MEATS BEST MATE’S

NZ RUGBY WORLD CAUGHT UP WITH TRUE BLUE KIWI AND SAUCE EXTRAORDINAIRE SHANE WRATT AKA DON KEEBLES TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF NZ OWNED AND OPERATED GLASSEYE CREEK SAUCE COMPANY THAT IS PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT IN A CROWDED SAUCE MARKET.

There are an abundance of sauce options available at your local supermarket. The NZ craft revolution that has spurred on new and unique ranges of beer and gin has also had an impact on the sauce market once dominated by family staple Watties and Heinz, that are now one and the same.

Independently owned and operated Glasseye Creek, are one producer that are punching well above their weight and have done for sometime. With a slew of awards to its name including most recently picking up Gold and two Silver’s for their 3 sauces at the 2022 NZ Artisan Food Awards, Glasseye Creek is proving that using high quality locally sourced ingredients and staying true to what inspired the sauce (more on this soon) is the key to their success.

EVERYONE LOVES A GOOD ORIGIN STORY

Whilst seeking sanity, a mentally knackered, and a tad over stressed Shane Wratt (AKA Don) sought refuge with a mates pub on the West Coast near Karamea whilst coping with a tough matrimonial issue involving his two young children, in the middle of the global financial crisis. While enjoying many a whisky induced joke and yarn with some true-blue mates during the whitebaiting season of 2008

Don had an epiphany.

Surrounded by scenery described by Don as “pretty much the way it was when Maui was learning to fish” along with the West Coast way of life “It is a place where wrist watches make good fishing sinkers, a brawl at the bottom of a ruck was settled with a pint after the game and a ‘conference call’ meant having a yarn over a pool table with more than two people”, that Don discovered something was missing.

When Dave White, best mate of many, top bloke and owner of the pub, served up some of his fresh, deerly departed venison, wild pork, and his famous freshly filleted, battered and fried Rig, it dawned on Don that a sauce, to complement these famous meats with the West Coast Wild Food DNA, was not to be seen at the bar leaner to go with their meat. Wratt announced that he would create a

‘mate for their meat’ to add and thus was nicknamed “Don Keebles” as he must have had plums the size of a donkeys.

So, fuelled with the West Coast atmosphere, the attitude of the people, the quality of the tucker Wratt set out to create a sauce that captured these elements, to be a best mate of meat and to complement the unique flavours that these premium meats offer! For the next 6 months, in his small kitchen at home, Wratt produced over 40 different recipes and brews, supported with many a tasting session and a wee tipple with his mates, to eventually hone, refine and settle on a recipe fit for purpose.

Glasseye Creek was born - It had a name, a label, a bottle and cork. The Little Wanganui Pub began serving it with most of their meals (not whitebait of course because you don’t mess with perfection), and Dave was using it in his marinades, roast meat gravies, casseroles, stews and pretty much everything he served from his legendary kitchen.

Batch after batch, brew after brew, whiskey after whiskey we endured, seeking the perfect sauce to complement the famous wild meats of the West Coast of NZ, that up until that hazy night (in our red eyes), did not exist’

BEGINNING OF A LEGACY

What started as a passion turned into a promise and a legacy after Dave died tragically in 2009 at his pub. Putting his nickname to the test ‘Don Keebles’ decided to have a crack at making Glasseye Creek into a viable business and have a nudge at the sauce game nationwide.

Wratt wanted to create something that would be a reminder of Dave, and all going to plan, Glasseye Creek could be a vehicle for some financial support for Dave’s daughter, Jessie May, to be able to assist in some way the massive void Dave left and to contribute towards education etc. Not to mention to be able hopefully at some stage, support Dave in his absence, for being the good bugger he was whilst also saving Wratt’s sanity and possibly his life.

Glasseye Creek hit the shelves initially via our country’s finest butchers and boutique deli’s and food markets, eventually getting into our finer supermarkets in its first 12 months and picked up a couple of gongs at the NZ Food awards, and was judged Best New Food when launched at the 2010 Wild Food Festival in Hokitika. Glasseye Creek has also been a favourite in Australia for 8 years, where they appreciate the humour, the ‘rough around the edges’ brand and the quality of the sauces.

FAST FORWARD A DECADE (AND A FEW JAMISON’S...)

Glasseye Creek continues to be independent and locally owned. Local ingredients are still sourced. The promise to Dave continues to be the goal. But the reach and range of Glasseye Creek has expanded and strategically positioned itself away from the US BBQ sauce market that is notably high in sugar and tends to be full of the ‘not so good’ bits. They have also become very successful on the open fire cooking market which is booming in London restaurants and UK households. Glasseye Creek has even been described as “The Land Rover of sauces” by a leading UK food distributer.

Wratt has stayed true to his West Coast values by ensuring that his sauces are

‘blokey and rustic’ woven in with his tongue and cheek humour. Humour that is clearly seen when looking at the additional sauces in the range. ‘Pretty Hot Meat Sauce’ (he was tired of trying to explain how hot it is) and ‘Forking Mint Premium Sauce’ tell you exactly what you are going to get no bullsh*t.

Most recently, Glasseye Creek have teamed up with NZ Hunter Adventure (on Duke and TVNZ) where their sauces are featured in the ‘Bush Kitchen’ each week being paired with the hunt of the day.

The sauce, like the origin story, is unique to the sauce market, proudly crafted to complement the wild foods of the West

Coast and embrace a kiwi ‘can do’ attitude that seems to be disappearing as our standard traditional sauce brands are mass produced offshore or produced for a namesake. Glasseye Creek Sauce has a very real story, connected to some very real mates, and from what people are saying, tastes pretty bloody good too!