and when demanded by outlets and to maintain a consistency of product. Nally was aware that many boutique and craft beer operations had failed at this stage. He believed consistency of product was essential if the beers and the business were to be successful. “I was mindful of the fact that many boutique and craft breweries have come and gone quickly,” he says. “Taking stock of the situation, I decided that a passion for brewing must be matched by an equal passion for business. Passionate feelings about beer quality and type were not enough.” Looking back, he says his biggest problem was confidence. Enlisting the help of a business mentor, Nally was encouraged to look beyond the present and to strive for the future. A major factor in sales success is that Invercargill brewery’s beers are of a constantly high quality consistency and delivered on time. Nally says to do this he looked at his brewing system. Because of the small size of the operation, he set out to simplify it as far as was possible. This not only meant a significant reduction in costs but also removed the minor breakdowns that meant lost sales, and fluctuations in quality that also lost customers. It paid off. In July 2005, Invercargill Brewery’s ‘Pitch Black’ stout won a silver medal at the New Zealand Beer Industry Awards, and its wheat and barley ‘Wasp’ beer also won a bronze medal at the same awards. The brewery’s first brew – IBS – has since been superseded by a popular pale ale called ‘Stanley Green’. Lance Corporal Stanley Green was Nally’s maternal grandfather, who survived Dunkirk only to die in a training accident in Scotland in 1942. “I think he was an ordinary man doing something extraordinary,” Nally says, and a great inspiration for one of his favourite beers. In 2005, the brewery outgrew the old blue dairy shed and moved to the former Kiwi Bacon factory in downtown Invercargill. By 2012 that too had become too small - staff started each working day by moving equipment onto the footpath. Finally, in December 2013, Invercargill Brewery made the move to Leet Street. These days, Nally is proud to be a successful craft brewer. “We take real ingredients like malt (the bulk of it from Gladfield Malt at Dunsundel in Canterbury with specialties from Cryer Malt in Auckland), hops (mostly grown and processed by the New Zealand Hop Board at Motueka) and Oreti River water, and add brewers’ yeast to turn them into a range of delicious flavoursome beers,” he says. It’s not the only beverage brewed by the company. The apples for the highly respected Nally’s Cider are grown and specially juiced by Darlings Orchard at Ettrick in Central Otago. “When we make Heritage Cider, that’s with windfall apples from Southland trees. We’re indebted to the marvellous work done by Robert and Robyn Guyton, whose Heritage Orchard Project is saving the delicious cooking and cider apples of Southland for us all,” Nally says. “It’s a privilege to be able to make Old English cider the old-fashioned way with the genuine old-style apples like the whimsically-named Slack My Girdle, Sweet Alford, Yarlington Mill and Kingston Black. “All our beers and ciders are batch brewed right here at 72 Leet Street, Invercargill, New Zealand,” he says. “From here they’re packaged into 330ml bottles, or kegs, and shipped around New Zealand – and the world.” That is no idle boast. Because of its nature, craft brewing in New Zealand has developed into the profitable business of contract brewing. The Invercargill Brewery currently brews the entire product marketed both in New Zealand and around the world by the famous Yeastie Boys Company. Currently Invercargill Brewery is expanding the production of its beer annually. This is following the pattern of New Zealand’s craft breweries, many of which are expanding their operations as demand grows. Nally says the Invercargill Brewery and its products are a source of local Southland pride, and tours of the brewery are a popular southern tourist attraction. It has won and continues to win industry awards. JUICE ANYONE? Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand has unveiled its new state-ofthe art Keri juice manufacturing plant near Auckland Airport, the largest in New Zealand at 10,000 square metres. Able to produce 800,000 bottles every day, the purpose-built facility more than doubles the capacity of previous plants and consolidates operations into a central and accessible hub. Housing cutting-edge production technology and specialty manufacturing lines that will deliver improved environmental performance along with innovations in design and packaging, the plant is technologically advanced globally and debuts the company’s new nitro hot-fill processing method which creates lighter bottles and uses less plastic (seen in the recently launched Powerade superior bottle). The company’s managing director Chris Litchfield says the plant is testimony to its ongoing investment and confidence in New Zealand’s economy. (L to R) Powerade ambassador Mahe Drysdale, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, and Coca-Cola AMatil's Alison Watkins, Chris Litchfield and Roberto Mercadé www.foodtechnology.co.nz 35
FT-Oct16
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