RealBeer.co.nz - Buyers Guide to Craft Beer in New Zealand

[nzbrewer]

In an effort to help retailers in New Zealand to purchase a good selection of craft beers I am working on the document below. Would love to have any suggestions or input. Once it has been polished it will be released to the Liquor Trade.

Why do this? recently I have had a number of bars bitching at me about some "craft beers" they have stocked which people try once and hate on, then they have to try and sell the rest of it out. This also has the effect on new and potential craft beer drinkers not adventuring outside their comfort zone again because they got burned.

So hook in to it I want to see your comments. If first time craft beer drinkers have an awesome experience every time, they will buy again, and there will be more demand for more craft beer.

Cheers
Luke

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RealBeer.co.nz
Presents

Buyers Guide
Craft Beer of New Zealand

Craft Beer made in New Zealand has all of a sudden become very interesting and many bar owners and liquor retailers are looking at providing a selection of what is available.

With 50 small breweries in New Zealand, and many making on average 5 beers each, this means there are potentially 250 beers you could add to your fridge. In most cases you will not have room for more then 6 or 12 new beers.

Here are some quick tips to getting a quality selection, and avoiding making a bad choice?

1. Award Winning Beers
Keep it simple. Stick with beers that have won awards. See www.brewnz.co.nz for latest results. So much choice, so little fridge space. (you need to note that of the 200+ entries from the Beer Awards only a third are worthy of medals, hence there are some problematic and poor quality beers out there)

2. Reputation for Quality
Sometimes you might be wiser to actually look at beers that have a consistent record of winning awards, or looking at the track record of a brewery and its ability to win awards for all its beers. Some brewers may get lucky once and ride on that win for 17 years.

3. Beers of Interest
Many craft breweries are make seasonal specials and interesting beers. Watch out for barrel aged beers, sour beers, fruit beers, and other strange ingredients. This definitely creates interest, trial and discussion about the diversity of beer.

4. Change is Good
To keep your customers interested and to always be fine tuning your selection, a good practice is to drop a couple of your slower moving beers and to try out a couple of new one. You might end up stocking your new biggest seller.

5. Support Your Local Brewery
Fresh beer is the best. Your local brewery is only going to prosper and improve their quality and selection with your support.

[martin townshend]

Great thread. As a brewery owner and now a publican of NZ' oldest pub as part of Hops and Glory, we're up for supplying both mainstream cooking lagers (x3) along side real ale and premium beers from where ever we choose. We have the know how and skill to deal with all manner of beers, and can serve them at varying temps, with a cellar at 12.5 deg C for the likes of Townshend, Twisted Hop and Galbraiths thru' beer engines.
We simply encourage wee tastings of beers, litterally half a 5 oz glass to give folk the opportunity to make up their own minds. Selling craft beers isn't something that needs to be a confusing challenge or nightmare for a punter. Their dignity remains intact, and if nothing else, they may at least have had a bash at trying them and then gone back to their old fav. For someone to have had a bad experience with a beer, we see, as lack of skill on our part. Did we describe it right? Did we take too much of a gamble offering an Invercargill Pitch Black to a Tui drinker? 'Cellarmanship' often means a great deal of salesman ship. We need to shift beer fresh.
I honestly don't think we need a 'judge' or some such to tell us what we should stock. Nice comfy condusive surroundings to inbibe works well.
As regards the whole 'check for medals/awards,' a wee brewery can find it costly to enter an awards, even if it is only annually. Judging feedback can be fickle and some of the best beers I've tried are simply passion in a bottle. But is it cheap marketing? If a beer has a medal on the label it must be good? We'll just carry on serving up new and interesting brews, and let the punter decide for themselves.

[Andrew]

Thanks for saying all this Martin. This bodes very well for the Upper Moutere Hotel - and you will probably provide more inspiration for others to follow suit than any sort of advertising. (oh - and thanks for that last order)
As far as medals go as an indicator of quality and consistancy - I certainly wouldn't trust them any further than as an indicator of the judging panel's 'flavour of the month'. Consistancy is only relative to the memory you have of something and your memory is not only a collection of data from all your senses but your emotions at the time as well.
"Nice comfy condusive surroundings to inbibe works well." - and there you nail it Martin. Serve up a Pitch Black to a Lion Red drinker in a blaring rock hard sports bar riddled with TV's and advertising that suggests that those that are not for us are against us (and are probably soft cocks to boot) - by a barperson who has no knowlege of the product or desire to open peoples minds - nah - I don't like your chances.

But of course, the main reason you don't see a range of local craft beers in our bars is because they are 'owned' by either of the big boys (if you are lucky, they may let you stock one or two 'others' - and they are the ones in the bottom fridge that you can't see). As long as venue owners succumb to the temptaion to take up the incredibly attractive offers from the biggies - then nothing is likely to change - and we will have to hunt out the real beer places - few and far between.

And I'm not sure which comes first - the demand or the supply. Venues are unlikely to stock until people demand. People are unlikely to demand until they have tried. But there is hope - and we are a young country - and things are changing. We have been operating our venue for 17 years - never stocked a mainstream beer - and I know we have converted many many folk along the way. Not so much to our beers in particular - but to real, tasty beers in general. And it's not that hard if you beleive in it. You just have to remember that most people drink beer because they want to feel good and making them feel good about what they are drinking dosn't necessarily end at the beer.

[martin townshend]

To be honest, we're finding the challenge isn't in trying to 'convert' the die hards, it's ensuring quality for the knowledged palate.......and boy, can they winge.

[Stu McKinlay]

It's probably the partially knowledged palate that whinge the most...

[Stu McKinlay]

This reminds me of what another publican (of one of NZ's very best bars) said to me a year or two ago... he said he was more than happy to see other pubs take contracts with "the big two" because although it gave him and i less choice, it helped make his cashflow that little bit easier. And at the moment, I know it's getting tight for everyone, so that's a good thing.

I'd rather keep our 10 or so "national treasures" and not worry so much about every other bar/cafe stocking a couple of craft beers.

[Greig McGill]

While I see your point Stu (and almost agree with it personally) one of the goals of SOBA is to promote wider availability of craft beer. With that hat on, I would love to be able to walk into any pub in NZ and find one or two decent beers to drink.

[Andrew]

because I can = sort of
beer is a love thing
enjoy!

[Ian Marriott]

Interesting discussion..at present I stock 32 diferent bottled beers from 7 different brewers as well as about another 30 internationals of varying qualities. At the end of the day and we are constantly reviewing it ..it is about not only what the customer wants to try but what you can sell them.I don't necessarily employ bar staff alone, they must have very good selling skills because they are selling a product that not many of the customers know. They also need to be familiar with the products. If brewers want to shift products they need to sell them to the sellers. For example the multi award winning Epic is one of the slowest sellers yet a session beer like Mata manuka well sell well to a certain market. Price does play a part in trying to retail quality beer to a market just as does the brewers ability to market their product. We stock nothing from Lion or DB as I prefer to support people who aspire not acquire. so when you are looking for a good list of beers check us out in WARKWORTH. Tahi Cafe and Bar

[nzbrewer]

That highlights the point very well and I see it in other bars Epic is in, but more so in the opposite direction for sales. If the bar staff are into a beer then they are more likely to sell it to an undecided customer.

Everyone has influences and motivators. The big breweries have cash and the small breweries have the people and passion behind the beer.

Ultimately over time consumers will be the judge even if in the short term they are convinced to drink something that they don't like (taste or price).

[Ian Marriott]

Absolutely agree Luke , In our case we have a card that the customer is given to keep a track of the beer that they have tried and ultimately the will and are finding a drop that appeals to their taste and this is, at the end of the day what retailing in hospitality is about...giving the customer what they want not what we want to fob off on them. We would much rather the customer chose a beer and enjoyed it and then worked their way to something they like as their taste apppreciation develops. First and foremost we have to make a living so price will always be a factor in our buying policy as it will be in the customers. If we are to be as arrogant as to tell the customer what they will get and what they like then it is no longer real hospitality we would only be feeding our egos and I believe strongly their is more to our brewing & associated retailing industry people than ego.

[Rusty Chch]

If we are to be as arrogant as to tell the customer what they will get and what they like then it is no longer real hospitality we would only be feeding our egos and I believe strongly their is more to our brewing & associated retailing industry people than ego.

This is a great attitude. Fair play, Ian

[Andrew]

Ah, but there is another side to this. When we first opened - 17 years ago - we had Macs Gold and Black on tap along with Pink Elephant Mammoth. In the fridge we stocked about 28 different NZ craft brews. Never had a main stream, never had an import. We had a strong incentive scheme for people to try the feild which worked well too.When we started brewing our own in 95, the demand for the others dropped sharply away (partly driven by a price difference I'll admit) to the point where it was no longer worth stocking the them and so they went. The only beers you can get here now are the beers we make - so in a way we are telling people what they must drink. But having said that - we have products that cover a fairly broard range of styles (and a few weird ones too) and we do our best to ensure our patrons have no reason to question their quality. The point is, there is a lot more to hospitality than the selection of beers in your fridge. I would rather a place with a small selection of carfeully chosen beers that the hosts beleive in than the vast array for the sake of a vast array.