Craft brewing Broadway bound
A plan seven years in the making is returning commercial brewing to central Palmerston North, with a Portland-style brewpub being built on Broadway Ave.
Located in the old Mango Music site, with access from both Broadway Ave and King St, Brew Union is the brainchild of Murray Cleghorn and Jules Grace.
It is a building site at the moment, but by February 2017 it should be home to a bar, brewery and restaurant.
They are even managing to get a garden bar on the King St side, ripping off the roof to take advantage of the all-day sun.
It will be the first time a commercial brewery has been based in the city since Shamrock Brewing shut down about six years ago, although some people have used Massey University’s microbrewery in the interim.
Cleghorn said he and Grace had been planning since 2009, although their vision had grown bigger than they expected.
A trip three years ago to Portland, Oregon, solidified the plans for Brew Union – a communityfocused brewpub, providing quality beer and good food, as well as a place for people to socialise.
They looked at sites across the lower North Island, but decided Palmerston North had a gap in the market.
‘‘It is challenging because, in terms of taps, it is a little bit of a craft beer wasteland,’’ Cleghorn said.
‘‘If we just opened a brewery, there would be no hope. As time goes on, it will be harder to brew without having your own outlets.’’
The brewery, big enough to make 1200-litre batches, was fabricated locally, with some parts recycled from old dairy farming equipment.
The bar will have 15 taps, including English-style handpumps, with beers from other independent breweries lining up alongside Brew Union’s product.
‘‘There are too many interesting beers not to,’’ Cleghorn said.