Tui brewery in Mangatainoka no longer producing beer after 130 years

Tui beer. Photo / Mark Mitchell

By Denise Garland of RNZ

The iconic Tui brewery in the Tararua township of Mangatainoka is no longer producing any beer, after more than 130 years.

Beer has been brewed at the Mangatainoka site since 1889.

DB Breweries, which owns the Tui brand, made the decision to close the main production plant in 2015, but installed a smaller, modern brewery in order to continue to supply its taproom and local community with specialty brews.

But DB Breweries marketing director Fraser Shrimpton has now confirmed it stopped brewing at Mangatainoka three years ago.

“The [Covid-19] pandemic restrictions through 2020 and 2021 largely prevented DB from operating the brewery and we shifted the remainder of this production to our Timaru and Auckland breweries in 2021,” Shrimpton said.

“We are in the process of redeploying the brew plant and equipment to our other sites around the country.”

Earlier this month, DB confirmed it had stopped selling brewery tours at its Tui HQ site in Mangatainoka, and would instead offer a beer tasting experience, where visitors could sample a range of different beer styles.

Shrimpton said while it was no longer brewing in the Tararua District, its presence would remain in Mangatainoka.

“[It] remains the spiritual home of Tui, and we will continue to welcome visitors to enjoy a tasty brew at the Tui HQ café and bar, walk around the beautiful grounds and check out the iconic brewery tower that we had earthquake strengthened.”

It is not the first time DB has closed one of its regional breweries.

Back in 2001, it announced it was closing its Monteith’s brewery in Greymouth and would move that production to Auckland.

But that decision caused a strong public backlash and DB was forced to relent, and agreed to continue to brew some of the range in the West Coast town.

It continued to brew there for almost another two decades, but in 2020 DB announced it would move all remaining production to its Timaru and Auckland breweries.

The historic Tui Brewery building in Mangatainoka. Photo / RNZ, Denise Garland

Lincoln University professor and New Zealand beer historian Greg Ryan said unlike the situation with Monteith’s, he expected little public outcry over the admission that brewing had now completely ceased in Mangatainoka.

“The obvious parallel is what happened 25 years ago when they decided they weren’t going to brew Monteith’s on the coast anymore,” Ryan said.

“When they decided to not to brew there, there was a real outcry from the coast about tradition and everything else, but I never picked up any of the same sort of reaction [in 2015] when it was announced Tui was being brewed elsewhere.

“Maybe West Coasters are a bit more parochial.”

Ryan said Tui did not seem have the same tie to location, possibly due to its iconic nationwide “Yeah, Right” billboard campaign of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

He said that sort of advertising and its strong student links made Tui more of a national brand, rather than a Manawatū and Wairarapa-specific one.

– RNZ