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The historic Tui Brewery building in Mangatainoka.
photo: RNZ/Denise Garland
The iconic Tui Brewery in Maungatainokha, Tararua, which is more than 130 years old, no longer produces beer.
Mangatainoka Brewery has been brewing beer since 1889.
DB Brewery, which owns the Tui brand, decided to close its main production plant in 2015 but built a smaller, more modern brewery to continue to supply its pubs and the local community with its speciality beers.
But DB Brewery marketing director Fraser Shrimpton has now confirmed the company stopped brewing beer at Mangatainoka three years ago.
“COVID restrictions in 2020 and 2021 largely prevented DB Brewery operations, and we moved remaining production to our Timaru and Auckland breweries in 2021,” Shrimpton said.
“We are in the process of redeploying our brewery and equipment to other sites across the country.”
Earlier this month, DB confirmed Stop Selling Brewery Tours At its Tui headquarters in Mangatainoka, a beer tasting experience will be offered where visitors can sample a variety of different styles of beer.
Mr Shrimpton said while the wine was no longer made in the Tararua region, it would still be present in the Mangatainoka region.
“(It) remains the spiritual home of Tui and we will continue to welcome visitors to enjoy delicious beer in the Tui HQ cafe and bar, walk the beautiful grounds and visit our iconic brewery building which has been seismically reinforced.”
This isn’t the first time Deutsche Bank has closed one of its regional breweries.
Back in 2001, the company announced it would close its Monteith Brewery in Greymouth and move production to Auckland.
But the decision sparked a public backlash, and DB was forced to back down and agree to continue brewing some of its beer in the west coast town.
The brewery continued to brew there for nearly two decades, but in 2020 DB announced it would move all remaining production to its Timaru and Auckland breweries.
Lincoln University professor Greg Ryan, a New Zealand beer historian, said unlike the Monteith incident he did not expect a public outcry over Mangatainoka’s admission that brewing had stopped completely.
“The obvious parallel is what happened 25 years ago when they decided not to brew Monteith’s beer in the Shores anymore,” Ryan said.
“When they decided not to brew beer there, there was a huge outcry from the coast about tradition and everything, but when it was announced that Tui beer would be brewed elsewhere (in 2015), I never heard any of the same reaction.
“Maybe people on the West Coast are a little more insular.”
Ryan said Tui doesn’t seem to have the same connection to location, perhaps because of its iconic “Yeah, Right” billboard campaign across the country in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
He said the advertising and its strong connection with students made Tui feel more like a national brand rather than one that was exclusive to Manawatū and Wairarapa.
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