Croucher Brewing NEWS

Brew Day:

2010-09-07T13:52:00.000+12:00

Today it's our next seasonal beer, Croucher OCTOBER Ale. The October Ale style harks back to mid-18th Century and the father of IPA's, George Hodgson. It is a pale well-hopped brew using English malts and hops. Once brewed it was intended to be cellared for up to two years, but we don't think we can wait that long! We hope to have this available by the end of October, failing that we may have to rename it 'November Ale' ;-)

Breaking News:

2010-08-26T20:09:00.000+12:00

Croucher Brewing has won Champion International Lager at the Brew NZ Awards tonight in Wellington!!!! That is Gold Medal and Category Trophy.

WAHOOOOOOOOOO!!

Cask-conditioned Croucher Pale Ale going on tap today at Galbraiths

2010-07-15T13:12:00.000+12:00

For the first time, we have a cask-conditioned firken (barrel-shaped keg thingee) of Croucher Pale Ale going on at Galbraiths Alehouse, Mt Eden Rd, Auckland today. This is a unique opportunity, so get in there before it has gone.

Other recent highlights have included:

Croucher beers were gifted to each of the Irish Rugby squad on its recent visit to Rotorua, so the Irish lads enjoyed a few locally brewed quiets after their match against the New Zealand Maori team.
We have been receiving rave reviews of our Pilsner from drinkers at House On Hood in Hamilton, Hashigo Zake in Wellington and The Great Kiwi Ale house in Rotorua, where it is/has been on tap:

"Your latest batch of Pilsener is crazy good! We emptied the whole keg at Hashigo last night. Everyone was raving about it." - Dave The Beer Guy.
"Your Pilsner is tasting amazing at House by the way." - Greig

Croucher Brewing: the Vicar's Vice 2010 is out and about... and more...

2010-05-20T22:05:00.002+12:00

Kegs of the Vicar's Vice (our Belgian Strong Ale brewed with buckets of citrus zest and crushed coriander seeds) left the brewery this week, and will be appearing at the following in the coming days (more to follow):

Regional Wines & Spirits, Wellington (fill-your-own). Featuring in the Great Regional Belgian Beer Festival next week.
The Malthouse, Wellington
Moutere Inn, Nelson
The Free House, Nelson
Pomoroy's Own Brewery Inn, Christchurch
Tonic, Dunedin

Next up in the seasonal beer department will be the Black IPA. We've gone over to the dark side for our take on the style-du-jour, India Pale Ale (IPA). Still nameless, this beer is jammed with American hops and is exhibiting simply the most delicious passion fruit aroma. Hopefully this beer will be available on tap within the next 2-3 weeks.

Croucher in Australia

Paul is right now returning home from a few days in Melbourne as part of a NZ Brewer's Guild and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise delegation of some our best craft brewers to the Beer & Brewer Expo. Paul showcased our Vicar's Vice, as well as our bottled beers so will let you know more once he has time to catch his breath.

SpecTAPular took place in Sydney and Melbourne at The Local Taphouse on ANZAC Day, where 10 Kiwi beers were pitted against 10 Aussie beers. Croucher Pale Ale was selected as one of our beers. It went down a treat! A few reviews of Croucher Pale Ale appeared on Beer Advocate in the days after the event, here are just a few choice comments:

"Oh yeah, this is a really excellent hoppy Pale Ale. Bursting with fresh hop characters and balanced for exceptional drinkability. Probably one of the top American style pales I've had, and certainly one of the best from the land of the long white cloud." - Laqueredmouse, Sydney

"Outstanding beer, this. One hell of a quaffer, sessioner, or even a cleanser. Foamy, swilly, and smooth on the feel. Almost perfect. It just doesn't have any edges, it's just meant to be drunk. Fuck it, it IS perfect." - Laituegonflable, Sydney.

Rotorua's newest pub
The Great Kiwi Ale House has opened its doors on Hinemoa Street, Rotorua (the old Cobb & Co site). It is a great looking pub, and has a few interesting beers on tap too, of most note Croucher Pale Ale and Croucher Pilsner. So get in there and support the local brewery! In terms of other taps beers, they have a Mike's beer as well as Mata's Artesian ale, Monteiths Original and Speights.

Croucher Pale Ale part of ANZAC SpecTAPular in Sydney & Melbourne

2010-04-24T08:34:00.000+12:00

'The Local Taphouse' pubs in Sydney & Melbourne are having a Kiwi vs Aussie beer-off on Sunday. 10 Aussie craft beers vs 10 Kiwi craft beers, with one being our own Croucher Pale Ale. Read more about the ANZAC SpecTAPular here. This is the first time Croucher beer has been served on-tap outside New Zealand, and will be followed up next month when Paul Croucher introduces our seasonal Belgian Strong Ale 'The Vicar's Vice' to our Australian neighbors in Melbourne at the Beer & Brewer festival.

Our latest seasonal beer was brewed a few days ago, it is a Black IPA (India Pale Ale). It has been brewed using fantastic malts and, for the first time, we have used American hops. But not just a mere sprinkling of American hops, shed loads!! This is the hoppiest beer we have made by a mile, and that's saying something.

Croucher Brewing: Brew Day, Seasonal Beers & a visit from the femALEist...

2010-04-16T18:31:00.000+12:00

Brew Day
It is another brew day here in the brewery, as I'm writing this update the sweet aroma of grain and water is wafting enticingly into the office. Today we are brewing The Hef, our German-styled wheat beer. Brew day is a long day and we got off to a late start!

Vicar's Vice 2010
Paul has been brewing up a storm recently, as we look to recover from summer and get ahead of the game. The 2010 Vicar's Vice is conditioning at the moment, and is due to be released in a few weeks. A list of tap outlets will be released closer to the time.We can confirm that there will be 3 kegs of Vicar's Vice heading to Melbourne for a Kiwi craft beer expose in late May. Paul will be accompanying the beer to run tastings and generally talk it up to the Aussies.

We are very pleased where each of our beers are at, but we aren't resting on our laurels. We are set to brew our next seasonal release, which we are VERY excited about. But lets wait until it is in the can before we go making any bold statements talking it up.

femALEist

We had a visit recently to the brewery from three West Coasters (USA) on a jaunt around New Zealand. And shock horror they were all women!! And they love craft beer. We had an awesome time sampling our beers, and then they returned the favour by sharing a couple of Pliny The Elder's and a Jolly Pumpkin 'Maracaibo Especial' (a sour special brown ale). Both are wonderful beers!!

Tiila writes a blog and seems to be very active in the San Fran beer community encouraging other women to join try craft beer. Here is her post on her visit to Croucher Brewing.

Croucher Brewing: Vicar's Vice 2.0, Bottle Conditioning & House opens

2010-03-24T22:41:00.000+13:00

Following the popularity of our recent seasonal beers, Vicar's Vice version 2.0 was brewed yesterday. This is a Belgian Strong Ale made using fresh citrus zest (yes, we did it by hand using real fresh fruit, and it took flippin' ages!) and crushed coriander seeds. The brew really did smell even more delicious than usual. We are hoping to bottle some of this batch as well as get a few kegs around the country.

With our summer festival season over we have been trying to get back on top of brewing and bottling. Batches of beer seem to be disappearing out the door faster than ever so the brewery is a pretty dynamic place at the moment.

We are about to trial some bottle conditioning, starting with The Hef. Bottle conditioning is where the final conditioning of the beer takes place in the bottle rather than in a tank, and also carbonation takes place in the bottle via the natural action of the yeast. Bottle conditioning often results in a more stable and longer shelf life.

The photo was taken by Jed Soane at Wellington's Liquorland NZ Beer Festival a few weeks back. We'd love to get some captions from you. Nigel thought perhaps it was a duet of 'You don't bring me flowers' (Paul standing in for Barbra Streisand).

Finally, a review of one of our latest outlets. House is a fantastic new bar in Hamilton, with a strong focus on craft beer. They have there own house beer (brewed by us) called Mighty, and also have Croucher Hef and Pale Ale on tap at the moment. It is very cool, and an absolute must-visit next time you are in The 'Tron. Review here.

http://www.houseonhood.co.nz/

You can't beat Wellington on a good day...

2010-03-11T17:34:00.001+13:00

Wellington Beer Fest
Croucher Brewing hit Wellington last weekend for Capital's version of the Liquorland New Zealand Beer Festival. It was held on Saturday at Westpac Stadium, and it was a massive day. We totally sold out of beer 10 minutes before the bars closed - nothing worse than dragging full kegs home again!

A lot of fun was had, with the usual Croucher Brewing crew on deck along with Team Croucher Europe; namely Eva and Isabella from Austria and Thomas and Rupert from Bavaria. They kept punters entertained most of the day throwing ice at each other and posing for photo's at any opportunity.

Photo, courtesy of Michael Andrewartha, is Croucher's Nigel Gregory and Stu McKinley from Yeastie Boys.

Hayden Green from Public Address was there, and has written a smart summary of the days events - even listing Croucher Cherry Bock as his favorite beer of the day!! Kudos to us. Click here to read his report.

This festival consumed the last of our stocks of the 2009 batches of Vicar's Vice and Cherry Bock beers (although there may still be some Vicar's at Galbraith's in Auckland and Cherry Bock at The Malthouse in Wellington). Word from the inner sanctum of the brewery is that the Vicar's Vice may be back this winter, and possibly in bottles too.

Football Fever
A trip to Wellington last weekend would not have been complete without attending the Phoenix V Jets football match on Sunday, also at the Westpac Stadium. Neither of us had been to the stadium before and were well impressed. The highlight was the atmosphere created by the Phoenix Fans, the chanting and support was remarkable. In terms of beer, you may be surprised to hear that we passed on the Speights Traverse and whatever other mainstream beers they had on offer at the stadium. Rather, we pre-loaded at The Malthouse on the way to the match (from memory a Yeastie Boys PKB re-mix, an Epic Armageddon, and a couple of Three Boys IPA's between us).

Croucher Brewing in da HOUSE

2010-02-20T10:26:00.000+13:00

Hamilton beer enthusiasts will shortly have good reason to raise their glasses and drink a hearty toast to a new city bar. Full story.

Croucher Pale Ale & Pilsner on fill-your-own at Regional Wines in Welly

2010-02-16T15:53:00.000+13:00

Croucher Pale Ale & Pilsner are on fill-your-own at Regional Wines & Spirits in Wellington for the first time. Get in and grab a rigger or two.

The Auckland version of the Liquorland New Zealand Beer Festival took place at Ellerslie racecourse on Saturday. It was a great day, with a big crowd and a high level of interest in the craft breweries. There were a few teething problems with the festivals new payment system, but nothing a few delicious beers didn't remedy for most punters. We had a big day, with our Pilsner being the most popular of our beers. Also, our seasonal Vicar's Vice and Cherry Bock beers went down a treat with craft beer lovers!

It is Wellington's turn for the New Zealand Beer Festival on Saturday the 6th of March. Book your tickets here and NOW. It is at the Westpac Stadium, and should be a doosy.

Rotorua's own Carnaval... February 14, 15 & 16

2010-02-12T15:34:00.000+13:00

Rotorua's own Latin American Carnaval takes place over three days starting this Sunday. Come along and enjoy some vibrant colour, entertainment, fantastic Sabroso food and local Croucher Beer.

Sunday 14th Feb 3pm - 10pm

Monday 15th Feb 5pm - 10pm

Tuesday 16th Feb 5pm - 10pm

Venue - outside Sabroso Restaurant, 1184 Haupapa Street, Rotorua.

Pick a day, get some friends together and come join in the fun!

See you there...

John & Sarah (Sabroso) & Paul & Nigel (Croucher Brewing)

P.S. This is a Rotorua community event, and a portion of every dollar spent goes to Rotorua Hospice, a local charity.

Croucher 'Vicar's Vice' on-tap from today at Galbraith's Alehouse, Auckland

2010-02-07T15:08:00.000+13:00

Two kegs of the very limited Croucher Brewing 'Vicar's Vice' hit the taps at Galbraith's Alehouse from today.

Vicar's Vice is our big spicy, citrusy Belgian Strong Ale, brewed using a bucket load of citrus peel and crushed coriander seeds. It is a healthy 7% alc/vol, and is exceptionally smooth. Feedback has been fantastic from drinkers of this beer.

If you are in Auckland this week make sure you get it to sample it! Galbraith's is located at 2 Mt Eden Rd, Auckland City.
Thanks Galbraith's!

Croucher Pale Ale makes Superbowl Sunday's 'Top 10 Gourmet Beers'

2010-01-30T11:25:00.000+13:00

New York based foodie website 'FriendsEat.com' has published their list of the Top 10 gourmet to enjoy on Superbowl Sunday. The list is made up of beers that originate outside the USA and right there at Number 9 is Croucher Brewing's flagship 'Pale Ale'. See the full list at friendseat.com.

So crank up the BBQ... here's what it said about our Pale Ale...

9. Croucher Pale Ale
A rich rose-gold hue pale ale. At the annual 2009 Beer Necessities Awards, The Croucher Brewing Company’s flagship Pale Ale beer was named in the Top 8 beers in New Zealand. If you’ve got some grass feed steaks going on the BBQ before the game this is the perfect beer for the occasion.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-12T15:27:00.001+13:00

Hopefully you have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We've been busy at the brewery preparing ourselves for festival season. We had the Tairua Food & Wine festival last weekend, which was held on a beautiful Coromandel summers day.

On Thursday (14th Jan) we are at Blues, Brews & BBQ's at Mount Maunganui. If you are in the area you simply must attend. It is a great day of music, food and obviously fantastic beers. If you are coming along, make sure you come and say hi. We will be serving our Cherry Bock on Thursday. This is our most recent release, and is has been receiving rave reviews.

Our other recent release, the Vicar's Vice is on tap at Galbraith's in Auckland, Hashigo Zake in Wellington, The Underground Bar in Rotorua, as well as one or two locations in the South Island. It is a beautiful drop, so make sure you get to try it.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T14:57:00.000+13:00

Merry Christmas, and all our best wishes for 2010.

Thanks for your support over 2009 - a year in which we installed a new brew house and bottling system, opened our own bar in Rotorua, sent our first beers to Australia, received some lovely acolades for our beers (the latest is The Hef being named Top Wheat Beer in Consumer Magazine), and launched some new seasonal beers (the Vicar's Vice and the Cherry Bock).

If you are looking for something to do in January, come and visit us at Tairua Food & Wine Festival (9th Jan) and Blues, Brews & BBQ's at The Mount (14th Jan).

If you are in Rotorua, then you must come and see us at The Underground Bar. We have both new seasonal beers on tap along with the rest of our range.

We wish you a safe, relaxing and enjoyable Christmas & New Year.

Cheers,

Nigel & Paul

Croucher Brewing Pale Ale named in Top 8 Beers In NZ

2009-12-10T13:30:00.000+13:00

In the annual 2009 Beer Necessities Awards, run by Wellington's Capital Times, The Croucher Brewing Company's flagship Pale Ale beer has been named in the Top 8 beers in New Zealand.

Represented in the top eight are New Zealand’s largest brewer Lion Nathan, one of the country’s biggest independent craft brewers Emerson’s, a small craft brewer, Croucher Brewing, one of the new generation of contract brewing companies, 8 Wired and a tiny farmhouse brewer, Peak.

The beers were blind judged on their appearance, aroma and flavour with some thought given to their stylistic integrity. Here are the judges comments about Croucher Pale Ale:

Croucher Pale Ale pours a nice clear gold with a quickly dissipating head. Aroma features some fresh zesty perfumy citrus hop notes and a rich toffee note. In the mouth there is plenty of perfumy hop flavour with a big slightly early bitter finish. Good beer that could use a touch more malt balance.Croucher Brewing have been building up a reputation for their range of pale, complex, aromatic beers which they brew in Rotorua making them one of the few craft brewers to fly the flag for brewing in the North Island.

Brewer Paul Croucher responded to news of the award saying "We are over the moon, this is a great result for us. To be listed in the top beers in New Zealand is further reward for all the hard work of the past few years. The Pale Ale was the beer we launched the brewery with, so it has a special place in our hearts. Our Pale Ale has massive up front fruit aroma with strong freshly crushed grain. Passionfruit and lychees predominate with a stonefruit undertone - fruit salad on Weetbix. It is very smooth with a gorgeous lingering finish."

Beer Necessities Survey 2009 - The 8 Pack (highest rating beers this year):
Emerson’s - Pilsner
Emerson’s - Bookbinder
Emerson’s - 1812
Emerson’s - Old 95
Steinlager Pure
Croucher Brewing - Pale Ale
8 Wired - Hop Wired IPA
Peak Brewery - Great End ESB

Croucher Brewing is based in Rotorua and has been brewing for five years. It is owned and run by Paul Croucher and Nigel Gregory. The company produces three main beers; Croucher Pale Ale, Croucher Pilsner (a particularly hoppy lager) and Croucher Hef (a cloudy German style wheat beer). On top of these Croucher Brewing currently has two seasonal beers in limited availability; Vicar's Vice - a big flavoured Belgian style brewed using a bucket load of NZ cirtus peel and a kilo of crushed coriander seeds (7% alc); and a Cherry Bock - an extremely fruity dark lager style of beer brewed using a 60kg of Cherries and Raspberries (8% alc).

Croucher Brewing opened it's own craft beer bar in Rotorua in May 2009. The Underground Bar (underneath the Rendezvous Restaurant on Hinemoa Street, Rotorua) was set up to lead the revitalisation of beer in Rotorua one pint at a time. Craft beer has the charachteristics of being flavoursome, interesting, great matched with food and is a high quality beverage. The Underground Bar stocks the full range of Croucher beers on tap, as well as an ever changing selection of other fantastic New Zealand craft beers.

Croucher Brewing releases the Vicar's Vice...

2009-12-07T16:01:00.000+13:00

The Vicar's Vice is the latest seasonal beer from the lads at Croucher Brewing. It is an homage to Hoegaarden's classic Verboden Vrucht, and was brewed using the peel from a bucket load of fresh New Zealand citrus (oranges, lemons, grapefruit) and a kilo of crushed coriander seeds.

Vicar's Vice is incredibly smooth on the palate, and has a delicious citrusy/spicy zing, reminiscent of the best Belgian classics.

We launched it at the UNDERGROUND bar here in Rotorua, and it has been enthusiastically embraced. It is a heavy hitter too, coming in at a healthy 7% alcohol by volume - needless to say we have shelved the pint glasses and are serving in a lovely 340ml stemmed beer glass. If you are in or around Rotorua, get in to the bar to enjoy this seasonal while it lasts.

It was just a little batch, but we have pre-sold a third of the batch to the South Island, and hope to get a keg or two to Auckland and Wellington as well. We'll let you know when and where it will be available.

Croucher beers in Oz, Craccum & something Fruity...

2009-10-13T16:31:00.000+13:00

Beer drinking in Australia just got better!! Our good friend Craig Bowen from Beer NZ in Christchurch recently sent some Croucher beer to Carlisle Wine Bin in Perth & Purvis Wine Cellars in Melbourne. This is the first time our beers have been commercially exported, and while it is a modest start it's an exciting development for us.

Craccum Magazine, the University Of Auckland Student mag, has published a beer article focused on a tasting of Croucher Pils and Hef. Interestingly, they sampled the beers along with a selection of chocolate and the combination's seemed to work!! They enjoyed both beers, with a preference for the banana-ry delights of the Hef. We can confirm that this beer indeed works well with chocolate, in fact try matching a Perky Nana with the Hef for a double banana hit! Magic!!!

Our latest seasonal beer has been brewed, and is fermenting as we speak. We are keeping the identity of the beer to ourselves at the moment, but suffice to say that it is going to be darker rather than lighter and that there it might just be a fruity little number. Due to a double fermentation, it will be a while before it is ready to serve. It will be on tap at our bar (The Underground Bar) in Rotorua, and we'll also see if we can get it on as a guest beer at a bar or two around the country.

Talking of The Underground Bar, we have started a blog purely for the bar. If you live in Rotorua or are interested in what is happening at Rotorua's coolest drinking spot, please sign up for email updates HERE. We'd really love to have you on-board as a supporter.

Croucher Brewing - Beer, Beervana and Barvana...

2009-08-17T12:18:00.008+12:00

August At The Brewery

> On Tap - Croucher beers are currently (or about to go) on tap in a few fine establishments around NZ. Some of these are guest appearances ( see the *), so get in quicksmart!

Auckland
Wine Cellar, Karangahape Rd (Pale Ale)
Brew On Quay, Quay St (Pilsner) *
Hallertau, Riverhead (Pilsner) *

Hamilton
Ruakura Campus Club (Pale Ale, Pilsner & Hef) *

Rotorua
the UNDERGROUND bar (Pale Ale, Pilsner, Hef & Belgian Blonde)
Abracadabra (Pilsner)
Rotorua Golf Club (Pilsner)
Distinction Hotel (Pilsner)

Wellington
The Malthouse, Courtney Place (Pale Ale) *

> Beervana - this is now an annual beer tasting extravaganza organised by the NZ Brewers Guild. It takes place in Wellington on the 28th and 29th of August at the Wellington Town Hall. Tickets can be booked here. Beervana is an opportunity to sample craft beers from around New Zealand, as well as a few especially flown in from Oz. As well as sampling, there are sessions on food matching - including some with chef Martin Bosley (last year he matched Croucher Pale Ale with a delicious grilled salmon dish... yum yum!). Paul will be representing Croucher Brewing at Beervana, so if you are lucky enough to be there, make sure you come and say hi... and sample a Croucher beer or two!

> Tis the Seasonal.... Paul is working on a recipe for our next seasonal beer, and expects to brew it in the coming few weeks. Shortly, we'll let you know more about it, as well as where you"ll be able to get your hands on some.

August at the UNDERGROUND bar
> the UNDERGROUND bar is our very own craft beer bar here in Rotorua. It is fast becoming a local treasure, and is the only bar in town focused on New Zealand craft beer, so please grab your friends and come in to support the beer revolution.

> Our guest bottled beers in August are Mata Feijoa, Epic Armageddon, Founders Long Black, Emerson's JP 2009, and Invercargill Boysenbeery. Quite the mix! On tap we have the full Croucher range, including the option of having the Pale Ale hand-drawn at room temperature - this beer is delicious cold and fizzy, but the warmth really highlights the aroma and flavours.

A new month at the Underground...

2009-07-03T13:15:00.003+12:00

Hi there,
It has been a busy month or so since we opened our own bar here in Rotorua. The Underground Bar has already built a loyal following of locals who are enjoying the atmosphere and our range of beers and wines.

News from behind the bar...

On tap at theUNDERGROUNDbar in July we have Croucher Pale Ale - cool and fizzy OR room temperature and flat (via hand pump), The HEF, and Belgian Blonde. Our Pilsner is taking a break due to demand for it's services elsewhere, so we are pleased to have a few kegs of Emerson's renowned Organic Pilsner. Get in and try it before it's gone.
In terms of our limited selection of bottled NZ craft beers, we are focusing on dark beers for the wintery month of July; with Townshend's No 9 Stout, Tuatara Porter, Renaissaince Porter and Three Boys Porter.

News from the back of the brewery...

June was a massive month, Paul was kept particularly busy filing orders of kegs and bottles from our many much-loved customers.
that put a bit of strain on stocks, and meant a flurry of brewing towards the end of June. We are still ironing out a few issues with the new plant, but we are exceptionally happy with the quality of the beer it is producing.

The HEF goes down well in tastings...
Wellington based beer celebrity Neil Miller has been running a few tastings recently that have included Croucher's HEF beer. At the end each tasting the beers are ranked, and the HEF has had a Gold medal and Bronze medal finish. Click here to see the results.

Croucher beer is now available at these outlets:

Brew On Quay, Auckland City
Go Vino Restaurant, Hamilton
New World Te Rapa, Hamilton
New World Brookfield, Tauranga
No 1 The Strand, Tauranga
Taupo Steak & Ale Bar, Taupo
'Happy' bar, Wellington
Matterhorn, Wellington

theUNDERGROUNDbar launch party

2009-05-19T20:27:00.002+12:00

Get your glad-rags on, and get down to theUNDERGROUNDbar this Saturday night for the launch of Croucher Brewing's new craft NZ beer and wine bar in Rotorua.

The bar is located underneath one of Rotorua's older inner-city homes, and is a small yet funky space where people can come to enjoy a Croucher beer on tap (the full range will always be on tap, including any experimental Croucher beers), as well as an ever changing list of other great New Zealand beers and wines. We are working with the fine-dining restaurant (Rendezvous Restaurant) upstairs for our very cool small plates food menu.

If you are based elsewhere, then we look forward to seeing you next time you are in Rotorua.

Details:
> Launch party this Saturday night (23rd May 2009) - anytime from 6pm til late
> Underneath the Rendezvous Restaurant, 1282 Hinemoa Street, Rotorua
> What's happening? There are launch party drink specials all night, some nibbles provided, and of course great conversation!

It would be cool to see you there...
Nige & Paul

Croucher Brewing story on Asia Down Under

2009-04-27T20:34:00.002+12:00

TV ONE programme Asia Down Under ran a story about Paul and Croucher Brewing yesterday. It is an excellent item on Paul, his Chinese heritage and how he got into the brewing game.

Click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cvyskpkXbY&feature=channel_page

Other Brew News:
>> BREAKING NEWS: An official Croucher Ale House outlet coming soon to Rotorua. More info to follow shortly.

>> The new brewery is up and running. We have finally been brewing on the new equipment over the past couple of weeks, and we're really pleased with it. As usual there was the odd teathing problem, but nothing insumountable. Paul has been working hard to ensure continuity of beer quality and flavour through the transition - which is really just an excuse to sample the beers more often!

>> New Outlets - Liquorland Dinsdale (Hamilton), Singer Bar (Hamilton), Hillsdene Wines (Tauranga), Liquor King Napier, Ambeli Restaurant (Wellington)

The Hef appears on TV3's Sunrise show... and more

2009-03-19T19:51:00.006+13:00

In the lead up to last weekend's NZ Beer Festival the Sunrise crew had a wee beer tasting. First up was our very own HEF, which got a good response from the panel (apart from Carly who clearly doesn't enjoy any kind of beer). Check it out here:

http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/NZ-Beer-Fest-kicks-off-in-Auckland/tabid/572/articleID/95158/cat/167/Default.aspx

Festival Season Ends

Our summer festival run is over for another year. Highlights were winning Best Site and selling out of beer at Blues, Brews & BBQ's at Mt Maunganui, and trying to keep our feet dry at the inaugural wet Wellington NZ Beer Fest.

Tasting

Paul is running a tasting tomorrow of our beers at The Village Winery, Mt Eden Rd, Auckland. The tasting runs from 12pm -3pm tomorrow (Saturday 21st of March), so if you are in or around Mt Eden please pop in to say hi.

From the Inbox

It is always nice to get email from people who enjoy the beer, here's one we received from Earl (New Mexico, USA):

"We recently spent 3 week exploring wonderful NZ and after 50+ years of sampling various beers I have never had any as good as your Pilsner."

February at the brewery

2009-02-12T10:08:00.008+13:00

It's hot, damn hot!! The brewery is like a sauna (hot summer + hot air from refridgerated container = The Croucher Sauna Company). But you won't find us complaining, it is perfect weather for a nice cool beer!

FESTIVALS

We have some great festivals coming up in February and March, so if you are in Auckland, Wellington or Te Awamutu then clear your diary, we love to see you there...

> Feb 14th (THIS SATURDAY) Kumeu Beer & Wine Festival featuring Golden Horse

> Feb 28th Wellington NZ Beer Festival, Waitangi Park

> Mar 7th Te Awamutu Wine & Food Festival

> Mar 14th Auckland NZ Beer Festival, Ellerslie Racecouse

UPGRADING BREWHOUSE
Progress continues. The new equipment is now sitting in place - the bigger tanks look just great on the new concrete pad. Before it is hooked up and ready to brew we need electrics, plumbing, with walls lined and water-proofed. But we are on track for completion in early March

This upgrade is going to allow us to produce much bigger batches of beer, so hopefully we can change from chasing our tails trying to keep up with production to chasing new customers.

SEASONAL RELEASES

The Belgian Blonde has been a huge hit at festivals over summer, and we are hoping we have enough left to get us through the events listed above. Planning is underway for the next one, probably something black for winter... but we'll keep you in the loop.

Links: croucher home croucher blog croucher outlets

Croucher Brewing named BEST SITE at 2009 Blues Brews & BBQ's Mt Maunganui...

2009-01-09T13:11:00.004+13:00

We had a great day yesterday at The Mount Blues Brews. Not only was it a beautiful Bay day, but there was a big crowd, we sold out of all of our beers (fortunately with only 2 minutes to go) and we took away first prize in the BEST SITE competition.

The judges were impressed with our beer, our attitude and enthusiasm, and that our site looked classy. they particularly loved our flash new set of beer taps!! Of course, we were rather chuffed to take the title (and the substantial radio advertising prize, courtesy of Tauranga's More FM and RadioWorks ). Thanks guys!!

Beer of the day was our Belgian Blonde - it went down a treat with punters in the hot summer sun. get it while it lasts at festivals. Next up is Tairua School Food & Wine Festival tomorrow, Saturday 10th of January 2009.