The company was founded in 1930 by Sir Henry Kelliher with the purchase of Levers and Co. and the Waitemata Brewery Co. in Otahuhu, owned by W.J. Coutts, who became a director. Coutts' son, Morton Coutts, took over as director in 1946, and later developed a new production process called "continuous fermentation", which enabled beer to be made continuously, without the need to stop and clean between batches. The system proved popular enough to be sold to other brewing companies.
Breweries
DB Breweries owns and operates four breweries in New Zealand - Waitemata Brewery, Tui Brewery, DB Draught Brewery and Monteith's Brewery. Mainland Brewery was renamed to DB Draught Brewery in 2012 in honour of the brand’s significance in the South Island. The Tui Brewery was established in 1889 by Henry Wagstaff and Edward Russell. The main brand is Tui, a 4% abv pale lager, named after a common native New Zealand bird. The New Zealand Consumers' Institute recently criticised Tui for claiming to be an "East India Pale Ale" when it is in fact a pale lager that bears little resemblance to the traditionally hoppy, bitter or malty India Pale Ale styles.
''Yeah right''
Tui is promoted through a humorous advertising campaign which uses stereotypes, heavy irony and the phrase Yeah Right. These advertisements have caused some controversy, such as a billboard in Wellington stating 'Camilla for Queen? Yeah Right' and one stating 'Aucklanders are people too. Yeah Right'. Others to have made the news include "Dad's new husband seems nice - Yeah right" ; "I nvr txt whl drvn - yeah right"; "When Winston says no, he means no - Yeah right"; "Captain, I know a short cut to the port – Yeah right" ; "Our father in Heaven, Tamaki be your name – Yeah right"; "She clearly married Dotcom for his body – Yeah right". In 2010 a church was threatened with legal action after parodying the Tui billboard campaign with the slogan, "Atheists have nothing to worry about - Yeah Right".
LiquorLand
LiquorLand was formed in New Zealand in 1981 as a wholesale liquor chain, growing to 18 stores in its first year of business. Although it shares the name, it is not related to Liquorland in Australia. LiquorLand is a wholly owned subsidiary of DB Breweries who originated and owns the Master Franchise. Through acquisition of rival Dalgety NZ Ltd in 1982, the national chain expanded to 29 outlets. Further expansion throughout the 1980s with the acquisition of the Wilson Neill business in 1989 saw Liquorland reach over sixty stores. In April 2000 LiquorLand’s business model changed from being managed stores to a total franchise chain called LiquoLand Limited. Today LiquorLand has almost 80 stores nationwide with sales close to $300 million per year. In November 2008, DB Breweries sold the company to Foodstuffs for an undisclosed sum. It is understood that DB was negotiating with both Progressive Enterprises and Foodstuffs. It was understood DB made it clear that consideration of future interests for franchisees and staff, as well as the continuation of the brand as a whole, formed a major part of the decision of whom to sell to. DB officially confirmed that it was looking to continue its relationship with the franchise, retaining marketing and supply agreements.
Radler Trademark
DB trademarked the word Radler in 2003. This was contested in court by the Society of Beer Advocates who lost the case in 2011 when the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand ruled in favour of DB breweries after a two-year court battle. The Society of Beer Advocates likens this trademark to being able to trademark the word 'Muesli' for cereal and is disappointed in this result as the word radler is commonly used in Europe. This ruling has also been labelled as 'out of touch with reality' and condemned by some intellectual property experts in New Zealand.
