Tuatara goes California Cool at Monterey

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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