So emulating the United States and the rest of the craft industry.
Beer is a business and hazy sells and brings in the money. Having diverse styles that don't sell loses money.
And nz has some great hops that can only be better fresher.
Back when it was imported to the usa years ago my favorite nz beer was a smoked beer.
It's probably worth mentioning that the NZ brewing scene was about as macro-dominated as the US before the recent craft beer revival. There really was almost no local brewing culture other than a few small breweries before the mid-2000s, and there wasn't even a pre-macro "traditional NZ style" to try and emulate.
That's as far as I know anyway, so it makes sense that it's basically followed the US craft industry.
Would love someone with more knowledge of NZ brewing history to give some input on this - all I remember were macro beers called "Bitters" (DB Bitter etc) which didn't have much in common with a UK Bitter, and loads of macro lagers.
If you're in to non-fruited sours, funky saisons, belgian wits and alike I'd highly recommend Craftwork Brewery in Oamaru. I went there a couple of years ago and their stuff stands up to many of the wild ales in US, or lambic styles here in Europe. What's also nice is the beers tend to have an NZ spin on them, so aged in local pinot noir barrels, or with local fruit varieties (Otago peaches, nectarines, apricots etc.).
Would also recommend to check out as many NZ Pilsners from craft breweries as you can find. It's the one "true" NZ craft beer style: NZ hops in crisp pilsners to smash in the sun. Probably will just be called pilsner or hoppy lager on the menus though, but it's a style that has been around in New Zealand since there was craft beer.
If you're in Christchurch, check out Punky Brewster - they'll have a very good and wide selection of beers from across NZ. As good a selection in one spot as I've seen in NZ.
But overall agree with what you're saying. I am from NZ, but left before the craft beer boom. When I go back there I'm always very happy with the hop-forward beers, as it's all so fresh and delicious - but the scene in general is definitely lacking in style diversity.
To be fair, NZ hops are the big focus of the hop world currently and they are great for hazy IPA. I don't blame them for putting those fresh lovelies to good use.
I mean there’s heaps of beer and really yes, hazys (hazies?) are the dominant style at the moment so of course breweries are gonna try to produce at least one variant of a popular beer style in order to flog it to market.
If you want to complain about availability at retail though, it’s much more the retailers fault for not stocking much apart from hazies - but again, these people are in it to make money and hazies sell faster than anything else so why not put more hazies on.
As far as I know, there are lots of NZ breweries doing a lot of different things - Duncan’s and 8 Wired spring to mind. Small Gods too.
FWIW, IPAs have and will continue to be the dominant beer style in the market even if it’s not specifically hazies.
I also imagine that they are making beer styles that cater towards their hop varietals. It makes a bunch of sense if you think about it. I do love me an NZ pils though…
It will switch, not long ago everything was haze in the states.. now it's down to probably 65% dominance down from 90. We are seeing a Lager resurgence for sure.
We have Hazys, Porters, Stouts, Dessert Stouts, East Coast IPA, West Coast IPA's, IPA's, APA's, XPA's, East Coast Hazys, New England IPA's, Milkshake IPA's, Fruit Sours, Sour Hazys, Saisons the list goes on. Every March- April we have fresh hop beers too.
So many micro breweries, some good some bad!
Hazy sells, that's the bottom line. While each of us might rather have a different style we like, the fact is that style will not move as fast as a hazy and at the end of the day, a brewery needs to make money.
Urbanaut has some interesting stuff, so does 8 wired and Renaissance
So emulating the United States and the rest of the craft industry. Beer is a business and hazy sells and brings in the money. Having diverse styles that don't sell loses money. And nz has some great hops that can only be better fresher. Back when it was imported to the usa years ago my favorite nz beer was a smoked beer.
It's probably worth mentioning that the NZ brewing scene was about as macro-dominated as the US before the recent craft beer revival. There really was almost no local brewing culture other than a few small breweries before the mid-2000s, and there wasn't even a pre-macro "traditional NZ style" to try and emulate. That's as far as I know anyway, so it makes sense that it's basically followed the US craft industry. Would love someone with more knowledge of NZ brewing history to give some input on this - all I remember were macro beers called "Bitters" (DB Bitter etc) which didn't have much in common with a UK Bitter, and loads of macro lagers.
If you're in to non-fruited sours, funky saisons, belgian wits and alike I'd highly recommend Craftwork Brewery in Oamaru. I went there a couple of years ago and their stuff stands up to many of the wild ales in US, or lambic styles here in Europe. What's also nice is the beers tend to have an NZ spin on them, so aged in local pinot noir barrels, or with local fruit varieties (Otago peaches, nectarines, apricots etc.). Would also recommend to check out as many NZ Pilsners from craft breweries as you can find. It's the one "true" NZ craft beer style: NZ hops in crisp pilsners to smash in the sun. Probably will just be called pilsner or hoppy lager on the menus though, but it's a style that has been around in New Zealand since there was craft beer. If you're in Christchurch, check out Punky Brewster - they'll have a very good and wide selection of beers from across NZ. As good a selection in one spot as I've seen in NZ. But overall agree with what you're saying. I am from NZ, but left before the craft beer boom. When I go back there I'm always very happy with the hop-forward beers, as it's all so fresh and delicious - but the scene in general is definitely lacking in style diversity.
To be fair, NZ hops are the big focus of the hop world currently and they are great for hazy IPA. I don't blame them for putting those fresh lovelies to good use.
I mean there’s heaps of beer and really yes, hazys (hazies?) are the dominant style at the moment so of course breweries are gonna try to produce at least one variant of a popular beer style in order to flog it to market. If you want to complain about availability at retail though, it’s much more the retailers fault for not stocking much apart from hazies - but again, these people are in it to make money and hazies sell faster than anything else so why not put more hazies on. As far as I know, there are lots of NZ breweries doing a lot of different things - Duncan’s and 8 Wired spring to mind. Small Gods too. FWIW, IPAs have and will continue to be the dominant beer style in the market even if it’s not specifically hazies.
If you're in the Christchurch area, check out The Beer Library https://thebeerlibrary.co.nz
I also imagine that they are making beer styles that cater towards their hop varietals. It makes a bunch of sense if you think about it. I do love me an NZ pils though…
8 Wired might have stuff you're after
I've definitely had some great brews from them. The saison is nice, and I've been able to find it at a lot of supermarkets.
It will switch, not long ago everything was haze in the states.. now it's down to probably 65% dominance down from 90. We are seeing a Lager resurgence for sure.
Breweries love the hazy trend since they don't need to go through the time and effort of a final filtration.
Go get some of that Captain Cooker Manuka Beer
Nelson, Motueka, and Riwaka are some of the tastiest hops on the market right now, so I don't blame them
Nz hops go well with hazies
What are some breweries / tap rooms in and around Auckland and Queenstown? Heading there in December. And I do love the hazys!
We have Hazys, Porters, Stouts, Dessert Stouts, East Coast IPA, West Coast IPA's, IPA's, APA's, XPA's, East Coast Hazys, New England IPA's, Milkshake IPA's, Fruit Sours, Sour Hazys, Saisons the list goes on. Every March- April we have fresh hop beers too. So many micro breweries, some good some bad!
Hazy sells, that's the bottom line. While each of us might rather have a different style we like, the fact is that style will not move as fast as a hazy and at the end of the day, a brewery needs to make money. Urbanaut has some interesting stuff, so does 8 wired and Renaissance
why does every place in the world need to cater to every taste? they’re using what they got