Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Amber liquid turns gold for Waipu brewery

Northern Advocate
3 Apr, 2017 07:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Milton Mewett, Geoff Gwynne, Jason Bathgate and Clayton Gwynne, from Waipu's McLeod's Brewery, with their gold-medal-winning Tropical Cyclone Double IPA. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Milton Mewett, Geoff Gwynne, Jason Bathgate and Clayton Gwynne, from Waipu's McLeod's Brewery, with their gold-medal-winning Tropical Cyclone Double IPA. Photo / Michael Cunningham

There's a beer revolution going on at Waipu, with the owners of McLeod's Brewery determined to change the drinking habits of the country into appreciating fine craft beer.

And the plan is already paying dividends, with McLeod's Brewery coming away with three medals - including a gold - for its brews at the weekend's prestigious New World Beer and Cider Awards.

The brewery won gold for its Tropical Cyclone Double India Pale Ale, which certainly tickled the tastebuds of the competition judges.

"Head brewer Jason Bathgate has worked wonders with the brews in the past year, and the Tropical Cyclone is right up there alongside New Zealand's best double IPAs. [It has] huge tropical fruit aromas with the slightly musky, dank smell you get from ripe papaya. Great length, well balanced, clean and juicy," were some of the comments from this year's panel of independent judges.

The brewery also won a silver for its Paradise Pale Ale and a bronze for its Traders Scotch Ale. The awards have excited the brewery and its owners, brothers Geoff and Clayton Gwynne.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It's a really beautiful brew, and we couldn't be happier winning gold for it," Geoff Gwynne said of the IPA.

He said with a limited number of gold medals issued for this year's event the win was "even sweeter".

"There were something like 520 entries and only 27 gold medals so this is a big deal for us," Mr Gwynne said. "It will now be sold in New World Stores around the country so that will expose us to far more people. And it hopefully tells people that we are making some really, really good brews."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said the Tropical Cyclone Double IPA was a "big beer, in the sense that it's big on flavour and big on aroma. It's very flavoursome with a taste of tropical fruit and it's not hugely bitter. It has a nice smooth finish, which sounds odd for a beer that's quite strong at 8 per cent".

He expects the gold medal to really open up opportunities for the brewery, which will brew about 150,000 litres this year, and said it was important that there was a hint of Waipu in all the McLeod's brews.

"We get the biggest kick out of making something that's very much 'Waipu'. It gives us a sense of place."

He said the aim was to get more people to experience craft beer and the proliferation of small breweries like McLeod's was spreading the revolution.

"It's how it used to be. Small breweries making brews for their local areas," Mr Gwynne said.

Jason Bathgate, McLeod's head brewer, called the win "really quite wonderful" given that 2017 is the brewery's first year entering the competition.

"We're stunned and utterly rapt at getting no less than three medals with Gold on top of it all," he said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Court backs sacking of Northland doctor who sent 'flirty texts' to junior

06 Jul 09:13 PM
Northern Advocate

Far North Mayor calls on New Zealanders to vote for Māori wards in October

06 Jul 08:12 PM
Northern Advocate

‘Flying’ through the air: Grandfather's call for safer crossings after crash

06 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Court backs sacking of Northland doctor who sent 'flirty texts' to junior

Court backs sacking of Northland doctor who sent 'flirty texts' to junior

06 Jul 09:13 PM

The sexual harassment investigation led to the doctor taking 10 months' stress leave.

Far North Mayor calls on New Zealanders to vote for Māori wards in October

Far North Mayor calls on New Zealanders to vote for Māori wards in October

06 Jul 08:12 PM
‘Flying’ through the air: Grandfather's call for safer crossings after crash

‘Flying’ through the air: Grandfather's call for safer crossings after crash

06 Jul 05:00 PM
'Serious-to-critical': Crash shuts SH1 in Northland, delays expected

'Serious-to-critical': Crash shuts SH1 in Northland, delays expected

06 Jul 08:48 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP