Tui - a colourful history
(well, mostly orange)
If you didn't know Tui was established in 1889 you've probably been in a coma for quite some time, so here's a little catch up with what's been going on in the world:
| 1953 | Edmond Hillary & Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest. |
| 1969 | The Americans landed on the moon. |
| 1976 | Bay of Plenty won rugby's inaugural National Provincial Championship. |
| 1985 | New Zealand became the world's first anti-nuclear country. |
| 1987 | The All Blacks won the first rugby world cup. |
| 1991 | USSR fell apart. |
| 1995 | New Zealand won the America's Cup. |
| 1996 | Rugby became professional. |
| 2000 | The "millennium bug" hit, destroying civilization. |
| 2003 | Civilization was completely rebuilt to its former glory. |
| 2005 | Cambo smashes Tiger and wins the US Open - Tiger commiserates by scoring a few birdies. The Black Caps abandon their Zimbabwe tour and celebrate by being beaten by Aussie in the ODI and tests byTVNZ sack the mother of our nation (and MILF) Judy Bailey. |
| 2008 | The big man, Sir Ed passes away and the other big man, Helen Clarke loses her leadership. |
| 2011 | New Zealand win the World Cup, beating a woeful South Africa by 58 points in the final. |
Now on with the story of Tui
As the legend has it, early in 1889, entrepreneur Henry Wagstaff stopped for a cup of tea at the banks of the Mangatainoka River. He found the water made the finest cuppa he'd ever tasted and decided this would be the ideal place to build a brewery.
In that same year he bought land by the river and established Tui Brewery, Mangatainoka. His dream was to supply "export quality brews to beer drinkers around the colony" and his ales quickly earned a reputation for excellence, with the cry "Make mine a Wagstaff" heard throughout the taverns in and around Pahiatua in the Wairarapa.
Despite being loved by the locals Tui remained pretty much a Wairarapa-Hawke's Bay secret until the 1990s, when Massey University Students adopted Tui as their preferred drop. This led to the expansion firstly through the lower North Island, then through the rest of the country. Today Tui is popular throughout the country with those who like nothing more than to sink a few beers and the chance to take-the-piss with their mates. Doing a Uni assignment on Tui? Well, why not pass for a change with our in-depth history and marketing.
