The annual increase in "sin" tax on beer has prompted major breweries to lift their prices.
Lion's increase in a couple of days will be 4.5%, while DB's prices have gone up by 4.7%. The tax - liquor excise, supposedly to pay for the cost of alcohol abuse - on alcoholic beverages goes up each July 1 in line with the movement in the CPI in the year ending March 31.
The rise was 4.5% this time.
This means we will now be paying about 22c in excise ($2.70 a dozen) for a 330ml bottle of low-alcohol beer; about 36c ($4.20) for 4% and 45c ($5.40) for 5%, which adds to more than $900 million (plus 15% GST on that) a year for our favourite beer, wine, cider or spirit.
There is no tax on beverages containing less that 1.15% alcohol (which ensures that things such as cough medicines and liqueur chocolates are not trapped by the regulations). A 750ml bottle of table wine will now incur $2.04 in tax and fortified wine and spirits nearly $5 for every litre of 10% strength (about $11, for example, for a 750ml bottle of 30% spirits).
New owner
The new owner of Wanaka Beerworks has taken over from the brewery's creator, Dave Gillies, who bows out after 12 years.
Belgian Dave De Vylder, an electronics engineer and now qualified brewer, plans to boost Wanaka Beerworks' range of three beers with mainly high-strength seasonal brews.
Belgium is home to Stella Artois, the creator of wheat beer, such as Hoegaarden, and to six of the seven official Trappist beers, such as Chimay, traditionally made by monks but now mostly commercially run and usually high-strength.
The first of his European-style brews, which he has just laid down, will be an aged German-style one to be appropriately named for the Rugby World Cup in September. Also on his list of to-dos are cherry, honey, wheat, wood-infused, sour, sweet, dark, dry, and herb beers. Most will be at least 6%, topped by a Russian stout of about 10%.
They will suit each of the four seasons and come out three at a time, which will suit the brewery's six-packs, which are relatively widely available.
Brewery upgrade
Production at DB's Monteith's brewery in Greymouth will stop in about 10 days for the plant to undergo major redevelopment. Brewing will shift to the Timaru brewery until Greymouth reopens in February.
The Greymouth brewery does not produce all of Monteith's beer, but output will be stepped up with seven-day operation of the new plant and it will also house a cafe.
The brewery started life as the Phoenix brewery in 1868. It merged with other West Coast breweries in 1927 to form Westland Brewery, which was eventually bought by DB.
DB tried to close the Greymouth brewery in 2001, but bowed to local pressure and kept it running.
