Brewers Guild of New Zealand

Brewers Guild of New Zealand

4^th December 2006

Dear Brewer,

For sometime now, a group of us from the brewing industry have been working to establish the Brewers Guild of New Zealand (BGNZ). The purpose of this letter is to explain what the aims of The Guild are, and to encourage you to join.

BGNZ is an independent, non-profit making organisation with the aim of promoting the common interests of the members of the licensed brewing industry in New Zealand. Examples of how this could be done would be:

· Organising events (conferences, beer awards, beers shows etc) for the benefit of the members.

· Making available (to the media etc) a spokesperson who can promote the point of view of the members.

· Sharing/dissemination of information amongst members (website etc).

· Promoting the positive aspects of beer.

· Education of members through technical forums.

· Political lobbying and negotiating (excise duty etc).

· Collective Purchasing (production materials, media, events)

A brief history of the establishment of BGNZ follows:

31st July 2005 Meeting held in Wellington during BrewNZ where the idea of an association of brewers was raised. Number present 12

17th August 2005 Meeting held in Dunedin to continue to establish an association. Richard Emerson proposed as president. Number present 11

8th September 2006 Meeting held in Wellington during BrewNZ, committee elected, subject of the future of BrewNZ was discussed. Number present 32

The committee that was elected at the meeting in Wellington on 8th September comprises:

Richard Emerson, Chairman (Emersons Brewery)
Luke Nicholas, Vice Chairman (Epic Brewing Company)
Geoff Griggs, Secretary (Independent Beer Writer)
Martin Bennett, Treasurer (The Twisted Hop Brewery)

A meeting was held on 4th November 2006 in Christchurch, to which all breweries on the South Island were invited. 18 people were present representing 11 breweries and 2 suppliers to the industry. The constitution, which had been drafted by the committee, was debated and approved and the society therefore officially incorporated. It was decided that membership should be open to all breweries in New Zealand but to be of two types, Ordinary and Associate. Each brewery (legal entity producing beer) is entitled to have one nominated Ordinary member who has voting rights. Associate members may be anyone working in the industry or support services, associate members do not have voting rights. A copy of the minutes of that meeting and a copy of the constitution can be found on website www.brewersguild.org.nz

At the meeting 3 more committee members were elected

Craig Cooper (Limburg Beer Company)
David Cryer (Cryer Malt)
Doug Donelan (NZ Hops)

There is a long list above of objectives for The Guild. To achieve these will require considerable time, energy and finances. So rather than ‘bite off more than we can chew’ the committee’s recommendation is that for 2007 we should concentrate on the organisation of a beer event for the industry and the public. This event can be run so that the proceeds are held by BGNZ for future projects.

BrewNZ has been run in Wellington for 5 years and has become a popular and eagerly awaited event, both by the industry and members of the public. At the meeting held on 8th September at Regional Wines those present were asked by the previous organiser of BrewNZ if they would be interested in assuming ownership of the event, as it was unlikely that it would go ahead in 2007. The BGNZ committee is looking to you, the prospective members, for support. We feel that this is the way forward for a celebration of beer in this country and that all the New Zealand breweries should control the event in future.

It is the recommendation of the committee that the event should be re-branded and take on the name BeerNZ and that it should take a slightly different form to that of previous years. A resolution was passed to move ahead with BeerNZ and hold in Wellington in September, comprising beer judging and awards plus media and public events as briefly outlined below:

Thursday Sept 13 BGNZ Conference & Seminars / Workshop

BGNZ AGM

Brewer’s Night

Friday Sept 14 Awards Dinner

Media Meeting with Winners

Saturday Sept 15 Public Beer Festival

BGNZ is looking for support for such an event and invite all brewers to join the Guild, and by doing so, show a commitment to attend, contribute and even help to organise BeerNZ

The initial joining membership fee was discussed and voted upon at the Christchurch meeting and set at $100 for ordinary members and $20 for associate members. This is a nominal fee to get the Guild going, an annual subscription fee will be decided upon by the members once a budget for the coming year has been formed.

If you would like to become a member of the Brewers Guild of New Zealand please fill out the enclosed form and send, with membership fee, to Martin Bennett, c/o the Twisted Hop, PO Box 22-116, Christchurch New Zealand 8142

This is a huge milestone for brewing in New Zealand, and we hope that every brewery will join us in forming a society that will form a powerful voice conveying our enthusiasm and passion for all the great things beer brings to the public as well as the hospitality industry.

Richard Emerson

Chairman

Minutes of NZ Brewers Association (Guild) meeting held at The Twisted Hop - Christchurch on Saturday 4^th November 2006

The meeting was opened at 11.15am.

Martin Bennett welcomed everyone and then handed over to Richard Emerson.

Richard Emerson welcomed everyone and explained that the aim of the Brewers Guild is to get everyone together and provide a united voice of the microbrewers of New Zealand to the media. He went on to give the reasons for and benefits of having a guild, also noting the previous attempts to start a guild.

Richard then handed back to Martin Bennett to identify the objectives of the guild. Martin listed the following aims:

- To promote beer

- To be a voice for the craft brewers

- To lobby government

- To educate the public

- To act on behalf of the brewers in collective bargaining

- To run beer-related events

- To share information

Brain Thiel suggested the guild could also offer technical assistance and the evaluation of members’ beers.

(11.24 am Paul McGurk from Wigram Brewery arrived)

Mark White asked about the Guild offering members assistance with HASSP accreditation.

A discussion then followed regarding the suggestion that the Guild could accredit members’ beers – operating a seal of recognition or “quality mark”.

- Ralph Bungard was concerned about the problem of beers with the ‘quality mark’ that were poorly handled or stored (aged or oxidised).

- Luke Nicholas agreed and said the quality mark needed to be an assurance of quality. He suggested perhaps the guild to assist or coordinate in the transportation of beers.

- Richard Emerson said we don’t want too many different stickers on beers (like there are on wines!) and said we should certainly continue working on this subject.

As a result of this discussion Martin Bennett added “Certification and Quality Control” to the above list of objectives.

Richard Emerson then endorsed the idea of a Brewer’s Beer Guide in the style of the Victorian Brewers Beer Guide (which is published by the small brewers of Victoria, Australia).

Geoff Griggs gave a summary of the discussion and vote at the previous Wellington meeting regarding the proposed name of the association / guild. It has since been discovered that the agreed name (the Brewers Association of New Zealand) is already owned by Lion Nathan, so the suggestion is that the name be changed to Brewers Guild of New Zealand (BGONZ).

Geoff also outlined details of the two different levels of membership (ordinary members and associate members).

- Kieran MacAuley registered that he was not happy with the lack of the word ‘Craft” in the name of the guild.

(11.43 Two representatives of Southern Grains & Spirits, Kaiapoi arrived)

- Brian Thiel then outlined the role of Nelson’s CraftBrewers group and said that Mic Dover was doing an excellent job for the group and suggested that perhaps CraftBrewers could be the promotional face of the brewers.

- The make-up of the committee was then discussed and a discussion followed.

- A discussion on initial joining fees (i.e. not annual subscriptions) then followed and the following votes were taken.

Ordinary members – a joining fee of $100 was agreed (votes: 8 in favour, 0 opposed)

Associate members (no voting rights) – a joining fee of $20 was agreed (votes: 15 in favour, 1 opposed)

It was agreed that the matter of annual subscriptions should be discussed at a later date.

Dan (?) from Southern Grains & Spirits asked why Lion and DB should be allowed to join the guild and a discussion followed. It was agreed that, given there was no way they could control the voting of the guild, there was no reason they shouldn’t be allowed to join.

Richard Emerson announced a break at 12.52pm. The meeting reconvened at 13.10

Richard Emerson then passed around forms to be signed for the incorporation of the guild and explained that it was a legal requirement that the Guild’s name should include the word “Incorporated”. As a result the modified name, “Brewers Guild of New Zealand Incorporated” was proposed and agreed.

BrewNZ

Richard Emerson then outlined the history of BrewNZ and explained the current situation with the two beer competitions (Nelson and Wellington). He explained that steps had already been taken to see if the Guild could take over the name ‘BrewNZ”. He gave several reasons why Wellington is the preferable option. He outlined the projected costs of running BrewNZ as between $110,000 - S120,000.

Dates for next year’s event (whether it be known as ‘BrewNZ’ or a new, different, name) were discussed, proposed and agreed as follows:

- Thursday 13^th September 2007 – Brewers Conference and Guild AGM followed by evening “beer & barbecue”

- Friday 14^th September 2007 – Trade session at bars and restaurants, Awards Dinner and media meeting with winners

- Saturday 15^th September 2007 – Beer Show – two public sessions.

Richard then outlined his vision for the future of BrewNZ.

- He said BrewNZ (or whatever it ends up being called) should be one opportunity for everyone to come together as a Guild.

- We should concentrate on one event to gain credibility.

- He suggested in future a roadshow could take a small version of BrewNZ (minus the beer awards) around the country.

- It should aim to get the public excited about beer.

- Sponsors shouldn’t be split by having two competitions and announcing the dates well in advance should allow them to plan their sponsorship.

Kieran MacAuley asked, “What is the feeling of the Nelson brewers?”

Brian Thiel replied by saying the Nelson brewers preferred a Nelson-based competition.

Kieran then asked about the funding of BrewNZ and referred to the previous losses mentioned by Kerry Tyack at the Wellington meeting.

Richard explained that it would be necessary to appoint an Events Manager.

Luke Nicholas explained that the previous costs and financial issues were concerned with the previous event organiser.

Kieran said he would prefer to go to Nelson

Richard Emerson then explained that taking on BrewNZ brand was a big opportunity for the brewers. He gave the example of running beer and cheese matching as a way of getting a cheese company as a sponsor.

Douglas Michael asked about the name “BrewNZ” and a short discussion followed.

Richard Emerson said the sponsors are very important and closed the discussion by saying, “the future success of BrewNZ is in your hands”.

Mark White offered his thanks and assured the support of Harrington’s Brewery.

There was then a vote overwhelmingly in favour of taking on BrewNZ (or its new name)

Douglas Michael said it was important that we got the support of all the other brewers in the country.

Brian Thiel said he would address the issues concerning BrewNZ with the Nelson-based brewers.

The next meeting was agreed for 8^th December in Auckland.

Information will be uploaded to a website (TBA)

Richard Emerson closed the meeting at 2.04pm

Brewers Guild of New Zealand has now been officially incorporated.