Lion to close the Mac’s Brewery in Wellington

[nzbrewer]

Lion Nathan has decided to relocate the Mac’s Craft Beer production capability from Wellington to the Canterbury Brewery, Christchurch and close the Mac’s Brewery in Wellington.

The Wellington Brewery is a higher-cost facility relative to our other breweries but up until now we considered this a component of our investment in building the Mac’s brand and its reputation for brewing innovation.

However the brand has developed to a point where consumer adoration for Mac’s no longer depends on the Wellington Brewery underpinning the brand’s reputation for brewing innovation. The maturity of the Mac’s brand and the introduction of the Mac’s Brewbars throughout the country have contributed to this change in consumer attitude, to the extent that we can now no longer justify the expense of operating the Wellington Brewery.

http://www.realbeer.co.nz/alefiles/local_news/article_2009_11_26_33...

[Christian]

Hmmm, in that case I really think they should stop referring to Mac's as craft beer (appears about 9 times in that article). In fact, they probably should have stopped using it a long time ago. I wonder what will happen to seasonal brews like Brejolais? All businesses have to evolve but this is a bit like watching the slow decline of an old friend.

[Greig McGill]

Well, it had already started in my opinion. Brewjolais is amazing. It stands with the best any craft brewery in NZ can produce. That awful "take Mac's Gold and bung some lime in it" seasonal they have at the moment was a cop-out in the worst way though. The decline had begun. Nero fiddled while Lion brewed that crap. I felt like I'd been fiddled with.

[Christian]

Haven't tried that latest seasonal but it sounds bad. I was running low on my stocks of homebrew so I picked up some Mac's Gold on Saturday - tastes a bit like my first brews when I used 1Kg of Dextrose - looks like it's no longer 'All Malt' so they should drop that from their marketing also. Here's a new phrase they could use:

'Mac's - now just another boring, mainstream beer'

Still, it doesn't really matter if beer geeks shun it - they've moved on to the much larger mass-market now and good on them I guess. It's just a bit disappointing as it's probably what got me interested in beer in the first place and has strong memories associated with holidaying in Nelson before I moved here.

[Kempicus]

You can see the vats of chelsea sugar through the window from the pavement....it's ironic that they promote all malt homebrewing through their kits but obviously don't practice what they preach (sorry Greig had to pull in a religious saying after you mentioned being fiddled with ;0)

[Greig McGill]

Cod will forgive you.

[jt]

chelsea sugar

They might consider Pams or Home Brand if times are tight then ?

[denimglen]

...we considered this a component of our investment in building the Mac’s brand and its reputation for brewing innovation...

So you guys had the Wellington place to keep the brand from being called a macro-brewery. Lol.

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

NZ's "beer mecca" has no temple...

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

Yep - plenty of great chapels, and plenty of great prophets...

But the prayers are all going to be composed elsewhere :)

[nzbrewer]

It does have a temple.......

The Malthouse

Where else can you get Epic Mayhem on Tap?

[Shane Morley]

A big thankyou to all the past and present Mac's brewers who were always more than willing to give tours through the brewery and talk beer. That is what I will miss the most when I visit Wellington.

[Stu McKinlay]

Here here Shane... Colin and Ally were two of the most generous, passionate and engaging beer people I've met. And all the brewery staff I met were bloody friendly.