North Shore craft brewers Deep Creek have strengthened their position in the market with the signing of a national distribution agreement with Hancocks, which will see their range of innovative craft beers stocked in retailers throughout New Zealand. The agreement will see Deep Creek stocked supermarkets, Liquorlands, Super Liquors and many other independent stores.
Deep Creek are also tackling the challenges of growing demand, having been awarded big wins at the New World Beer and Cider awards and more recently Champion Small International Brewery Trophy at the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA).
“It’s a good problem to have” said Deep Creek co-founder Jarred MacLachlan of growing both their staff and facilities.
Deep Creek is projecting a more than 70 per cent increase in volume from March 2017 to March 2018, resulting in 600,000L of Deep Creek Beer being shipped out of the brewery. The size of the brewing team has also increased as well as production capacity which increased 67 per cent from 2016 to 2017.
“We’re investing in our future,” said MacLachlan. “Due to recent successes both nationally and internationally we have a lot of people knocking on our door. The important step now is to ensure we can maximise these opportunities and compete with the big beer brands in the market”.
The agreement, which came into effect in March, is a huge step forward for Deep Creek with significant projected growth as Hancocks provides access to a huge network of beer retailers throughout New Zealand in both on premise and off premise venues.
To ensure the quality, freshness and authenticity of their craft beers, Deep Creek invested in an in-house canning line at the end of 2016. The infrastructure allows their team to be fully involved in production from brewing through to canning, creating small or one-off product runs and alter labelling.
In addition to making waves in New Zealand, Deep Creek have moved into Australia and have dramatically increased their profile there after being awarded the Champion Small International Brewery Trophy at the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA). This trophy was secured after, Deep Creek took home ten medals for their flavour fuelled brews, including gold for their Undercurrent Lager and Lupulin Effect Fresh Hop IPA.
Deep Creek beers will continue to be served on tap in a number of venues including craft bars and restaurants in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with plans to expand throughout wider New Zealand in the coming months.
