Raising a glass to Harrington’s
New Zealand’s largest family-owned brewery, Harrington’s of Christchurch, celebrated its 25th birthday last week.
Having owned and run pubs for almost two decades, John and Val Harrington were exasperated by the Lion/DB duopoly and decided to start their own brewery. The Harringtons’ first brewery, a 1000-litre system made up of old dairy vessels, was installed at the Kilmore St site of Christchurch’s oldest brewery, Ward’s. Today, that same site – minus many of the original brewery buildings, which were destroyed in the earthquakes – is home to Pomeroy’s pub and Stainless Brewing Company.
The Harringtons’ original intention was to brew three times a week, but sales took off and within a fortnight John realised he had grossly underestimated demand. The brewery was duly expanded and in 1993 a second was opened in Ferry Rd, Phillipstown, this time with a 6000-litre batch size. The Kilmore St brewery was soon closed but the former Castle Rock brewery in Ferrymead was acquired in 1999, expanding Harrington’s brewing capacity by a further 30 per cent.
A modern packaging line was subsequently installed at the Phillipstown site, after which the company started taking on contract bottling on behalf of most of the city’s smaller craft breweries. By 2010 Harrington’s was also operating two pubs and eight bottle shops in the Christchurch area.
The 2011 earthquakes took their toll on both of Harrington’s breweries, resulting in the demolition of the smaller Ferrymead building – its 2500-litre brewhouse salvaged and put into storage. In 2012 Harrington’s Brewery won the coveted Champion Brewery of New Zealand trophy at the Brewer’s Guild of New Zealand Beer Awards. Harrington’s bought the failing Matson’s brewery in April 2014, enabling the company to gradually shift its entire operation from Ferry Rd to the larger 4800sq m Matson’s site in Wigram.
The early Harrington’s beers were simple lagers and designed to be sold cheaply, primarily in working men’s clubs and through the company’s liquor stores. But from day one Harrington’s beers differed from those of the country’s two largest brewers because most were brewed without the use of added sugars.
As the market evolved and Kiwis sought more robustly flavoured beers, Harrington’s gradually introduced a range of lagers and ales modelled on classic styles. Today, the brewery produces over 20 different beers including German-inspired lagers, British-influenced stouts and porters, heady Belgian-style ales and generously hopped, Americaninspired pale ales.
To celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary Harrington’s brewers have created a ramped-up version of their silver medal-winning Rogue Hop Pilsner. By upping the malts (Pilsner and Vienna), hops (Southern Cross, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin), and alcohol by 25 per cent, Harrington’s Rogue Hop Deluxe weighs in at 6.3 per cent.
Pouring a bright golden hue beneath a wispy white head, the new beer offers an attractive fruity-sweet aroma which marries caramelised malt with herbaceous, citrus and passionfruit hop notes. In the mouth it’s delightfully soft, smooth and rounded, the initial grainy sweetness slowly giving way to a lingering, dry, resin-y finish. Deftly balanced and well brewed, it rates as one of the finest beers I’ve tasted from Harrington’s in recent years. Available on tap in the Canterbury area, the good news for the rest of us is that the beer is also packaged in 500ml bottles (RRP $9.99) and 330ml sixpacks ($19.99).
Although it was originally intended to be a one-off limited release Rogue Hop Deluxe has now been confirmed as a fulltime member of the Harrington’s range.
On the subject of anniversaries, Lion is celebrating 35 years of the Mac’s brand with a worthy new take on the double IPA style. Packed with American and Kiwi hops (Pacific Jade, Moutere, Motueka, Cascade, Amarillo and Simcoe), Mac’s Birthday Suit may be at the lower end of the style guidelines for both alcohol (7.6 per cent) and bitterness (65 IBU), but it’s a worthy attempt nonetheless. Available for a limited time in four-packs (RRP $14.99) and on tap in Mac’s Brew Bars. Cheers!