Today the beer industry is thriving. Beer accounts for 61.4% of all alcohol for sale in New Zealand, and the amount consumed each year is still rising. A study done by statistics New Zealand put New Zealand beer consumption at 285.8 million litres for the year ending September 2013. 

 

The most common type of beer made in New Zealand is lager (Cannavan, 2006), which is a lighter coloured beer, generally between 4 and 5% alcohol by volume. Lager is made using “bottom-fermenting” yeast, which is more dense than other types of yeast used and is therefore easier to drain from the final product. This is much more convenient for larger companies to process, so companies such as DB Breweries and Lion Breweries produce a lot of lager. 

 

Craft beers also form a growing part of the New Zealand beer industry. There are more than 100 craft breweries around the country, while consumption of craft beer is also up 30% since 2012 (Bennet, Slater, 2013). This increase in consumption is much larger than the increase in overall consumption of beer, showing the huge trend towards craft beer. Since the first craft beer produced in 1981, Mac’s Gold, this section of the industry seems to have exploded onto the market, with the rising popularity amongst young people influencing this trend. 

 

Our craft beer market is also a tourist attraction, with Nelson being publicised as the craft beer capital of New Zealand, with 24 craft breweries and bars in the region (Nelson Craft Brewing, N.D.). There are many maps and websites dedicated to those wanting to taste the craft beer that New Zealand has to offer, featuring many smaller towns as well as the larger cities. Wellington also has a lot of publicity around being a good area for craft beer enthusiasts, with a beer trail the highlights some of the best pubs in Wellington.

 

New Zealand also has an export beer market, although smaller than the internal market, a variety of beers are exported around the world. Lion Breweries alone export specific beers from three brands, Mac’s, Steinlager, and Speight’s. These are exported to many destinations, including Asia, North America, Europe, and the South Pacific (Lion, 2014). Smaller breweries are unable to export beer to the international market because of the distance on New Zealand from these potential markets.