When you go down a rapid, the water slows down at the bottom, pooling in a calm space on the side of the river. It\u2019s a safe place where kayakers can regroup, recount a potentially hard ride, and crack a beer if they feel like it\u2014that\u2019s the Eddyline. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that line where you cross from the fast-flowing water into the slow, calm water,\u201d explains Eddyline Brewery<\/a> Owner and Brewer Michiel Heynekamp, who used to drive from New Mexico to Colorado with his partner and Eddyline\u2019s other owner, Molley Heynekamp, to go whitewater kayaking. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of beers in the eddies!\u201d <\/p>\n As I walked into Eddyline\u2019s second location in Nelson, New Zealand, slightly sweaty from a bike ride across Tasman\u2019s Great Taste Trail, the calm hit me immediately. Fresh hop bines hung on the walls, recently picked, and lights shaped like hops hung from the ceiling. To one side, a chalkboard showed off Eddyline\u2019s current taps\u2014over twenty strong. <\/p>\n Behind the bar, a mountain graphic with curls of waves at the bottom stood tall; rays of light shone over it, seeming to mimic the sun\u2014everything connected to Mic and Molley, American homebrewers who loved the outdoors and for the last ten years have found themselves thousands of miles from \u201chome.\u201d <\/p>\n Eddyline didn\u2019t initially start in New Zealand, but the Buena Vista, CO-based brewery now has two locations in Nelson. The two brewery owners\u2019 paths have zigged and zagged as much as any whitewater rapids. But they\u2019ve found their Eddyline in a place perhaps they never expected. <\/p>\n At the bottom of the world. <\/p>\n Mic and Molley met at New Mexico Tech. He was studying for a master\u2019s degree in geology while she was in accounting and had plans to open a restaurant. <\/p>\n With research funded by Exxon, Mic fully intended to take a full-time position with the company in Houston when he graduated. But after an orientation in July, he came back thinking, \u201choly cow, you have to wear a fancy suit?\u201d <\/p>\n Feeling pretty discouraged, Mic and Molley took a trip climbing in Southwestern Colorado at one of their favorite mountain ranges. \u201cWe ended up shutting down this cool little restaurant that had a big window [looking into] the brewery,\u201d recalls the homebrewer. \u201cAfter a couple of beers, I just knocked on the glass, and the brewer came out. I just wanted to ask him some questions, but we ended up staying until one in the morning.\u201d <\/p>\n Until then, the pair of homebrewing hobbyists had never considered opening a brewery. For Molley\u2019s senior project, she needed to write a business plan. \u201cI had the perfect idea,\u201d says Mic. \u201cWe can make beer and have a restaurant!\u201d <\/p>\n But ideas are one thing. Reality is another.<\/p>\n Although they originally wanted to open a brewpub in Colorado, that didn\u2019t happen. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were just two twenty-five-year-olds with zero money to our name,\u201d shares Mic. \u201cEveryone laughed at us.\u201d <\/p>\n The pair eventually convinced a World War II Marine, who was renovating an old Adobe building in New Mexico, to lease them the space. <\/p>\n \u201cWe went to all the dairy farms and just asked farmers if they had any old, spare tanks,\u201d laughs Mic. The pair hodgepodged Socorro Springs Brewing Co. together, opening the brewery in 1999 in Socorro, NM. <\/p>\n \u201cBut the dream was still to get to Colorado,\u201d says Mic. <\/p>\n Ten years later, they opened Eddyline in Buena Vista, CO, as a small brewpub serving beer and wood-fired pizza. <\/p>\n So how does a couple with brewing origins in New Mexico and a dream to open a brewery in Colorado get halfway across the world to Nelson, New Zealand? <\/p>\n Photography courtesy of Hop Culture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 2010, Molley and Mic took their first holiday in a decade. They chose New Zealand because by that time they had three kids and knew cousins there. They spent time driving around in a camper van, working their way from the top of the North Island down to the South Island. <\/p>\n \u201cOur minds were blown,\u201d exclaims Mic. \u201cOh my god, this is Colorado with a coastline!\u201d <\/p>\n The one big difference? <\/p>\n They couldn\u2019t find any craft beer. <\/p>\n Mic specifically remembers celebrating an unofficial holiday in New Zealand called Crate Day, which takes place on the first Saturday of December. <\/p>\n More of a drinking challenge, Crate Day involves picking up a whole crate of twelve 745ml beer bottles and trying to down as much as possible before midnight. <\/p>\n Mic says they got super excited because, while driving around the North Island, they found a liquor store with a crate of India pale ale. \u201cWe were like, score,\u201d he remembers. When they finally popped the top of these bottles later on the beach, a brown, caramelized beer came out. <\/p>\n \u201cWhere is the [craft] beer here?\u201d Molley exclaimed. <\/p>\n Mic chimes in, \u201cNobody even knew what an IPA was here. What was this place!?\u201d <\/p>\n The light bulb went off. \u201cHoly cow, we know how to make IPA,\u201d says Mic.<\/p>\n After returning from vacation, Mic and Molley admitted that they might have been wearing rose-colored glasses. \u201cIt couldn\u2019t have been that good,\u201d says Mic. So they tested the theory, flying back to New Zealand for a second trip. This time, they landed on the South Island at Christchurch, rented a camper van, and drove north, eventually pulling into Nelson. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was just such a cool town,\u201d says Mic. \u201cI still think it\u2019s the friendliest town in New Zealand.\u201d <\/p>\n Excited and buzzing, the duo applied for a business visa in New Zealand when they returned to Colorado. <\/p>\n And heard nothing back.<\/p>\n Without a clear path to New Zealand, Mic and Molley moved forward in Colorado, eventually pulling a several-million-dollar SBA loan for a second Eddyline location.* <\/p>\n \u201cAs we broke ground and poured the concrete for the foundations, we got this email,\u201d says Mic. \u201cHey, here\u2019s your business visa.\u201d <\/p>\n It took two years for the New Zealand government to approve the couple\u2019s request, but it only took Mic and Molley two months to move. They received the confirmation email in February 2014 and, by April, had booked a flight to New Zealand. <\/p>\n According to Mic, the email ambiguously told them they had nine months to progress significantly. By August 2014, the pair had rented a house, signed an agreement to lease a space for a brewery (just an empty lot with a big sign), and submitted that progress to immigration. <\/p>\n Mic describes those initial months were a mix of everything. Except everything was different. <\/p>\n While building out the brewery, the pair had to switch from an imperial measurement system used in the States to a metric one. In New Zealand, parts of equipment, plumbing, and electrical systems, to name a few, were all different. Even regulations around labor and employment varied. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a totally different language,\u201d says Mic, who admits that while it was challenging to relearn everything he knew\u2026it was also pretty fun. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you kayak the Grand Canyon you don\u2019t run it all at once,\u201d he explains. \u201cYou break it down into little rapids and every rapid you break down into hopping form one eddy to the next. You break it down into steps and enjoy the adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n Starting a brewery in New Zealand was certainly the adventure of a lifetime. By February 2016, Eddyline New Zealand opened its first location, going back to its roots as a tiny little hub with wood-fired pizzas. <\/p>\n The response. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople just loved it,\u201d says Molley. <\/p>\n *Editor\u2019s Note: While in New Zealand, Mic and Molley hired Brian England (who is also Mic\u2019s brother-in-law) to be the CEO of their Eddyline Brewery in Buena Vista, CO. In 2018, Mic and Molley sold their Colorado facility to England and the brewery\u2019s financial controller, Melissa McFee.<\/em><\/p>\n Photography courtesy of Hop Culture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Photography courtesy of Hop Culture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Look at the chalkboard on Eddyline\u2019s wall and you might initially be overwhelmed. Beers read like scorelines, ranging from a healthy dose of West Coast IPAs and hazies to a handful of wheats, session ales, pilsners, and even an amber lager modeled off Modelo.<\/p>\n \u201cComing from the States, one of our favorite beers was Negro Modelo,\u201d says Mic, who remembers drinking that beer at summer barbecues in the 90s when he worked as a lifeguard. Eddyline\u2019s own version called Amigo<\/a><\/strong>, which won a gold medal at the 2023 NZ Brewers Guild Awards and bronze at the 2024 NZ Brewers Guild Awards, starts with base of New Zealand Gladfield malts and malted maize corn. Ad additional hit of NZ hops creates an easy-drinking amber lager that you could crush all through a New Zealand summer. <\/p>\n When Eddyline first opened in Nelson, people often came in asking for a draught. \u201cOh, all our beers are on draft,\u201d Mic would answer to which they\u2019d respond. \u201cNo mate, just give me a bloody draught.\u201d <\/p>\n Unbeknownst to the Heynekamps, draught<\/em> was a style of beer in New Zealand, a malty, lightly hopped amber. Amigo not only reminded Mic and Molley of their summers in the States, but filled a niche for old-school drinkers in New Zealand. <\/p>\n On the hoppy side, CrankYanker<\/a><\/strong> is a Westie you\u2019ll always find on the menu. Eddyline\u2019s first-ever beer evolved from one of Mic and Molley\u2019s homebrewing recipes, a fifteen-gallon batch they brewed for friends at weekly Friday potlucks with one request: Leave your honest feedback. <\/p>\n A more modern West Coast IPA with big American hops like El Dorado, Cascade, Centennial, and Mosaic, CrankYanker drinks with less bitterness and more maltiness. \u201cTWhen Molley and I started homebrewing in 1993-1994, we fell in love with IPA, but back then\u2026all the big hitting hops like Citra and Simcoe didn\u2019t exist,\u201d says Mic. \u201cCrankYanker is really a reflection of the evolution of IPA from the mid-90s to today.\u201d<\/p>\n A name suggested by a regular, CrankYanker \u201cis that time you\u2019re cranking, just grinding your way up the hill, thinking about the beer you\u2019re going to have when you get to the bottom,\u201d says Mic. <\/p>\n Octolupulus<\/a><\/strong>, on the other hand, showcases all New Zealand hops. The hazy IPA, at only 4% ABV, uses eight different hops, along with one hundred percent New Zealand malts from Gladfields. \u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorites right now,\u201d says Molley. <\/p>\n Actually a request from some of Eddyline\u2019s accounts to make a lower-ABV IPA, Octolupulus has the mouthfeel and hoppiness of an IPA paired with sessionability. \u201cThat one has a strong following because\u2026it has a big aroma and great flavor, but people can have more than one pint easy enough.\u201d <\/p>\n As we work through a paddle of rainbow-colored spectrum of beers, Mic and Molley explain that they\u2019re often inspired by nature and music. <\/p>\n Like with GorgeJuice<\/a><\/strong>, a mashup made to sound like gorgeous. \u201cWhenever you\u2019re in a gorge, it\u2019s the most gorgeous place on Earth,\u201d says Mic, who has kayaked the Grand Canyon twice and says there are tons of incredible gorges to explore all around Nelson. Another two-time medal winner at the NZ Brewers Guild Awards, GorgeJuice takes the classic CrankYanker recipe and adds El Dorado, a touch of Citra, and standard Centennial and Mosaic. <\/p>\n On the darker side, the Roaring 40\u2019s Porter<\/a><\/strong>, a triple-bronze winner at the NZ Brewers Guild Awards, references the \u201c40-duty latitudes,\u201d a region between 40\u00b0 and 50\u00b0 south latitude in the Southern Hemisphere known to sailors for strong winds. \u201cI call it the Roaring Forties because you got all these just crazy storms,\u201d says Mic. Dark and stormy are great descriptors for this chocolate and caramel-malt-based 6.3% ABV porter with El Dorado hops. <\/p>\n Now might be the perfect time to go to Eddyline, because if they have anything fresh-hop on, grab it. Last year, two of Eddyline\u2019s fresh-hop beers won a bronze and silver at the Untappd Community Awards<\/a><\/strong>. This year, Mic says the weather held out for a great hop-growing season. <\/p>\n Mic made four fresh-hop beers this year, including a pilsner with Pacifica hops, an intensely resinous IPA called Hoptimus Prime<\/a><\/strong>, a unique black IPA with an experimental hop called NZH-109, and Mic\u2019s favorite, Hop Project \u201925<\/a> with super juicy Motueka and Riwaka hops. <\/p>\nGeology, Fancy Suits, and a World War II Marine<\/h2>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Colorado With a Coastline!\u201d<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nYears of Silence, Months of Planning<\/h2>\n
Hazies, West Coast IPAs, Porters, Amber Lagers<\/h2>\n
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