Luke Nicholas & Kelly Ryan of Epic Brewing Company are heading out on a road trip around New Zealand this summer to try and visit every small independent craft brewery.

After spending many weeks looking at ways to get a TV show about craft beer on NZ broadcast TV, we came to the conclusion, that funding was an issue. We could go to NZ on Air to help out, but you need to have a timeslot from one of the networks before you can get funding. And you can't get a TV slot without funding. Catch 22.

Beyond the funding issue was if someone else paid for the filming, then they own the content, and can do what they like with it. Then there is the possibility that the show would air late in the evening (alcohol involved), on a less than prime time night, and only ever be shown once. Therefore our potential audience was greatly reduced. To a point that made us question the relavence of traditional broadcast TV.

Craft Beer is a niche in the world of beer, but a niche filled with very passionate people. People that care about the people that produce a diverse range of beer styles, which offer amazing flavours and aromas.

So we plan to film this TV quality video content, and initially distribute it via online distribution channels. This means that the videos of the breweries will be available to anyone with an internet connected device anywhere in the world.

As great as it is to live in NZ we only have a population of 4 million people. There are probably that many passionate craft beer lovers around the world that would love to watch the videos about the craft breweries in New Zealand.

We will go back to the traditional TV boardcast networks once we have a finished product (ie TV series) and offer it to them, but it will be on our terms, and we will keep the rights to the content.

Everyone wins.

Cheers
Luke