MOA Craft Beer

MOA Tasting Notes
MOA ($16+ per bottle; $42+ for any 3 bottles)
A champagne-style beer brewed by wine-makers, is a naturally carbonated beer. Available in 4 different flavours:
Noir - Dark lager. Chocolate and roasted coffee beans dominate. A full
flavoured palate giving MOA Noir a long smooth finish.
Blanc - Wheat beer. Brewed with 65% wheat malt, 35% barley malt resulting in an elegantly smooth beer with hints of spice. Like most wheat beers, it has a cloudy appearance.
5 Hop Winter Ale – a blend of 5 premium malts & Nelson hops. Smooth velvety characters on the palate as well as a refreshing floral nose.
Pale Ale - Powerful floral citrus & tropical notes, best enjoyed just below room temperature.
Hitachino Nest ($14+ per bottle; $36+ for any 3 bottles)
Brewed by a sake brewer, has all the subtleness you expect from sake.
Available in 4 different flavours:
White Ale – A refreshing mildly hopped Belgian styled beer with a complex
flavor of coriander, orange peel, nutmeg.
Amber Ale - A reddish brown beer brewed with a rich malt and bitter hops
Japanese Classic Ale – Bottle-conditioned fine creamy head on top. Medium bodied feel with sweet bitter taste. It has a unique note of cedar
and complex spicy yet mild aroma of British traditional hops such as Kent
Goldings and Challenger.
Sweet Stout - A perfect mixture of coffee, chocolate, and roasted flavors in
the nose and on the palate. No bitterness, but sweet notes
throughout to the very finish.
…and there is great food in small plates to accompany (http://175proof.com/).


As before, the brewery's range kicks off with its big-selling golden lager. Previously known as Weka Native Lager, this beer has now been renamed Moa Original. From now on the Weka name will be used only for ciders.
Moa's flagship beer, the bottle of re-fermented Pilsner previously known as Moa Original, has been renamed Moa Methode.
This remarkable beer undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle with a champagne yeast and develops a distinctive Belgian spiciness (I get citric sherbet, vanilla and white pepper) and becomes drier as it ages.
The tap version of the same beer – which in most cases does not undergo the secondary fermentation – is a delightful crisp, clean and aromatic example of a New Zealand Pilsner in its own right. It too will be known as Moa Methode. Confused? I am.
Moa Methode slots into a newly introduced Estate Range, alongside Moa Noir, Moa Blanc and Moa Pale Ale. All four beers weigh in at 5.5 per cent alcohol by volume.
Moa Pale Ale is a comparatively new brew but founder Josh Scott reckons it will be Moa's biggest seller within a year.
It's a brave call but he may well be on the mark; in recent months Dave Nicholls has been perfecting the recipe for this uber-hopped New Zealand Pale Ale and I'd say he's now got it just right.
Masses of Nelson sauvin and cascade hops provide a stunning combination of grassy, citrus and passionfruit aromas and flavours, but for me it's the deft balance of malty sweetness and extreme bitterness (70 plus bitterness units) which makes it one of the country's finest hoppy pale ales.
Sitting above Moa's Estate range is the new Reserve range. This includes Moa Blanc Evolution (a strong, 6.2 per cent, spiced wheat beer), Five Hop (previously Winter Ale and now partially barrel aged), Imperial Stout (barrel aged), St Joseph's (the Belgian-style tripel) and Breakfast (see below). Occasional seasonal and one offs will also sit in the Reserve range.
The brewery's cherry wheat beer, Moa Harvest, has been rechristened Moa Breakfast, a name which has already upset the alcohol watchdogs and resulted in headlines in the media.
Moa recommends this tart, fruity beer should be served in a flute as an alternative at a champagne breakfast.
Given the beer is around half the strength of most sparkling wines I can't see the problem, but I'm sure Geoff Ross is lapping up all the publicity. Cheers! (www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4859008/Brewers-makeover-gains-rapid-traction)

New Zealand actually has one of the highest number of breweries per capita in the world. With the majority popping up in the last ten years. Craft beer accounts for about 5% of beer sold in NZ , but I think latest figures will be closer to 10%. It is growing rapidly and we are very eager to experiment with our local hops and utilise the climatic conditions. NZ hops, a bit like our Sauvignon Blanc. They have some of the most powerful aromatics in the world, and this is something that will really reflect in unique NZ styles. Once we start to export more this distinction will become more apparent. Look out for the very tropical characters, which express themselves in our bitter beers and hoppy ales (www.thebeerinme.com/page.php?97).

Owner of several international awards, this brewery, though new (just over ten years), brings modernity and freshness to the current craft beer market.
Founded by the son of the renowned wine producer Allan Scott, MOA has focused on high quality craft beers that seek to portray the essence of the New Zealand people.
Due to family history, Josh Scott’s brewery is in the Marlborough region, famous for its wines. When Josh decided to produce beer, he already had over 15 years of experience in wine production, reaching three times the finals of the regional annual championship of the best young wine producers.
He ended up inserting many wine making techniques such as aging in barrels, wine yeasts and second fermentation in the bottles such as those made in the Champagne region, giving a twist in his creations.
And the use of traditional hops produced in the region, from the renowned Nelson region; make MOA a modern brewery with unique recipes that bring a new twist to the craft beer market.
The brewery is named after the largest bird known in the world. The Moa existed only in New Zealand and was extinguished due to the belief that their meat was a source of courage and strength to the native warriors.
On one occasion, early in the brewery foundation, the founder served some beers to the archaeologists working on a dig near the brewery.
Interestingly after having tasted the beer, archaeologists found a moa fossil in the site that contributed to further strengthen the brand relationship and its future references.
In addition to spreading the craft beer culture, the brewery will also be a sponsor of the New Zealand Olympic Committee in Rio Olympics in 2016 (www.totallybeer.com/conteudo/726/16/18/MOA_Brewing_Company#.VtX6MvnhC70). cynics initially thought the announcement about the craft brewery signing on as a sponsor for the New Zealand Olympic Team had to be some kind of brazen stunt; another brave/foolish/possibly illegal attempt to gain attention at whatever cost. But, somewhat surprisingly, it's all true, and Moa is now officially the 'Beer for Olympians', the first time a craft brewery has held this level of sponsorship in New Zealand or, as far as the Moans know, the world.
Moa was started in 2003, and has basically gone on to become the 42 Below of beer, adopting a similar controversial, humorous, brutally honest and particularly un-PC marketing approach, so its association with the staid, rule-loving bureaucracy that is the New Zealand Olympic Committee might seem fairly incongruous. Booze and high-performance sport are also unlikely bedfellows, especially as more heat is directed at the alcohol companies for the role they play in creating our unhealthy drinking culture, but one solid link is that Josh Scott, the founder and head brewer of Moa and son of wine baron Allan Scott, is a top notch cyclist and is vying for a position in the team (http://stoppress.co.nz/news/craft-beer-meets-high-performance-sport-as-moa-becomes-nzs-official-olympic-brew).


The Moa Brewing Company was founded in 2003 by Josh Scott, the son of renowned Marlborough winemaker Allan Scott, with a focus on brewing super premium handcrafted beers.
The Moa brewery is situated among the vineyards in the world famous winemaking region of Marlborough, New Zealand, which isn’t surprising considering Josh is also a winemaker and according to him, “It takes a lot of beer to make a good wine”.
The name “Moa” (pronounced “more”) also derives from the region as early settlers to the area hunted Moa (New Zealand’s extinct giant flightless bird), which were in huge abundance in the Wairau Valley.  Josh even hand delivered early trial brews to archaeologists working a Moa bone dig near the brewery.  Unlike the Moa, the archaeologists survived.
The international multi-award winning range of Moa beers and ciders are proudly brewed using traditional, costly, inefficient and labour intensive techniques with a focus on local ingredients, including internationally renowned New Zealand hops.
Made the way beer used to be made before everyone started making it differently, most of our beers are rounded off through the use of winemaking techniques, such as bottle conditioning where a small amount of active yeast and priming sugar is added to the brew just before bottling (like Champagne). This is why you may find some sediment at the bottom of each bottle.  This traditional technique naturally carbonates the beer, significantly enhances shelf life and longevity, creates dynamic and complex flavours that change over time (like a good wine), and gives the beer an elegant, champagne-like mouthfeel (http://www.moabeer.com/#our-story).

Moa growth outstrips the national craft beer market (2015)
Moa is staying on top of the craft beer competition with some strong growth in the past six months.
The company released indicative financial results on Tuesday for the half year to September 30, showing growth four times that of the national craft beer market growth rate.
According to AC Nielsen's Top 20 Craft Beer Brands data, the craft beer category in New Zealand grew at 15 per cent by volume over the past year.
Moa grew 61 per cent and now had 10 per cent of all craft beer supermarket sales in New Zealand.
Compared to the same time last, revenue was up 38 per cent to $3.4m and volume of beer produced was up 42 per cent to 973,500 litres. READ MORE: Loss making Moa increases sales 40 per cent
(www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/73201523/Moa-growth-outstrips-the-national-craft-beer-market)

Chief executive Geoff Ross said these results showed "substantial improvement" in gross margin and volume gains.
These improvements have resulted in a provisional net loss for the six months of $1.7 million, a 43 per cent improvement from the previous six month figure of $3.2m.
Moa's markets in Australia, Brazil and China grew strongly.
"We have just had our biggest revenue month in the year and, as we move into the peak selling summer months, we are forecasting further improvements in our bottom line delivery," Ross said.
In May the company posted a $5.6m loss for the year to March 31, despite increasing beer sales (www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/73201523/Moa-growth-outstrips-the-national-craft-beer-market) Craft beer maker Moa has posted another loss despite beer sales increasing 40 per cent.
The listed brewer was $5.6 million in the red for the year to March 31, a 4 per cent improvement on last year's loss.
Moa chief executive Geoff Ross said the losses would be  "substantially less" in the current financial year as the company became more efficient alowing it to sell more beer at a lower cost per case.
"An improved gross margin is now starting to be realised," Ross said.
Moa listed in 2012 but its share price tanked after it missed its 2014 sales forecast by nearly a third.
Since listing Moa shares have fallen from $1.25  about 32c.
Moa sold 1.7 million litres or 5 million bottles of beer in the past year, up 40 per cent on the previous year.
Revenue increased 31 per cent to $6.1m.
The company spent the  the year focusing on growth and investing in New Zealand and Australian markets, Ross said.
The craft beer sector in New Zealand was growing at an estimated 25 per cent  a year while in Australia the international craft beer sector, which Moa was part of, was growing at an estimated 18 per cent ...Moa brews its reserve range in its Marlborough brewery at Jacksons Road, near Blenheim while it's high volume brews - Moa lager, session pale ale and cider - were contract brewed at McCashin's brewery in Nelson.
This would be a long term agreement, Ross said.
In early 2015 Moa was given the green light for a $6.1m expansion of its Jacksons Road brewery following long running opposition from neighbours including Marlborough winemaker Cloudy Bay.
Ross said the expansion would increase capacity 10 fold.(www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/68909955/Loss-making-Moa-increases-sales-40-per-cent).
Industry sales volumes down overall but consumers favouring quality over quantity.
Craft beer sales are continuing to rise despite falling volumes in the wider sector, says Moa chief executive Geoff Ross.
He said the decline in beer sales volumes was largely through mainstream products not selling as well and preferences shifting towards more premium and craft beers.
"It's the classic quality versus quantity thing that has already happened with other beverages," Ross said.
"So rather than paying $20 for a 12 pack, people might pay $24 for three bottles of a special reserve range or other ranges, so volume is down overall but spend, particularly in our sector, is up and continuing to be up.
"It's being driven by two things - by the consumer who wants more interesting taste profiles but the other thing driving craft is the retailers who want more margin," he said. "They're not making anything out of a $20 pack of beers, they're making more money out of one bottle of Moa Reserve." (www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11418221)


I’ve never tried Moa Beer…
Posted on August 28, 2011 by Mr Wainscotting
by Mr Wainscotting … and now I probably never will. Not unless they get rid of their marketing strategist immediately.
First of all, that doesn’t even make sense. What the hell do they mean “before there were lesbians”, as if they were invented some time in the 70’s?
Second of all, they already pissed off the queer community last year, you’d think they’d be a little more sensitive to try it again.
Any company that uses bigotry in it’s advertising is not deserving of our money. Their nonpology last year (“We asked some of our gay mates and they thought it was funny, but I guess we should’ve asked a few more.”) didn’t give me much reason to think that they’re going to be very forthcoming this time (https://missingsparkles.wordpress.com/2011/08/28/ive-never-tried-moa-beer/) (www.stuff.co.nz/national/4442444/Gay-community-offended-by-Moa-Beer-campaign).



Moa Brews Up Fresh Controversy (2013)
Blenheim based brewing company Moa, has attracted fresh accusations of sexism with  their latest print advertising campaign. The new ad (pictured), which has appeared in several men’s special interest magazines, features the legend “F*** bitches, get money” next to a bottle of beer and above the New Zealand Olympic logo.
Commentators on social media sites Twitter and Facebook have condemned the ads as “horribly misogynistic”. The phrase in question comes from the 1995 gangsta rap song Get Money, performed by rap group Junior M.A.F.I.A. and sung by late rapper The Notorious B.I.G. Gangsta rap is a genre famous for violent and sexist lyrics (http://thebottleneck.net/2013/07/13/moa-brews-up-fresh-controversy/).
Meer nieuws uit 2011:

With recent newspaper headlines such as "Breakfast beer slammed by critics", "Cashing in on wine's good name" and "Gay community offended by Moa Beer campaign", it's a good job Moa's new boss, marketing guru Geoff Ross, believes there's no such thing as bad publicity.
In his book, Every bastard says No, the man who gave the world 42 Below vodka and is now backing Moa gives his key insights into successful marketing.
High on the list is "At all costs get noticed. Be heard. Stand for something". Judging by the amount of news coverage Moa has been attracting in recent weeks I'd say he's doing a very good job!
Mr Ross intends to transform Moa from a small, Blenheim-based, craft brewery into an internationally recognised brand and to that end the company is undergoing big changes.
Sales and marketing are now being controlled from Auckland and the brand has appointed a team of reps to cover the country.
But Mr Ross also understands that "Brands need real roots and real credentials" and his team understand that it's the quality and provenance of Moa's Marlborough-brewed beers which make them such an attractive proposition to the consumer.
The company is committed to brewing in Blenheim and a new, much larger, brewhouse is being commissioned.
Moa's head brewer, Dave Nicholls, is not fazed by the prospect of making a lot more beer. In a past life he managed large breweries for DB, Asia Pacific Breweries and their Dutch parent Heineken, so dealing with much larger brews shouldn't be a problem (www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4859008/Brewers-makeover-gains-rapid-traction).



Josh Scott brewed his first beer in an old shed out the back of his father’s Marlborough vineyard in 1987. It wasn’t very good. Technically, because he was only 13 at the time it also wasn’t very legal. But that single event set the course for the next 20 years of Josh’s life.
The very next day (officially, five years later when Josh was of legal drinking age which in New Zealand is 18) Josh and some mates from school (who were officially also all 18 years of age even though they were still in Third Form) set about finding out everything they could about the biology and chemistry of brewing. No small feat in 1987 as the Internet hadn’t been invented, school libraries didn’t really cater to their needs and none of them could drive to a library that possibly could.
What followed was 15 years of trial and error, where Josh learnt the trade of Master Brewing at the feet of some of the world’s most well regarded traditional brewers. Until finally in 2003 he felt comfortable enough to produce a beer that people wouldn’t actually mind paying for and he established the Moa Brewery.
Since then Moa have become staples at festivals worldwide, won the respect and loyalty of connoisseurs from Europe to the Americas and are currently one of the largest New Zealand beer exporters to the United States (http://stoppress.co.nz/news/craft-beer-meets-high-performance-sport-as-moa-becomes-nzs-official-olympic-brew).


Moa beer is the beer that comes from Marlborough, which is nice, because mostly Marlborough just makes wine, which is a bit boring. Moa uses the same deep bore water locals use to grow grapes and put out house fires. Moa Beer is also made the way beer used to be made before everyone started making it differently. So if somehow someone from 1950 travelled in time to go to the pub and had a Moa today they wouldn’t be surprised by its full bodied taste. This is because Moa beer is made by lots of people and not many machines as opposed to lots of machines and not many people. They would however, be surprised by the cost as Moa is quite expensive and they’d be used to only paying two and six. Whatever that is.
...
Josh Scott of Moa: Wine is in my blood, I am a trained winemaker and have been involved in my parents vineyard my whole life. This passion lead me to France and the US and while working at a winery in the US I was exposed to craft beer. I loved the synergies of craft beer and wine and upon returning home to New Zealand to a disappointing and bland beer market, I decided to make my own...2003 was when it was established by myself, but I was only 22 at the time, but things really didn’t start to crank until 2006.
....Moa has had a recent injection of investment (September 2010) by the founders of New Zealand’s most famous Vodka (42 Below) and that investment included additional expertise to help grow and mature the brand. As New Zealand’s biggest market and the gateway to the rest of the world, Auckland in the North Island is the best place to base that resource.
On the other hand, Marlborough in the South Island remains the best place to produce beer. The brewery is situated close to our hop and malt producers and with water being arguably the most important ingredient in beer, the water quality and purity in the area is unparalleled. We draw our water from the Wairau aquifer directly beneath the brewery, which is filtered naturally from our Greywacke alluvial silt and loam sand (www.thebeerinme.com/page.php?97).