FAQ

Q. Who are you guys?
A. Greig McGill and Phil Murray, Hamilton friends with a serious love of beer. Together, we combine, in the manner of 80s cartoon robots, to form Brewaucracy allowing us to craft some of the beers we most enjoy with an eye to sharing them with you all.
Q. Where are you?
A. Hamiltron, The City of the Future, aka Hamilton, New Zealand. Stunning capital of agriculture, never cruelly labelled a cow town at all, and holiday home of world famous beer celebrity and undercover wrestling correspondent, Neil Miller1.
Q. Why "Brewaucracy"?
A. While some may see bureaucracy as a restrictive pile of red tape, we... um... yeah, OK, we agree. Bureaucracy, generally, stinks. However, the origin of bureaucracy is firmly rooted in the industrial revolution, something that gave us the lifestyle we all enjoy today. We choose to look upon bureaucracy as a symbol of and an aid to production. Given that production in general, and the production of beer specifically, are things we hold very dear, the name suggested itself really.

We hope you'll excuse the cheesy pun.

Q. "Beer with authority"?
A. A bit of a play on the old "bureaucracy as a tool of government power" theme. As applied to us and our beers, we are stating that we have been careful to begin as contract brewers, utilising "authorities" in the world of brewing in order to get our beers to you.
Q. Punkin Image Ltd.?

A. A long story. Are you sitting comfortably? Tough!

Greig says: After trying the delicious "Punkin" from Dogfish Head in the USA, I was somewhat enraptured. I had never been a fan of spiced beers, recognising that they might be lovely for some, but were really not my cup of tea (or pint of ale). Other than a spiced Christmas ale known as "Holy Shit" (which was quite popular with some friends), I didn't really "do" spiced beers. That was about to change.

I'm a believer in fully understanding a beer style. Drinking a lot of it, figuring out what makes it tick, and ideally, brewing it. That said, I've never been a "clone brewer", preferring to put my own stamp on a beer. This was the exception. I agonised over a recipe which I thought might get me close to "Punkin", and finally, decided enough was enough and just brewed the thing.

It came out far better than I could have expected, yet wasn't really anything like the beer I'd been attempting to clone. This was a great outcome - an excellent beer, and not a clone! It was truly mine.

The name is a double-bad-joke. I'm a fan of John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) and his post Sex Pistols band Public Image Ltd. Since they were "punk"ish, and this beer started off as attempting to clone (or image) "Punkin", you can see what happened...

Q. Where can I get some?

A. Here's where it gets a little tricky. Punkin Image Ltd. (or PIL for short) was not really intended to be a commercially released beer. It was never in our plans for Brewaucracy. Nor was launching a beer until a few other pieces fell into place.

However, Joseph Wood of Liberty Brewing had been talking about the idea of brewing PIL on his tiny 150L plant in order to go head to head with an equally off-the-wall Carrot Cake Ale he had brewed. This was to happen at the Winter Solstice. Due to capacity issues, the dream didn't really come to fruition. Only 30L of Carrot Limited Image was available, and so only House on Hood in Hamilton was able to participate in the planned event. Nevertheless, both beers proved extremely popular, selling out fast in three hours on a crazily busy Thursday night. All the feedback was heartwarmingly good.

This was repeated at the SOBA Matariki/Festivus Festival, and again at Wellington Cult Beer Bar Hashigo Zake and Hamilton's Ruakura Campus Club. Some dedicated and wonderful Wellingtonians (Annika Corley, Shannon Quirke, Amy Shand, and Phil Cook) even matched it with Annika's home made Pumpkin Pie, to rapturous tweets of approval. The downside to all this popularity is that 150L is all gone, and due to Joseph's hectic brewing schedule and limited resources, we're not sure if it will be back. We hope it will! If not before, it will certainly be back in much increased quantity next Winter.

Q. So what's next?

A. We're currently in negotiations with a brewer we respect in order to bring our second beer (which was going to be our first beer) to market. It's something a little bit different also, but not quite as out there as PIL. Initial trials have shown it to be very popular, especially with the ladies in our lives, which is excellent!

We hope to be producing regular releases by early next year, and we will have at least one dedicated tap in Hamilton at a venue yet to be announced but which should excite Hamiltonians and visitors to our exciting2 city.

Q. Are all your beers going to be a bit weird then?
A. Not at all. We think others do the weird and wonderful far better than us. We are both lovers of traditional, well brewed, balanced ales and lagers and these will make up our regular release beers. Still, a bit of weirdness may sneak in to our seasonal releases occasionally.
Q. What's a contract brewer?
A. We are brewers without a brewery. We wanted to share our beers with you all, but we just didn't have the capital for big piles of shiny stainless steel. Other brewers have made massive investments in big piles of shiny stainless steel, and we love and respect their ballsyness (yes, that is a new word) in doing so. There aren't many (any?) rich brewers in New Zealand. We can help these brewers pay for their shiny stainless by paying them to brew our beer, rewarding their risk, and we get to produce our beer also. Ah, capitalism. Win/win!
Q. Who designed your logo?

A. Benzine Craft & Design

Box 101.671
Auckland 0745
New Zealand
Tel +64 (0) 9 480 2148
Mob +64 (0) 21 500 135
http://www.benzine.net.nz

Q. Can I buy some merch?
A. We have some T shirts available, with a larger range and other designs to come soon. Keep an eye on this site. If you'd like a shirt, please email sales@brewaucracy.co.nz for details.
Q. Is your beer kindof like Tui then?
A. Oh yes, absolutely. Just like it. Ahem.3