It's safe to say 2024 has been a busy year for Emma Elmslie. 

The last time Emma appeared in The Crafty Pint was in February. Back then, she was working at Mountain Culture when we chatted about her experience studying and working in beer as a woman. With a few months, she'd made quite the move: in June, she traded her life living in Sydney’s inner west for New Plymouth in New Zealand to take up the role of head brewer at Shining Peak.

New Plymouth is the main population centre of the Taranaki region in the west of the country’s North Island, more than four hours from Wellington and the same again from Auckland. While it represents a change of pace from Sydney’s craft beer-soaked inner west, Emma has found there’s a lot to love – even before getting into the region’s natural beauty, which Emma dives into in her answers below.

“It’s a bit of a slow down but I don’t feel like I’m missing out,” she told The Crafty Pint.

“New Plymouth might not have the number of breweries, venues and restaurants that I had in the Inner West, but there’s so many that are really good quality.

“There’s so many people doing really cool things here, and they really care about the produce they’re using and the products they’re making.”

Emma's move to New Zealand is something of a return home. The Kiwi-born brewer, who moved to Australia with her family when she was eight and grew up in the Northern Rivers, had spent her gap year back in New Zealand. She’d considered the move back before, and on seeing the Shining Peak head brewer job online, decided 2024 was the year to do it.

The brewery is central to the manner in which Taranaki locals care for what they produce. Shining Peak's brewpub launched in 2018 and they focus as keenly on hospitality and food as they do on their beers, which don’t often make it to Australia (although we've been told they’re already looking forward to Pint of Origin 2025) but which have picked up several notable awards. This includes winning Champion Small Brewery at the NZ Brewers Guild Awards two years running.

Emma has enjoyed the freedom that comes with taking up the reins at the brewery, where she works closely with founder Jesse Sigurdsson. 

“To be honest, I’m surprised by the amount of autonomy I have with making beer,” she says. “I’ve still got Jesse here who I can bounce ideas off, so it’s a really cool opportunity.

“It’s been really reassuring that not just Jesse but the entire team have trust in me, particularly since it’s two back-to-back wins as Small Champion Brewery at the New Zealand Beer Awards we’re coming off.”

Beyond the awards, Emma was also drawn in by the brewery's care for their community. The name is a reference to Mount Tarakai’s snow-capped peak in winter; in Te Reo Māori, “tara” means mountain peak, and “naki” is thought to derive from “ngaki,” meaning shining. Emma says they work closely with a range of local producers, including Wayward Hops, who have helped launch a hop-growing industry in the region.

It's one of several full-circle moments in Emma’s career to date, given her first professional brewing role was at Wayward Brewing in Sydney before she learned to finesse lagers with Dennis de Boer at Jess Walker at White Bay prior to joining Mountain Culture. In the first of those roles, Wayward head brewer Shaun Blissett encouraged her to design her first beer and it's one that shares a connection with one of her earliest at Shining Peak.

“The first beer I ever brewed was a hazy for [Fempocalypse – a celebration of women and non-binary people in beer],” Emma says. “It was my first month brewing professionally, and I’d never written my own recipe between.

“But Shaun went, 'Go ahead and do it', and I picked Motueka since I am a Kiwi and it’s a New Zealand hop.”

Upon arrival at Shining Peak, Emma was tasked with brewing a beer for the local rugby union club. Naturally, she turned to a hazy pale ale featuring Motueka, later discovering the “local rugby club” was the Taranaki Bulls. And that Ferdie – named after the team’s mascot Ferdinand – would be pouring at upcoming sold-out games.

“It wasn't until after I'd brewed the beer that I worked out that it was for the [National Provincial Championship], which is a major competition here,” she says, “and that it would be at the major stadium, Yarrows, for their games.”

It's safe to say it's been a highlight-filled few months since Emma made the move across The Ditch. As such, we invited her to join us for our Aussie Exports series. 

Emma Elmslie

Why did you make the move to New Zealand? 

Well, I am Kiwi-born but moved to Australia with my family when I was about eight years old. Even though I spent the majority of my life in Australia and have dual – or rather “Jewel” haha... – citizenship, I have always felt the draw of New Zealand. 

Even after finishing high school, I took a gap year back in New Zealand where I spent the year WWOOFing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms), mostly on dairy farms. I suppose being back in Australia again for over a decade, I started to feel the itch, and moving back across The Ditch had been on my mind.

Spending the last eight years in Sydney, I was ready for a change of pace but also a step up in my career – really that could have ended up being in either Australia or New Zealand. But when I happened across the head brewer role at Shining Peak, it really seemed to be everything I looking for. It's in a great location, I could tell they produced quality products from the countless awards the brewery has received, and it's an amazing venue with a strong focus on service and beautiful food.

As a business, they also run a program called the 5% Project. This is Shining Peak’s in-house Philanthropic Programme, which donates five percent of beer revenue to local charities and organisations. This really spoke volumes to me about what they stand for as a business and the culture they want to create.

What does your day-to-day role look like at Shining Peak?

Shining Peak is a small brewery and we’re a tight-knit team, so I’m still very much involved in the day-to-day operations. We operate a 12-hectolitre, two-vessel Premier Brew Kit with five 26-hectolitre fermenters, so timing and turnover of tanks needs to be concise without compromising on quality.

My main focuses as head brewer since starting have been keeping a tight production schedule, developing a thorough limited release schedule, and the further development of the barrel-aged programme, while coordinating with our day-to-day core range.

The brewery runs alongside the venue, so we have to be mindful not to give any customers an unexpected shower from the hose or beer...

Did you have much exposure to New Zealand’s beer scene before moving across?

Over the years, I had managed to get familiar with some breweries when visiting family. But not as much as I’d like! 

However, now living here, any outing or trip is an excuse to discover a new beer or brewery! There really is quite a booming craft beer scene, with around 200, I think, craft breweries in New Zealand.

And what about New Plymouth? What’s the town and wider region like?

The Taranaki region – the area New Plymouth is in – I must say is breathtaking. It’s pretty hard to miss Mt Taranaki, a mountain that stands 2,518 metres high which can be seen from most areas in New Plymouth. Even after a normal day, my drive home from work is incredibly scenic with mountain views on one side and the coast on the other. People are probably sick of me posting videos all the time; I consider myself very lucky to be living in such a beautiful area.

New Plymouth itself, though, has some great venues, with a real food and drinks scene emerging, weekend markets and a year-round calendar of festivals, concerts and events. 

Personally I'm looking forward to attending Speigel Fest in November and WOMAD next year.

What about the local beer world? Are there many other breweries nearby?

Being in an area away from the major cities, there’s definitely a limited number of breweries within the region. But I’ve already attended a number of events like Beervana and the New Zealand Beer Guild Awards where I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of people within the industry.

Are there any big differences you’ve noticed about the beer scene since moving across? 

I think as a part of the beer culture here, there are a lot more one-off beer-style challenges that are held in quite high esteem. For instance, the WCIPA Challenge in Wellington or the NZIPA Challenge in Queenstown, where a number of breweries are selected to brew and enter a beer of that style which is then professionally judged.

There’s also a range of smaller hop companies across the country. There’s even a hop farm not far down the road from New Plymouth, called Wayward Hops, which is really cool as we’re able to source incredibly local, fresh hops for our fresh hop beers during harvest. 

I'm looking forward to brewing with these next harvest in March and April!

Are there any breweries or beers in New Zealand that have stood out since you moved across?

Haha, any New Zealand pilsner – but I think I’m a bit of a sucker for Riwaka [hops]. 

To be honest, I’ve been really impressed with the quality of beer and venue experience at breweries, but I haven’t visited enough to start picking favourites just yet.

What about visitors who come across from Australia? Is there anything they shouldn’t miss?

Shining Peak for one! It’s warm and inviting, you can come in for just a beer or stay a little longer and indulge on the menu. As I’ve mentioned previously, the scenery is pretty amazing, so if hiking is your thing, you won’t be limited to walks and hikes in the area. 

I also highly recommend the drive into New Plymouth, especially if you fly in to Auckland: the length of the road from Pio Pio to New Plymouth is amazing. 

Also, get out to Oakura and hit the food spots there, some of my go-to’s in the area when anyone is visiting.

What do you miss about Australia?

The Inner West of Sydney will always hold a dear place in my heart, being the place where I spent some very formative years as a young adult and had my emersion into the beer scene. The area itself also being a hub for breweries I miss, not only endless beer options, but the friends and support I received from within the industry. 

Regardless of distance, though, they still get me messaging or I’ll never shy away from a FaceTime beer.

You can check out other Aussie Exports features here.
Know an Australian working in the beer industry elsewhere? Drop us a line!

About Will

Will Ziebell is a history graduate who knows more about The Wire than he does about beer. He was awarded the AIBA Best Media trophy for 2018; HBO have told him to please send his fan mail elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

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The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer:

Spending time living in the UK (and backpacking across Europe) when I was 21 certainly gave me a better understanding of the beer and different styles of the world. But I'd say it was a holiday to the High Country a little while later when lunch and a tasting paddle at Bridge Road Brewers created an obsession with Australian breweries and locally made beer.

You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?

• Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.

• Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.

• Stone & Wood Pacific Ale: As the father of my oldest friend once said to me: "It's the perfect refreshing pint that smells like they've loaded it with the God's herb."

The last beer you enjoyed:

Garage Project's DFA while sitting at the bar at Miss Moses as the sounds of The Rolling Stone drifting in the background.

Three things that represent you:

• Bruce Springsteen
• Ken Burns
• The State Library of Victoria

Articles by Will