Emerson’s and Heartland Chips celebrate The Country’s anniversary.

There’s nothing rural Kiwis love more than having a good yarn.

Whether it’s a heated debate about politics, an in-depth discussion about what the hell the weather’s up to, or an intense dissection of last night’s game; getting together and setting the world to rights is one of our favourite pastimes.

But we all know chat can’t exist on its own; it needs a few cans to keep the conversation flowing and many a bag of chips for sustenance as the banter heads into the wee small hours. With that in mind, The Country has decided to bring the chat, the cans and the chips together – a collaboration so Kiwi we’re surprised we hadn’t thought of it sooner.

To celebrate 30 years of chat on The Country, Emerson’s has brought along the cans, Farmer’s Pour, and Heartland Potato Chips, the Farmer’s Cut.

So, pull up a chair, sit back and relax, as we tell you a tale of the three wise men behind the idea: Jamie Mackay, Richard Emerson and Raymond Bowan.

The Chat: The Country with Jamie Mackay

Jamie Mackay, host of The Country, is no stranger to fans of rural radio. He’s been the voice of rural New Zealand for decades and has even been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his efforts – just don’t call him Sir.

Also don’t say “learnings” or “journey” in his presence, but that’s a story for another day.

Jamie’s broadcasting journey started back in 1994 when he thought it’d be a good idea to buy the local radio station, 4ZG, from the Government of the day. Now, 30 years later, The Country has a loyal following all over New Zealand and Jamie is a household name in the broadcasting world.

That’s a lot of learnings for a former house husband and self-proclaimed “broken-down Southland sheep farmer with a stutter”.

As you can imagine, Jamie can hold a conversation, so what does he like to chat about? In his own words, “boring travel stories, tall buildings and dams”.

Damn, sounds like you’re going to need to wet your whistle to get through that, which brings us nicely to…

The Cans: Farmer’s Pour with Richard Emerson

While listening to Mackay wax lyrical about the Burj Khalifa – “it’s 828m tall!” – you might as well enjoy a drop of Farmer’s Pour by Emerson’s.

The extra crispy pale ale is brought to you by Richard Emerson aka The Hopfather. Emerson’s may be an icon of brewing nowadays but it had humble beginnings, with the first four and a half litres brewed on Richards’s stove in 1985.

In 1992 Richard founded Emerson’s Brewery, which has gone on to become a Dunedin institution.

But it wasn’t all beer and skittles.

Richard poured his heart and soul into the brewery, doing most of the design, constructions and decorating himself but his hard work paid off with his first brew, The London Porter, ready to drink in 1993.

Since then, Emerson’s has grown to one of New Zealand’s biggest craft breweries, producing millions of litres of beer every year and shipping it to every corner of the country.

But Richard’s always kept it local.

In fact, in 2012 when Lion purchased Emerson’s, they kept Richard as head brewer and vowed to keep the brewery in its hometown of Dunedin. The Emerson’s Tap Room and Brewery was officially opened in 2016.

Radio fans may have been lucky enough to sample a previous collaboration between Emerson’s and The Country – The Mackaiser.

Now we bring you the Farmer’s Pour.

While the refreshing brew won’t spook the horses, it’s just enough to make you pause and think “that’s a mighty fine drop”, before resuming the “merits of Razor’s breakdancing” debate.

But what to eat while chat grows and the beers flow? Luckily we’ve thought of that too.

The Chips: The Farmer’s Cut with Raymond Bowan

In the world of vegetables, the humble spud is king and no one knows this better than the man behind Heartland Potato Chips, Raymond Bowan.

The South Canterbury farmer grew up around potatoes. He even earned his pocket money digging up spuds on the neighbouring property as a young lad. Years later, when the local chip factory closed its doors, Raymond seized the opportunity to fulfil a lifelong dream and Heartland Chips was born.

Heartland Potato Chips are now enjoyed by fans all over New Zealand, as well as locations around the world.

But that hasn’t gone to Raymond’s head.

To this day, the potatoes used for his mouth-watering chips come from the Bowan family farm at Fallgate. You’ll find it just outside of Timaru.

The spuds don’t travel far to be processed either, as the Heartland Chip factory is only 30km down the road. Here, they’re sliced, cooked, packaged and distributed to those worldwide fans mentioned earlier.

How about the chips Raymond has made for The Country?

Farmer’s Cut is a super thick, flat chip and comes in three flavours: Salt and Vinegar, Maple Bacon and Green Onion. The perfect accompaniment to a Farmer’s Cut chip? A refreshing can of Farmer’s Pour.

It’s a no-nonsense chip that won’t interrupt the flow of conversation but has a crunch loud enough to drown out your mate’s woeful golf chat.

So there you have it, the story of the three wise men.

A trio of pioneers, who, through No 8 wire mentality and hard graft, honed their ideas from humble beginnings into household names that they decided to share with the rest of New Zealand.

And you can’t get much more Kiwi than that.

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