Bringing us the deeply compelling variety of monthly beers is part of Craig’s business, BeerNZ, making craft beer accessible to us all.

What lead you to starting up BeerNZ?

I had 15 years with BNZ, from branch boy through to heading an IT dept in Wellington for 8 years. With the eldest of 2 young boys about to start school, the time was right to return to Christchurch. After moving back and being a man of leisure (there is only so much mid-week golf you can play…) and waiting for all the job offers to roll in, I did some contract work back for BNZ visiting every branch in the country within a 10 week period. Recognising I couldn’t play every golf course in the country in 10 weeks, I needed another challenge. My brother gave me a book on NZ breweries so I decided to tick them off and drink as many of the beers as I could within 10 weeks (whilst not harming my liver in the process). A few weeks in, and after discussions with many of the brewers, I had my ‘eureka’ moment! Distribution seemed to be a major barrier for many of them so I thought I’d give it a crack—it couldn’t be that hard. The 2nd half of the tour then became a fact-finding mission to determine viability. I immersed myself in the industry to learn as much as I could. I attended awards judging, bought books, trawled Internet chat forums and, most importantly, kept drinking. I bought my first pallet and thought ‘this is either the start of something cool or, if it doesn’t work, a great party!’ The first big break came with our Emerson’s association and the rest is history.

When did you start? Do you work alone?

BeerNZ has been in operation nearly 3 years. My wife Natalie runs the office and recently we’ve taken on Andy, who does orders and local deliveries. We’ve grown to a stage where we move 3 times the volume we did 18 months ago. We have 23 breweries on the books and plans are afoot to set up in Wellington in the very near future.

What do you find compelling about beer and what are the exciting trends in brewing?

Beer crosses all boundaries and fits all occasions, seasons, places, moods and foods. As far as trends go, I like the recent theme of cross-style hybridisation – mixing 2 styles. Yeastie Boys did it with Pot Kettle Black—a Black IPA or a Hoppy Porter? I’d rather go and have 2 or 3 pints of something nice than a jug of something bland. Not that I don’t still have the odd jug but look at where wine has gone in the last 15 years, or coffee too. I think it’s about upsizing our quality, challenging our palates and broadening our horizons. We don’t eat the same food every day so why drink the same beer every time?

New website coming very soon. Btw – I’m available for group or social club tastings too!

www.beernz.co.nz