Gadoochi Brewery owners Nicola McGilvray and Chris Ellenden will appeal the decision from the Invercargill District Licensing committee (DLC) which allowed them to sell their own products as well as cider and beer from Southland and Otago region only — but the committee’s chairman guaranteed the decision had nothing to do with the Invercargill Licensing Trust and they were just following the rules of the Act.
Ms McGilvray said in 2019 they applied for an off-licence at their business, Tuatara Cafe, where they ran a 350-litre brewery.
At the time, their application was denied, allegedly because their premises did not qualify in a trust zone.
Following an objection from ILT, it said: “The answer for the applicant is to establish a standalone operation where manufacturing is the principal business and the off-licence is in the same premises, as other craft beer manufacturers have done previously in Invercargill.”
She said after this, they built a 1800-litre brewery on Bond St which “pretty much” copied the business model from a previous brewery in Invercargill.
“We felt safe in the knowledge they had been granted an off-licence with no restrictions.
“Adding to that, two other off-licences with no restriction have already been granted to individuals in the Invercargill trust area.”
Ms McGilvray was surprised with a decision from the DLC which granted them the licence with the condition they could only sell products they manufactured on their premises, as well as craft beer and cider from the Otago-Southland area only.
“That doesn’t fit in our business structure which is designed to support those breweries that support us. Most of our affiliations are with breweries outside of this regional limitation, this is how small breweries get on the map.
“I don’t think there would be much of a future for Gadoochi if we were to be confined to the Southland-Otago region. It makes [it] extremely difficult to structure a business when the goalposts keep moving.”
The owners said they were not against ILT, but believed it was getting hard to make a business in a trust zone.
Mr Ellenden believed their business could operate in Invercargill which was a licensing trust area, as there were five other breweries in West Auckland’s trust area which were granted off-licences with no restrictions.
“We will appeal the decision from the Invercargill District Licensing Committee — sometimes it just pays to take these issues to a fresh set of eyes, in another region.”
District Licensing Trust chairman Darren Ludlow said the off-licence they applied for in 2019 was for their own product, and initially, for this new one, the same thing happened.
But after a conversation with the licensing inspector, they said they wanted to be able to sell other products as well, he said.
“That’s where there is a clause in the Act that prevents them from having a full off-licence, like anybody else, within a licensing trust district because it’s on the licence trust area,” he said.
“It’s not the licensing trust objecting to it, it’s the restrictions of the Act —They chose to interpret the Act differently, and they’re perfectly welcome, it’s their right to go and appeal the decision.”
ILT chief executive Chris Ramsay said they made a submission to their application, but they did not object to their licence application and did not attend their liquor-licence hearing.
“They have received a liquor licence for the manufacture and sale of their own products, and the DLC has generously allowed them to sell other craft beer products on top of this.
“So I believe their brewery and products would be a great addition to the Invercargill craft beer scene — and even the tourism sector if they chose to also include brewery tours and other related activities.”
