Beer brand Panhead Custom Ales was launched with a bang via events in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane last week.
The brand is yet another Kiwi migrant arriving on Australia shores, and hails from the Upper Hutt region of New Zealand’s North Island.
The Panhead brewers style themselves as a supercharged, high-octane outfit – in their own words the ‘monster truck rally’ equivalent of the craft beer industry – and are promising to deliver some high-quality brews.
The brand has been testing the waters in recent years, exporting small quantities of its beers to the Australian market.
However, it did not have a serious foothold.
A merger with Lion in 2016 paved the way for Panhead’s full-fledged entry into the Australian beer segment.
Panhead Custom Ales will now be brewed domestically, with its flagship Quickchange Xtra Pale Ale to be produced out of Lion’s Malt Shovel Brewery in Camperdown, Sydney.
Specialty brews, produced in New Zealand, will also be imported for sale.
The Malt Shovel Brewery, where the beers are made, has a strong track record, and is the stomping ground of the highly successful James Squire brand.
Its team of brewers have produced a string of successful new beers in recent years, including the Swindler Summer Ale.
It remains to be seen whether Panhead can crack the frothy Australian craft beer market as new brands and beers are a dime a dozen at the moment.
However, with the backing of Lion, and the skilled team at Malt Shovel Brewery at their disposal, things look promising for this New Zealand migrant.
