Award-winning Kiwi brewery 8 Wired is up for sale. The Warkworth-based production brewery and Matakana taproom is owned by Søren and Monique Eriksen, who founded 8 Wired in 2005. The brewery was awarded Champion NZ Brewery at the New Zealand Beer Awards in both 2011 and 2023 and Søren says the decision to sell was a difficult one. “We feel we’ve taken it as far as we can, and we want to pass the mantle on to someone with more skill in driving the business to the next level,” he told RNZ. 8 Wired’s brewery, a barrel ageing facility and the taproom will all be sold together as one entity. The li ..read more

It’s been a good wine harvest in more ways than one this season in Marlborough. According to Transporting New Zealand, spillages from the picked grapes on the way from vineyards to wineries can see the road covered in grape juice which can make for slippery roads, and sticky cars. Late last year, a collaborative initiative between Wine Marlborough, wine growers, harvesters, harvest transport operators, infrastructure groups, Police and Transporting New Zealand led to the development of guidelines intended to help cut the number of grape spillages. Harvest transport operators, including Heagney ..read more

The conference schedule for WinePro has been announced with the theme of Innovate, Elevate, Celebrate. Taking place in Blenheim on June 25-27, WinePro features talks and panels in the fields of tech, environment, labour, the future of the industry and more. Speakers and panellists include doctors, CEOs, government officials, representatives from businesses and trusts and the New Zealander of the Year for 2024. A summary of speaker highlights: Tech Advancements: AI in Wine – Rachel O’Shea from Yabble will go through cases of AI use for the wine industry from research and innovation to internati ..read more

Garage Project and Royalburn Station (aka Nadia’s Farm) have announced the release of their collaboration brew, Swifty, in packaged format. Swifty – initially released in keg-only format in December – is a 4.2% malt-driven beer designed for a mainstream audience. It is now for sale now in Liqourland stores nationwide and will be in select New World stores in the coming months. Nadia Lim and her husband Carlos Bagrie bought Wanaka’s Royalburn Station in 2019 after selling their stake in My Food Bag. The station is a 485-hectare alpine station is a large-scale farm-to-plate operation. Last year ..read more

Hop Federation’s limited release, Fresh Hop Rakau IPA, is here. They’ve teamed up with James from Verdant Brewing in the UK and Brent from Mac Hops in Motueka to come up with something pretty special… A delicious IPA, fresh hopped with Rakau hops from just down the road and fermented with Verdant’s very own yeast. Chief Brewer, Simon Nicholas, says “We were super excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with James from Verdant Brewing. Him coming all the way from the UK and spending a day with us at our brewery was awesome. Not to mention, the beer is tasting great.” He adds, “It’s got ..read more

Garage Project has partnered with Christchurch jazz and tapas venue, Vesuvio, which will exclusively pour Garage Project brews. According to the Pursuit of Hoppiness, Vesuvio owner-operators Rachel Powderly and Jonathan Gregory were undecided on how the curation of the beers on offer would work. “When a mutual friend in the hospitality world floated the idea of a fully-branded Garage Project bar to both parties, the fit was obvious,” says Pursuit of Hoppiness’ Tim Newman. “Vesuvio would get to sport that most illustrious of craft beer brands, while Garage Project themselves would gain a steady ..read more

ACT Small Business spokesperson Laura Trask says the tactics deployed by public officials against bars in Wellington is akin to harassment, and needs to stop. Trask says the case of Saint Diablo, a Courtenay Place bar that was forced to spend months and tens of thousands of dollars fighting for the right to open, suggests there is a destructive anti-business mindset in the capital. “Health NZ budgeted $50,000 and spent $22,000 opposing the bar’s application to open,” she says. “They claimed there were already close to 200 bars in the area, but The Post today reveals this figure was inflated wi ..read more

Central Otago wine company Te Kano Estate has taken out the Agri-Science award at the Farm Environment Awards held last week. Owned by Keith and Rhonda Lloyd, Northburn is one of four Te Kano vineyards which together deliver everything from grape to glass. The 120ha (41ha effective) Northburn vineyard is located in the landscape of Cromwell and is managed by Mark Naismith and winemaker Dave Sutton. Since 2015, it has been transformed from dryland sheep country to an irrigated vineyard surrounded by large areas of native plants. The team is focused on developing a premium product and they’re ac ..read more

Taranaki regional development agency, Te Puna Umanga Venture Taranaki, has released an Industry Paper that provides advice to small and independent hop growers across the country looking to scale up from pilot scale plots to financially viable hop gardens. The Paper, part of the Branching Out project, has been commended and endorsed by Hāpi, a New Zealand-based hop breeding and market development programme. “The Hāpi Brewing Success programme, through the collaborative efforts of Freestyle Hops, Garage Project, and MPI, is keen to see the hop industry thrive,” says says David Wright Chair of H ..read more

Ready-to-drink beverages featured prominently at ProWein 2024 with its new branded world ProSpirits. Alongside the no-&-low alcohol products already presented as a trend last year, RTD is in focus this year, writes ProWein’s Jürgen Deibel. Classics in this category like rum/whisky & Coke or gin & tonic are widely available on the market. Rum-based cocktails (e.g. punches) and Rhum Arrange featured in the ranges of Rhum Damoiseau from Guadeloupe or from Mauritius. Proving a special eye-catcher there was the “Sundowner” based on rum from Mauritius. RTDs are not only produced on the b ..read more