brewing company
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...
located in
ÅŒtÄhuhu
ÅŒtÄhuhu is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand – to the southeast of the CBD, on a narrow isthmus between an arm of the Manukau Harbour to the west and the TÄmaki River estuary to the east. The Auckland isthmus is the narrowest connect ...
,
Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
, New Zealand. Epic beers are contract brewed at Steam Brewing Company. Their beers have won several awards in New Zealand and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. Epic went into liquidation on 25 July 2023 and was purchased by construction company Russell Group and beverage manufacturer Hancocks on 25 August, 2023.
Overview
In October 2007, Steam Brewing Company sold the Epic Brewing Company and Epic brand to Head Brewer / General Manager, Luke Nicholas. The Epic beers will continue being brewed at Steam Brewing Company.
Epic Brewing Company started exporting to Australia in May 2009, to the United States and Sweden in 2010 and to Belgium and Italy in 2011.
Nicholas was invited by Sam Calagione of
Dogfish Head Brewery
Dogfish Head Brewery is a brewing company based in Milton, Delaware founded by Sam and Mariah Calagione and, as of 2019, owned by the Boston Beer Company. It opened in 1995 and produces 262,000 barrels of beer annually.
Select brews (inclu ...
to brew a beer with him for the
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience.
It init ...
series ''
Brew Masters
''Brew Masters'' is a television series that was run weekly on Discovery Channel starting on Sunday, November 21, 2010. The show focused on Sam Calagione, the founder and head of Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware, and his staff as they sea ...
'', where the duo concocted a beer called Portamarillo, brewed with
pÅhutukawa
PÅhutukawa (''Metrosideros excelsa''), also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree, or iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the Myrtus, myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red (or occasionally orange, yellow o ...
wood-smoked
Tamarillo
The tamarillo (''Solanum betaceum'') is a tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshade family). It bears the tamarillo, an egg-shaped edible fruit. It is also known as the ''tree tomato'', ''tomate de árbol'', ''toma ...
fruit.
In 2011, Kelly Ryan joined Epic and the two travelled around New Zealand, filmin NZ Craft Beer TV during which they visited 44 breweries around New Zealand. This show resulted in a collaborative recipe that they thought captured the current state of New Zealand brewing, a 6% New Zealand Pale Ale called Mash Up. Collaborating breweries were allowed input into the recipe and invited along for the brew day.
2011 also saw the release of Epic Hop Zombie, an 8.5% Double IPA, Epic LARGER, an 8.5% Imperial Pilsner and the first beer in their new Epicurean series, a Coffee & Fig Imperial Oatmeal Stout at 8%
abv
Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...
.
Liquidation and sale
Epic's shareholders placed Epic into liquidation on 25 July 2023 due to a number of factors. In the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the brewery faced falling sales and rising prices of malt, freight, packaging,
excise tax
file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...
, and salaries. The closure of New Zealand's two food grade
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
plants led to a nationwide shortage and rising import costs.
Epic was relying on an investor to help them with cash-flow while they worked on opening a brewery and taproom in
Mount Wellington Mount Wellington may refer to:
Mountains
* Mount Wellington (British Columbia), in Canada
* Mount Wellington (New York), in Otsego County, New York, United States
* Mount Wellington (Tasmania), in Tasmania, Australia
* Mount Wellington (Victoria) ...
. Epic was facing inflationary pressures and a cutback in spending, while
resource consent
A resource consent is the authorisation given to certain activities or uses of natural and physical resources required under the New Zealand Resource Management Act (the "RMA"). Some activities may either be specifically authorised by the RMA or ...
for the new venue stalled at
Auckland Council
Auckland Council () is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that also has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to t ...
. Owning a brewery would have improved
margin
Margin may refer to:
Physical or graphical edges
*Margin (typography), the white space that surrounds the content of a page
* Continental margin, the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust
*Leaf ...
s from Epic's 2005 model of brewing under contract by freeing Epic from the need to brew in bulk, and saving money on freight and storage. The investor withdrew support and Epic was forced to abandon plans for the new brewery. The company was left with negative cashflow, no way to pay their bills, and unable to trade their way out of their financial hole.
On 25 August, 2023, construction company Russell Group and beverage manufacturer Hancocks combined to buy Epic, with Epic founders Luke and Wendy Nicholas remaining with the business.
Awards
;Epic Armageddon IPA
*Gold & Best in Class - 2015 Australian International Beer Awards
*Gold & Best in Class - 2011 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Gold & Best in Class - 2011 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Bronze - 2010 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Gold & Best in Class - 2009 BrewNZ Beer Awards
;Epic Pale Ale
*Silver - 2011 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Bronze - 2009 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Gold & Best in Class - 2008 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Silver - 2007
Australian International Beer Awards
Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) is an annual brewing competition that commenced in 1992.
The AIBA is undertaken by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV). Judging of the awards is conducted at Melbourne Showgrounds, wit ...
*Supreme Champion Beer - 2006 New Zealand International Beer Awards.
*Gold & Best in Class - 2006 New Zealand International Beer Awards
*Gold & Best in Class - 2006 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Silver - 2006 Australian International Beer Awards
;Epic Mayhem
*Gold - 2010 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Silver - 2007 Australian International Beer Awards
*Bronze - 2007 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Gold & Best in Class - 2006 BrewNZ Beer Awards
;Epic Barrel Aged IPA
*Bronze - 2011 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Gold & Best in Class - 2010 BrewNZ Beer Awards
;Epic Porter
*Silver - 2007 BrewNZ Beer Awards
;Epic Lager
*Silver - 2011 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Bronze - 2009 BrewNZ Beer Awards
*Bronze - 2007 BrewNZ Beer Awards
;Epic Thornbridge Stout
*Bronze - 2011 BrewNZ Beer Awards
;Oak Barrel Aged Epic Thornbridge Stout
*Silver - 2011 BrewNZ Beer Awards
;NZ Craft Beer TV Mash Up
*Silver - 2011 BrewNZ Beer Awards
Accolades
Best Beers of Australia and New Zealand 2010 - RateBeer.com
Best Beer 2008 - Metro Magazine
Best Beer 2007 - NZ Listener