- Speight's
Infobox Company
company_name = Speights
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1876
location = Dunedin,New Zealand
key_people =
industry = Beverages
products = Beers and lagers
revenue =
num_employees=
homepage = http://www.speights.co.nz/Infobox Brewery
name = Speights
caption =
location =
owner =
opened =
production =
active_beers = brewbox_beer|name=Speight's Gold Medal Ale |style=Lager brewbox_beer|name=Speight's Old Dark |style=English Porter brewbox_beer|name=Speight's Distinction Ale |style=TraditionalDark Ale brewbox_beer|name=Speight's Pale Ale |style=Pale Ale brewbox_beer|name=Speight's Porter |style=Porter brewbox_beer|name=Speight's Pilsner |style=Pilsner brewbox_beer|name=Speight's Summit |style=Lager
seasonal_beers =
other_beers =Speight's is a
brewery inDunedin, New Zealand . It is famous for its promotional branding based on being 'a real southern man' and being 'the pride of the south'.History
Speights was founded by James Speight, Charles Greenslade, and William Dawson. Speight's was first brewed on
4 April 1876 in Dunedin at the present Rattray St site. Since then the Speight's brand has been firmly planted in the deep south of New Zealand.The Speight's brand was removed in August
1960 and replaced with the Lucky brand. However, the public response was less than favourable, so the Speight's brand was brought back into production in October of that year.Speight's distinctive label features three eight-pointed stars. These stars come from both the original provincial arms of Otago, and the fact that Speights was awarded gold medals at the 1877 Brewery awards in three different countries.
Brands
Speight's Gold Medal Ale is the traditionalbeer of students at theUniversity of Otago inDunedin, New Zealand . While marketed as a 'Gold Medal Ale', Speight's is actually a New Zealand draught style beer, brewed usinglager yeast and lagering techniques.Traditionally a very regional brew, the wild popularity of the "Southern Man" series of advertisements has led to Speight's undergoing something of a boom and it can now be found throughout the country.
The Speight's brewery also makes
Speight's Old Dark , and the Speights Craft Range of handmade beer, including Distinction Ale, Porter, Pilsner, Pale Ale, and Harvest Gold, but none of these comes close to its Gold Medal Ale in popularity.Speight's has also introduced Speight's Summit, a lager brewed with all natural ingredients, with the slogan being, "Don't mess with nature".
Marketing
Amongst many marketing angles, the '
Southern man ' campaign has been significantly popular and long running. One television advertisement featured theCardrona Hotel pub. Speights later opened a loose replica of this building inMt Eden ,Auckland as part of its marketing scheme.On 16 April 2007 Speight's announced the
Speight's Great Beer Delivery via Samoa, Panama, the Bahamas and New York to London.Last year Speight's received more than 500 emails for New Zealanders in the UK missing Speight's.
Speight's has used the slogan "Pride of the south" for many years.
Trivia
Since a fire destroyed the Dunedin bottling and canning plant (now the site of a department store) Speight's bottling plant (for its
stubbies ) is inAuckland, New Zealand . It is felt by some Southerners that this should be located in the south, rather than in the north.Packaged Speights (bottles and cans) beer is brewed in
Auckland andChristchurch .At the site of their Dunedin plant the company has installed a tap that pumps water up from a spring deep below the brewery, thus providing fresh, pure water free of charge. This tap was at the centre of an April Fool's joke in 1998 when the
Otago Daily Times said that, just for that day, Speights beer would flow, free of charge, from that tap. [cite web|url=http://www.dunedinlibraries.com/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=remote&uri=full=1100026~!65770~!7&ri=4&aspect=subtab25&menu=search&source=~!remote#focus|title=Celebratory offer of free beer should go down well.|date=1 April 1998 |publisher=Otago Daily Times|accessdate=2008-08-15]ee also
* [http://www.speights.co.nz Official Site]
References
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