YEASTIE BOYS

Forged in a craft beer black hole back in New Zealand in 2008, long before the current wave of craft breweries currently sweeping across Britain, Yeastie Boys are the world’s smallest multinational brewery.

Brewing in New Zealand and Australia, and now headquartered in Britain, Yeastie Boys have always had a penchant for brewing classic styles with a modern twist. From their biggest selling Gunnamatta (an Earl Grey IPA), through their infamous Rex Attitude (a Golden Ale using heavily peated distilling malt and more at home on a shelf alongside Islay whisky than most beers), they’re making beers that are thought provoking, sometimes controversial, but immensely drinkable.

Yeastie Boys was formed by Stu McKinlay and Sam Possenniskie, two old friends with a lifelong passion for good beer and pubs, and started life as a contract brewing business producing one-off beers in the spare capacity at a friend’s brewery. Twelve years on, and as one of the most highly awarded New Zealand breweries in international beer awards, they continue the contract brewing model which allows them to keep a very small team and remain highly adaptable, despite growing into a position where they brew in three different countries and sell from everyone from tiny cafés through to huge supermarket chains.

What started off as nothing more than a single commercial batch of their widely lauded Pot Kettle Black (South Pacific Porter) - a beer that McKinlay’s friends and fellow homebrewers believed should be showcased to a wider audience - the ‘hobby gone mad’ slowly evolved

from weekends and evenings, while both founders had day jobs, to a full time business now producing a core range of fridge filler beers, annuals seasonals, and special one-off releases. With Fritha Burgin - McKinlay’s long-time partner - as Art Director, the business is very much a case of family and friends. While Yeastie Boys 50/50 gender split makes them very progressive in such a heavily male-dominated industry.

The core range - seen more often in their distinctive cans than on tap - consists of three unfiltered beers available all year round. White Noise is a clean wheat beer, with a strong nod to the American brewpub-style of the 90s and early 2000s, and includes a gentle addition of orange peel and chamomile. Hints of orange blossom and coconut make for a delicate yet intoxicating aroma and its clean drinkability has had many first-timers wonder if it is in fact a lager. Bigmouth is a Session IPA with a classic New Zealand hop character - passion fruit, melon and gooseberry - that is very reminiscent of the terroir more commonly associated with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (the closest regional neighbour to the Nelson hop growing region). The exotically named Gunnamatta rounds out the core range and, despite its hefty 6.5% Alc/Vol, is the biggest selling beer in the range. The beer is ‘dry-leafed’ with judicious quantities of Earl Grey Blue Flower tea (featuring bergamot and cornflower petal), which gives the beer notes of stonefruit, orange, and turkish delight, and leads to a long dry finish rather than the classic bitterness of standard IPAs.

Yeastie Boys have always been known for the innovation that stems from their homebrew origins and this hasn’t changed as the years have gone on. In recent years they’ve led the way in UK with the use of the now popular Kveik yeast (an historical Norwegian farmhouse family of yeasts) and through the first trials of a new strain of brewer’s yeast that sours beers and negates the need for undesired lactobacillus bacteria in the brewery. Whether they’re using these innovative ingredients and processes in unique beers like Lichtenhainer (a rare and almost extinct style of smoked sour beer from central Germany), or making subtle changes to classic and well known styles, Yeastie Boys always strive to put drinkability at the centre of every beer recipe conversation.

Not only innovative in their beer styles Yeastie Boys have paved the way for other contract brewers in their New Zealand home, for other businesses in being one of the first in New Zealand to crowdfund (raising half a million dollars in half an hour!), and by developing innovative partnerships with other craft breweries in the manufacturing and distribution front.

Without a doubt one of the most innovative breweries in the world - not just with beer styles but with their unique business model - Yeastie Boys are heavily involved in their communities despite not having a physical home. Whether it’s donating to organisations like Black Minds Matter, helping the Covid-19 ravaged hospitality industry through their ongoing partnership with Hospitality Action, posing for craft beer calendar fundraisers, or working with the likes of London’s Craft Beer Cares, it’s a philosophy that extends from their desire to build a business that reflects their own caring attitudes and focus on sustainable growth.

A twelve-years-young business with a philosophy for continual invention and a fondness for embracing change, Yeastie Boys are ones to watch now and in the future. Who knows where you’ll find them!