Brew on Quay

[Tony]

I went to the opening last night.

It is situated in the old Wharf Police building, which is a wonderful, old brick building. They have done a really good fitout. It has several small rooms/cubicles, for groups to sit and chat, while enjoying a good beer. Upstairs, is an indoor/outdoor area for smokers, which also has a bar.

The beer- it has the usual slop on tap:Lion product, I didn't notice anything of interest on draught (it was quite busy). But they have 2 large fridges, stacked. In these, they have numerous, quality beers, from NZ and overseas. The Emerson's range, Harrintons', Dux, Epic, Croucher, and many more.

On this, they need to be commended, it really is a good range and I took the time to speak to numerous people about what they thought. The consensus, was pretty clear that the decor and choice of beers was excellent. I noticed several people, drinking Emerson's and other craft brews. The biggest downside was, the bar staff, were not offering a glass with any of the bottled beers. A group, I spoke to were drinking Bookbinder, out of the bottle. Although they really appreciated having the chance to buy an Emerson's, and obviously knew the beer, they didn't seem to find it odd, not to drink it from a glass. I had a couple of Croucher Pale ales, which was tasting fantastic. I suggested to the rather inexperienced Barperson, that served me, that she offer a glass with all the bottled beers, she served from the fridge. I think this is a lack of education, about the difference between serving a quality beer and serving a Heineken! They don't seem to discern a difference?!

Still, I thought it was a vast improvement on Auckland bars in general. I don't think it is another Malt. It doesn't quite have the same atmosphere and feeling that here is a bar, where the staff know their beer and serve it accordingly. But I think any one of us, would be happy to go in there and enjoy a great selection of quality craft beers and be happy to part with our money to drink it there.

[denimglen]

Sounds choice, might go on a pub crawl this weekend...if you can call it that - a couple of pints at Gals then a taxi to this shindig...haha.

[Hugh Grierson]

I went there last night and had dinner, my girlfriend cracked the call out that it should have been set up by three guys and a girl. Some of the interior design does not work, for example the art in the ladies (I hear) , and the transition from traditional front of the building to the modern glass and stainless in the rear is a bit muddled.
The selection of beer was excellent, but only two non lion beers on tap, Epic was my choice, and it worked with the meal, I had the beef pie, my lady had a perfect med rare steak.
I thought the menu was well planned, (but no beer matching), good value and well executed.
This is a great addition to Auckland's (sad, generic beer) drinking options.

[denimglen]

Wow, just had a look at their beer list.

Mad props for starting up a bar like this, and I know it must be hard to stock small amounts of so many beers but -

$16ish for bottles of Wigram and Emerson's
$22.00 for Young's Special London
$19.00 for Renaissance porter
$10ish for a 330 bottle of Invercargill

Don't wanna sound all negative and shit, and maybe this is normal for these sorts of bars, or maybe I'm just stingy but average of like $18 for 500mL is a bit rough.

Just my 2c, if that's worth anythng here.

[Glynn Foster]

If that's deciding to make a profit no matter what, then I'd think it would be pretty wrong (variety in a pub is good). If that's the cost of bringing those beers into the bar, then I think we have issues somewhere along the line in encouraging craft beer...

[Ally Mcg]

That can't be the cost. Well, i hope not. I was drinking Renaissance Wee Heavy (or Scotch ale i think they call it ) at a bar/resort with boat access only in the Malb Sounds for $10 a bottle. I know Renaissance are only in Blenheim but surely it'd cost more to get boats to the middle of nowhere than it would to freight it over on the ferry then up north. Sounds like a gouge to me, but I'm happy to be corrected.

Or the cynic in me says that the big boys are out to kill our interest in craft beer with the big prices in mainstream bars. Maybe they think once we suckle at the teet of swill again we'll go back.

[James P]

How many people clipped that ticket on the way?

I know some bars make 100% on drinks, however what is their contract with the breweries? Or are they buying from the supermarket and restocking?

[Daniel Parker]

They have just marked up using a formula.. If a bar buys a beer (e.g Lion Red) for $2, and they sell it for $6.. it is (obviously) just been multiplied by 3.

Now take a beer that costs $7 (Young's Special London), and with the same 'formula' applied, you get to approx the numbers listed above. Makes the $8.50 I sell it for look anemic.

I'm not saying they are right or wrong.. the market will decide that in time.

Daniel

[Stu McKinlay]

Yeh, nd people will end up drinking stale beer and thinking craft beer is crap.
And Brew On Quay will become just like any other bar in Auckland.

[Daniel Parker]

Yeah.. I was thinking about this last night.. If on a 'Lion Red' they make $4 for a 330ml, then if Lion Red was 500ml they would make approx $6.

As a beer sold is a beer sold (i.e it doesn't make any difference what the beer is, as long as a unit is sold) then in my opinion the Youngs Special London should cost $13. ($7 cost plus $6 margin)

This way the craft beer is not being discriminated against. I don't think it would be fair for the price to be any less than this, as it would therefore be in their best interest to push Lion Red, as there would be more margin in it (And in reality, its probably an easier sell)

Daniel

[Stu McKinlay]

Ah, yes, but they figure there is more 'invested' in the Young's Special London so they are after the bigger margin to keep their rate of return the same.

Fact of the matter is, I wouldn't think there are that many people who would pay more than about $12-13 for a 500ml bottle of craft beer in a bar or restaurant.

[Martin Bridges]

Ouch. That's pretty steep. As Daniel says below it is probaby the result of someone applying a simple markup formula, which suggests to me that they don't really understand their product or their market.

I'll be in there on Wednesday night to form my own impression.

[Hugh Grierson]

Tap beers are a reasonable price, and that's what will move. Pushing prices up needs to happen also, but maybe this is too much. The Duopoly are pushing on premise costs , I hope this will get kiwis over a few traditional price points in the next year or two.
Might create leeway for some better margins for the minnows and cheshire cats of NZ beer.