An Obit For Canterbury Draught

Sunday, 30 June 2024, 2:57 pm
Article: RNZ

Denise Garland

First Person - I don't remember the last time I drank a Canterbury Draught. Nor the first time, come to think of it. But ever since I've been old enough to drink, I've always considered myself a Canterbury Draught gal.

I did most of my growing up in Christchurch, where my dad was the Head Brewer at Lion's Canterbury Brewery. My family had relocated there when Lion shut its Hawke's Bay plant in 1997, and as I grew old enough, the sweet, slightly bitter, but mostly inoffensive flavour of Canterbury Draught called to me.

I would go to high school parties armed with a six-pack of Canterbury Draught, sipping from the cold black-and-red cans as my friends downed bottles of raspberry Vodka Cruisers and Smirnoff Ice RTDs. "I don't know how you can drink something so bitter," they would remark.

Canterbury Draught always had a bit of a challenge in trying to remain a strong presence in a market saturated with beers of the same style, which included fellow Lion brands Speight's and Lion Red, as well as Tui and DB Draught from its biggest competitor, DB.

But CD drinkers were fiercely loyal. My father told me a Canterbury University student once legally changed his name to "Canterbury Draught" for one year on the promise of regular free beer. One of the old stands at Lancaster Park had its roof painted in Canterbury Draught branding, despite DB being the main sponsor of the Canterbury men's rugby team at the time.

And when my dad appeared alongside former All Black and coach Alex "Grizz" Wylie in a TV ad for Canterbury Draught, he would get stopped by kids in public and asked for his autograph.

When I moved to Wellington for university, I was disappointed to find neither the liquor store in Karori, nor the suburb's two supermarkets, stocked Canterbury Draught.

When I visited Christchurch the following month for my older brother's 21st birthday - held at a function room at the Canterbury Brewery on St Asaph Street, no less - I shared my conundrum with one of my dad's fellow brewers. "Lion Brown is almost exactly the same," I was told. "Just drink that instead".

And so I did. And Castlepoint. And Southern Draught. All Lion-brewed sweet, fizzy, brown beer that scratched my Canterbury Draught itch. But each time I returned home to Christchurch, I'd reach for a cold CD out of the fridge - my old friend.

A couple of years later, my boyfriend brought a four-pack of a Belgian beer home from the New World where he worked, that they'd just got in. It tasted so different to the beer I was used to. It had so much flavour! So much complexity! And so I began drinking all sorts of different beer styles; pilsners and wheat beers at first, then stouts and porters, even expanding into sours.

Independent craft breweries started popping up all over the place and their beers became more widely available. My dad lost his job at Lion and so when I returned to visit Christchurch, the fridge was filled with beer from Matson's, his new employer, instead. But even still, when I spotted Canterbury Draught on tap at a bar, I'd have to try a glass.

The news that Lion has pulled the pin on its Canterbury Draught brand, while not all that surprising perhaps, did come a bit out of the blue. Lion is too big of a player and the draught style too cemented in New Zealand beer culture for the growth of craft to be behind its demise.

Canterbury Draught's death probably became a forgone conclusion when Lion was forced to close its Christchurch brewery after it sustained immense damage in the February 2011 earthquake.

While Canterbury Draught continued to be brewed in Auckland and Dunedin, the fact the large, red and black building no longer loomed large at 36 St Asaph Street with its copper brewing vessels in the large street-front windows, would certainly not have helped CD's cause. Having to compete with the ever-popular Speight's for market share also would have played a part.

Lion's decision brings to an end 34 years of Canterbury Draught, the beer that started me on my journey to becoming a beer lover, judge and now certified cicerone. While it is a sad moment in time for this Canterbury Draught gal, I know all is not lost; I can just take a cold can of Lion Brown, close my eyes, and let the beer transport me back to all those Canterbury Draught memories.

*Denise Garland is a certified cicerone® and beer judge, and was the winner of the 2019 Brewers Guild of New Zealand Beer Media Award

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