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STORY
Kaiser Brothers Brewery – craft beers inspired by a centuries-old Bavarian family recipe brewed in Christchurch the Kiwi way.
Three German-Kiwi brothers, whose great uncle established Bavaria’s renowned Kaiser Brewery, established the brewery in 2016 remaining true to their heritage – making real beer for beer lovers to enjoy.
Just like those made in Bavaria using the original 1862 brew recipe, we make Kaiser Brothers Brewery beers honestly for flavour and taste. As it was in the 1800’s Kaiser Brothers beers are made by real people using real, quality local ingredients.
We start with Canterbury’s world-renowned artisan water and the finest ingredients from the pristine South Island. Delivering on our honesty policy we add yeast which is true to the style of beer. You’ll taste Germanic yeast in our Pilsener and Weizen, English yeast in ESB and (you guessed it) American yeast for our APA.
This range of four beers is approachable (we don’t try to wow with fancy names and crazy packaging) and always available. Whatever the day, whatever the weather, beer lovers can always enjoy Kaiser Brothers Brewery Pilsner, ESB, APA and Weizen.
Beer requires real ingredients grown from the land and therefore real beers mirror the seasons. So from time to time, our Kaiser Brothers Brewery brew crew mix it up, having fun with styles and recipes creating special limited release and seasonal craft beers to reflect the taste of the region and its growing season.
Even though the original brew recipe came from the other side of the world, Kaiser Brothers Brewery isn’t over the top, confusing or pretentious. Even with our Bavarian heritage Kaiser Brothers Brewery beers are Kiwi-as, we craft them to be confident in a genuine down-to-earth, full-flavoured Kiwi way.
No-one says it better than our Kaiser Brothers Brewing Captain, Dicky;
‘We’ve taken a piece of Bavarian family heritage and brewed it our way -
the Aotearoa way’.
All this makes Kaiser Brothers Brewery the perfect choice for honest, flavoursome Kiwi craft beer.
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TEAM
DICKY FIFE
BREWING CAPTAIN
Kaiser Brothers Brewing Captain Dicky Fife is energetic, passionate and personable. What’s more Dicky loves a chat – and he loves it even better if he can include a craft beer tasting.
Five years as a chef, more than 25 years as a master brewer with a decade winemaking, experience as a senior beer judge and winning numerous brewing trophies and medals have cemented Dicky’s status as a New Zealand brewing industry legend.
Dicky says making beer is just like making great food – make everything from scratch with quality ingredients. On top of that, he recommends experimenting.
Outside the brewery, you’ll usually find Dicky in the kitchen playing with flavour. When not in the kitchen, Dicky could be paddle boarding –
which is appropriate, as a paddle is essential equipment for handmade craft beer!
DION BROWN
BREWING HELMSMAN
Known around the brewery as ‘Mr Brown’. Our Brewing Helmsman has an eclectic taste in music – it can vary from classical to hard core rock, you never know what’s going to be playing in the brewery. Although, one thing that you can be sure of, if you’re walking through the brewery you’ll always hear his bellowing laugh. He’s our local (friendly) larriken.
He also likes pies. Mince pies, mince & cheese pies, steak pies, chicken pies, mushroom pies, curry lamb pies, bacon & egg pies, Shepherds pies, chunky beef pies, ham and brie pies, pepper steak pies, pies, pies, pies and more pies...
TIM RILEY
BREWERY ENGINEER
Tim can be likened to Star Trek’s chief engineer, Scotty – who was known as the “Miracle Worker” in the Star Trek series. Give Tim a steel pipe, a plastic bowl and a few screws and he’ll build you a brewery. Ok, slight exaggeration but he’d certainly give it a go if he could.
He’s the right hand man to the brewing captain & helmsman, and can be found under, on top, in the middle of contraptions. He’s our very own “Miracle Worker”. No matter how good Tim is though, he “canna’ change the laws of physics”.
THE HISTORY OF KAISER
Beer pulses through the family of the three German-born, Kiwi Giesen brothers, founders of Kaiser Brothers Brewery. While Theo, Alex and Marcel Giesen are known globally for establishing Giesen Wines, their family brewing pedigree is lesser known.
This Kiwi brewing story starts with an 1860’s family beer recipe from their mother’s family the Kaisers. They successfully ran the Kaiser Brewery in Bavaria from 1930s until the 1970s, when it was purchased by brewing giant Heineken.
The Giesen Brothers were inspired to give brewing a go after being given the handwritten family beer recipe when visiting their German cousins. Always ones to grab an opportunity, and thinking of the fun they could have with their own beers, in 2016 the trio established Kaiser Brothers Brewery in Christchurch.
As it was when the beer was first brewed in the 1860s, Kaiser Brothers Brewery beers are crafted by real people using real, quality local ingredients and made for beer lovers to enjoy.
Nowadays, when the three Giesen brothers share their love of life; bringing family and friends together around the table to enjoy good food, great wines and a few laughs, they take pride in sharing flavoursome Kaiser Brothers Brewery craft beer.
