File:Red Band Beer (13272081915) (cropped).jpg

On 27 March 1773, explorer James Cook brewed the first beer in New Zealand.

Nestled at Dusky Sound, Cook's brew of molasses, rimu mānuka leaves was designed to prevent scurvy amongst his crew. "We began to brew beer from the branches or leaves of a tree, which much resembles the American black-spruce" wrote Cook in 'A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World'." 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."

After Cook came New Zealand's first brewery, set up by Jewish trader Joel Polack at Kororāreka (later Russell) in 1835. The rest, as they say, is history - a history that includes heated prohibition battles, the infamous six o'clock swill, national and international breweries, and more recently, the advent of boutique craft brewers across New Zealand.

Above is advertisement for Red Band Draught Bitter, commissioned by NZ Breweries (now Lion) and possibly painted by Maurice Poulton around the 1950s. It comes from a collection of original artwork created by the New Zealand Railway Studios, who employed a number of artists to do both Railway and commercial designs. Interestingly, before merging into NZ Breweries in 1923, Red Band was originally brewed by Staples Brewery in Thorndon (the registered historic building connected to current-day Thorndon New World). See: www.historic.org.nz/TheRegister/RegisterSearch/RegisterRe...

Reference: AAAA 20991 W5597 Box 1/f 431 www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=16633058

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