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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Brewers, Maltsters, Wine and Spirit Merchants

page 329

Brewers, Maltsters, Wine and Spirit Merchants.

Including—Bottlers, Brewers and Maltsters, Wine and Spirit Merchants.

The Campbell And Ehrenfried Company, Ltd., Brewers, Bottlers and Cordial Manufacturers and General Merchants, Lower Queen Street and Elliot Street, Auckland. This company, which is the largest brewing business in the North Island, if not in New Zealand, was formed by the amalgamation of the firms of Messrs Brown, Campbell and Co., and Messrs Ehrenfried Bros., and their incorporation in May, 1897, with a capital of £300,000. The firm of Messrs Brown, Campbell and Co. was formed in May, 1839, by Dr. J. Logan Campbell and the late Mr. William Brown, who carried on business at Thames, and at the Crown and Domain breweries, New-market. The firm of Messrs Ehrenfried Bros. was established in 1868 by the late Messrs Louis Ehrenfried and Bernard Ehrenfried, and was conducted under the same style until the late amalgamation, the negotiations for which were initiated previous to the death of the late Mr Louis Ehrenfried, and after his demise were completed by Mr. Arthur M. Myers and Dr. Campbell. The three directors of the company are Dr. Campbell and Messrs Arthur and Leo Myers; Mr. Arthur Myers being managing director and Mr. A. S. Bankart, formerly with Messrs Brown, Campbell and Co., secretary. When Messrs Ehrenfried Bros. began business in 1868 their output amounted to about sixty hogsheads per month, or an average of 720 per year. In 1879, the output was 6440 hogsheads; in 1892, 6055 hogsheads; in 1893, 6598 hogsheads; in 1894, 7123 hogsheads; in 1895, 7376 hogsheads; in 1896, 8127 hogsheads; and at the date of the amalgamation in 1897, 10,238 hogsheads. The company's output for 1897 and 1898 reached 13,552 hogsheads. In addition to brewing both firms carried on a large wine, spirit, bottled ale and stout trade. The wines were imported from Europe and Australia, and the bottled ales and stout enjoyed
Interior of Offices.

Interior of Offices.

page 330
Messrs Campbell, Ehrennfried & Co.'s Premises.

Messrs Campbell, Ehrennfried & Co.'s Premises.

page 331 a high reputation throughout the Colony. Since the company has been formed this branch has been largely increased, and there is a strong demand for its brands throughout the colonies. The Company has large malt-houses at Newmarket, where it malts its own barley. It purchases largely from Blenheim, Nelson, Canterbury and the Lake districts, and also a small quantity locally in order to encourage the growth of the grain; and it pays top prices for southern barley. In all, it uses about 12,000 sacks, or over 55,000 bushels of barley annually. It is also a large buyer of hops, and uses annually about 65,000 pounds; principally Nelson, and partly English; Bavarian and Californian hops are used for blending purposes. In 1895 the wine and spirit trade of Messrs Brown, Campbell and Co, amounted to £37,000, and that of Messrs Ehrenfried Bros, to £37,874, while in the first year of the company's operations, the output nearly reached £100,000. In 1896 the bottled ale and stout trade of Messrs Ehrenfried Bros. amounted to 13,355 dozen, while the output of the company in 1897–8 reached 33,000 dozen. The company has erected a handsome four-storey building in Lower Queen Street; it runs right through Little Queen Street, and contains the offices, bottling and labelling departments, and the department for the manufacture of cordials, etc. Beneath the ground floor are extensive cellars containing the bins where the fresh brews of beer are kept for the purpose of maturing before bottling, and after being bottled, kept another three months before being delivered. Handsome offices for the manager, secretary and clerical staff abut on the front entrance on the ground floor. The rear portion is used for the storage and delivery of goods at the Little Queen Street entrance. The corking, labelling and capsuling are carried out on the second floor, and there are rows of racks filled with gross upon gross of bottles of ale and stout awaiting delivery, or to be packed in cases for export. The third floor is set apart for the wine, spirit and cordial department, and has a row of sixteen large vats, each containing 350 gallons of spirits and different wines, all duty paid, for small buyers. The foreman in charge is an expert, and is continually experimenting in the manufacture of cordials, bitters, tonics, etc. The company has placed its own brand of “Braemar” whisky on the market, with the most satisfactory results, as the sales last year reached 2500 gallons, and it also deals largely in “Goldeck,” a Hungarian claret which has become very popular. The company's Bavarian hop bitters find a ready market, and last season the output of lemon squash ran to over 3000 dozen bottles. The fourth floor is used principally for bottle washing. An elevator conveys the bottles in crates from below, and they pass into the hands of expert bottle-washers, who average fifty to sixty dozen a day. The board room is a comfortably fitted up apartment in the front portion of the second floor, and contains very handsome and speaking portraits of the late proprietors. The original Albert Brewery was built about fifty years ago; it passed through several hands, and was finally taken over by Messrs Ehrenfried Bros. in 1880. As it stands at present, the building forms two separate portions known as the “old” and “new” building. Each is provided with a complete brewing plant of sixty hogshead capacity, one auxiliary to the other, one being
Interior of Premises.

Interior of Premises.

page 332 driven by gas-power and the other by steam. The two plants are connected by an auxiliary shaft, so that in the case of the failure of the gas or steam power, as the case may be, both can be run by either motive power alone. The brewery is built on the very latest elevation principle. When the malt is received at the brewery it is elevated to the top floor, where it is dumped into bins; thence it goes through a Boby rotary polishing machine, and all foreign substance is separated, thus allowing nothing but polished grain of a uniform size to enter the mill which crushes the malt and elevates it back to the top of the brewery, to be deposited in the crushed malt-bins. From these bins it passes through a Maitland masher, where it is saturated with water by means of a perforated double jacket, and thence conveyed to the mash tun. This tun has a capacity of 200 bushels, and is fitted with a Morton's patent slotted gun-metal false bottom, and a throe-arm ball-bearing sparge. After treatment in the mash tun the liquor is received in a 4000 gallon copper, where the hops and sugar are added, and is boiled for about two hours; then a valve allows it to escape into a “hopback” fitted with strainers, which permit the liquor to run clear into the cooler and keep the hops back to be pressed. The cooler has a capacity of 4000 gallons, and the beer continually passes through it and thence over a Morton's latest patent sixty-barrel refrigerator into the gyles. These gyles consist of eight vats of 800 gallons capacity, and here the liquor passes through the process of fermentation, which lasts for forty-eight hours. It next passes by gravitation into cleaners placed in the cellars to finish the process of fermentation, which takes about eight or nine days, when the beer is practically fit for consumption. The water used for the manufacture of the beer is pumped from an artesian spring in the brewery ground and from a depth of 1104 feet. One hundred feet below the surface there is a large reservoir, and the water consumption amounts to about 20,000 gallons per day. The cellarage capacity of the brewery is apportioned as follows:—No, 1 cellar has a capacity of 500 hogsheads; No. 2, 400 hogsheads; No. 3, 600 hogsheads; No. 4 cellar, 1000 hogsheads; and the stock cellar has a storage capacity equal to 2500 casks of beer. The average temperature is 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the roofs being insulated with pumice to preserve its uniformity. All the casks are made from imported oak staves, and the company keep four coopers regularly employed. On the second floor of the new building are the offices, and the forwarding department opening on Elliot Street. The machinery comprises three fifteen horse-power gas engines, a six-ton freezing machine, and one of Morton's sixty-barrel refrigerators; and the beer casks are raised from the cellars to the flooring stage of the delivery department by an endless chain elevator. The cask-washing department is at the main entrance from Elliot Street, its dimensions being 140 by 60 feet. There the casks are mechanically washed by steam and boiling water, and then put on drying stages, after which they are carefully examined and put down into the cellar by means of an automatic eage. The company owns ten delivery carts and provides two traps for travellers; and the brewery is under the supervision of Mr. Griffiths, an expert brewer, who has been with Messrs Ehrenfried Bros. for many years. About forty-two hands are employed in the brewery, and the company altogether employs about eighty-four men. The company also owns the well-known “Puriri Natural Mineral Water,” the consumption of which is rapidly increasing, and bids fair at no distant date to beat its rival “Apollinaris” in the larger markets of the world. The company is extremely popular owing to its honourable dealings with its clients and customers, and also on account of the practical interest taken by its managers in all works appertaining to the good of the city or to sporting and charitable organizations.
Mr. Myers.

Mr. Myers.

Interior of Premises: Another View.

Interior of Premises: Another View.

Mr. Louis Ehrenfried, whose name was well known throughout New Zealand (but more particularly in the Auckland and Thames districts, where he founded his prosperous business as a wine and spirit merchant in 1868), was born at Hamburg, and emigrated with his brother Bernard to Australia over forty years ago. After a stay of some years in that continent, the brothers decided to try their fortune in New Zealand, the Colony having come into prominence owing to the outbreak of the Dunstan gold “rush” in Otago in 1862. The brothers went into various business ventures, and commenced packing stores to the goldfields. They acquired a valuable station property at Mataura, but later on were obliged to dispose of it, in consequence of having to meet a guarantee for a friend, for whom, without any consideration whatever, they had made themselves liable. When they left the district for the West Coast goldfields, the residents presented them with a piece of plate and an address expressive of regret at their departure. On the West Coast they page 333 experienced the usual ups and downs of a goldfield, and their want of commercial success made it impossible for them to meet all their claims. Nevertheless, when they closed the business on the West Coast, Mr. Ehrenfried resolved that, sooner or later, he should meet all his engagements, amounting to several thousands of pounds. This he succeeded in doing in late years, and the creditors, in token of their appreciation of his highly honourable act, made him a handsome presentation. In 1868, the Ehrenfried Brothers came north and went to the Thames, where they established a brewery and laid the foundation of what has turned out to be one of the most successful businesses in the colony. On the death of his brother in 1869, Mr. Louis Ehrenfried continued the business and launched out into other districts, extending his operations to Auckland. In 1885, he purchased the well-known and old-established business of Messrs R. Whitson and Sons, Queen Street. The trade continued to increase, and Mr. Ehrenried's well-directed enterprise brought him the success which deservedly followed. He was ably assisted by his nephew, Mr. Arthur M. Myers, who managed the business for the last fifteen years of his uncle's life, and who is now its managing director. In 1897, on the 26th of February, Auckland lost one of its most respected citizons in Mr. Ehrenfried, who died at his residence in O'Rorke Street, from a complication of diseases, which defied successful treatment by his medical attendants, Mr. Ehrenfried was a generous, open-handed man, ever ready to assist any deserving case irrespective of denomination. He was a liberal supporter of the Hebrew synagogue, being a member of the Jewish faith. Rarely in the history of the Colony has there been seen such a spontaneous tribute to the excellence of a departed citizen, as that witnessed at the funeral of Mr. Ehrenfried. Thousands of citizens of all denominations assembled at the cemetery to pay a last tribute to the man who was so well loved by his fellows. When at the Thames, he served as a councillor for some years, and in 1880, was mayor of the borough. He filled other public offices and was made a justice of the peace. He was a member of the order of Foresters, and as a bowler was vice-president of the Auckland Bowling Club. The chief characteristic of Mr. Ehrenfriod was his well-known philanthropy; he not only gave, but gave gladly. In his death, Auckland suffered a great loss, for he had proved himself a good and worthy citizen.

The Late Mr. Ehrenfried.

The Late Mr. Ehrenfried.

The Captain Cook Brewery (Hancock and Co.; Moss Davis, proprietor), Auckland. The Captain Cook Brewery was founded in 1862 by Mr. Hancock, who subsequently took his son-in-law, Mr. S. Jagger, into partnership. Mr. Moss Davis, the present proprietor, came into the firm as a partner in 1885, but afterwards bought from the executors of the late Mr. S. Jagger their share of the business, and thus became the sole proprietor. Mr. Davis's unceasing industry and business tact have greatly increased the trade, and now the Captain Cook Brewery is one of the largest and most complete in the colony. The beer is brewed from the best malt and hops grown in New Zealand. In fact, all the articles used are colonial products, and, as these are abundant, there is no temptation to use any
Messrs Hancock & Co.'s Brewery, Showing All The Buildings.

Messrs Hancock & Co.'s Brewery, Showing All The Buildings.

Messrs Hancock & Co.'s Brewery.

Messrs Hancock & Co.'s Brewery.

page 334 extraneous substance in the brewing. New Zealand barley is well known for its good quality, and Nelson hops are at least equal to the famous production of the Kentish hop-grounds. The brewery is arranged upon the most modern principles, the aim of the proprietor being to obtain the best results by the simplest means. This brewery has a great advantage in the matter of its water supply, which is exceptionally pure, and derived from wells bored in the lava of Mount Eden. The brewery does its own malting and makes its own barrels, and it is the boast of the proprietor that the only foreign material used in the establishment is the cork bung. Only one quality of ale is brewed, and that is the best, popularly known as Hancock's celebrated XXXX. In the year 1900 a large and extensive plant for the manufacture of laager beer was erected. It is the first and only plant of the kind erected in the colony. The beer is known by the brand of “Bismarck,” and is already very popular throughout New Zealand. Anyone visiting Auckland should visit the Captain Cook Brewery.

Mr. Moss Davis, the Proprietor, is one of Auckland's most popular and highly-esteemed citizens. Though he is a prominent figure in business circles, he has not yet taken any active part in public life. He is an assiduous worker, and, having the responsibilities of a large concern on his shoulders, is necessarily a very busy man. Mr. Davis has assisted to improve the hotels in Auckland, and has also done much to raise the status of the trade by getting a good class of licensed victuallers into the houses, and securing a close observance of the licensing laws. He is assisted in the management of the business by two of his sons, Messrs Ernest and Eliot Davis, both of whom are popular in business circles.

Mr. Archdale Tayler, Accountant, was born on the 11th of May, 1855, at Weybridge, Surrey, England. He is the eldest son of the Rev. Archdale Wilson Tayler, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, and was educated at the Leeds Grammar school, Yorkshire. On leaving school, at the age of eighteen, he entered the employment of Robinson Clay and Co., cloth manufacturers and merchants, of Leeds. He landed at Wellington in August, 1880, by the ship “St. Leonard's,” and in March, 1883, removed to Auckland, where he entered the employment of William McArthur and Co., with whom he remained eleven years, till they gave up business in 1894. Mr. Tayler was for three years accountant at Cook and Gray's, and is at present accountant for the Captain Cook Brewery, Ltd. He is a Fellow of the Incorporated Institute of Accountants of New Zealand, and sometime local secretary for Auckland, and also sometime secretary of the Warehousemen's Association, and Insurers' Protection Association. Mr. Tayler was for many years a member and soloist of the Auckland Choral Society. He was one of the original founders of the Auckland Amateur Opera Club, in 1885, and played John Wellington Wells in the “Sorcerer,” Gaspard in “Les Cloches,” the Lord Chancellor in” Marquis de Pontsable in “Madame Favart,” Koko in the “Mikado,” the Duke of Plazatoro in the “Gondoliers,” and Sherwood in “Dorothy”; and has also acted as stage manager for the club during the last eight or nine years. He is well known on the concert platform. It has often been said that he mistook his vocation in life, and there is little doubt that, had he adopted the stage as a profession, he would have distinguished himself. In July, 1887, he married Lilias, eldest daughter of Mr James Gartside Culpan, and grand-daughter of Mr William Culpan, one of the pioneer settlers who arrived in Auckland by the ship “Jane Gifford,” in 1842.

Hanna, photo.Mr. A. Tayler.

Hanna, photo.Mr. A. Tayler.

Great Northern Brewery (Ltd.). At Khyber Pass, Newmarket, on the north side of Mount Eden, stands the well-built Great Northern Brewery. It is popularly known as “Seccombe's Brewery,” and was founded in 1860 by Mr. Richard Seccombe. In February, 1890, the business of the Great Northern Brewery was formed into a company, with a capital of £200,000, with Mr. John Mowbray as managing director, and Mr. H. M. Jervis, junior, secretary. Under the new company the business expanded, and extensive additions were made to the brewery. The output has since increased between sixty and seventy per cent.; a fine three-storey bottling department has been erected on the land opposite to the brewery; and a tower, five stories high, has, been put up to cope with the increased trade. The main buildings are situated on a commanding site, over six acres in extent. Shortly after Mr. Seccombe started business he had occasion to sink a well, and when sixty feet was reached the crowbar in use disappeared, and a great underground stream of water was tapped. In the driest seasons the flow of this pure spring water—cool and refreshing—remains unaffected in its volume; in fact, the city at one time drew part of its requirements from this well. The bottle store, a corrugated iron building 100 feet by 33 feet, is the sleeping house of what are known as the “dead marines.” Here between 4000 and 5000 sacks of bottles are seen, and frequently when supplies are coming forward freely there are as many as 10,000 sacks in store. The bottling building is a capitally designed three-storey brick structure, 150 feet long by 40 feet wide. The Great Northern Brewery has a reputation for supplying the best in the colony, and also for bottling in the summer time a light ale, which has no equal in its suitability for the Auckland climate. It allows the beer
Great Northern Brewery

Great Northern Brewery

page 335 and stout to mature for from six to nine months before it permits a pint of it to be bottled. The Great Northern Brewery, in addition to its immense Auckland trade, does a large business with the Islands. To meet the demand for its famous bottled ale and stout, the brewery has to stock over 12,000 dozen. The company's bottled ales and stout are especially suitable for invalids, and for all who require an invigorating tonic, as well as a delicious, wholesome beverage. They are strongly recommended by the medical faculty, being the purest brewed in the world, next to the celebrated Burton-on-Trent ales and Guinness's stout. The rock cellar, 240 feet long and 35 feet wide, with its rows of “tunners,” is particularly well built of solid stone, and perfectly ventilated; and in the summer time it is a delightfully cool place in which to keep the beer. The offices of the company, on the second floor of the building, are well arranged, and contain a waiting-room, public office, and accountant's, secretary's, manager's, and managing director's rooms. Telephonic communication is provided for the manager and managing director, in addition to the public telephone. The malthouse, spotlessly clean, is 160 feet by 30 feet. It is here that some thousands of sacks of barley are annually converted into malt. The ground floor is of concrete, upon which is laid the soaked barley to promote germination. There is a boiler-house, where the water supply used for supplying the bottling department is heated. The brewery tower, of five stories in height, is of very handsome design. It is strongly built, and is fitted throughout with the most modern brewing appliances, and was designed by Mr. Charles Arnold, architect. The walls are of brick, with iron rail supports and girders, and the floors of concrete, so that the building is practically fireproof. From the very top of the tower, the spring water can be heard running into a huge iron tank, which holds 5000 gallons. Last season for the Great Northern Brewery's summer trade over 1000 hogsheads were stored in the cool rock cellars, and this year they will require 1500. The Great Northern Brewery's celebrated draught ale is a first-class production; it is absolutely pure and bright, and is now the best and most popular beer drawn in the colony. The best of hops and malt, and sparkling water—better cannot be drawn from any mountain spring in New Zealand—are the simple ingredients of this nutritious and invigorating tonic.
Great Northern Brewery: Another View.

Great Northern Brewery: Another View.

Mr. John Mowbray, the Managing Director, is well known in business circles, and the senior partner of J. M. and J. Mowbray, sharebrokers and land agents, of Shortland Street. For years past, since the golden days of the Caledonian mine, in 1869, he has been connected with sharebroking in Auckland, and on the retirement of Mr. J. M. Lennox, he was elected to the important and onerous position of chairman of the Auckland Stock Exchange. He has the reputation of possessing special ability in all matters in connection with the brewing industry, in which he figures so prominently. Mr. Mowbray is in every way a popular and useful citizen of Auckland.

Mr. A. Seccombe, a Director, is a son of the late Mr. John Carroll Seccombe, and has been closely identified with the brewery since his youth.

Mr. H. M. Jervis, Junior, Secretary of the Great Northern Brewery Company, has been connected with the brewery for over thirteen years. The greater portion of the hotel work has been ably executed by him; and to his sterling business aptitude, tact, and courtesy, the prosperous state of the brewery at the present time is in a large measure due.

Mr. Philip Luckie, the Accountant, has an efficient staff under him.

Mr. James Brewin, who has been connected with “Seccombe's” for twenty-seven years, is one of the most capable brewers in Australasia. He has a perfect knowledge of his business; both as a maltster and a brewer, he is up to date, and is in every way fitted to manage such an important branch of the business.

Hipkins And Coutts (John Joseph Hipkins and Alfred Coutts), Wine and Spirit Merchants, Bottlers, and General Commission Agents, Elliot Street, Auckland. Established in 1895. The firm started as bottlers of Messrs Speight's celebrated Dunedin ale and stout, but owing to the wonderful expansion of its trade, and in order to meet the requirements of its numerous customers, it added the wine and spirit business. Messrs Hipkins and Coutts secured the sole agency of some of the most celebrated brands of whiskies, namely, Keith's Cadzow Old Liqueur Whisky, Baxter's Barley Bree, and P. Dawson's Perfection Scotch. These three brands are noted for their purity and age, and are guaranteed to be ten years old before shipment to the colony. Large bulk stocks of these whiskies are kept by the firm, and bottled and stored in its extensive cellars, whence it is forwarded to the firm's customers. Messrs Hipkins and Coutts bottle these whiskies from the wood in their natural purity, and they find that they are in great page 336 request in town and country. The Adelaide wines, which are bottled by the firm, are known for their purity and excellence, and are highly recommended by the medical faculty to invalids. The Wanganui cider, of which the firm has the sole agency, is manufactured from the proper cider apples, grown by the Wanganui Cider Company. This beverage has the reputation of being the finest made in the colony, and is extensively consumed during the summer months. The business of the firm has increased so much that two travellers are now employed in the interests of the company in town and country. The premises in Elliot Street are fine brick and concrete buildings, with ample cool cellarage, where large stocks of bottled wines (Spanish, French, and Australian), ales and spirits, are kept maturing, previous to delivery to the firm's customers. About seven men are employed in the bottling department, and at times they are unable to supply the demand. Owing to the energetic commercial qualities of the two partners, the business of the firm is one of the most progressive in Auckland.

Mr. John Joseph Hipkins is a native of West Bromwich, near Birmingham, England. He learned the iron trade with his father, who was a well-known ironmaster, and came to New Zealand in 1884. For a number of years he was with the Auckland Freezing Company, and in 1895, he and Mr. Coutts started their present business. Mr. Hipkins is very musical; he possesses a fine tenor voice, and is a member of St. Paul's church choir. He is an enthusiastis member of the Auckland Bowling Club. Mr. Hipkins is married, and has a family of four.

Hanna, photo.Mr. J. J. Hipkins.

Hanna, photo.Mr. J. J. Hipkins.

Mr. Alfred Coutts is a son of Mr. John Coutts, the well-known superintendent engineer of the Northern Steamship Company. He was educated at the Auckland College and Grammar School, and learned the ironmongery business in one of the large Auckland houses. After serving his apprenticeship he went to Australia, in 1884, and for a number of years was engaged there in various pursuits. Mr. Coutts returned to New Zealand in 1890, and for several years was travelling representative for a prominent ironmongery firm in Auckland. He severed his connection with that firm in 1895, when he and his partner, Mr. Hipkins, started their present flourishing business. Mr. Coutts is well known in musical circles, and is a member of the Auckland Amateur Opera Club, and of the Ponsonby Musical Society, and possesses a fine tenor voice. He is also a member of the Ponsonby Bowling Club. As a Freemason Mr. Coutts is a member of Lodge Ara, No. 1, New Zealand Constitution. He is married, and resides at Shelley Beach Road.

Hanna, photo.Mr. A. Coutts.

Hanna, photo.Mr. A. Coutts.

Auckland: Looking to North Shore.

Auckland: Looking to North Shore.