Invercargill Brewery

Invercargill Brewery, New Zealand's Southern most craft brewery was established by Steve Nally^[1] in 1999 at Oteramika Road on the outskirts of Invercargill city.

Nally, who has a degree in chemistry and once played in the front row of the Southland Rugby Team, is a self-trained brewer who cemented his reputation as New Zealand's most innovative brewer by his early adoption of distinct New Zealand flavours. A keen environmentalist he made an early commitment to using locally sourced ingredients and was one of the first craft brewers to use Gladfield malt from Dunsandel.

The brewery's first beer was an English style pale ale IBS, which was rebranded as Stanley Green in 2006.

In 2000 Pitch Black stout joined the range, was to become an iconic beer of the emerging New Zealand Craft Beer Scene - a malt driven style, designed to match the Bluff Oyster, it stood out in a market where hop bitterness was becoming dominant.

In 2001 Biman was developed for a local curry restaurant. In 2007 it later used along with Emerson's Pilsner by the World Beer Cup in setting the style for a new beer category - Strong New Zealand Pilsner - which recognised the distinctive flavour of the new varietals developed by the New Zealand Hop Board, originally known as b-saaz and d-saaz they were later marketed as Motueka and Riwaka. Biman went on to when the trophy for Best New Zealand Style Beer in 2008 and was singled out for mention in Ben McFarland's book World's Best Beers^[2] The beer was rebranded as b.man to clarify pronunciation.

In 2006, Invercargill Brewery upsized to a 1200-litre batch and moved to 8 Wood Street, Invercargill when Nally's interest in creating new flavours was given freer rein.

In 2007, Invercargill Brewery launched New Zealand's first commercial Manuka smoked beer - Smokin' Bishop. Not only did Smokin' Bishop win a medal at the New Zealand Beer Awards that year, it was one of 15 New Zealand beers included in the 2009 Neil Morrisey prefaced book 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die.^[3] It proved so popular it became the brewery's first winter seasonal beer. In 2008 Invercargill Brewery released Boysenbeery - a deeply hued fruit beer which also won a best in class at its Beer Awards debut - and was adopted as a summer seasonal beer.

By 2008, Invercargill Brewery had also diversified into contract brewing to better utilise its plant, one of its first clients were Yeastie Boys. In 2014 it upscaled to a 2500litre plant and moved production to 72 Leet Street.^[4]

In 2014 head brewer Steve Nally was awarded the Morton Coutts Trophy for Innovation by The New Zealand Brewers Guild for his invention of the beer in a box packaging system.^[5]

Products

• Stanley Green Pale Ale
• Nally's Cider^[6]
• Wasp Honey Pilsner
• B.man Strong New Zealand Pilsner^[7]
• Pitch Black Stout^[8]
• Pitch Black Imperial Stout^[9]
• Pitch Black Orange Stout

Seasonal brews

• Smokin' Bishop Smoked Bock^[10]
• Boysenbeery Fruit Beer^[11]
• Sa!son Belgium Farmhouse Ale^[12]
• Mennenskurrts Strong Scotch Ale^[13]

References

Coordinates: 46°24′26.79″S 168°20′56.61″E / 46.4074417°S 168.3490583°E / -46.4074417; 168.3490583