Vietnam & New Zealand: Vietnamese craft beers to be brewed and released in New Zealand

A range of Vietnamese craft beers will be brewed and released in New Zealand as of later this year, Inside FMCG reported on September 7.

The move is the result of a partnership between Saigon-based Heart of Darkness and Auckland brewery Behemoth Brewing, which extends to nationwide distribution.

“Giving people a taste of Vietnamese craft beer in New Zealand is going to be a fun journey for us and Behemoth to work together on,” said Heart of Darkness founder John Pemberton.

“I know that Andrew and his team are going to have a great time brewing our beers and we hope the New Zealand craft beer drinker is going to get a lot of enjoyment from having fresh Heart of Darkness brews available to them.”

“About a year ago, whilst at the Seabrew conference in Thailand, we started talking about whether there was an opportunity to do something together in New Zealand,” said Behemoth founder Andrew Childs.

“Then Covid lockdowns hit both our businesses, and although it delayed a few things, we realised over lots and lots of Zoom calls that brewing something exotic from overseas might go some way to help the homebound situation we currently have in New Zealand.”

Behemoth will initially brew two beers from Heart of Darkness’ core offering (Kurtz’s Insane IPA and Some Sorcerer Hazy IPA), offered in both cans and kegs. The release will be followed by regular seasonal beers.

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