PHOTO: BOOKME
After more than 130 years of brewing, the iconic Tui brewery in the Tararua township of Mangatainoka has ceased beer production.
Beer had been brewed at the Mangatainoka site since 1889. In 2015, DB Breweries, the company behind the Tui brand, made the decision to close the main production plant but installed a smaller, modern brewery to continue supplying specialty brews to its taproom and the local community.
However, DB Breweries’ Marketing Director, Fraser Shrimpton, recently confirmed that brewing at Mangatainoka actually stopped three years ago.
The historic Tui Brewery building in Mangatainoka. Photo: RNZ / Denise Garland
“The Covid-19 pandemic restrictions during 2020 and 2021 largely prevented us from operating the brewery, so we shifted the remainder of the production to our Timaru and Auckland breweries in 2021,” Shrimpton explained. “We are currently in the process of redeploying the brewing equipment to our other sites across the country.”
Earlier this month, DB announced it had discontinued brewery tours at its Tui HQ site in Mangatainoka. Instead, visitors can now enjoy a beer tasting experience, sampling various beer styles.
Shrimpton emphasized that despite the halt in brewing, Tui’s presence in Mangatainoka would continue. “Mangatainoka remains the spiritual home of Tui, and we will continue welcoming visitors to enjoy a brew at the Tui HQ café and bar, explore the beautiful grounds, and view the iconic brewery tower, which has been earthquake-strengthened.”
PHOTO: SHELLY MUNRO
This isn’t the first time DB has closed a regional brewery. In 2001, the company announced it would close its Monteith’s brewery in Greymouth and move production to Auckland. However, after strong public backlash, DB agreed to continue brewing some of the range in the West Coast town. Production continued there for nearly two more decades until 2020, when DB moved all remaining production to Timaru and Auckland.
Greg Ryan, a Lincoln University professor and New Zealand beer historian, said he doesn’t expect the same public outcry over the end of brewing in Mangatainoka as there was with Monteith’s.
“The obvious parallel is what happened 25 years ago when they decided to stop brewing Monteith’s on the coast,” Ryan said. “There was a real outcry from the coast about tradition, but I didn’t sense the same reaction in 2015 when it was announced that Tui would be brewed elsewhere.”
Ryan suggested that Tui might not have the same deep connection to its original location, possibly due to its nationwide ‘Yeah, Right’ billboard campaign of the late 1990s and early 2000s. This advertising, along with its strong links to student culture, may have made Tui more of a national brand rather than one specifically tied to the Manawatū and Wairarapa regions.
SOURCE: RNZ