Hunt launched for a new craft beer
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 5:03PM 
Meanwhile, Luke Nicholas, the man behind the website www.realbeer.co.nz and someone who knows more than most about promoting businesses online, has just released details of a couple of interesting projects. The owner/brewer of Epic Brewing Company who signs his emails "President/Founder & First Generation Flying Brewer" is organising what he claims will be the world's largest collaborative brew.
Having recently employed another Kiwi brewer, Kelly Ryan, who's just returned home after four years brewing in the UK, Luke is inviting every commercial craft brewer in the country to gather in Auckland on February 24 to design and brew an all-new beer. Once the first batch has been released, each brewer will then have the rights to reproduce it at their own brewery.
"It will be exciting to collaborate with everyone, to create something uniquely craft beer and uniquely New Zealand," Luke says.
Luke and Kelly also feature in a new online video series about Kiwi craft beer which begins filming this week. Entitled NZ Craft Beer TV (www.nzcraftbeer.tv ), the series is based on a beer hunting road trip around the country during which the pair visit small independent craft breweries, chat with the brewers and sample their beers. The road trip began yesterday in Christchurch and Luke and Kelly's exploits can be followed online on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.
Over the years the concept of a craft beer-related television programme has been mooted many times but on each occasion the ambivalence of Kiwi broadcasters combined with government restrictions on the promotion of alcohol on television have seen the project consigned to the "too hard" basket. At long last the internet has allowed such obstacles to be bypassed.
"We have talked with all the TV networks about airing this content but they put up conditions on what and how we could use the content," explains Luke. "We decided to fund this ourselves so we could produce it how we wanted and decide through what channels and formats we wanted. There is still the opportunity to have it screen on television in NZ, but it will be on our terms."
Original article by Geoff Griggs
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/4561229/Hunt-launched-for-a-new-craft-beer
and this...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/lifestyle/beer/4560356/Hunt-launched-for-a-new-craft-beer
