New Zealand's true brew (White Cliffs)
Julie Ihle visits White Cliffs, an organic brewer whipping up a storm Down Under.
In a land best known for sheep and strangulated vowels, when you see a sign for ‘Real Ale – 1000 litres Ahead,’ you know you are in for a treat.
White Cliffs Brewery in New Zealand’s bucolic North Island is on the west coast, squeezed between a snow-capped volcano, Mount Taranaki, and the Tasman Sea. This part of New Zealand used to be known for its dairy and mining industries but now thanks to the filming of The Last Samurai (owing to Mount Taranaki’s similarity to Mount Fuji) and frequent appearances of Billy Connolly and Stevie Nicks at its quirky world music festival, it is on the tourist route.
White Cliffs Brewery started as a one beer operation but was taken over and expanded by Steve Ekdahl and his partner Sharon Cottam.
Having worked as a carpenter and pediatrics nurse respectively, they discovered their passion for brewing in Ireland on their Overseas Experience – Kiwi-speak for a gap year European working holiday. A chance encounter with a Guinness brewer and a realisation that New Zealand’s clean green atmosphere was the perfect export they returned home and tried to find a way to bottle it.
They purchased the one-beer, home brew operation of White Cliffs Brewery near their home town of New Plymouth. They focussed on increasing production and adding another beer to the repertoire.
The original signature beer is Mike’s Mild Ale, a lightly hopped beer with a full malt taste.
Mountain Lager is the latest addition, a full strength German-style lager with a soft .....
To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue
or subscribe to Beers of the World to have every issue delivered direct to your door.
By Julie Ihle
Section : International Focus
Page number : 29
