This is a bit of a blow. Many excellent beers and a very influential brewer - but not, it seems brewery. Tighter financing conditions in many places means plans are falling through.
Wow, a blow indeed. One of the stalwarts of the NZ brewing scene.
That’s a shame, I only ever got one rating of theirs, the Armageddeon IPA which now seems apt.
And by the sounds of it there may be more casulties to come:
Most worryingly for other breweries using the same contract brewing model as Epic, Nicholas said: "That model doesn’t work anymore.”
Indeed. I guess being a tiny client brewer still works, but being medium sized or trying to grow is not a goer - either you go under or get absorbed by a bigger player. What seems to be sustainable is staying niche - as a brewpub: sling your sessionable brews to patrons in situ, burnish your reputation with fancier stuff narrowly distributed. The sad thing about Epic is that they were nearly where they wanted to go but got unlucky at the last. Surely this won’t be the last we see of them.
Via Boak and Bailey some fairly unflattering commentary from Phil Cook. Be nice to people on your way up, you’ll meet them again on your way down. Personally, I don’t think it’s fair to criticise Epic for lame and dated rip off of others’ intellectual property and culturally insensitivity - it’s endemic in New Zealand brewing (example I rated 3 days ago).
Hmm, acquired by Russell Group - which are basically a construction group and Hancocks Group, who deal in wine, but also distribute Yeastie Boys and Puhoi. Retired the taproom entry for now, we’ll see how it goes from now.
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