Tuatara goes to the dark side

 

Good news and bad news on the local craft beer front.

The good news is that if you’re forced to drink in DB-tied establishments, you should shortly be able to find a drop of Tuatara to make your session better. The bad news: that’s because Tuatara has just been sold to DB.

The award-winning Tuatara Brewing Company has today been sold to DB Breweries.

See. Told you.

Tuatara will continue to produce its award-winning craft beer from the current premises located on the Kapiti Coast and the pilot brewery – The Third Eye, in Wellington.
    Tuatara founder and master brewer Carl Vasta says he continues to be passionate about the New Zealand craft beer industry and is committed to being part of Tuatara and its future growth.
    “We’re changing the shareholding, we’re not changing the recipe.
    “Brewing beer and talking about beer is my passion. With the support of my family, we have been able to grow Tuatara into a successful business,” says Carl. “In order to take things to the next level we need assistance. That’s why we’ve teamed up with DB. Now, I intend to get back to the brewing and step out of the business end.”
    Simone Vasta will continue in her role as logistics manager and their son, Adam, an accomplished brewer in his own right, will also stay at the Kapiti Coast brewery to ensure continuity and quality beer.

Good to hear the whole family intend to “stay in.” Which should help keep the quality going.

And the experience with Panhead and Emerson going over to Lion suggests that it may not be so much losing a craft brewer as gaining much wider access to their product (they’d be astonished, the bottle stores and boozers in which you can enjoy their stuff now). So maybe Yeastie Boys’s Stu McKinlay is right to remind us all that …

It's fuckin' hard work starting, running, and growing a business – especially one that brews more than 2 million litres a year in little old New Zealand, a population half that of London, spread across a land mass bigger than the UK and Ireland.
    When I see a business sell, I just think of the holidays people never had; the ridiculous hours they worked; the times they were shitting themselves about decisions they'd made; the untold times they weren't sure if they could go on; whether they'd use commas or semi-colons in this section.
    And then, think of how the next time I see them they'll most likely be smiling like Richard Emerson.
    This deal involves people (past and present) who have kindly helped me with my brewing, my general knowledge and history of beer, supported our business, or just been good fun to have a beer with. We haven't always agreed, but I feel rather agreeable today.
    Best wishes to them all! Especially to Carl, Simone, Sean, Colin and Fraser. Can I borrow a fiver?

No news on the fiver yet. But we do have a …