Pioneering New Zealand brewing company – Yeastie Boys – today announced the setup of an Australian brewing and distribution base for their award-winning craft beer. The opportunity comes in the form of Yeastie Boys Australia – a joint venture with the owners of distribution business Experienceit Beverages.

From mid-January 2017, Yeastie Boys’ deliciously irreverent ales – now to be brewed in Sydney, as well as imported from both NZ and UK – will be available nationally via Yeastie Boys Australia and Experienceit’s distribution channels.

Experienceit Beverages, who already boast an exciting portfolio of Australian and international beer brands, will significantly increase the availability of Yeastie Boys’ innovative ales across Australia.

“We’ve long had a great reputation in Australia but our focus was always elsewhere” Yeastie Boys creative director Stu McKinlay explains. “The team at Experienceit have been good friends for a long time, so they were forefront of our mind when we decided to look at how we approached the Australian market. We connected completely on the idea of actually setting up a base in Australia, which means we’ll now have a local company with its eyes completely trained on what is happening in the great southern land”.

“Experienceit was formed as a result of our passion for craft beer and the desire to source and deliver the worlds best beers to the Australian drinking public in the best condition” said Experienceit Managing Director Johnny Latta. “Yeastie Boys has for a long time been a brand we have admired and over the years they have become good friends.”

“To reach a point in our business that we can now partner with and help drive this brand within Australia, plus working with our friends, is a real delight and something we feel incredibly privileged to be offered” continued Mr Latta. “Our aim with this new venture is to deliver a fantastic selection of Yeastie Boys beers from around the Yeastie globe (UK and NZ), while at the same time creating something uniquely Australian with the Yeastie Boys range, while never forgetting their underlying Kiwi heritage. Expect to see a broader range, improved pricing and importantly a new Australian beer entity focused on delivering a premium quality product to Australian craft beer venues and drinkers.”

Yeastie Boys are not new to setting up on foreign soil – they are now 18 months into a venture brewing in UK, where they have embedded themselves as a part of the local market.

“Exporting our products around the world is becoming less of an option as we see local beer scenes really exploding in both diversity and quality” remarked the now UK-based McKinlay, “and the setup of Yeastie Boys Australia will allow us to build a local base making New Zealand style craft beer in Australia. It gives us far more reason to invest in Australia.”

It’s not all sweetness and light, however. When a new relationship like this begins another one ends. In a similar vein to Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow’s now famous ‘consciously uncoupling’, Yeastie Boys will be moving on from Phoenix Beers – their historical importer and distributor.

“Phoenix have been an integral part of the Yeastie Boys story in Australia… they have been brilliant partners since late 2012. Although it’s certainly sad to move on, we’re immensely excited about the future, and we’re sure to remain close to Phoenix as they continue to distribute a great range of beer” said Mr McKinlay. “It is important for us to acknowledge what a fantastic journey we’ve had together, over these last four years, and to wish them well in their journey ahead.”

Yeastie Boys Australia will release a brand new beer, in 330ml cans, as their first Australian-brewed beer from January 2017. Yeastie Boys NZ brewed beer will remain available through Phoenix Beers until around the end of first quarter 2017.