Cassels Brewery Bar and Restaurant
What makes your venue the Best Gastropub in New Zealand?
Located at the front of the iconic Tannery shopping boutique in the heart of Woolston, Christchurch, The Brewery Bar & Restaurant is a destination attracting locals and visitors alike, who are looking to enjoy award-winning Cassels craft beer and great food made from local and ethically sourced ingredients. The famous woodfired pizzas bring people in from all over town, and pair perfectly with the array of quality craft beers which are brewed onsite. Served by welcoming staff in a relaxed environment, this family-friendly restaurant is the perfect location for your next catch-up.
Describe the experience your customers have at your establishment – what is your food and beverage offering and why do people come back for more?
When customers visit the Brewery Bar they experience a welcoming environment suitable for all weather. They can either dine inside or outside in our all-weather permanent marquee. The outdoor marquee is dog friendly and many visitors often bring their canine companions along which adds to the family-friendly atmosphere. Booking is an easy process with our online booking system, and we can cater for small or large groups and we attract people from all walks of life, young and old, tradies, professionals and families. Our fantastic front of house team provide exceptional service with many customers being on a first name basis with our servers who have been a part of our team for many years including our Barista who has been with the us for 13 years! Our cheffing team pride themselves on producing consistent quality food that is fantastic value for money.
Our menu changes each season, offering a range of crowd pleasers such as a variety of tapas, special-seasoned fries, burgers, mains, desserts and a separate kid’s menu but we are best known for our woodfired pizzas, each different one named after a different Christchurch suburb. Our 2-for-1 pizza Tuesdays are particularly popular with spaces getting booked out completely most of the year.
Tell us how you showcase NZ produce / offerings? Does your menu change with the season and how is it locally influenced. How do you accommodate allergy and dietary requirements?
Local
Where we can we use local produce from our salami maker, free range eggs, bacon, chicken to name just a few. All our dairy produce comes from a small husband and wife team. We endeavour to change our menus with the seasons to tie in with the desire to support local, as well as the cost benefits of utilising plentiful seasonal produce.
Dietary
We provide a wide range of dietary options. Gluten free pizza bases, and GF and DF options for most side plates but not all. We have DF, GF Vegan salads, and specific dishes. We have a significant number of customers with GF, DF and Vegan and dietary requirements and it is an extremely important part of our menu development.
What are your key points of difference and how have you managed to deliver them?
The Brewery Bar was established following the Christchurch earthquakes as a place for people to get together and reconnect and as such has developed a real sense of community especially amongst locals and continue to support local initiatives offering Brewery Bar vouchers for fundraisers. It is the home base and face of Cassels Brewery and people travel from far and wide to enjoy the award-winning beers. We have ten dedicated Cassels taps, three Hand Pull taps and six guest taps with a special “Beer of the Week” offering every week, everything any craft beer connoisseur could want! We are also one of the few establishments with a purpose built cask beer room, specifically built to handle and store real ales. Customers are also able to purchase beer to take away as well to enjoy at home with many opting to use the refillable Cassels mini keg.
Best Known for:
Award-winning craft beer
Seasonal menu
Beer of the week
Please describe your commitment to sustainability.
We do everthing we can to act sustainably, Takeway coffee cups are fully compostable, we actively encourage keep cups. Plastic is avoided with vigour. We support, cater and arrange the annual Heathcote River Clean Up. We prefer and support local suppliers. We specifically imported a number of re-usable mini kegs for our takeaway beer customers to reduce the amount of plastic bottle refills.
We also actively encourage groups of cyclists and are further developing addditional facilities for cyclists with the opening of the cycle way that runs right next to our business.
Have you won any awards in the recent past? Tell us about them.
Our beer has been awarded many national and international accolades. Our flagship Milk Stout was named “Best in the World” four times at the prestigious World beer Awards even beating Guiness in 2019 being named “World’s Best Stout and Porter” and was named “Best Milk Stout” in 2020, 2022 and 2023. Our American Pale Ale was also named as “World’s Best American Style Pale Ale” in 2021. For the Brewery Bar itself, this is the first competition to be entered!
Please describe how you create ambience.
We used to provide music in the courtyard over summer. This year we are trialling not using music as it can dominant the space and customers find it interferes with the free flowing nature of their discussions.
The very setting we provide seems to create the ambience. We have never been able to put a finger on why this actuallty works like it does but turnover and customer numbers prove that what ever it is, it works.
