116 | T T Rosa Watson ‘Old world’ brew with a Kiwi twist A qualified biochemist. 8 Wired’s Soren Eriksen passion for homebrewing grew into something bigger. The barrel aging of beer sets the brewery apart. Soren with wife Monique. BUSINESS 8 Wired Brewery Mixing “old world” brewing methods and adding a Kiwi twist has been a winning formula for Northland brewer 8 Wired Brewery. The-Warkworth-based brewer won two top gongs at the 2023 New Zealand Beer Awards; Overall Champion NZ Brewing Company and Champion New Zealand Beer for its pale sour Wild Feijoa. Owner Soren Eriksen said it was amazing to win the top two awards. “We have won champion brewery in the past (2011), but … the industry has exploded since then and the competition is much stronger now than it was. “Winning obviously motivates the team and this is a large reason to enter the awards. But we always enter the awards; it has never really been an option not to.” The Wild Feijoa beer was a very special beer, he said. “We make a lot of barrel aged beers, but this is the only one that we make every year, and this year was the 10th vintage. “The inspiration was to make something that combined the traditional brewing methods of Lambic (from Belgium) with something uniquely New Zealand.” The pale sour is aged for up to two years in wine barrels and then another year on fresh local organic feijoas. “In my mind, Feijoa is more Kiwi than Kiwifruit. It is truly a unique fruit that you very rarely see overseas.” It was not easy to find and therefore in demand. “We only make this beer in small volumes and the shelf life is very long (10 years), so it is not really a problem to sell it. However, being a very challenging and complex beer, and more expensive than other beers, it did sell slower than most. “Times are definitely tough for everyone, ourselves included. The main reasons behind this is massive increases in costs of goods, excise tax and freight. “Unless the government shows any interest in maintaining a boutique industry that is good for jobs and tourism, unfortunately there will probably be more breweries to face trouble.” He said in other western countries, including Australia, small producers received an excise tax relief to help level the playing field with the large international corporations that control 90% of the market. “Unfortunately, neither the previous nor the incoming government seem to have any interest in following the rest of the world.” He said something that set them apart from other breweries was the barrel aging of beer. “We have a dedicated location for this, with a tap room, in Matakana where we make a range of different aged beers, mostly sour beers, in the lambic tradition.” A qualified biochemist, Soren discovered a passion for homebrewing back in the 2000s. Eventually the hobby grew into something bigger and he and his wife decided to take the punt and start their own brewery. “Back then the market was very different, and it was a good time to enter. “It was also easy because we didn’t start out with our own physical brewery but rented space at Renaissance Brewing in Blenheim, where I also worked as a brewer at the time. “When it came to the time to build our own brewery we decided to move north as we didn’t have any family in the South Island.” The company has two locations, with the production brewery located at Warkworth that brews, packages and distributes, and Barrelworks in Matakana where the wooden barrels with aging beer are stored. There is a tap room at Matakana open to the public with 20 beers on tap, and an inhouse whisky and local wines and ciders. CANS GROWLER KEGS CROWN SEALS GLASS JARS PLASTIC JARS Ph. 09 253 9805 sales@cospak.co.nz Providing total packaging solutions with the widest range of quality products in glass, plastics, metal, paper and flexibles. ‘From Concept to Reality®’ Create the labels you want, with no compromise! 0800 425-223 | info@label.co.nz www.label.co.nz PROUD TO SUPPORT 8 WIRED BARRELWORKS Food and Beverage labels Beer labels Pharmaceutical labels Beauty Product labels Industrial labelling; or any other kind of labelling you might need
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