Weldtech owner Chris Ellenden is a self-professed hop head.
In his youth he did some home brewing (“Quite a bit actually.”), his attitude now is “why bother?” He lets the brewer brew, while he focuses on the equipment.
While Nally was able to educate him about beer, Ellenden was able to help tweak his home-built plant until he’d reduced the length of the brew day to 7 hours – so when it came time for a new plant, it was only logical that Weldtech take the lead.
“I suppose it’s quite an exciting industry – something which involves engineering and beer is the best of all worlds,” Chris says.
Victoria Store Brewery takes the concept of a brew pub to a whole new level.
Nestled in a historic building, in a Central Otago Gold Mining town, in the middle of an iconic restaurant where diners literally walk through it on the way to the bar, it’s fair to say it’s not the average.
But then, neither are its owners – Dave and Andy Ritchie.
The couple bought an iconic Clyde B & B at the start of Central Otago Rail Trail in 2010 and set about turning it an historic idyll.
Beautifully restoring the old Olivers homestead and stables they managed to retain authenticity while adding in the creature comforts expected of the modern traveller and the rail trail rider in particular who like private bathrooms and linen thread counts.
They quickly became famous, not just for the accommodation, but for their food – delicious, fresh yet simple Central Otago fare that made the most of seasonality.
When, in 2014, they turned their mind to the old Victoria Store (once made famous by Fleur Sullivan) their plans for the 400m2 space were ambitious.
Retaining as much of the 1868 old building and bringing it up to modern building code was a mammoth task; one they decided to tackle in six months (the start and end dates being were bookmarked by 500+ person Cuisine at Clyde cooking demonstrations weekend, and Easter Sunday when 1400 customers came through the property at its opening day.)
They decided on a 95 seat restaurant, bar, café and two commercial kitchens (one for the restaurant, the other to produce their own line of delicious breads, sauces and preserves.)
They then decided to increase the degree of difficulty by adding a 1200 litre batch brewery to the plan.
Their brief was simple, the plant had to produce great beer (that was first and foremost), it had to be aesthetically appealing, it must comply with health and safety considerations – and it had to have a very small footprint, both physically and environmentally.
The answer to the space restriction was to go up; their 1200l bespoke brewery is design was built by Weldtech Engineering as a gravity fed plant, much of it built from up-cycled materials.
Designed as a single piece of equipment, it’s mounted on a robust steel platform that sits inside the shell of the historic building and where-ever barriers are required (for health and safety), they’re glass or perspex.
The brewery has been designed to ensure steam, water, noise and chaff dust won’t disturb diners who will nethertheless get the benefit of “pleasant food type aromas”.
“We wanted to bring the brewery into the restaurant, literally – our kitchen is open to view so we wanted the brewery to be too,” Dave said.
They’re starting with one beer – a Bohemian style pilsner appropriately called Stone Mason – which they’re serving alongside other great Southern Craft Beers.
“We sought a lot of advice and the best of it was to make a beer you enjoy,” Dave said.
“We did a lot of taste testing, lots of different hop and malt profiles and this is the one that ticked all the boxes.”
The light malt with a hint of toast (from Gladfield Malt at Dunsandel) is balanced with citrus and tropical fruit hop flavours – at 4.5% ABV it’s a flavoursome thirst quencher perfect for the locale.
And perhaps in the best example of build it and they will come, the operation has united the Ritchie family – their son Edward and daughter Charlotte have moved to Clyde to help run the operation which almost overnight went from a cottage business run by Dave and Andy to one employing 50 staff.
“I never thought either of our children would live in a small town,” Dave said.
