Locals frothing as DB Breweries considers relocating iconic beer out of Greymouth

November 13, 2020

For locals, who’ve spent years making and enjoying “the taste of the West Coast”, it’s a slap in the face.

West Coast locals are frothing at the mouth at news DB Breweries is proposing to end the production of Monteith's beer in Greymouth.

For locals, who've spent years making and enjoying "the taste of the West Coast", it's a slap in the face.

"I've a good mind to take all their booze off the bloody taps actually," Kells Hotel publican Alan Goodsir told 1 NEWS.

DB Breweries wants to cut seven roles at its Greymouth facility, moving all commercial beer production to other centres.

It's tried it once before, in 2001, and met fierce opposition. Residents boycotted, the local MP laid in and it quickly changed its mind.

The brand has long traded on its West Coast roots, even referencing closure attempts to strengthen its image. 

This time, if the proposal is confirmed, the lights really will go out.

Grey District Mayor Tania Gibson is appealing to DB to allow brewing to continue.

"We want them to hand over the bottling plant and the brewing plant to the West Coast, so they have a chance to establish their own brand on the West Coast of a craft brewery," she says.

DB says only 0.1 per cent of its production comes from the West Coast and the company needs to reduce costs.

But locals feel abandoned.

"To hell with them, taking our good beer away from the Coast and making it somewhere else. It's not really going to be Monteith's anymore, is it?" Goodsir says.

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