Yeastie Boys At The Festival

Yeastie Boys Sam at The Festival podcast

Friends since high school, New Zealanders Sam Possenniskie and Stu McKinlay discovered craft beer in college and began experimenting with homebrewing. They got rave reviews from their friends and acquaintances who tried their Pot Kettle Black American style porter. Some years down the road, after they had established careers -- Sam in banking and Stu in internet technologies -- they decided that they had the skills, recipes and, most important, the passion for making great beer. So why not share that with the world? Thusly, Yeastie Boys was born.

 After only one year in business, their Pot Kettle Black porter won top awards for that category at the New Zealand Brewers Guild 2009 awards! They continue to impress, as last year they scored three important brewing trophies: Champion Beer at The Asia Beer Awards (for Pot Kettle Black), People's Choice at The Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular (for Gunnamatta), and Morton Coutts Trophy for Innovation at the Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards (for Rex Attitude).

Yeastie Boys are a tenant brewer, like Pretty Things, Grimm Artisanal, Mikkeller, and many others who don't own a brewing facility, but basically rent out a brewery from batch to batch. The Boys brew at Invercargill Brewery in Invercargill, NZ, which is at the very bottom of the South Island, about 500 miles from Wellington on the North Island, which is where the Yeasites are based.

Golden Age of Bloodshed, made with beets.

Pot Kettle Black, their flagship beer, biggest seller and most awarded brew, is augmented by a roster of great variety, including their Digital IPA, specifically geared for the U.S. market, and the Gunnamatta, an IPA-base beer in which four types of New Zealand hops are complimented by a huge addition of Earl Grey Blue Flower leaf tea! They've made beer with beets -- Golden Age of Bloodshed -- and a 100% peat smoked malt beer called Rex Attitude, which, in terms of smokiness, makes Schlenkerla taste like water! In other words, they're not afraid to make some extremely unusual, challenging brews!

About 500 miles from YB HQ to the brewery.

  [link to podcast page]

(L-R) Sam and Stu. (Photo courtesy of Crafty Pint)