Speight's
Speight's is a brewery founded in 1876 and based in Dunedin , New Zealand .
history
Three employees of the former Well Park Brewery in Dunedin left their jobs in 1876 and started the James Speight & Co brewery in an empty factory building on Rattray Street in Dunedin .
James Speight (1834–1887) as a salesman, Charles Greenslade, (1843–1917) as a maltster and William Dawson (1852–1923) as a brewer made their first ale (beer) on April 4, 1876 and rose in just over 10 Years to become the largest brewery in New Zealand, with export shares to Australia , Fiji and Hawaii .
In order to increase the quality of the brew , from 1884 only spring water was used for brewing beer . In 1906 and 1907 Speight's bought the two Dunedin breweries Joel's Red Lion and Strachan's Victoria . Shortly before the death of the last co-founder of the brewery, William Dawson, Charles Speight, son of James Speight, merged the family business with nine other New Zealand breweries to form New Zealand Breweries .
After a major fire in 1940 that destroyed the brewery cellar and the malt house , the brewery was completely rebuilt. The first lager beer was brewed in 1955 .
In August 1960, the Speight's brand was withdrawn from the market and replaced by the Lucky name , which generated significant negative public reactions. Just two months later, the traditional name Speight's came back on the market. In 1977 the New Zealand Breweries was renamed Lion Broweries and the traditional name of the brewery in Dunedin was renamed Branch of Lion Breweries Ltd. returned to Speight's Brewery .
From 1983 the brewery was also opened to visitors and from 1997 it was supplemented by a Heritage Center for visitors.
In 1988, the merger with the Australian-based LD Nathan & Co. followed and became the property of the newly formed company. Speight's Brewery in Dunedin is still owned by Lion Nathan Limited , Sydney , New South Wales .
Today's beers
- Speight's Gold Medal Ale - bitter beer that has been brewed since 1876.
- Speight's Distinction Ale - brewed since 1994.
- Speight's Old Dark - brewed since 1991.
- Speight's Pale Ale - brewed since 2001.
- Speight's Pilsner - brewed since 2002.
- Speight's Porter - brewed since 2002.
- Speight's Summit Lager - new beer brewed only with natural ingredients.
literature
- Gavin McLean, Dunedin - History, Heritage & Wildlife , University of Otago Press, Dunedin, 2003. ISBN 1-877276-61-8
Web links
- History . Speights, Dunedin, 1993, archived from the original onFebruary 19, 2007; accessed on December 31, 2015(English, original website no longer available).
- Our Brands - Alcohol Beverages - Beer . Lion Pty Limited,accessed December 31, 2015.
- Our history . Lion Pty Limited, Australia, archived from the original onSeptember 5, 2008; accessed on December 31, 2015(English, original website no longer available).
- Speight's Beers . The Speight's Ale House, archived from the original onFebruary 17, 2010; accessed on December 31, 2015(English, original website no longer available).
Coordinates: 45 ° 52 ′ 35 ″ S , 170 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ E