Crafty heist: thieves hop off with 50 full kegs
A Wellington craft beer company is determined to overcome the setback of losing more than 50 full kegs of ‘‘weird and wonderful’’ creations from its Lower Hutt microbrewery.
‘‘Our tagline is ‘never say die’, and we won’t be reviewing that policy,’’ Abandoned Brewery owner Tim Ward said.
Ward said staff arrived at work on Monday last week to discover that a refrigerated storage container had been broken into and nearly 1300 litres of beer was missing.
‘‘It needs to be refrigerated, and whoever’s got it is going to be unlikely to keep it in those conditions. It’s probably going to be worthless to whoever stole it.’’
The theft is a double blow for the young brewery. Its gas water heating system was wrenched from the building by thieves in August.
Ward estimated the cost of the thefts to be in excess of $14,000, and said it would take ‘‘several months’’ for his staff to brew their way back to a full inventory.
The kegs were unmarked except for the plastic Abandoned
Brewery caps and Kegstar keg rental company logos. Ward was sure any aficionado would balk at the idea of paying for a warm keg of unknown beer.
‘‘Craft beer drinkers pay a premium for good-quality beer, but they’re going to be pretty sceptical to anyone offering them cheap kegs of beer,’’ he said.
Abandoned Brewery was founded in the decaying premises of an old brewery in Epuni in 2017. In irreverent social media posts, the facility is sometimes referred to as ‘‘a place that joy forgot’’, but Ward said the company had found its home in the area, and the thefts had not diluted its community spirit.
‘‘We love it here. It’s a fantastic community, and we have lots of loyal fans that come and visit us, but there’s always a few who would ruin a good neighbourhood’s reputation.’’