Beer on the edge

When the smart international lifestyle magazine BellaOnline discovered Mata beer, they apparently also discovered New Zealand. Mata’s Manuka was described by Bella’s Beer and Brewing editor as a topaz wonder but the serious adjectives were saved for its country of origin.

New Zealand, wrote Carolyn Smagalski, “is a land of geographical isolation, a medley of coastal aberrations and glacial edges, split in the centre by the tectonic fault line, a constant reminder of Earth’s instability and erratic inclination.”

When the review appeared Tammy Viitakangas and her partner Jaysen Magan ticked off another milestone. They are strategic and ambitious about promoting their beer, which they started producing barely a year ago in October 2005. They intend it to be “the beer of New Zealand”, not iconic in the sense that Tui and Steinlager are regarded domestically, but more as a beer that looks, tastes and, yes, feels, but most of all evokes New Zealand.

Mata means “edge, freshness, rawness” and the slogan selected for their company, Aotearoa Breweries NZ Ltd, is: “A beer from the edge.” The distinctive labels on their beers make them instant table and conversation pieces. “If you look at the front of the bottle,” says Tammy, “above the Mata logo is an abstract drawing of the North Island. Spin the bottle around to the right and there is an abstract of the South Island. The gap between the labels represents the fault line which runs through the middle of the country.”

In the longer term, Tammy and Jaysen mean international business. In the meantime, they are based in the small, central North Island town of Kawerau. The location of the brewery is in no way haphazard and certainly not sentimental, although it is Tammy’s hometown. Her parents Gloria and Jouni Viitakangas have lived their entire married lives there. Jouni has been there even longer. He arrived from Finland more than 40 years ago as a youngster among the early Finnish families who travelled to Kawerau to help run the then new Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill, now owned by Swedish company Norske Skog.

When Tammy and Jaysen came up with a business plan for a boutique brewery, Jouni had taken early retirement from the mill and was looking for adventure. The brewery is now fully a family business. Tammy is managing director and head brewer. Jaysen, an industrial technologist, looks after IT and logistics and assists with brewing. “My mum Gloria is responsible for sales and marketing,” says Tammy. “My dad Jouni and my uncle Esko are also brewers and with their fantastic handyman skills have pieced together a second hand brewery to exactly how I wanted it.

“Jaysen is currently involved with the integration of an SAP (Systems Application Protocol) computer system for enterprise resource planning which gives us great control over the business.”

The idea of creating a brewery to produce a unique New Zealand beer began during Tammy’s student days at Massey when she learnt about beer brewing in a paper towards her Bachelor of Technology, majoring in biotechnology and bioprocess engineering. She was captured by the process. So was fellow student Jaysen who also graduated Bachelor of Technology. They travelled overseas together and their ideas took shape when they reached Belgium. Both beer drinkers, they loved the Belgian beer but most of all they loved that it reflected the traditional, staunch but rollicking character of the country itself.

Belgium remained the benchmark but they found the same ability to drink in the character of a country in other parts of Europe. “Most beers were stamped with a local flavour which we felt was missing from New Zealand brands,” says Jaysen. “This made us think there was a market back home for a new style of beer with a distinct taste of New Zealand.”

Back in Auckland, Tammy began experimenting on a bench scale over a period of two years then approached her parents with the idea of a boutique brewery based in Kawerau. The tiny town not only provided the support and expertise of family but was also well placed for easy distribution to target markets, with the first to be the Bay of Plenty. Otakiri also had a source of pure artesian water, which they identified as an essential point of difference for their beers.

An empty retail complex, languishing after a series of retrenchments at the mill, was transformed into a microbrewery capable of producing 3600 litres a week. They purchased Wellington microbrewery Strongcroft and transported the brewing equipment to Kawerau. “Everyone, including my brother Esko, pitched into the construction work,” Jouni says. “While we did that, Gloria concentrated on marketing.”

Brewing began in October 2005 with the first batch of two Mata handcrafted premium beers ready for drinking five weeks later. They began selling the beer through Bay of Plenty restaurants and started counter sales at the brewery just before Christmas. An estimated month’s supply sold out in a week and a half. They are now supplying the beer to selected Auckland restaurants and to a Wellington retail outlet, with more in the wings.

Part of the character of Mata beers is that they are natural with no preservatives and are brewed with pure Kawerau artesian water. The hops come from Nelson, the brewing grains from Europe and the yeast from the United States.

To quote the blurb, Mata Manuka is golden-coloured ale with the fresh, clean bite of native Manuka honey. “The beer is hopped to impart a hint of cinnamon-like spice giving a complementary balance of flavours,” says Tammy.

The Artesian is “a refreshing, crisp-tasting, light bodied ale with a hybrid of both ale and lager characteristics edged with a Nelson-grown hop.”

Like Belgian beers, both beg to accompany good food. As a further marketing tactic, the family began to promote the excellence of their beers as a partner to good, distinctively New Zealand food, via their own web page and in foodie magazines, working with Hastings-based chefs Aaron and Lena Clulow. Mata Artesian and Smoked Flame Grilled Beef Fillet. Mata Artesian and Spiced Crusted Duck. Mata Manuka and BBQ Chili Kelp Crayfish. Mata Manuka and Fish Pie. The concept of good food as almost a second thought to good beer is novel.

Tammy is working on her new beer, due to be released shortly. In the meantime, the family has been well pleased to tick off two milestones they had not expected to reach so quickly. One was the winning of two bronze medals: in the pale ales section of the New Zealand International Beer Awards in April this year, and in the BrewNZ Beer Awards in September, just months after producing their first beers.

Another, to which we can only raise a topaz toast, was an appearance in MASSEY magazine. “We hoped we’d hear from you,” said Jaysen when we first rang. “We just thought it might take a little longer.”

SMOKEY FLAME GRILLED BEEF FILLET WITH ROASTED VINE TOMATOES & BASIL HOLLANDAISE with Mata Artesian

MARINADE
1 clove garlic (thinly sliced)
1/4 cup whisky
1 tbsp smoked hickory BBQ sauce
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp pepper
1 thick beef fillet
Rub all ingredients into beef fillet, stand at room temperature for 1 hour

TOMATOES
1 clove garlic (thinly sliced)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
1 sprig oregano (chopped)
Roast in oven until skin’s just pop

BASIL HOLLANDAISE
175g butter
1 each egg
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp basil (thinly sliced)
Melt the butter, place other ingredients in a bowl and whisk over a water bath until thickened and aerated, remove from heat, whisk in butter slowly, stir in basil and season, squeeze 1/2 lemon if needed

STEAK
Char-grill on BBQ on all sides.
Place small handful of woodchips onto a piece of tin foil, place beef on a rack above chips cover with a lid and smoke for 5 minutes.

Add another 1/4 cup of whisky to left over marinade, place beef on hot plate, pour over marinade, and roll beef around until marinade has all gone.

Allow to rest, while you roast the tomatoes and make the hollandaise.

Slice the beef in half and serve, drizzle left over tomato oil (from pan) on tomatoes, add a 1 tbsp of orcona rocoto chilli relish under tomatoes.

Recipes by: Aaron and Lena Clulow