Delightful aroma's made famous in Rotorua are now emanating permanently from within Galbraith's Alehouse, Mt Eden
Galbraith's Alehouse, located in a historic library building on Mt Eden Road), has long been the bastion of real beer in
Auckland (if not New Zealand). As well as serving the legendary ales produced on-site, Galbraith's has been building
relationships with other New Zealand craft breweries. The latest addition to their tap line-up is a permanent Croucher
Brewing tap. The good news doesn't stop there for Auckland beer drinkers as Croucher Brewing is joined by Yeastie Boys
as permanent new additions at Galbraith's.
Croucher Brewing is a craft brewery based in Rotorua, the aromatic capital of New Zealand (if not the world). Croucher
Brewing recently had its New Zealand Pilsner named 'Champion International Lager' at the BrewNZ Awards. Galbraith's Alehouse will be rotating the Croucher line up, including the Champion Pilsner, it's
highly regarded Pale Ale, and the regular seasonal and experimental beers coming out of its Rotorua brew-house.
First up on the Croucher tap is October Ale - a very traditional English India Pale Ale (IPA), based on a recipe from the mid 1800's. These hop-laden IPA's were
brewed strong (October Ale is a hefty 7.5% alc/vol) to survive a long sea voyage from England to India. Other seasonal
beers in the pipeline are a Christmas Ale (think hearty Christmas cake in a glass), a Belgian Singel, and just possibly
a return of Croucher Patriot – an American Black Ale.
Croucher Brewing (www.croucherbrewing.co.nz) was set up in 2005 by Paul Croucher and Nigel Gregory. Their goal was to produce hand crafted beer full of flavour
that showcases New Zealand hops. While they produce the odd seasonal beer using hops from the USA or England, they
remain keen advocates of the characters of locally grown hops – going as far to suggest that some of these New Zealand
hop variants could do for beer what Sauvignon Blanc grapes have done for New Zealand wine.
Galbraith’s Alehouse (www.alehouse.co.nz) opened in 1995 as New Zealand’s first real ale brew-pub. Since then they have developed a loyal following for their
classic real ales and European inspired lagers. Head brewer Keith Galbraith and brewer Ian Ramsay source all their
ingredients from the UK and EU as they believe to brew authentic (and fresh) old world style beers you need the raw
materials from those regions.
ENDS