New Zealand’s beer scene splits cleanly into two stories. One is a handful of long-established national brands, Steinlager, Speight’s, Tui, Export Gold, that most New Zealanders grew up drinking and that still dominate supermarket shelves and pub taps. The other is a wave of small independent breweries, led by Wellington’s Garage Project, that have spent the last decade turning New Zealand into one of the more interesting craft beer scenes per capita anywhere in the world, regularly picking up medals at the World Beer Cup and the Australian International Beer Awards. Here’s both sides, what to actually buy, and what to serve it in.
New Zealand Beers at a Glance
| # | Beer | Style | ABV | Best known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steinlager Classic | Lager | 5% | New Zealand’s best-known international export beer |
| 2 | Speight’s Gold Medal Ale | Ale | 4% | New Zealand’s biggest-selling beer brand, 1 in 5 beers sold |
| 3 | Tui | Pale Lager | 4% | The everyday Kiwi pub beer, famous for its cheeky billboard ads |
| 4 | DB Export Gold | Lager | 4% | A crisp, fruity mainstream lager and one of NZ’s top sellers |
| 5 | Garage Project Hapi Daze | Pacific Pale Ale | 4.6% | Flagship beer from NZ’s most decorated craft brewery |
| 6 | Emerson’s Pilsner | NZ Pilsner | 4.9% | The beer that helped kick off NZ’s craft beer movement in 1992 |
| 7 | 8 Wired Hopwired | NZ IPA | 7.3% | One of the world’s first IPAs brewed entirely with NZ hops |
| 8 | Behemoth Lid Ripper | Hazy IPA | 6.9% | Flagship hazy from an Auckland brewery with a shelf of NZ Beer Awards medals |
The everyday favourites
These four beers make up the bulk of what’s actually poured across New Zealand, from rugby clubrooms to supermarket fridges.
Serve in: Tall pilsner glass, ice cold
Serve in: Traditional pint glass
Serve in: Straight pint glass, well chilled
Serve in: Straight pint glass
The award-winning craft side
New Zealand’s craft brewing scene is small by global standards but punches well above its weight at international competitions. These four are the names that keep showing up on podiums.
Serve in: Tulip or pint glass
Serve in: Pilsner glass
Serve in: IPA glass or tulip
Serve in: Tulip or stemless IPA glass
Garage Project’s first-ever New Zealand World Beer Cup gold in 2026 says as much about how far the country’s craft scene has come as anything Steinlager or Speight’s has done on the export side.
What ties it together
New Zealand’s beer identity runs on the same split you’ll find in a lot of smaller brewing nations: a couple of big groups (Lion and DB Breweries) that own the household names most people actually drink day to day, and a genuinely independent craft scene punching well above its weight internationally. If you’re exploring New Zealand beer for the first time, Steinlager or Speight’s is the easy, familiar starting point; Garage Project or 8 Wired is where things get interesting. For more on how other countries’ beer scenes stack up, see the most popular beer by country guide, or browse the full list of best beers roundups by country.
New Zealand Beer FAQs
What is the most popular beer in New Zealand?
Speight’s is New Zealand’s best-selling beer brand overall, accounting for roughly 1 in 5 beers sold nationwide as of its 150th anniversary in 2026. Steinlager is the country’s most internationally recognised export beer.
Is Steinlager the same as Steinlager Classic?
Steinlager Classic is the original, flagship version of the brand, first brewed in 1958 (originally called Steinecker) and renamed Steinlager in 1962. Lion also sells other Steinlager variants like Steinlager Pure and Steinlager Ultra Zero Carb.
What makes New Zealand craft beer distinctive?
New Zealand-grown hop varieties, especially Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, Riwaka and Wai-iti, give a lot of New Zealand craft beer a distinctive tropical, citrus and white-wine-like character that’s become internationally sought after, including by brewers outside New Zealand who import the hops.
Who owns Tui and DB Export Gold?
Both are brewed by DB Breweries, majority-owned by Heineken, at breweries including the historic Tui site in Mangatainoka, lower North Island.
Has a New Zealand beer ever won a major international award?
Yes. Garage Project won New Zealand’s first-ever World Beer Cup gold medal in 2026 for its sour red ale Engeltjes Pis, and multiple New Zealand craft breweries, including 8 Wired and Behemoth, have won awards at the Australian International Beer Awards.
