Local Stella in glasses soon

By DITA DE BONI

Lion Breweries yesterday confirmed it would begin production of Stella Artois in Newmarket shortly, with the domestically brewed product to be available from early next month.

The brewer said the new business would mean few changes to its production line, as its premises already met the approval of Stella officials and was capable of batch brewing the premium lager.

Marketing director Lee Hill said Lion had decided to brew locally because of the product's popularity, which has grown 50 per cent in the past year.

Mr Hill said another reason had been the beer's 6-8 week journey by boat from Belgium, where it currently comes from.

"As well as the journey time, we also had a lead time for the product of up to 12 weeks. Now we have control from start to finish.

"The product will be the same, only fresher."

Belgium-based Interbrew sent senior company officials to brief the industry in Auckland, with chief marketing officer and ex-New Zealander Paul Cooke saying only four other countries have local brewing rights to the product - Australia, Italy, Sweden and the UK.

Key ingredients will continue to be sourced from Belgium, including the Saaz hops and unique yeast.

Competitor DB Breweries said on Monday that the move by Lion to produce Stella locally was good news for the local brewing industry and premium beer drinkers.

DB invested more than $13m in 1994 to build a Heineken fermentation facility to the requisite standard in Auckland, importing "everything but the water."