Arrowtown's local beer will be more accessible from next month when Arrow Brewing begins bottling.
The brewery was started by five partners in a bar-cafe called The Oaks in an Arrowtown shopping mall two years ago and has been producing mainly for on-premise consumption, although the occasional keg goes into other bars.
Brewing is mainly in the hands of John Timpany, an Invercargill-based steel fabricator who has been building plant for small breweries, wineries and apiaries for nearly 20 years.
Just before Christmas, he turned his hand to making a hand-operated bottler.
"Tourists, particularly those in camper vans, would like to take some of our beers on the road with them," he says.
And because locals cannot take a bottle or two home, he says they have been asking for lower strength brews (he now has two under 4%) so they can have a couple of pints instead of one before driving home.
The 500ml bottles will initially be available only from the brewery and over the internet (www.arrowbrewing.co.nz).
Ten beers are produced, ranging from 3.7% ale to an 8% IPA India pale ale.
Since he started, Mr Timpany has consistently "fiddled" with batches - often because of seasonal fluctuations in the composition of the town's water - and occasionally indulges in some "fantasies" with short-run, unusual styles.
Meanwhile, the brewery celebrated Christmas and the new year with a cherry beer, made from Central Otago cherries in an old wine press.
Like most small breweries (Dunedin-based Emerson's, for example, which has moved twice to expand production), Arrow Brewing will soon need an off-site plant to boost production.
New owner
Over the hill from Arrowtown, Dave Gillies has sold his Wanaka Beerworks 12 years after establishing it at Wanaka airfield.
He will hand the business over at the end of June to Swiss-based Belgian Dave De Vylder.
Mr De Vylder is an electronics engineer married to a former Moeraki resident.
He completed a brewer's course four years ago and now spends his weekends working in a Swiss mico-brewery.
Wanaka Beerworks produces Brewski (a pilsner), Cardrona Gold (maltier) and Tall Black (dark) and the new owner plans to boost the range with short-run Belgian-style high-alcohol brews.
German pilsner
Progressive Enterprises (Woolworths, Foodtown, Countdown) imports Krombacher Pilsner ($16.55), which is quite a rich brew for its 4.8%.
It is effervescent, full-flavoured and has a nice malt-hop balance. It must be delicious fresh from the brewery, but should be well-chilled to hide its tiredness from a long journey.
