Speight's is a brewery located in Dunedin, New Zealand. The brewery is owned by the Japanese-controlled holding company Lion. It is best known for its Gold Medal Ale, one of the best-selling beers in New Zealand. The brewery also gave rise to a chain of Speight's Ale Housegastropubs across the country.
The brewery was established on Rattray Street, Central Dunedin in 1876 by James Speight, Charles Greenslade and William Dawson after they had left their positions at Wellpark Brewery (known today as the Tennent Caledonian). In 1880, Speight's won a gold medal at the Melbourne International Exhibition, giving rise to the Speight's Gold Medal Ale brand. By 1887 it had become the largest brewery in New Zealand, and had expanded to a sufficient size that it exported beer to Australia and the Pacific Islands. In 1923, Speight's merged with nine other breweries to form New Zealand Breweries - in the same year, founder William Dawson died. In 1960, New Zealand Breweries rebranded to Lucky Beer in an attempt to simplify the range, however this change lasted only two months before the Speight's brand name was re-established in October of that year. In 1977, New Zealand Breweries was purchased by Lion. In 2001, production expanded to the Lion brewery in Newmarket, Auckland. [1]
BrandsEdit
Sign at the Speight's Brewery in Dunedin
Speight's Gold Medal Ale is the brewery's best known beer. Though marketed as an ale, as it was in the past, it is actually a New Zealand Draught-style lager, brewed using lager yeast and lagering techniques.
In addition to its main Gold Medal Ale brand, Speight's also produces beers under the Speight's Summit and the Speight's Craft ranges of beer, the latter including the Speight's Old Dark, Speight's Distinction Ale, and Speight's Triple Hop Pilsner, all of which are lagers of varying colour.
Part of the Speight's buildings in Dunedin showing the distinctive beer barrel atop the chimney.
The Speight's brewery building is a prominent landmark in Central Dunedin, located just to the west of The Exchange at the corner of Rattray and Maclaggan Streets and extending up the hill into City Rise.
The earliest parts of the building date back to its first inception in 1876, with several major extensions and renovations in the years since, most notably extensions in 1938 designed by Harry Mandeno. The most recent renovation was to provide earthquake strengthening in 2012–14.[3]
Regular guided tours of the building are run by the company for members of the public.
MarketingEdit
Speight's label features three eight-pointed stars. These stars come from both the original provincial arms of Otago, and the fact that Speight's was awarded gold medals at brewery awards in three different countries in 1877.
More recently, Speight's Southern man advertising campaign has been popular and long running. Speight's main marketing slogan, "Pride of the South", has been used in association with these advertisements for a number of years. One popular advertisement featured the Cardrona Hotel pub. Speight's later built a loose replica of this building in Mt Eden, Auckland, as part of its national marketing scheme.
At the site of their Dunedin plant the company has installed a tap that pumps water up from a spring deep below the brewery, thus providing fresh, pure water free of charge. This tap was at the centre of an April Fool's joke in 1998 when the Otago Daily Times reported that, just for that day, Speight's beer would flow, free of charge, from that tap.[4]
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Speight s is a brewery located in Dunedin New Zealand The brewery is owned by the Japanese controlled holding company Lion It is best known for its Gold Medal Ale one of the best selling beers in New Zealand The brewery also gave rise to a chain of Speight s Ale House gastropubs across the country Speight sTypePrivateIndustryBeveragesFounded1876FounderJames Speight Charles Greenslade William DawsonHeadquartersDunedin New ZealandProductsLagers and alesParentLionWebsitewww wbr speights wbr co wbr nz Contents 1 History 2 Brands 3 The Speight s Building 4 Marketing 5 Sponsorship 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksHistory EditThe brewery was established on Rattray Street Central Dunedin in 1876 by James Speight Charles Greenslade and William Dawson after they had left their positions at Wellpark Brewery known today as the Tennent Caledonian In 1880 Speight s won a gold medal at the Melbourne International Exhibition giving rise to the Speight s Gold Medal Ale brand By 1887 it had become the largest brewery in New Zealand and had expanded to a sufficient size that it exported beer to Australia and the Pacific Islands In 1923 Speight s merged with nine other breweries to form New Zealand Breweries in the same year founder William Dawson died In 1960 New Zealand Breweries rebranded to Lucky Beer in an attempt to simplify the range however this change lasted only two months before the Speight s brand name was re established in October of that year In 1977 New Zealand Breweries was purchased by Lion In 2001 production expanded to the Lion brewery in Newmarket Auckland 1 Brands Edit nbsp Sign at the Speight s Brewery in DunedinSpeight s Gold Medal Ale is the brewery s best known beer Though marketed as an ale as it was in the past it is actually a New Zealand Draught style lager brewed using lager yeast and lagering techniques In addition to its main Gold Medal Ale brand Speight s also produces beers under the Speight s Summit and the Speight s Craft ranges of beer the latter including the Speight s Old Dark Speight s Distinction Ale and Speight s Triple Hop Pilsner all of which are lagers of varying colour Speight s range of beer is not gluten free 2 Speight s also produces an apple cider The Speight s Building Edit nbsp Part of the Speight s buildings in Dunedin showing the distinctive beer barrel atop the chimney The Speight s brewery building is a prominent landmark in Central Dunedin located just to the west of The Exchange at the corner of Rattray and Maclaggan Streets and extending up the hill into City Rise The earliest parts of the building date back to its first inception in 1876 with several major extensions and renovations in the years since most notably extensions in 1938 designed by Harry Mandeno The most recent renovation was to provide earthquake strengthening in 2012 14 3 Regular guided tours of the building are run by the company for members of the public Marketing EditSpeight s label features three eight pointed stars These stars come from both the original provincial arms of Otago and the fact that Speight s was awarded gold medals at brewery awards in three different countries in 1877 More recently Speight s Southern man advertising campaign has been popular and long running Speight s main marketing slogan Pride of the South has been used in association with these advertisements for a number of years One popular advertisement featured the Cardrona Hotel pub Speight s later built a loose replica of this building in Mt Eden Auckland as part of its national marketing scheme At the site of their Dunedin plant the company has installed a tap that pumps water up from a spring deep below the brewery thus providing fresh pure water free of charge This tap was at the centre of an April Fool s joke in 1998 when the Otago Daily Times reported that just for that day Speight s beer would flow free of charge from that tap 4 Sponsorship EditSpeight s has a long standing relationship with rugby union in the Otago and Southland regions In 1977 the brewery began sponsoring the Dunedin club championship The brewery currently has sponsorship arrangements with the Otago Highlanders Otago Rugby Football Union and Southland Rugby Football Union References Edit Brand History speights co nz 2017 Retrieved 16 June 2020 Is Speights gluten free Gluten Free Beer Retrieved 14 September 2022 Houlahan Mike Historic brewery gets upgrade stuff co nz 17 August 2012 Retrieved 31 May 2020 Celebratory offer of free beer should go down well Otago Daily Times 1 April 1998 Archived from the original on 15 August 2008 Retrieved 15 August 2008 Further reading EditGordon Harold 1993 Speight s The Story of Dunedin s Historic Brewery Hardback Dunedin Avon Publishers ISBN 978 0 473 02399 7 Leckie Frank G 1997 Otago s Breweries Past and Present Dunedin Otago Heritage Books ISBN 0 908774 42 7 McLauchlan Gordon 1994 The Story of Beer Beer and Brewing A New Zealand History Paperback Auckland NZ Penguin ISBN 0670860921 External links EditSpeight s official Site Lion official page45 52 35 S 170 30 00 E 45 876374 S 170 499959 E 45 876374 170 499959 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Speight 27s amp oldid 1120866523, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
