NZ Ale Trail - By Brewers, For You.

Apr 22, 2019

Launching the New Zealand Ale Trail – By Brewers, For You.

The Brewers Guild and our members have identified a huge opportunity in beer tourism. New Zealand is home to more than 200 breweries, crafting and serving high quality beer in unique settings across the country. The grain to glass supply chain is even greater – with New Zealand producing internationally recognised malt and hops and providing high quality hospitality experiences.

Breweries - unlike wineries - are in every one of New Zealand’s regions and play an important role in big and small communities. It has not easy for tourists to find information about beer-related offerings in New Zealand. A review of NewZealand.com and 18 regional tourism websites shows that beer experiences are underrepresented, if described at all. In many cases, the user must click on ‘food and wine’ to find a beer experience.  Eat NZ are working to make New Zealand a global culinary destination and a dedicated Beer Tourism offering supports this goal.

According to the NZIER, Tourists spent $242 million on beer while in New Zealand in 2018. We also know that beer is in the top three products tourists look for in their home markets when they return from vacation.

On behalf of our members, the Brewers Guild has launched the New Zealand Ale Trail. This is a web-based map features breweries, tour operators, ‘craft beer’ bars and special events and festivals throughout New Zealand. The aim is to make it easy for domestic and international visitors to find and experience Kiwi beer.

Owned and operated by Brewers Guild, The NZ Ale Trail will be developed to benefit the whole of New Zealand with a focus on user experience rather than profit. The website has now been soft launched as a minimum viable product featuring some of the places you can experience great Kiwi beer. We will continue to improve the product as funding allows. We encourage you to start using the site and sharing feedback with us. Our next update to the map will take place in late May. If you are interested in being featured on the map, please complete the form on the website.

#ExperienceKiwiBeer #NZBeerExperience #NZAleTrail