CHEERS
Boneface moved into Brewtown only a year ago, and their front-of-house tasting room became functional in August. Already on a Friday or Saturday evening it is packed with regulars to the point you can’t find a seat, and this isn’t a small space. Logan Brown is looking after the food – I had their miso smoked pork belly burger for lunch. At Panhead’s brewing facility their general manager Josh Drake fills me in on their vital statistics. Their recently expanded brewery now has 3,700 square metres of space in total, up from just 400 a couple of years ago. They can now brew 24/7, and are using up to six tonnes of grain in their brewing every day. They now brew roughly 2.5 million litres of beer per year. That’s nearly 7.5 million bottles of beer. At one stage they were brewing so fast the Upper Hutt city water mains couldn’t keep up. Panhead’s the flagship brewery here, their Supercharger APA having been awarded the title of New Zealand’s best beer two years in a row. The brand new taproom and bar has 16 different beers running all the time, nine of them core beers from the range. As we walk through, new staff, several holding
note pads, are being trained and given a complete run-down on all the beers. Panhead began with three employees and now has 30. Being local boys themselves, they try to give back to Upper Hutt the same way the old Dunlop factory did. They employ youth from the area, and give them a chance to work their way up the ranks to a brewing role. The team were petrol-heads when they were younger. When they were looking for a name, their creative agency said get back to what you love. Founder Mike Neilson and his father were members of the local hotrod club. When they found that the Panhead image (the name is borrowed from a distinctive type of Harley Davidson engine) translated well to a bottle, they were sold. The UHCC and Mr Gillies have big plans for Brewtown. The area in front of the main entrance is to be redeveloped into a beer garden for relaxation space and a full-time restaurant will be included. At the moment the park is full. However they are open to the idea of more businesses being added in the future. Which given the way things are beginning to look, seems like an attractive prospect.
Experience High Tea at Whitby’s $28.50 pp
147 The Terrace, Wellington . 04 499 9500 . grandchancellorhotels.com 90
