Last call for Mac's Brewery

BY NEIL MILLER

OPINION: The handsome brewery on Wellington's waterfront has had several names.

It started life as Shed 22 Brewing Company, changed to the Wellington Brewing Company and finally Mac's Wellington Brewery.

Lion Nathan has owned it since day one and a few weeks ago announced the brewery would close and production would be shifted to Christchurch. The adjoining Mac's Brewery Bar will remain open.

I was at the opening of the brewery in 2002, a long night when supplies ran so dangerously low that beer was drawn straight from the tanks. Perhaps, then, it was fitting I was there the day the March closure date was released.

Lion Nathan cited the "higher costs" of the Wellington facility, growing demand for Mac's craft beers and the "maturing" of the Mac's brand as the drivers behind their decision.

The plant will be shipped south in March and set up as a production line at the much larger Canterbury brewery. That means, in theory at least, Mac's should be able to produce seasonal releases and innovative beers.

One of the last beers to be brewed at Wellington will be the 2010 Brewjolais, a superb beer which uses the first hops of the harvest.

The initial version in 2005 was a personal hop epiphany. Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Nelson with head brewer Ally Clem to collect the fresh green hops, race them back and begin brewing with them less than 12 hours after they were picked. Ally rightly describes Brewjolais as "a highlight of the brewing calendar".

His favourite regular beer to make is Sassy Red, the only survivor from the original Shed 22 recipes. Throughout the challenging brew process he describes an "amazing aroma of roasted malt and then a massive hop hit when the Motueka hops are thrown into the kettle". He particularly remembers 2007's Golden Bay Bitter, the first beer he created from scratch.

I have many fond memories, too: my first sip of Wicked Blonde; tasting sessions on the viewing platform when brewing was underway, the air filled with an aroma like fresh bread; watching people try Sassy Red with the chef's rustic French terrine or Black Mac matched with blue cheese, gingernut biscuit and chocolate covered apricot.

That was when people began to understand craft beer and the art of beer and food matching.

Like many Wellingtonians, I will mourn the closure. It is incredible to think that the beer capital of New Zealand will be down to one commercial brewery – Tuatara – by April. But if Mac's Wellington must close, Brewjolais 2010 will be a fitting epitaph.

- The Wellingtonian