yeastieboys

[yeastieboys]

Where is the line?

Social media got a little stormy, yesterday, and it made me wonder (not for the first time) where the line between ‘artistic’ and ‘offensive’ lies. 

We all have our own moral compass and, to be fair, I think it changes for most people as they go through life. And certainly not just in one direction. It’s a journey based on your own interaction with different aspects of the community around you and influenced, most especially, by those you respect the most.   

Below are a few labels that immediately sprung to mind when people were discussing the labels of Cloudwater and Castle Rock Brewery, yesterday. I don’t wish to detract from the very relevant discussions that were had around each of those breweries labeling decisions but I am interested in how far the whole idea could be taken. 

This is not a piece for me to comment on each of these labels, below, but I will say that they have all crossed my mind (among many other labels) as being potentially offensive to a number of people. I can almost guarantee that no two people will have exactly the same view on all of them. In fact, I’m pretty sure that many would never have considered one or more of these to be offensive to anyone. 

Where do you stand and what will you fight for? 

And, while we’re wondering where the line is... Björk asks the same question (but not about booze labels) in this cracking tune, with what I’m sure is a potentially offensive video. 

[yeastieboys]

JK

I've known JK for a little over 10 years... he tried our first ever batch of Pot Kettle Black at the BrewNZ pre-launch (now Beervana), while I was overseas on a 700km bike ride for my dad’s 70th birthday (he’s still cycling strong and 80 this year). JK said nice things about Pot Kettle Black then and again at the official launch, a week or so later, at Newtown’s legendary Bar Edward.  

I was lucky enough to be there, again at Bar Edward (now Moon Bar), only a few months later when JK won Champion Brewer at the NZ Homebrew Competition. He said in his speech that he was quitting his job, moving to UK, and going to become a pro brewer. 

He went right ahead and did exactly what he said... and, after some time with Kelly Ryan at Thornbridge (who once called JK the most natural brewer he's ever met), he moved on to Buxton Brewery where he took them from complete unknowns to one of the world's hottest breweries. Oh, he’d also worked at Fuller’s too, many years ago... as if his pedigree wasn’t good enough already.  

For the last two years JK has been at Marble, taking them from a very well known brewery to one of the most respected in UK. The stuff I've tried out of Marble while he's been there is nothing short of phenomenal and I am positive he'll add a significant string to our bow in the years ahead. 

JK will start working with us in April and will spend his time all over the place working on quality, innovation and collaboration. He’ll have a main focus on UK but will also keep an eye on NZ and Australian stuff where possible (not a bad gig if you can hook it in with taking your Kiwi family home). You can expect classic seasonals (not haze, not DIPA) and, in the longer term, a bunch of very special beers indeed. 

Despite the very metal exterior, JK’s beer philosophy is all about elegance and you can smell and taste that in his beers. He assures me there’s hidden depths to his music taste too! 

It’s a bit of a dream come true to add JK to what is already a fantastic team across New Zealand and UK. We can’t wait to get cracking. 

In the meantime: please form an orderly queue. 

[yeastieboys]

One of the few times that co-founder Sam and I were in the same country in 2017, when we visited our new partner brewery in West Berkshire. Sam moves to UK in May to bolster our ranks for a big couple of years ahead. Love how we’ve managed to get this looking like a blue screen studio shot in front of our fake brewery. #yeastieboys #ukyeastieboys #founders #westberkshirebrewery (at West Berkshire Brewery)

[yeastieboys]

2017: Trials; Tribulations; Achievements

2017 was not the year we’d thought it was going to be. It’s as simple as that.

While the numbers will pretty much hit what we’d been aiming for as the clock ticked over from 2016, a single line email in February (from someone I’ve never heard of, let alone met) turned all our plans on their head. Subsequently, the things we ended up working on were completely different to everything we’d expected. C'est la vie!

The more we talk to others in the industry, the more we realise everyone is in the same boat. What appears from the outside to be a business that is doing extraordinarily well is often a bunch of people with good ideas, some semblance of strategy, and (most importantly) the energy to engage in non-stop firefighting for years on end! I wonder if the big trend for 2018 will be support groups for breweries that make things look easier than they really are?

To help keep me sane, and remind myself that lots of good things happened when the whole year felt like we were wading through an armpit deep swap, here’s a little look back on our 2017 from a bunch of areas.

And, while I’m here, merry Christmas and happy new year folks!

                                      The team

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He Tangata; he tangata; he tangata… goes this famous Māori proverb.  

What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people; it is the people; it is the people…

We’re building a fantastic little team here at Yeastie Boys and I couldn’t be more pleased with the people I get to work with. Smart, engaging, empathetic, and good for the whole industry… not just for Yeastie Boys.

Hired in late 2016, but not officially starting until early January 2017, Charlie Docherty joined Fritha Burgin and I in the UK team as a sales rep turned brand ambassador. We call him the fixer as he generally goes around cleaning up things that I’ve started and left behind (he’s not the only one!)

Charlie set the standard early on as our youngest team member – being ID’d at The Harp as I walked in the door for our first meeting – but it’s been great having him continue to build our excellent relationships, form new ones, and being a very important ear on the ground in 2017 as I’ve become increasingly distracted in growing our ever changing business.  

Annika Corley, long term beer festival bar manager extraordinaire, joined Greg Allen and Sarah Dee in New Zealand with a focus on public and trade comms. Moving to Tauranga from Wellington, as sales manager Greg Allen moved from Auckland to Christchurch, Annika has ensured we have staff in three New Zealand cities (while we brew in a fourth!).

In the last quarter, after many years of trying to persuade him to jump aboard, co-founder Sam Possenniskie became a full-time Yeastie Boy. It was tough to drag him away from his vision of a cruisy French country hideaway, and he’s not giving a lifelong commitment to the role, but it’s great to know we’ll have his intimate knowledge of the business all day, every day, for the foreseeable future as we continue to grow so strongly. And he’s one of my best friends to boot!

The New Zealand Beer Collective - Todd, Joseph and Becky - are so intertwined with Yeastie Boys that it seems only right to include them here, too. It’s been excellent to have them grow alongside us, with the added benefit of their refrigerated NZ imports helping us get all of our juicy NZ hops and some of our more unusual beers to UK. 

2018 has started in an extremely exciting way, with a key hire for the future of Yeastie Boys coming a couple of days before Christmas, 2017… more news on that one very soon.

Here’s Yeastie Boys and NZ Beer Collective with some friends on our annual tour of all Draft House venues. 

Brewing

After setting up brewing in Australia, with Nomad Brewing of Manly in the last half of 2016, I had vowed to do everything I could to avoid moving or setting up with new breweries for a very long time. So what did I spend most of my focus on in 2017? Moving brewery in both New Zealand and UK, of course. So it goes. 

Moving on from Brewdog, here in UK, was thrust upon us rather unceremoniously way back in February. While we managed to eke out some sort of transition plan, and tried hard to make it virtually unnoticeable to our partners and customers, it turned into quite the clusterfuck in late 2017. Unavailability was the key word in what should have been our best time of the year. Thankfully new beer is coming off the line at West Berkshire Brewery and we’re excited about the possibilities of the smaller batch sizes in 2018. Yes, that means a seasonal and special beer program is finally on the way.

After nine years with our good friends at Invercargill Brewery, back in our New Zealand birthplace, we moved north to Auckland to brew at Bruce Turner’s new Urbanaut Brewing in Kingsland (many in the UK may know Bruce from his time as an engineer at Fullers and Meantime). This brings our production much closer to the north island market that we mostly sell in and, importantly for our export partners, puts us a lot closer to the breweries with which our international shipments are consolidated. And it’s enabled us to kick off canning in New Zealand with White Noise and Bigmouth being the first cabs off the rank.

After considerable focus on our core range here in UK, and then the transitions of 2017 postponing the start of our UK-brewed seasonal/special beer program, the year ahead is going to be really exciting… this is quite fitting given 2018 is our tenth anniversary and we kicked off this whole business brewing nothing but one-off beers way back in 2008.

That West Berkshire brewhouse is pretty sexy, innit? Sam ain’t too shabby, either. 

Sales

It’s been a very big year with a lot of growth, in what has been a particularly unique set of circumstances, in an always challenging environment. But we achieved our goals.  

In United Kingdom we’ve grown our sales by volume by 197%, almost tripling our 2016 sales, and we’re now selling 3.5x our NZ volume. Given our loose goal is sales parity per capita, which would be 14x the NZ volume, we still have a long way to go!

Around 80% of our total volume from UK is sold domestically and we expect this percentage to grow, little by little, in the next couple of years.

In New Zealand our sales grew by 21%, with a 35% jump in domestic sales (up from 42% of our total NZ-production in 2015 to 62% in 2017). Export sales were level, which is particularly pleasing given we started brewing in Australia and effectively cut off one of our biggest export markets from NZ.

You could say that like for like sales were pretty good, like. If you were one of those types.

Australia is brand new, so there is no previous year to compare it by. And the sales there are completely incomparable to our old export sales (close to triple our best year). The main win here was a national off-trade contract from Bigmouth, which is being followed up by Digital and White Noise in 2018. Big growth is on the way in the Western Isles.  

Interestingly, and this is something that comes as a big surprise to many people, our sales volume in small pack – cans and bottles – totally dominates our volume in the UK at 93% (Australia is up around that mark too). In New Zealand there’s not such a heavy skew with 57% of volume packaged in the small format. We expect the UK volume to swing slightly back towards keg in 2018 but, with a large amount of small pack sales already lined up, it’s unlikely be a huge move.

We see a few key areas of sales being a big part of our strategy over the next few years – a continuing reduction in the ease of export and the growing normalisation of good beer in national chains. These are areas I’ll touch, over the year ahead, on as I continue to write about Yeastie Boys future.

Oh, yeh, we also took on an interesting joint venture with Zen-noh (some of the people behind the fantastic Japanese restaurant, Tokimeite, in releasing Inari Biru in 2017.

Collaboration

Collaborations really suffered in 2017 as, rather than brewing and learning with friends, I had to spend a big chunk of my time looking for breweries to brew our core range.

We’ll definitely rectify that in 2018 and it seems appropriate that I drafted this blog post on the train returning from Newcastle, where we brewed WxY3 – the third instalment of our now annual Extra Pale IPA with Wylam Brewery.

We’ve found a new home at West Berkshire and, although we’ve got a lot of work to do to get everything humming, we’re in a position where we can definitely brew with like-minded people again in 2018. That’s lucky, as it’s our tenth anniversary and we’d really like to celebrate by brewing with people we respect, admire, and can learn from.

We did manage to sneak in a few beers with friends in the year past –WxY2 with Wylam, Wild Boys with Wild Weather (which I still wish had been called Downunder Brown), Liquid Cuddle with Marble, Double Summer with Fuller’s (back for a second year), and White Lies with Adnam’s. We also slipped in our first virtual collaboration with Wild Weather – Virtual IPA, which was their remix of our open source recipe for Digital IPA. And, of course, we were very humbled by the invitation to brew with the official beer of Beer Day Britain with Brewsters in Grantham - the resulting earl grey Extra Pale Ale was stunning (and so very British!).  

Charlie’s first week couldn’t have been much better than brewing with the lovely lads at Wild Weather.

We also managed to slip in a collaboration with Gladstone Vineyard, who are my dad’s neighbours back in New Zealand, by using some of their Viognier / Sauvignon Blanc to create a candi sugar for a strong white ale. The wine was released as Pushmi and the beer as Pullyu, so lucky New Zealanders can try them side by side and check the influence that this unique ingredient adds.  

One of my favourite collaborative projects of the year was being invited to Hereford to take part in the blending project for Oliver’s 2015 Vintage Fine Cider. Tom Oliver is a legend, and absolute gentleman, so it was incredible to have such an experience. We tried a diverse range of barrel-aged ciders helping Tom, his team, and respected friends come up with a bunch of ciders that would work in a way that showcases Oliver’s unique terroir and technique. I learnt a lot but, like Jon Snow, I know nothing…

Gladstone’s ‘Pushmi’ Sauvignon Blanc / Viognier wine was used in our ‘Pullyu’ beer. Both taste delicious! 

Festivals

While I missed out on my two favourite UK festivals – Leeds International Beer Festival and Craft Beer Calling – I was lucky enough to attend my two favourite festivals in the whole world: Beervana and The Great Australasian Beer Spectapular.

Beervana is a firm home favourite and every year, as I wonder if we can justify the cost of being involved, I get dragged back in to the buzz of this festival that is wonderful showcase of New Zealand beer (don’t visit NZ for summer, go in late winter for Beervana and Wellington on a Plate). It was a successful festival for Yeastie Boys, as it always is, and there are few places in the world that put a spring in my step like Wellington in Beervana week – old friends, great beer, and an inside knowledge of the place like I’ll never develop anywhere else.

The Great Australasian Beer Spectapular has to be seen to be believed. This is head and shoulders above all other festivals in the world, in my mind, and the only one where I can imagine hanging out as a non-drinker and still getting more than my money’s worth. Besides the 80-100 beers brewed specifically for the festival, there’s a whole bunch of brewery stands, endless sources of entertainment from bands, through dancers and other performers, to fun games to play and even a ferris wheel inside the spectacular building. And Melbourne: what a city! One word for GABS: GO.

I was lucky enough to also make my first trips to Spain, Norway and Belgium (though I had driven through the latter, without stopping, in 1998). I attended three very different and excellent festivals in the Barcelona Craft Beer Festival, Haand Brygerriet Winter Beer Festival and Billie’s Craft Beer Festival. It’s always great to visit new beery destinations and Barcelona, Drammen and Antwerp are all on my list for a return visit. All highly recommended destinations for any beer lover.  

GABS - the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular, from the top of the ferris wheel. Yes! The ferris wheel. 

Highlights, 2017

In lieu of any kind of Golden Pints, here’s a few “best of” lists from my 2017 year…

Special beers that I really remember: Bacchus Islay Reserve; Harvey’s Old Ale; Gadd’s Bretthead; Prosslbrau Adlersberg Doppelbock; Liberty Brewing Divine Wind; Marble Brewery’s Prize Old Ale series.

Favourite pubs/bars of the year: Hereford Beer House, Hereford, UK; Fuggles Beer Café, Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells, UK; The Bricklayers Arms, Chipstead, UK; The Harp, Covent Garden, UK; The Kings Arms, Waterloo, UK; The Rake, Borough Market, UK; Little Beer Quarter, Wellington NZ; De Kat Café, Antwerp, Belgium; Alehouse Project, Melbourne, Australia; Smith Street Taps, Singapore.

New beer destinations: Barcelona; Derby; Singapore; Drammen; Oslo; Antwerp; Brussels (yes! The absolute shame of it… I had never been before).  

Favourite beer media: Original Gravity; Brewer’s Journal; Good Beer Hunting Podcast; The Beer Podcast; Beer Diary; Pursuit of Hoppiness.

I’ll write a little more about our plans for 2018 but, in the meantime, I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and New Year… and all the best for this coming one.

Arohanui, slàinte mhath...

Stu

Finally, because we love dogs and beer festivals, here’s Billie... he’s the dog behind Billie’s Craft Beer Festival in Antwerp. The real Billie may be around 100x smaller and less willing to pose for photos.

[yeastieboys]

Digital IPA recipe

Given we are just about to release this lovely NZ hopped pale ale onto the UK market, I figured it was well and truly time that I updated the old 7% open source recipe to the 5.7% version we now brew all year round... so here is the new, open source Digital IPA recipe. 

Enjoy!

[yeastieboys]

Golden Pints 2015

I figured I’d go through this Golden Pint process, if only as a little bookmark about my first year (or 8 months) in Britain. 

What it’s reminded me is just how many great people and lovely beers I’ve come across this year. From the whirlwind trip in February, for Craft Beer Rising and the various launch events for the NZ Beer Collective, to the long term move here in April... first to London and now digging in for winter in Kent. 

So many breweries visited, a few we’ve brewed with, and so many good beers drunk and laughs had. It’s been an incredibly tough year for myself and my family, moving across the world with three kids and a dog isn’t easy... and British bureaucracy certainly doesn’t make it any easier! 

I’ve maintained (since before I even arrived here) that UK, and to a lesser degree Europe, is going to be the place to be for beer lovers in the next ten years. It’s got a fantastic traditional beer scene and all of the right ingredients for a fantastic new wave scene. It has only just begun... I’m excited to be here and to be a part of it. 

Anyhow... without further ado, here’s my Golden Pints for 2015. Thanks for having me!

Cheers, Stu.

Best UK Cask Beer

You know those pints where you don't even want to pause between mouthfuls? Where you get so lost, in how drinkable it is, that you almost wish you were alone. And, possibly, naked… That was my pint of Moor Amoor at The Curfew Micropub in Berwick North. An absolute classic and a great travesty that I've not seen it again on my travels this year. What's wrong with you Britain? Where are all the dark milds, porters and stouts?

Special mention to Fuller's Black Cab Stout, which is another delicious dark beer I'd like to see a lot more of on draught around the country. It’s fine in keg and bottle but it’s a classic from the cask.

Best UK Keg Beer

Given the riches of keg beer in New Zealand, I’ve drink a lot more cask than keg… But Camden’s Gentleman Wit is a lovely drop that occasionally feeds my bergamot addiction. I cannot wait to see what Alex Troncoso and the team at Lost and Grounded do in 2016.

Best UK Bottled Beer

Beer geeks are so past it but Brewdog Punk IPA, for me, is still the leader of the pack. We're having a couple of our beers made at Brewdog (and possibly two more next year) so I have made it a habit of picking up random bottles on shelves as I've made my way around the country. Quality assurance, you see. I always buy an American-brewed pale ale or India pale ale at the same time... In comparison to the import, Punk has a 100% success rate (and nothing else has come close).

Special mention to everything from Burning Sky. They’re going to make some waves when they get their new canning bottling machine cranking this coming year.

Best UK Canned Beer

All the Moor. Without a shadow of a doubt the most consistent cans in UK right now. Everything I've had from them has been very good, whereas others can be great one week and terrible the next (even from the same batch). This will change as the mobile canners get better at their game and the bigger breweries move to much better canning machines. I’m all for cans, just like I am for screwcap wine. Let’s all go there and get better at it.

Special mention to Rooster’s Baby-Faced Assassin, which is probably my favourite UK brewed IPA on its day. And to Magic Rock Salty Kiss, a latecomer that nails how I like my sours (drinkable every day!)

Best Overseas Draught

I had the pleasure of traveling through Hong Kong, Portland, Stockholm and all over New Zealand this year. There’s been too many excellent beers to single out one… we’ve come a long long way in regards to general availability and consistency of quality. In my time in UK, and at risk of sounding a little nepotistic, I’d have to go with Tuatara Sauvinova – a beer I predict will do big things in the UK market in 2016.  

Best Overseas Bottled Beer

Again it is hard to pick a single one. I've drunk British brewed beer 99% of the time since arriving here in April. I virtually drunk draught only on all my other travels.

So I’ll go with Mongozo Coconut on the train back from a lovely day with Brewsters in Grantham. Sometimes a beer transcends what’s in the bottle and you seriously had to be there to experience my personal Mongozo Moment. Ask Jayne Peyton about it sometime.

Best Overseas Canned Beer

Firestone Walker Union Jack. My favourite west coast brewery and a regular train beer for me whenever I get the chance. Quality.

Best collaboration brew

I’m not sure if I even drunk one this year and it’s very rare that I love them. 

But I was involved in a few and every one of those has been a great experience. And the next one will be too… I like hanging out with good beer people and having fun. And I love the fact that we can muck around and then blame each other if it goes horribly wrong. 

I even enjoyed the Collaboration with Lompoc Brewing, Portland, even though I spent half the day in hospital with two broken arms. At least I carried the hops there with those broken arms... True story!

Best Overall Beer

As you can probably tell, I like to choose every day beers and breweries for these kinds of things. I like a Geueze and an imperial stout, as much as the next beer lover does, but I’m an every day beer drinker and I wish I could drink Burning Sky Saison À La Provision all day every day.

Best Branding

Garage Project. Setting the standard worldwide. Nice beer too. And lovely fellas to boot.

Best Pump Clip

I prefer a good blackboard, where giant pump clips and oversized phallic tap handles don’t get in between me and my favourite barkeeps. The Pint Shop in Cambridge have a lovely one. And I’m quite fond of the more rustic look at The Hanging Bat, too. 

Best Bottle Label

We won a gold medal for our range at the Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards. I was pretty happy about that and it went a long way to helping me forget about the people who kept banging on about how our old ones were better.

If I have to choose.. I’m pretty fond of the whole range but Mikkeller’s Spontan series were lovely.

Best UK Brewery

Fullers. I got into brewing by homebrewing NZ hopped real ale. I even had three beer engines running off my kitchen bench on a good day. To now be able to walk into classic pubs like The Harp, The Dove, The Star and drink a great pint of Pride or ESB is an absolute treat. I always manage to sneak in a pint at The Parcel Yard when I travel out of King’s Cross. It’s the only time you can guarantee I’ll be early for an appointment.

Special mentions to some other favourites from this first 8 months in Britain… Burning Sky who are already making incredible beers; The Kernel for having the nicest feel of any brewery I’ve ever been into; Wild Beer for making the most interesting beer in the country; Thornbridge who continue to make some of the best “left off centre” beers in the country; Brewdog for opening so many minds and doors, for taking things to the next level and for putting out better beer every year. And to all the UK brewers who have welcomed us New Zealanders into the fray.

Best Overseas Brewery

Every year, always: Logsdon Farmhouse Ales. Thankfully, this year, I found someone who appreciates them as much as me.

I’m a big fan of Jolly Pumpkin too, as anyone who caught up with me at GBBF could probably tell. The USA bar couldn’t get rid of me until the last Oro de Calabaza fell.

Best New Brewery Opening 2015

Excuse the beer lab joke but this one is TNTC. 

I love beer. And I love beer people. And I love it when my friends become successful... so keep on opening breweries. There's plenty of room in the pool. Not for another dozen Brewdogs or Camdens, or possibly even Beavertowns, but we can double the amount of breweries if we keep chipping away at the market share controlled by the industrial brewers. And making really good beer that keeps people drinking it.

Pub/Bar of the Year

So many good ones discovered all over the country this year... from The Curfew in Berwick upon Tweed to The Vaults in Devizes. But I'll go with The Harp, Covent Garden. Almost as good as my local to me, given I train in and out of Charing Cross a couple of times a week.

Special mention to my London locals over the summer… Brewdog, Clapham Junction and Craft Beer Co, Clapham North.

Also to the Penthouse at NZ House. Serving great NZ Beer Collective beers and with possibly the best view in London. 

Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2015

New pubs? I've got no idea whether some of these pubs are 300 years old or 100 days old...

Beer Festival of the Year

Leeds International Beer Festival. Relaxed. Amazing brewery and beer selection. Great food. Fantastic people on both sides of the bars. And, what we all want in any beer festival, it was BUSY. Up there with the best festivals downunder. 

Special mention to Oregon Brewers Fest, which goes a step further than any festival I’ve ever seen… free entry, bring your own food, bring the family and then the beers and food stalls have to stand up on their own. It’s a sign of just how far ahead of us all USA is (and it’s really very little to do with beer quality).

And Indy Man, of course...

Supermarket of the Year

Booths ... simply due to the fact that they stock our beer because they like it and it sells well. Importantly, the know people will pay good money for good beer so they don’t ask for us to make a loss on it!

Special mention to Marks & Spencer because I've caught so many trains this year and I can always get a fix of my beloved Adnams at any one of them. And to Odd Bins, a kind of mini-supermarket for booze. 

Independent Retailer of the Year

We launched our NZ Beer Collective with Hop Burns & Black way back in February and I fell for the place from the moment I first stepped in the door. I love it when the line between a beer shop and bar is blurred... and it's even better when you throw in great hot sauce and music (possibly my favourite thing beside beer). They’re so very much a part of the community, which gives them an extra gold tick in my book.

Online Retailer of the Year

I don’t know many of the players here yet but I’m impressed with Honest Brew. This is going to be a fantastic space to watch evolve over the next couple of years and the team at Honest Brew are setting a pretty high standard.

Best Beer Book or Magazine

I like the look of where Original Gravity is headed, so they get the special mention, but I do also love a thing of beauty… and that’s why Hops & Barley takes the top spot. Less content but more likely to make me fall in love with beer, if I wasn’t head over heels already. 

Best Beer Blog or Website

I’ve not read a lot of UK stuff since arriving, not nearly as much as I would like to have, but that just gives me a chance to introduce you to The Bottleneck. And Beer Diary. Two of New Zealand’s best beer blogs though, unfortunately, day/night jobs get in the way neither write as much as I wish they would. Write more, please!

Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer

No doubt about it, there’s only two in this game and @twattybeerdoodles pips @brouwervanklomp… because a picture says a thousand words (which means, as good as Van Klomp is, a doodle will always beat 140 characters).

Best Brewery Website/Social media

I seriously think I’ve only looked at www.cloudwaterbrew.co (thanks to @totalcurtis retweeting this seriously good (and almost prophetic) blog by Paul... he’s well worth reading and listening to when he gets going. And, like the bloggers above, I wish he’d write more).

See also: My Golden Pints 2012 and Golden Pints 2011. And a 2014 year in review, in lieu of Golden Pints (because my brain was too frazzled by business). 

[yeastieboys]

K1W1 Takeover in PDX

Being away from Wellington makes me appreciate the scene we have there more and more. And, by scene, I mean the awesome people and the great beer.  I was lucky enough to dip back into it, partially, when rep’ing it in Portland, Oregon, last week on a dream trip with some good friends and heroes from the NZ beer community.

The dream turned a little surreal when my brew collaboration brew day with Lompoc Brewing ended up in Legacy Emmanuel Accident & Emergency. Two broken arms the result of a cyclist versus concrete incident, following a poor landing off an unintentional forward flip.

But I soldiered on. For a few days, at least. 

We showcased some of our beer to industry dignitaries Commons Brewery on the Monday evening. The beers were tasting great but elevated to another level with the food matches from the insanely talented Sheperd Elliot of Ti Kouka. An all out Wellington representation.

Note: cat shirt and ginger beard equals total domination. Even with two broken arms.

Later in the week we again showcased our beer again, at the marvelous Belmont Station, this time to a bunch of press from across the country. We all wore crowns and felt like comedy kings for a day. I could have listened to Carl Vasta talk about the history of NZ craft brewing all night, if only we’d had time. It was a wonderful reminder of how, as we press forward and think there is such a long way to go, we should take time to remember how far we have come.

At the Oregon Brewers Festival itself, the centerpiece of our week and the main reason for being there, I was amazed at the fact that entry is free to anyone. Americans know how to do craft beer festivals. Entire families came in, wandering about before deciding whether they wished to beer or not. This allows the quality of the beer to decide how much or little money flows through the system. People can wander in, bring their own food, then leave and come back at any time during the week.

With 85,000 people there during the week it was busy without ever feeling too crowded. Truly a model for all beer festivals and a great indication to NZ authorities that people buying a ticket is not a prerequisite of having a well behaved and knowledgeable crowd.

The New Zealand beers sat alongside a bunch of Dutch beers in the International Tent. Next year, as the festival expands it’s international section, we’ll see some Japanese breweries included. Hopefully we have done enough in regards to our beer quality and good manners to be invited back!

Portland, Oregon, is home to two Yeastie Boys shareholders and I snuck in a great couple of afternoons/evenings with them as my tourist guides... it was enough to make me throw my hands in the air like I just don’t care (about dem broken bones). They even did my laundry! We have the best shareholders in the world.

Note: Dusty the dog is not an official shareholder 

I’m pleased to say that our beer really stood up to the best that Oregon could offer and I’m pretty sure we raised interest in the New Zealand beer scene in that part of the world. It’s an exciting time to be New Zealand breweries on the world scene.

It was great to spend some time with people like David Cryer and Doug Donelan, two hugely important figures in the NZ beer scene. And great humans to boot! David’s the father of our beer community... making sure I made my 5:30am TV interview, even with my broken bones, and arising early to carry my bags to my final Uber to the airport.

To hang out with the guys who have shaped, and continue to shape, our beer landscape in New Zealand was a pleasure too. Carl Vasta, who showed us all it could be done and continues to raise the bar. Jos Ruffell, who gave me an overview of their impressive plans in between helping me change shirts. Mike Neilson, who graduated from the best homebrewer I ever supplied (in my previous life) to one of the world’s foremost speakers on bogan folklore. And young Matt Warner, who only a few years ago was sneaking his homebrew into The Malthouse and is now a giant in the beer scene downunder.

I can’t forget Paul Attwood of Panhead Australia, who joined us on tour and now knows more useless facts about Portland than the average local. I’m impressed by your through dedication to research Paul.

Our trip was supported and brought together by Cryer Malt, NZ Hops, Brewers Guild of New Zealand, Oregon Brewers Fest and Grow Wellington. Fuckin’ ace, every one of them! Thanks.

I work some insane hours, most weeks, and technically you’d probably call me a workaholic. But boy have I got the best job in the whole wide world. Even with broken bones. I wouldn’t give it away for anything.

[yeastieboys]

The Newest Yeastie

We've been lucky enough to nab the services of Zane Smith as our newly appointed "Master of Everything" (basically replacing Stu running the New Zealand operations - a mix of Operations Manager, Business Development Manager and National Sales Manager).

Zane's background includes three years at cycle clothing company Ground Effect (a Christchurch company we greatly admire) in a production management role. Working in a small company means he has great experience in doing a bit of everything, wherever it's required, and he's not shy of letting us know where we could be doing things better. Exactly what we were after.

With an education and work background in food technology, Zane's got a great food/beverage manufacturing skill set to add to the production management experience he gained at Ground Effect. He also just happens to be a a former SOBA National Homebrew Champion, who we first met after he remixed/remastered PKB Remix 2011 and shipped Stu a bottle from Christchurch.

In summary, he has more experience in small business, more production and food technology skills, and he's a better brewer than Stu. What more could we ask for!?

Zane lives for sharing great beer with mates and riding mountain bikes. He finds that brewing and biking fit perfectly together as he can work up a thirst out on the trails and then have plenty of good beer on hand afterwards for rehydration and recovery. We're stoked to have him aboard and see him being an integral part of helping shape the future of Yeastie Boys.

And, finally, if he looks familiar it's possibly because he's been seen on the pages of New Zealand Mountain Biker and in the Ground Effect catalogues and videos over the last few years. Or it is possibly that he has been hanging out at some of the same craft beer bars that you do?

Photo leehowell.com

[yeastieboys]

Digital IPA - Remixed, Remastered and Re-released

Digital IPA. It's our weird stepchild. The normal IPA that doesn't seem to fit in with our supernormal range of beer. 

It's probably the second most commonly home-brewed Yeastie Boys' recipe?  Surely Pot Kettle Black is number one.  Or, possibly, given Digital's open-source nature it is in fact the most cloned of our beers (I should say that it's actually creative commons, rather than open source, before Phil Cook bodyslams me in his Beer Diary*).

Digital IPA seems to be widely liked by general beer drinkers. It scores pretty well on Ratebeer, Beer Advocate and Untappd. Yet it only turned up by accident - having been released as a seasonal collaboration with Liberty Brewing. Called Motueka Warrior, an NZ hopped response to Joseph Wood's Yakima Warrior, we packaged half of the batch for a trip to USA and called it Digital IPA. It had a black and white label.

Suddenly we had people asking why Digital IPA wasn't available here in NZ, or in Australia. So we caved in, made some more, and our friends at Deflux created the award-winning blue label we all know as Digital IPA. That label received more press than anything we've ever done. And so the beer stuck.

To be honest, it hung around for a good couple of years longer than it should have.

Does it fit in this video?  All our other beers probably would but Digital IPA... No, probably not. Why? Because as odd as it might be, this video feels like us. Digital IPA didn't.

Late in 2013, following a hiccup between recipe print out and fermenter, we ended up with a 5.7% IPA that was not quite what the label said it was. It's a long story but, to cut it short, we kegged that beer and released it as a seasonal called Speed Date.  

I found myself drinking more Speed Date than I'd ever normally drink Digital. If I open my fridge at home at see Digital next to Gunnamatta, I'm going to reach for the earl grey beer 95 times out of 100. But this feeling wasn't as strong with Speed Date in the fridge. I wasn't drinking more of Speed Date because it was the new kid on the block, it wasn't because it was more "sessionable" (5.7% still ain't what I'd call sessionable, anyway). Speed Date just seemed to hit the right notes for me. It was like I'd discovered the beer it was always meant to be.

And, given that Gunnamatta was essentially created as a slightly lower alcohol Digital IPA with earl grey tea, Speed Date actually differentiated the two beers more than they had ever been. I found myself reaching for it a lot and then, when the time came that there was none left, I found myself missing it. 

So we've thought about, we talked about it, and all all through 2014 we planned to do it. And we finally got the chance in December. We remixed and remastered it. Now we're re-releasing Digital IPA as a 5.7% beer. It's Digital IPA's coming of age. 

It looks like Digital IPA, it smells like Digital IPA, and it tastes like Digital IPA. It feels more like Digital IPA than that other beer ever did. So it must be Digital IPA.

Digital IPA was a beer that didn't know what it wanted to be. It went to university because all its friends and family said it should. But it didn't fit in. It did its OE because everyone said it should - it went to USA first, then then to Australia, and then through Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Britain. Now it's come home, it's grown up, it's no longer sporting it's babyface characteristics. It's a lean 5.7% and it's got a new jacket. It feels good with this new look.

The new Digital IPA is available in keg now, it'll be available through Federal Merchants next week, and it will be shipping around the world soon after that.

Beware: For a limited time there will be two versions of Digital IPA on the shelves (and on tap). Check them out side-by-side, ask your pub to put both on tap together, or just be careful to check the label when you next lift one from the shelf at your local...

* We LOVE Beer Diary. As can be witnessed.

[yeastieboys]

2014 - What a Year!

Wow! 2014. What a year.

At times we toil away wondering if we’re getting anywhere. Then we step back, take a look, and amaze ourselves.

Sam and I flew to Britain in February to brew almost 50,000L of Gunnamatta for the Wetherspoon’s International Real Ale Festival.  What fortnight. Adnams blew my mind. Great beer, great people and a business that goes far deeper than we could imagine in New Zealand.  There was so much more to the visit… The buzz of the rising craft beer scene in London, the amazing traditional pubs of Southwold and Walberswick, a fun afternoon with friendly folk in Newcastle, a brilliant weekend in my favourite city outside of Wellington (Edinburgh), being blown away by the sheer scale of Brewdog and a spiritual experience in visiting the Inverness maltings where Rex malt is smoked.

We changed our New Zealand distributor, from BeerNZ to Federal Merchants, at the start of May. This was a year-long project and not an easy decision by any stretch. Craig and the team at BeerNZ are great friends, have been hugely important in our first 5 years, and it was certainly tough to part ways. Federal Merchants have been awesome at upping our game and are quick to learn craft beer. They’re going to be big players, I reckon… so watch that space.

Good Beer Wheaty / Good Beer Week was the beer equivalent of Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge mega enduro.  12 days. Non-stop. Brewing beer, talking beer, drinking beer.

In Adelaide I had the privilege of brewing with my good friends at Lobethal and at the newly installed brewery at the bestpub in the world: The Wheatsheaf… at The Wheaty we had the pleasure of brewing with To Øl, Birra del Borgo, Magic Rock, Doctors Orders (and a Sixpoint cap).  I met some wonderful people and reacquainted myself with great friends. Adelaide certainly feels like a second home to me, the people there are as good as family.

Melbourne was as amazing as ever. It really is the centre point of the beer world that week.  What James Smith has done with Good Beer Week, and The Taphouse team with GABS, is truly spectacular. We had the honour of hosting a pop-up bar at The Catfish, a real rock’n’roll venue in Fitzroy… our Australian friends got the chance to try beers from a dozen New Zealand breweries who don’t usually export to Australia.  It was nice to have a home and, with GABS only a couple of hundred metres away, I think we only left a one kilometre radius of the venue once in the entire week.

On my return I quit my day job. A truly momentous occasion.

Then, at the end of an awesome July with family in Malaysia (my last holiday for a while?), I was lucky enough to spend a few days with the team and regulars at Taps Beer Bar in Kuala Lumpur. One of the truly remote outposts of craft beer in the world, I feel extremely privileged to have spent that time in such a wonderful country and with such warm and hospitable people. Yaaaaaam seng!  For the record, around the rest of the country, I preferred the Dortmunder-like minerality of Anchor to the sweet smoothness of Tiger.

Back to life, back to reality… and in August we had our first ever Yeastie Boys stand at a beer festival.  Despite the weather, a hospitalised wife who was unable to build the stand she’d designed, and the difficulty of juggling of my dual Dad/Yeastie roles I thought Beervana was the best yet.  It’s a festival I’m very fond of and I think Wellington does a tremendous effort (despite our occasional meteorological shortcomings). I was particularly pleased, on the coldest days of the year, that White Noise was our biggest selling beer!

Just after the buzz of Beervana settled we received news that Pot Kettle Black had beaten out over 500 beers to be crowned Champion Beer at the Hong Kong International Beer Awards.

And, of course, then we started running out of beer.  We’d made it all the way to September, which is probably our best year yet, but we had set a goal of not running out all year. Many would say this is a good problem to have but I’d prefer a life with no problems. It’s not going to happen but that’s no reason to not aspire to it.  We’ve not quite caught up for the rest of the year but, hopefully, it’s all been brief enough for nobody to notice it on the shelves or at the taps.

We popped over to Sydney Craft Beer Week, where (thanks to Platinum Liquor and Beer Cartel) we took part in two of the best little events I’ve experienced. I had the nervous privilege of presenting our beers to the legendary John Keeling of Fullers, who was amongst an intimate crowd at the Platinum Liquor event. On that trip we also slipped out to Adelaide to brew a GABS 2015 beer with Lobethal and had the best music/beer matching moment in history.  All three Spoonbenders were on tap at The Wheaty as Rowland S Howard’s former band mates and friends played an outstanding musical tribute to the man. Magic.

Summer saw the release of our first multi-pack options, with White Noise and Minimatta in 4-packs.  Watch for another one in late summer. All in all the pressure of getting beer out meant we left His and Her Majesty 2014 a little late for Christmas… they’ll be available from next week and, in a rare occurrence, they actually shipped for Australia before we even had a chance to release them here!

The year ended with the flurry of NZ Beer Calendar excitement. Further proof that beer people are bloody good people. We’re a community and we care about those communities that intersect with ours.  Hopefully many of them will become shareholders in our Yeastie Boys next year...

2014 saw us sending beer to New Caledonia, Hong Kong, China, Norway and Britain for the first time. Our world is expanding. I don't think things will ever be the same again.

I won’t pick a beer of the year because there are too many great ones. But I will say that I was particularly stoked to see the rise and rise of Mike and his family Panhead, the great year for Joe and the Liberty Brewing family, and Mr and Mrs 8 Wired setting up roots in the north… it feels a bit like the RealBeer forums of the mid-late 00’s are really influencing the shape of New Zealand beer. We love it when our friends become successful!

I'm sure I've forgotten plenty but I've gone on long enough, so I'll finish with my moment of the year... it was, undoubtedly, the Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards. We did pretty well ourselves but, most importantly, every single trophy beer was a moment worthy of hand-stingingly good clapping. So many good people winning big. And the awarding of Townshend Brewery as champion brewery of New Zealand was long overdue confirmation of what I’ve known for years! Martin wasn't there but, after reading his speech for him, I asked the folk who love him to come along for the Champion Brewery photo. This sums Martin up quite nicely (and the photo was taken by a pirate!).

Best of all, on this brilliant celebration of how far our beer scene has come, was the brief section in the middle of the awards… the Guild honoured some of my best friends and heroes in the brewing industry. From beer writers, through brewers and suppliers, to a wonderful older couple whose importance in the beer industry will only ever be truly known by a lucky few dozen.

And that couple, Ted and Frances Verrity, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary late this year are a perfect way to end my thoughts on this year. If, at their age, I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by a group as amazing as they were at their anniversary… I’ll consider that I have won at life.

[yeastieboys]

All the news: "Make It Big!"

Here's a one stop shop for all the news on our upcoming share offer.  

We'll update it as news happens or more information becomes available.

Video:

Packing Vinyl 

Newsletters:

24 Hour Party People - 24/01/2014

The Final Countdown - 16/01/2015

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - 22/12/2014

Blog:

Frequently Asked Questions - updated regularly

Metabrewery seeks backing vocalist - 9/12/2014

Press:

Yeastie Boys set to sell a piece of their pie - Yeastie Boys press release

Yeastie Boys to equity crowdfund with PledgeMe - PledgeMe press release

Yeastie Boys to sell $500k... Stuff.co.nz

Craft brewer Yeastie Boys seeks crowdfunding... NZ Herald

Yeastie Boys will seek $500k... National Business Review

[yeastieboys]

Love Money - Frequently Asked Questions

We've had a few questions, and I'm sure we'll get more as we go, so here's some answers to the main ones in a nutshell.

For specific questions around buying shares on the PledgeMe platform, see PledgeMe's FAQ page.

What's the money for?

We're raising money to brew our beer in Britain for the European market.  It's a big and complex place, so we'll concentrate on London first and spread out from there.  We're forming a NZ craft beer collective with four other prominent New Zealand breweries who are interested in Europe.  These breweries all pass the "would we have them around for dinner" test, and we'll use the power of our collective to ensure we have someone on the ground in London and a strong import and distribution chain.

How much do I need to invest?

The minimum purchase will be $500 (500 shares).  

We would love to go lower but we're trying to find the balance between letting everyone sign up and actually raising more money than it will cost us in shareholder administration... it's a tricky equation. As someone once said: there should be a Trivial Pursuit game for economists with 100 questions and 3000 answers.

How much can I invest?

We're looking at raising a minimum of $350k, and a maximum of $500k, so you could invest anything up to that amount!  

All of this money will go towards the set up of our European operation - essentially replicating our NZ model in brewing beer and the initial business development.

I live overseas, can I invest?

Yes. You don't even need to be a citizen or resident. But, if you are not, you’ll need to upload a copy of your passport and proof of address when you register to invest (we recommend registering sooner, rather than later).

Crowdfunding... so I give you money and get a t-shirt, right? 

No, you're actually buying shares in the business. These shares entitle you to dividends, if we're in the position to pay them, and any other disbursements we might make (for example, the money from a sale if we sold the company).

Equity crowdfunding is a little different from the older rewards-based crowdfunding. In the rewards-based model, you pitched in to help get a project off the ground, but in the equity model you're actually buying a piece of the company.

Are my shares worth the same as everyone else's?

Yes! All shares will be worth the same amount - what you buy is worth the same as the shares that the founding shareholders own - and they will all be entitled to the same dividends or payout in a trade sale (if/when we get to either of those points).

Anything else I need to know about my shares?

We will have two share types, Ordinary and Investor, which will be worth exactly the same but have slightly different rights.  

This differentiation is to ensure we stay clear of becoming Takeover Code compliant and, therefore, remove the very significant financial burdens of that.  We'll explain this in more detail in our offer document. 

What return on investment can I expect?

Long term dividends are our top priority but, as we'll still be in a growth phase for sometime, we are not likely to pay these in the near future.

As we grow, we would expect that the shares are making a good capital return.  If we double our earnings, and retain similar margins, we'd like to think all of our shares would rise in value too!

But I do get a free t-shirt, right?

We're working on the non-financial rewards, so look out for detail in the offer document, but we're leaning towards shareholder benefits rather than free stuff.  

We've got some fantastic responses from you in regards to additional shareholder benefits (some of them more humorous than realistic, we think, and we'll give you a summary of these soon).

When can I see the whole package?

We're aiming to release our offer document (with strategic plan and financials) on 22nd January. Being on the mailing list will mean you see it first!

Is the Queen endorsing Yeastie Boys in your video?

No, that's not really the Queen.  It's a drawing of what Stu would look like, dressed as the Queen and playing old school party games.

[yeastieboys]

Metabrewery seeks backing vocalists for world changing gig

We're so excited and we just can't hide it... 

After years of friends, family and fellow beer lovers asking us if they could throw in some money in an effort to help us move Yeastie Boys along, we've finally decided on the next direction for this ride to take.  Now we’re ready to take the plunge and offer you all a ticket aboard the good ship Yeastie Boys.  Yes, we’re selling shares in Yeastie Boys.

We've been hatching some exciting plans for Yeastie Boys in 2015 and, after looking at the ways we could make those things happen, we've decided to team up with our friends at PledgeMe and use equity crowdfunding to jumpstart our way into the future.  This allows you the chance to grab a piece of the Yeastie pie.

You might ask: why equity crowdfunding?

On first glance the beers we make are far from traditional.  But look deeper and you'll see that they’re grounded in (and have the greatest respect for) traditional styles.  Those who know our beers, and our brewing philosophy, will understand how even the most leftfield of beers have a keen eye to the classics behind them. Yes, even Rex!

We see equity crowdfunding in a similar light.  It seems new, unknown, and even a little risky to some people.  A bit new age, perhaps.  And many folk, especially institutional investors, will tell you it's far from the best way to go about growing your business.  We see it as little more than a technology-enabled extension of the how people traditionally scrounged together the funds to get their business off the ground. Or, in our case, to take our business to the next level.

The investment models that have become traditional in recent years - that is, institutional investment - have their entire focus on two things: What potential the market has and what potential the management has of taking advantage of it. They want to jump aboard so we can make them more paper.  We agree that these things are hugely important when you’re thinking about growing your business but they forget two additional elements, which are immensely important to us: "how good (and unique) is the product" and "how decent are the human beings you're entrusting your money to".  Some people who have recently invested in brewing companies probably wish they'd asked themselves those extra two points.

So we're looking for people who love what we do and how we go about it.  People who are into it for the beer as much as, if not more, than the paper.  You may not love all our beers… in fact, if too many people loved all our beers we'd be slightly worried that we were doing it wrong.  But if you're someone like us, then you're a person who loves beer, who loves what Yeastie Boys stand for, who believes that the worldwide future of beer is in the further market fragmentation to thousands of small-to-medium sized breweries (rather than the current world model 2 or 3 all-consuming mega-factories with marketing budgets bigger than their cost of ingredients).

Traditional investors would probably call your money 'dumb money' but we call it ‘love money’.  We're looking for a crowd of investors who bring more than just money to the game.  We may be the lead singers but we’re looking for a giant band of backing vocalists, who sing not only our song but that of the craft beer industry together.  People who don't see the number of bars serving craft beer as possibly one too many but what we see: hundreds less than what it will eventually be.  People who see beer like ours, and like that of our friends, not as something that should be confined to cities like Wellington and Portland but something which hasn't yet spread to the outer suburbs, let alone the provinces. People who see a venue without good beer and demand change. We're looking for people like us, who see a long term future in this industry (not just short term rapid growth... because that kind of growth usually comes at a cost).  The passion of people like us, like you, makes every dollar worth far more than what an institutional investor can provide. We want to create of a roving throng of Yeastie Boys’ representatives… even better, of crowd of craft beer ambassadors.

The people we're hoping to invest in Yeastie Boys are the people who love our beer, who trust us, who love the way we collaborate in the industry (on both a brewing and a business level) and who have a desire to see "craft beer" become more than just a niche.  These are the people we want to have alongside us when we're high-fiving each other at future AGM's.

We plan to launch our PledgeMe campaign at 6pm on 28th January 2015 and we really hope you'll be there to join us on day one.  

If you're interested in being one of our backup vocalists, then sign up to our mailing list now and get all the information on our project as it comes to hand.  While you’re there let us know what rewards you’d like to see as a shareholder of Yeastie Boys – whether that’s simply dividends, beer and merchandise discounts or a chance to brew some beer with us.  Then buckle up and get ready to join us on the world stage! 

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know you want too…

  For the novice investor, which we expect one or two of you to be, here’s a little bit about PledgeMe Equity.

[yeastieboys]

Public Service Announcement - Australia

Hello Australia

We are about to finalise our last shipment to your beautiful beer loving land before we phase out Golden Perch and Hud-a-wa' Strong at end of January. If you'd like these beers, then alert Phoenix Beers as soon as possible. There is a possibility that we'll have one more crack at these beers in 2015 but it certainly can't be guaranteed.

We've also got some seasonal/vintage kegs available:

Her Majesty 2014 (Double IPA, 8%)

His Majesty 2014 (Triple Stout Porter, 9%)

PKB Remix 2014 (regular PKB aged 4 months in Pinot Noir Port barrels, 6.5%)

The Man At The Back (5.3% Red Ale, collaboration between 5 breweries and Gladfield Malt)

More information on the above beers, and all our available offerings, can be found here.

Cheers

Stu & Sam - Yeastie Boys

[yeastieboys]

A couple of sessionable beers in 4-packs for summer... with another on the way in the new year.

[yeastieboys]

Our wildly popular "Bearvana" hoodie is now back in stock... NZ$69 (plus shipping). Email Fritha on info@yeastieboys.co.nz to purchase*

* one of these days we're going to set up a webstore! For real.

[yeastieboys]

A thought, a thank you and a competition. I've been wanting to find time to write for years. I don't get enough chances - and I fail to take advantage of the few chances I do get - but I'm going to make it happen now that I'm (finally) a full time Yeastie Boy. So keep an eye out. But first I want to say a HUGE thank you to Annika and Jacqui who helped Sam and I manage the taps at Beervana last week. Those women were born to run bars and if we ever start one we'd bend over backwards to have people just like them pouring our beer. So awesome. And to Anna, who smashed her way through the extremely mad Saturday afternoon session. All smiles and speed! And Fritha who designed the amazing tap system and booth we rocked at Beervana 2014. Hard to believe it's our first stand ever. And lastly, to Paddy, who turned our mental 3.6m x 3.6m magenta core flute idea into something that stood up. All weekend, unlike some of us. And it's ready to go again (if only we had a wall that big at home). Anyhow... to celebrate our first ever stand, at any beer festival (ever!), I thought we'd give away some shit. So, here it is, folks: a competition. We don't do these much, so we'll make this a biggie. The prizes: 1st: a Yeastie Bear hoodie, a Yeastie tie tee, a carry bag, Rex and Gunnamatta soap (washes away even the most epic of smells) and a case of beer each month for the next year. Approx $1500 worth of prizes! 2nd: a Yeastie Bear hoodie, a Yeastie tie tee, a carry bag, Rex and Gunnamatta soap and a case each of His and Her Majesty 2013. Approx $350 value. 3rd: a Yeastie Bear hoodie, a Yeastie tie tee, a carry bag, Rex and Gunnamatta soap. Approx $150 value. To enter send us anything, yes I mean ANYTHING, to do with your Beervana experience with Yeastie Boys this year. A photo, a story, a poem, a quote, an idea... It can even be hearsay. Send your entry in by commenting here, by posting on our Facebook page, using the #YeastieBoys hashtag on twitter, or by emailing info@yeastieboys.co.nz. We'll announce three winners next Friday afternoon. Good luck! ...and cheers!! Stu, Sam, Fritha and Anna