They're drinking his beer in Melbourne

As its 10th anniversary approaches, Dunedin's Emerson's Brewery is celebrating early after securing regular export orders to a Melbourne pub.

Owner Richard Emerson is modest about the 1200-bottle monthly order of five brews - a fifth of Emerson's output - but happily confirms that next month's delivery is the fourth.

"We didn't want to not be able to fulfil local orders for the sake of exports," he says.

The owners of the Brandon Hotel in North Carlton, Melbourne, visited Dunedin last year and met Mr Emerson in the brewery.

The possibility of exporting was decided "over a few beers".

"We wanted to achieve things in incremental steps, not overstretch ourselves - build up to exports," he says.

In the past 10 years, the brewery has moved from producing porter in oak barrels to offering nine distinct beers in 500ml German bottles, all to Mr Emerson's own recipes.

The mainstay brews are Bookbinder and Pilsner.

Mr Emerson airfreighted a pallet of mixed beer to a cafe in Japan recently, but despite its popularity he turned down an opportunity to send a containerload.

"It's too far to travel by ship as it would alter the stability of the [unpasteurised] beer," he says.

Britain also beckons as a "niche market", but for similar reasons Mr Emerson will not specifically target the UK.

The brewery has won numerous awards for its porter and stouts, and won overall Pilsner Lager, silver for WeissBier and bronze for Old 95 at the 1999 International Beer Awards in Nelson.

Yet Mr Emerson, hailed as the "star of New Zealand brewing" by an international beer writer, has not entered recent competitions.

He does not agree with the judging of beer by its colour, as opposed to scrutiny of its style and flavour.

"What we're trying to make is something unique," he says.

Mr Emerson has no specific expansion plans for the Grange St brewery, but the premises could expand three-fold.

A third full-time position is being considered.

And for brewing aficionados, Mr Emerson is still working on a 10th anniversary brew for March.

He is giving little away, other than to say he is developing a brew that has not been released commercially.

"It will be something special for the occasion."

- NZPA