GARAGE PROJECT Q&A

Garage Project is a craft beer brewery born out of Te Aro, Wellington that has come a long way from its humble beginnings of founders Peter Gillespie, Ian Gillespie and Jos Ruffell experimenting with a ‘glorified home brew kit’ in 2011. The brewery has released countless unique flavours of beer since then and become a fixture in New Zealand’s craft brew scene for the creativity it brings to both its flavours and its branding. Each beer showcases a unique artwork on the can or bottle created by a New Zealand graphic designer, painter, game designer or tattoo artist and over 100 of these designs have been collected and showcased in a new book, The Art of Beer. The book features both original sketches and the finished art of some of the brewery’s iconic drops over the years, from Bliss to Aro Noir to Fugazi, and gives an insight into the creative process and the talented people behind the artworks and the beers people know and love. We talk with co-founder Jos Ruffell about the decision to dabble in books, how Garage Project has reimagined what beer can look and taste like and the art of differentiating yourself in a crowded market.