Ever wondered what it takes to become an award-winning brewery? Reporter Brodie Stone went behind the scenes at McLeod’s Brewery in Waipū to find out.
Tucked away in the picturesque coastal settlement of Waipū sits McLeod’s Brewery, a small-town name that in the past nine years has become one sitting atop coasters from Cape to Bluff.
But making it big time is at the hands of a small 10-strong crew who have mastered the alchemy of beer, and it’s the sense of place that McLeod’s Brewery is based on that may just be the secret to its success.
The name itself comes from the location — McLeod’s settlement block is right where the lager is brewed, batched and sent off.
“Waipū is a classic New Zealand immigrant story, people throwing it all in to go to the other side of the world and start a community — in this case the Scots from the highlands. So that [was] the whole sentiment of starting our brewery,” co-owner Geoff Gwynne said.
It’s easy to identify McLeod’s as a Northland brewery from its distinctive art by Aria award-winning and Grammy-nominated artist Sarah Larnach. Pictures of Northland’s idyllic coastlines adorn the cans in a style that reminds one of 50s nostalgia.
Even some of the brew names are Northland inspired, from its Smugglers Bay collection to the Far North Chili Pils.
It will be its 10th year in operation in 2024, but for Gwynne, a lot of it is now about survival.
“I don’t want to sound morbid about it, but survival is success in beer at the moment, and we’re surviving well.”
The brewing business has been hard hit in the past few years, but Gwynne reckons keeping it small is keeping it going.
“People go ‘what do you want to do’? and I hear a lot of guys go ‘we want to get bigger and sell more’, we don’t really, we just want to find a nice sweet spot where we’re having a blast doing what we do and meet cool people.”
“We want to be successful, whatever that means, but doing it on our own terms and finding the right people and building those relationships.”
Stocked throught the country, McLeod’s is also featured in high-end spots including the likes of Josh Emmet and Michael Meredith’s restaurants.
It’s a labour of love for those who work there, and Gwynne says Jason Bathgate as head brewer is a game-changer.
He reckons Bathgate’s one of the best in the Southern Hemisphere, with a great palate and knowledge of aroma.
Some of the more unusual brews include its Cherimoya and sage blended sour ale. The Cherimoya hails from Ninety Mile Beach.
Gwynne said the Smugglers Bay Collection allowed Bathgate to flex his muscles around different flavours.
“It’s the brewer’s art,” Gwynne said.
Another unusual beer is its Far North Chilli Pils, with the key ingredient Kaitāia Fire.
It was brewed to go with oysters at the Duke of Marlborough, but now it’s “kind of cultish” around the country, he said.
Gwynne says authenticity is the “overriding principle” at McLeod’s.
“The whole idea was to make something in Northland, and that’s unusual because a lot of people will have a beer brand but not have a brewery.”
Creating a brewery nine years ago was uncharted territory, “frontier style”, he said.
“Back then, people were like ‘what are you doing’!?, you know?”
“It was this idea of Longboarder on tap, which was the second beer that we had on tap, people just couldn’t get their heads around it. They were like .... ‘where’s the Lion Red gone’?!”
“It wasn’t a conflict, but people know what they know, and it takes a while.”
But now, Gwynne said McLeod’s Pizza Barn has the “high-vis guys” coming in on a Friday night and drinking their brews.
It’s a seasonal game, Gwynne says, one that leaves staff feeling as though their headquarters are a “little too small” in the summer months from Labour Weekend to Anzac Day, to feeling much too large in the winter.
Compared with larger brands, McLeod’s batches are brewed 2000 litres at a time, against Steinlager’s 50,000. Where bigger brands make a million litres a week, McLeod’s makes 380,000 a year.
This year it added to its list of accolades, from its household name Longboarder Lager winning the international lager trophy at the New Zealand Beer Awards, to its Paradise Pale Ale winning one of the country’s top pale ales at the annual New World Beer and Cider Awards.
Brodie Stone is the education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.