures proffered by a full-malt-bodied beer; a contemplation that would be incomplete without a considered, yet not overpowering, measure of noble hops.

Described as the "liquid bread" of the Bavarians, this fine beer style was consumed as early as 9.00am in Germany. A likely contributor to their loss of the war, this practice would have easily lent weight to the six o’clock closing laws in force in New Zealand at the time.

Pronounced "hell-es" or "hell-uhz", the style was born in Munich during the 1890s. The most delicate of lagers, it balances the sweet maltiness of the barley with an elegant hop aftertaste. Take the brewer’s word for it as "a beer for when you’re up for a session… or when you’ve had enough hops for the day".

Dangerously smooth, the difficult labour of this brew included what can only be described as "the mother of all boil-overs". A strong Reikorangi westerly propelled a geyser of steam and foam from the kettle manway, forcing the brewer to jump from his ladder and relegating the late hop addition to the brewery floor.

A 60-second mad dash to reweigh the hops saved the day, turning the 4-minute addition into a 3-minute one. We can live with that…

We hope you enjoy our new beer as much as we do. Here’s a list of places you can get it. Like all great beer recipes, it is not a revolution but an evolution. Minute tweaks have been made to the original formulation, resulting in even smoother brews each time.

Prost!

Tuatara: The Beginning

2009-08-13T10:19:00.019+12:00

Many of you will now know Tuatara, and many will have tried all of our range of beers. But you may not know how we began.

The brewery started in December 2000 after the three instigators got together. Carl Vasta our brewer previously had brewed for Parrot and Jigger, and then tried his hand at Polar lager. It was ahead of its time in terms of it’s flavour and ultimately he sold the brew plant. Carl however was soon itching to get involved in another brewing venture. Fraser McInnes owned Bar Bodega, a well known music venue and a strong supporter of good beer. He couldn’t understand why anyone drank anything but good beer and told everybody who would listen. Sean Murrie owned The Malthouse which had more natural beers on tap than any other bar in Australasia, but didn’t have one of their own. So the three heads got together. Carl knew a fair bit about brewing, and Fraser and Sean knew their customers loved good boutique beer made as it should be. The result hatched as the best of schemes do, over a few beers, was the birth of Tuatara brand, and Wellington had its very own boutique brewery. Tuatara didn’t want to just produce any beer though. We decided to stay true to the age old brewing laws of Rheinheisgebot (German purity law), which states a beer can only use water, malt, hops and yeast in the brewing process. No chemicals for head retention, no flavour enhancers, or replacing malt with molasses (much cheaper and quicker process, but ultimately much less flavour)Anything else to mention???

Bodega and Malthouse sold the beer to their customers, and used their feedback to tell Carl precisely what they thought of his brews. These comments were used to further hone the beer, and it kept getting better and better. The brewery carried on like this for a few years just making enough beer to keep Carl Sean and Fraser’s friends happy, and we were stoked to be doing that. Then we started getting requests from other bars. And the bars that seemed to be asking were all the more onto it places. Cuba St bars like Havana, Fidels, Good Luck were onto it quickly and Tuatara became their customers beer of choice. Regional Wines and Spirits did a great job telling the better bars in Wellington about this new beer available, and our sales got bigger and bigger. Some celebs decided they liked it and the ball started rolling ever faster. We had been getting along fine with a 1000 Litre brewery, but suddenly we were getting asked for more beer than we could make. So a year ago we started on a plant upgrade, which culminated with having a 3800 Litre brewery (same size as Macs) completed just in time for Brew NZ held in August last year. The same month we completed the brewery we happened to win three golds, two best in class, and overall best brewery in New Zealand. And then all Hell broke loose. Not sure if was the awards, or just that people were constantly introducing our beer to their mates, but the end was result was that even with our brewery being four times the size, we still couldn’t keep up. This time it wasn’t the size of the mash tun, but the fermentation tanks and conditioning tanks were way too small. And now we were selling more in bottles than in kegs, a reverse of all the years to that point, which meant our bottling plant, which is a grand old lady, needed a lot of tweaking and gentle coersion to once again supply a high output of bottled beer. Luckily Carl our brewer is also a very capable engineer, and he has sorted it all so we can make even more beer. Now we are exporting and selling Tuatara all around the country.

That’s how it started, we don’t know how it will end up, but it’s a journey that we are happy to be a part of. Right now we’ll just keep making the best beer we can, and hope that in the process we will reach those beer drinkers who have yet to discover boutique beer, to make the leap of faith away from the brands that gain sales by spending huge advertising budgets . We are not into selling beer that way and just hope our mates and their mates will keep introducing Tuatara to everyone who is yet to try it.

And remember, somewhere in the world it’s 5 O’clock!

[The ex] Official Tuatara Blog

New New New

New home away from home for Tuatara

Tuatara Strikes Gold

Sponsoring the next generation of Tuatara

The Great Tuatara Tap Hunt – The Tuatara Triangle

Excuse me waiter, there’s a Tuatara on my plate

Tuatara on the hunt for Gold

Another first for Tuatara

Tuatara Sells Out

The Very Best of Twitter

Celebrating a baby Tuatara birthday

Trying to make a difference – Part Two

Trying to make a difference – Part One

Tuatara goes back to uni

Tuatara Talks Tough

Tuatara loves food

How we rate on RateBeer

The Year of the Tuatara (hopefully)

Tuatara goes California Cool at Monterey

Tuatara X returns as Trade Me ad goes viral

Tuatara Up Five in Fast 50

Tuatara on Twitter

Tuatara is on Tap in Havana and in Heaven

Tuatara is the People’s Choice in Wellington (Again)

Tuatara Travels to the Land of the Rising Sun

Beer and Food Matching Taking Off

Tuatara Popping up in Sydney

Tuatara APA Launched in Bottles on Friday

Making more Tuatara and Making it Easier to Find

Beer Awards and Beervana

Tuatara Goes Upmarket With a Vengeance

La De Da - Tuatara Gets its Groove on

The Little Dragon That Could

Ten Years of Tuatara

Tuatara Loves APA

Tuatara Makes a Key Appointment

Silver Lining in Awards Week

Tuatara APA Unleashed on Unsuspecting World

Tuatara Invades Melbourne

More Tuatara sightings in the Dominion Post

A Hint of Gold for Tuatara

In Pursuit of the Perfect Pint

Tuatara on Show – Brewery Tours and the Online Store

Dion our Brewer is Stepping Down

A New Beginning for the ‘It’s All About the Beer’ Blog

What the Helles this?

Tuatara: The Beginning