The brewers at Up the Creak Brew Club may be living in a retirement village and have a few more creaks as the name suggests, but there is nothing wrong with their beer.
That’s because their head brewer and teacher John Duncan is a fifth-generation brewer in the region who is helping make all their favourite brews in a tiny brewery at Arvida Waimea Plains retirement village.
Village management set up the brewery when they discovered John’s expertise as a brewer and now there is a core group of budding brewers turning grain and hops into aromatic brews.
John’s brewery heritage began in 1843 in Nelson with his great, great grandfather who established J R Dodson and Son on the corner of Hardy St and Tasman St.
It brewed beer for 115 years with a brewer in every generation, and both John and his brother Nick continued the family tradition.
While Nick was a brewer for DB throughout his working career, John was a brewer at Mac’s Brewery in Stoke before setting up Founders Brewery with his wife Carol. Their son Callum is now the sixth-generation brewer in the region and creating award-winning beers for Sprig and Fern in Richmond.
John thought his brewing days were behind him when he moved to the retirement village, but management had other ideas - and he is loving it.
The brewery is tiny and they produce less than 50 litres of beer each month, but he says it is more about the process rather than drinking the end result - though they enjoy that as well.
“It’s learning about microbiology and chemistry and not so much about the alcohol – you can’t drink as much at our age.”
They brew from scratch, using malted barley or wheat and adding hop pellets to make a range of beers.
“It’s a combination of art and science; playing around with ingredients and trying different things. Even on this very small scale, we learn from each brew.”
John says a brew is often referred to as ‘liquid bread’ because it is a mix of grain and yeast, which is why it is no surprise the spent grain is collected by village residents to make into bread and biscuits.
Groups of residents choose a type of beer to make, and so far, golden lager has been popular, though John’s personal favourite is a pilsner.
It is not all beer though and women in particular have been involved in producing a couple of ciders in the brewery.
The brewery has created considerable interest in the village and because the age group is around 65 to nineties, John says many turn up simply to enjoy the brewing process.
“We have a core group and encourage others to come and give a hand or watch. We’re all busy doing other things as well, so we just fit a brew in when we can.”
