The Third Pint Theory

"I had this outside looking in view of New Zealand on many different levels but one of them was this nostalgia and beautiful memories of the coastal lifestyle... I missed that, you know, being able to go to the seaside and that really resonated with me and in how I wanted to build a brand and so it was about the coast and and the quintessential Kiwi bach represented that." — Craig Cooper on the no...

"I'm always out on the farm as much as I can. Yeah. And in the malt plant as well. So yeah, it's my passion really. I'm a bit of a home boy I suppose." Doug Michael of Gladfield Malt on the importance of his rural roots. Welcome back to The Third Pint Theory! In this episode, hosts Michael Donaldson and Martin Bridges catch up with Doug Michael, the founder of Gladfield Malt. Doug discusses his ro...

"I don't think it's going away and nor should it... what I don't like is when there's five taps and three of them are the same thing... it's just not giving people what they want, it's giving people what they think they want." Greig McGill on the over-saturation of hazy beers. In this fantastic episode, Martin finally makes the journey to the "city of the future" - Hamilton - to sit down with Grei...

“The way we look at it is that Garage Project isn't just a brewery, it's a creative studio that happens to work in beer. It's always coming up with new beers, new names, the way you put on an event. It’s much easier to think of it as a creative studio that just happens to use beer as its medium.” Howard Greive on the essence of Garage Project. In this deeply insightful episode, host Michael Donald...

"I think it's a little bugbear of mine that a lot of people demand or seem to want 'dank'. I think dank is not necessarily a fresh hop characteristic and to expect lots of it in a fresh hop beer is, I think, sometimes misguided." Michael Donaldson on one of the common misconceptions of fresh hop beers. Welcome to a special, guest-free episode of The Third Pint Theory podcast! In this session, host...

"In essence we’re a country pub where people come together, brought together mostly by food and sociability” founder Geoff Gwynne on the magic of the McLeod's Pizza Barn. In this episode Martin makes a pilgrimage to his “spiritual home”, the McLeods Pizza Barn in Waipu, Northland, to sit down with Geoff Gwynne, co-owner of the venue and McLeods Brewery. Geoff takes us through the origin story of t...

Welcome to another episode of the podcast! This time, Martin sits down for a morning pint with Dylan from Brothers Beer at their impressive Mount Eden taproom, built right around a full-size 2,000-litre production brewery. The conversation kicks off with a look back at Dylan's brewing journey, starting with his nearly eight-year stint at Deep Creek. Dylan reflects on the "golden age" of the brewer...

Michael & Martin are joined by Denise Garland and Dave Wood, who own Wellington's Winter Ales Festival. They talk to us about what's involved in running a boutique beer festival and what fans can expect from this year's event. Plus Dave and Denise are veterans of the Wellington beer and hospitality scene, so are well-placed to discuss whether the Wellington hospo scene is as bad as it's made out t...

The annual Rare Beer Challenge, designed to raise money for Rare Disorders NZ, is on this year at Auckland's 16Tun, which takes over from the defunct Fortune Favours as the show host. Martin visits 16Tun owner Ewen Thorpe to find out how a one-time member of the Team NZ yachting crew ended up owning a waterside bar. Ewen also has great insights into the state of the beer economy from the POV of a...

Mount Brewing are celebrating 30 years in business — quite an achievement for the small Bay of Plenty operation. Michael and Martin look back at Mount Brewing's history and Martin chats with head brewer Pawel Lewandowski about how a young Polish tuniversity graduate ended up brewing beer in New Zealand.

Martin visits the just-opened Neck Of The Woods brew pub in Tauriko, just outside Tauranga, and talks to owner Scott Taylor about his journey home to the Bay of Plenty and his years at the ill-fated Deep Creek. This is the first of two pods from the Bay of Plenty, with Mount Brewing next up. Michael and Martin also discuss the recent Rising Tide Lagerfest, and dissect the winners.

New Plymouth brewery Three Sisters are expanding in to Wellington and raising new capital to further grow their production. It's on the back of strong growth both within New Zealand and overseas in 2025, driven by their unique smoothie sour offerings. Martin and Michael usher in 2026 by looking at the success of Three Sisters and analysing the problems facing Behemoth, who are taking on a private...

Michael & Martin look back on the year in beer, looking at the highlights (of which there were plenty) and the lowlights (fortunately, they were few). We name our beers of the year and discuss which breweries impressed us the most in 2025.

Hazy IPA has been part of the New Zealand beer market for just on a decade. Michael and Martin discuss the impact of the haze craze before crossing over to our last Q&A from this year's Beervana festival which features James Cooper and Laura Park from Lakeman and Andrew Childs from Behemoth talking all things hazy.

Michael and Martin discuss the big news stories of the past week — the saving of Hop Federation after Blenheim's DNA stepped in to buy the brand — and the sale of Christchurch icon Three Boys, which is now owned by the head brewer Damian Treacher and his business partner Jason Bass. That links into our Beervana live Q&A with Brian Watson of Good George and Eddie Gapper of Altitude Brewing about th...

Sawmill Brewing in Matakana, north of Auckland, are renowned for their sustainability programme. As New Zealand's only B Corp certified craft brewery they are leading the way for breweries that aim to not only make good beer, but do good things for the environment, and the people who work for them. Co-host Martin Bridges visits owners Kirsty McKay and Mike Sutherland to find out what makes them so...

George Duncan of Duncan's Brewing in Paraparaumu and Joe Emans of Three Sisters in New Plymouth are two of the best when it comes to the innovative dessert-style beers. Whether it's smoothie sours, ice cream sours, pastry stouts or milkshake IPAs, these two are industry leaders. They join Michael & Martin at Beervana to talk about beers that didn't even exist a few years ago.

Epic and Hallertau are two of the most influential breweries in New Zealand when it comes to hop-driven, American-style IPAs. Both breweries turn 20 this year and their respective founders, Luke Nicholas from Epic and Steve Plowman from Hallertau, talk about the early years of the hop revolution when they created two special beers: Armageddon and Maximus; as well as starting the Malthouse West Coa...

Live from Beervana we bring you a session on the wide and wonderful world of lager. Martin & Michael are joined by special guests — Emma Elmslie of Shining Peak, Dani Wild from Brew Moon and Vlad Petrovic from St Leonards. We sample an eclectic range of different lagers — from a Japanese Rice Lager, to a Baltic Porter and a classic NZ-style Pilsner. Plus Martin and Michael ponder why lager become...

Michael & Martin bring you the first of the live Beervana Sessions, a live Q&A recording at the Beervana Festival in Wellington on August 22-23. In this episode Pete Gillespie and Dave Bell from Garage Project talk about their Chance Luck & Magic series, including the 2021 vintage which was crowned Champion Beer at the NZ Beer Awards. Plus Matt Smith from 2025 champion brewery, Brave Brewing, talk...

Michael and Martin are joined by Ben Heaven who was catapulted into national prominence when his Judas Sheep Dark Lager won a place in the New World Beer & Cider Awards Top 25. Ben runs a tiny farm-based brewery — Heaven's Brewery — in the Marua Valley, north of Whangarei. His sudden fame is backed by years of brewing both in England and New Zealand. It's a fascinating story and a must-listen for...

Martin and Michael are joined this week by Hamish Ward and Caroline Muller-Ward, the husband-and-wife team behind Isthmus Brewing. They're here to talk about the roller-coaster ride they've been on over the past couple of years since Hamish lost his brewing job at Deep Creek. After some ''dark times'' they're on a high at the moment after their 3D IPA was crowned champion beer at the New World Bee...

Michael and Martin give you a run-down of Beervana, including their picks of the annual festival, held in Wellington last weekend ... which may, or may not, include an ice cream made from beer! Plus they take a look at the just announced New World Beer & Cider Awards, running through the list of the Top 25 beers and giving their recommendations on what to try first.

Ten years brewers Jason Bathgate and Andrew Childs were severely burned in a workplace accident when boiling wort exploded from a brew kettle as they were adding hops. They suffered burns to 30% and 40% of their bodies respectively. Martin chats with Jason, formerly of McLeod's and now running his own brewery, Aliment, and Andrew of Behemoth Brewing about that day and how it changed their lives.

Michael and Martin delve deep into the New Zealand Beer Awards announced last weekend in Christchurch. We run through all the trophy categories, picking out trends, analysing results and looking at some surprise results. Congratulations to Brave Brewing who took out Champion Brewery, and to Garage Project who took out Champion Beer with Chance Luck & Magic 2021.