Four Square became the brand name for those who joined.
Barker, an Auckland grocer, wanted to counter price fixing by major manufacturers and to match the buying power of the Self Help stores, which were formed in 1922 (by 1947 there were 200 of them).
To mark the centenary of Barker’s idea, the chain has joined forces with Auckland brewer Behemoth to produce Hazy of the Century IPA (4.5%), which is made with, appropriately, four New Zealand hops.
The brewery’s mascot Churly joins the chain’s iconic Cheeky Charlie (who was introduced to the Four Square branding in 1950) on the label. The brew is in six packs of 330ml for $22.
Can ‘glass’
Coincidentally, Behemoth has produced a brew in a can which is easier to drink from: the top rips off. In it is Lid Ripper hazy IPA.
The rip lid has been around since 2010, when it appeared at the Fifa World Cup in South Africa, but has not gained favour mainly because the discarded top could pose a litter problem.
The first beer in cans was in tin in the 1930s, then aluminium in the 1960s with a rip tab that, because of littering, was replaced in 1975 by today’s tab that stays attached to the lid.
(Empty cans with tops, incidentally, cost a brewery about 30c each, although the big breweries negotiate a cheaper price for bulk orders).
New yeast
Keep an eye out for brews using a new yeast developed by a Canadian laboratory. It is called Pomona (named after the Roman goddess of fruit trees), which draws stone fruit, mainly peach, flavours from hops.
The first to use it here is Garage Project in its Pomona Yeast Trial hazy (7%), which has citra, mosaic, talus, southern cross and Motueka hops.
