Brewing for the passion

Andrew Solesbury toasts the future of Lads Brewing Company. Photo / Paul Brooks

At 1 Taylor St, opposite the Red Lion car park, is a building with large stainless steel vats, fermenters and brewing equipment that looks like it means business. That business is beer, and it's the home of Whanganui craft beer makers, Lads Brewing Company.

The "Lads" are Andrew Solesbury, Adam Murphy, Timoti (Taco) Rangi and Hamiora (Hami) Rangi. Midweek met with Andrew at the brewery for a chat and a cold one.

"This is where the magic happens," he says.

Earlier this month Lads held an open day on the premises.

"We probably had 250 coming through the day."

There they could sample Lads' finest and make a day of it.

"It was really to get people to know where we are and to show off the brewery."

Lads beer is available around Whanganui in cans but it's also on tap at The Barracks, Lucky Bar, Porridge Watson and the new Frank Bar, opening soon. They also send stock to Palmerston North, Feilding, Ohakune, Auckland and Wellington.

"We've got 10 beers in the range," says Andrew. "Our core seven or eight beers and we're introducing limited editions and grow the range.

"The unique one we have is Coconut Ale. It's almost like a pina colada in a beer. It's only 4.9 per cent, light and refreshing."

It took two years to get the flavour balance just right.

"There was a lot of research and development and quality control. It's crucial."

A dirty job, but someone had to do it.

The directors retain day jobs. They're hoping that within 12 months one of them will be able to be employed by the company.

They have been in their Taylor St premises for nine months.

"Before this we were in Taco's garage."

The equipment then was a fraction of the size of the current set-up, but the original brewing gear is still part of the Taylor St operation.

"It's our pilot system and will go into our museum one day, if we ever have one."

Lads is in the process of getting their own glasses made with their logo. Their artwork, logo included, is designed by former Whanganui man Brad Tipper.

The Lads relationship is this: Andrew and Hami are brothers-in-law, Taco is Hami's brother and Adam is a mate.

"We started brewing on Friday nights: a good reason to get together, drink some beers, do some research and development. That's kind of how it started. After about a year of giving the beer to people, and they liked it, it prompted us to think about taking it to the next level.

"We didn't go straight out and buy all this [equipment], we went contract brewing at Massey University in Palmerston North, brewed a few beers at Duncans' in Paraparaumu … that got us out. You can't sell beer to the pubs from Taco's garage."

Doing contract brewing they were able to sell to clubs and bars and built a following.

"So we all chipped in and got the brewery.

"The fermenters we bought; the brew system, the actual brewhouse is custom made by Hami and Tim."

Other gear like the canning bench and labelling machine are custom made. Cans are bought by the pallet-load, 6000 at a time.

"We'd like to see it going nationwide," says Andrew, looking at the future. "We'd like to be established and well-known; we'd like to have people employed. Down the track we'd like to have our own brew bar."

There is room in the Taylor St brewery to grow.

Lads has another open day planned for November 14.

"We're going to do a brew on the day and we'll put tables around so people can watch us brewing."

There will be bar leaners outside, food, Lads beer and, hopefully, sunshine. They have other events planned to raise the brewery's profile.

"It's a passion," says Andrew.