Alcohol in New Zealand
Captain James Cook brewed a beer while visiting New Zealand in order to combat scurvy aboard ship.
[4] It was brewed on Saturday 27 March 1773 on Resolution Island, in Dusky Sound, Fiordland from small branches of rimu and mānuka, wort and molasses.
[5] James Cook wrote: "We also began to brew beer from the branches or leaves of a tree, which much resembles the American black-spruce.
From the knowledge I had of this tree, and the similarity it bore to the spruce, I judged that, with the addition of inspissated juice of wort and molasses, it would make a very wholesome beer, and supply the want of vegetables, which this place did not afford; and the event proved that I was not mistaken.
British Resident and keen oenologist James Busby was, as early as 1836, attempting to produce wine at his land in Waitangi.
[7] In 1851 New Zealand's oldest existing vineyard was established by French Roman Catholic missionaries at Mission Estate Winery in Hawke's Bay.
[8] Due to economic (the importance of animal agriculture and the protein export industry), legislative (the strength of prohibition and temperance movements), and cultural factors (the overwhelming predominance of beer and spirit drinking amongst British settlers), wine was for many years a marginal activity in terms of economic importance.
Dalmatian immigrants arriving in New Zealand at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century brought with them viticultural knowledge and planted vineyards in West and North Auckland.
Typically, their vineyards produced sherry and port for the palates of New Zealanders of the time, and table wine for their own community.
The three factors that held back the development of the industry simultaneously underwent subtle but historic changes in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In 1973, Britain entered the European Economic Community, which required the ending of historic trade terms for New Zealand meat and dairy products.
In 1948 Parliament repealed most discriminatory measures, in part due to pressure from Māori servicemen returning from war.
The Licensing Act of 1881 was enacted due to the dissolution of the Provincial Councils of New Zealand to centralize the inconsistent statutes of the former Provinces.
While the new law was supposed to curb drunkenness and crime and to send men home early to encourage family life, it in fact had the opposite effect.
), including ready to drink (RTD) mixed spirits, must be purchased at separate bottle shops (liquor stores).
[20] Under New Zealand law, pubs looking to operate after the 3-4am liquor sales ban will have to apply for special licensing from their local board.
The vast majority of beer produced in New Zealand is a type of lager, either pale or amber in colour, and between 4%–5% alcohol by volume.
This, and the culture of the six o'clock swill, was to have an influence on the styles of beer brewed and drunk in New Zealand which shifted from ales to lagers, using continuous fermentation.
In recent years, pale and amber lager, the largest alcoholic drinks sector in terms of volume sales, have been on a downward trend as a result of a declining demand for standard and economy products.
The excitement created from these successes and from the early results of Cabernet Sauvignon from Auckland and Hawkes Bay launched the industry with ever-increasing investment.
In the 1980s, wineries in New Zealand, especially in the Marlborough region, began producing outstanding, some critics said unforgettable, Sauvignon blanc.
