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I can remember my dad and uncle first getting keen on whole grain brewing in the early eighties. My dad used to mash and boil on the wood fired range at home in Sumner. Cleaning out the gear was always an onerous task but on sunny weekend afternoons we got to taste the goods and compare our beer with uncle Wintons.

It was the pleasant smell of woodsmoke that hit me first. Then the steady hubbub of contented conversation. Dishes and silverware clanking, clinking. And The Brewery‘s co-owner Zak, welcoming guests with a friendly, ‘G’day.’

Woolston brewery Cassels & Sons has turned an old tannery into a boutique pub.
"If you want to drink a bottle of beer, you've got to remember that a lot of energy's gone into making the beer and it's always fossil fuel, apart from our beer," says Zak Cassels, of Cassels & Sons brewing company. Unlike other breweries, Cassels & Sons makes its range of cask-conditioned ales, craft beers and lagers using a wood-fired kettle.

ARCADE PLANS: Developers hope to open The Tannery shopping arcade in Woolston this spring.
Old Victorian tanneries will become part of a new shopping precinct in Christchurch.
The $7 million Woolston shopping arcade, called The Tannery, aims to offer high fashion and art retail and will be developed by businessman Alisdair Cassels.