Tom Jones lives, breathes and drinks beer.
The Englishman started brewing in his Dunedin garden shed, before establishing Green Man Brewery in September, 2004.
The first Green Man brew, a lager, was contract-brewed by Invercargill Brewery and bottled in a Dunedin garage in January, 2005.
Within months, the lager had won a bronze medal at the 2005 BrewNZ Awards and followed that up with a silver medal at the New Zealand International Beer Awards in June this year.
The Green Man was initially only available at the Otago Farmers Market, but has spread like a green tide.
"We're doing about 3000 litres a month now and growing well.
"I'd say we're breaking even," Jones says with a tired, but satisfied, smile.
"We're very pleased with where we're at at the moment.
"But it hasn't been without headaches. There's been hiccups and issues, but all breweries go through that.
"It's only when you stop and look back that you realise how far we've come."
In June, the brewery sent its first export consignment of 120 dozen mixed organic beers to Australia.
"Now we're trying to get into the American, UK and Denmark markets."
In less than four years, Green Man has won a swag of awards for its Keller, Strong, Whisky Bock, Lager, Pilsener and Brehm's Weizen beers.
In 2006, after just eight months of operation, the brewery won the coveted 2006 Morton Coutts Trophy, which is awarded annually for innovation and creativity in brewing.
Coincidentally, the trophy was won a year earlier by Dunedin brewer Emerson's, where Jones worked for six years while completing a BSc in ecology.
When Emerson's moved its brewery to the industrial harbour area in 2005, Jones took over its site in Grange St, north Dunedin.
The company's distinctive Green Man logo was developed by Creative Advertising in Royal Tce.
"Our name was inspired partly by the mythical story of the Green Man, who's said to be the connection between mankind and the natural world around us. He's said to represent the essence of nature."
Jones is big on nature.
"I'm a greenie from way back. I've been into organics and recycling for decades and I wanted to start a brewery with these core beliefs.
"We are proud of our beers and how we make them. We use no additives, like sugar or preservatives, and we don't use isinglass [a fish product] to clear our beers," he says.
"We brew according to the Bavarian Beer Purity Law of 1516, using only the finest organic ingredients we can lay our hands on.
"About 20% of our malted barley is from New Zealand, with the rest currently from Germany, but that's changing as the local malts increase in quality.
"We don't claim that using organic barley makes a quality difference, though some would make that claim.
"It's really a 'green' thing. We do care about the environment, so we make organic beers.
"Although, organic barley tends to be smaller, so there's a smaller yield, which bumps up the price a little," he says.
"We reuse our cartons and bottles, and those that aren't are recycled. We even recycle the spent grain. It goes off to pig farms and other organic producers."
Green Man currently offers nine different beer styles, which are available in 500ml bottles.
"We're putting some of our styles into 330ml bottles soon, but only for our Premium Pils and Stout at first."
The brewery cost "over $250,000" to set up, Jones says.
Most of that was spent importing a packaging plant imported from Germany last year.
Smartbottles also installed a $50,000 bottle-washer, which can now supply washed bottles to Green Man, as well as other clients.
"We had to take the roof off to get it in. But the bottle-washer was important to us, because reusing bottles is a big part of our philosophy."
Braumeister Enrico Gritzner completed a four-year brewing degree at the Doemens Academy in Munich, before working for 14 years at Sternquell Brauerei in Plauen, Germany. "All the best beers are from Germany," he says with a grin.
"I really like the premium pilsener and lager, because I like German beer. But I like all our beers," he says.
"I have to, because I make them."
Gritzner is a cheery soul who loves Dunedin, but misses watching his beloved Schalke 04 play in the German [football] Bundesliga.
"The grains and water are mashed together and then steeped. You use different hops for different beers. We brew one day and then the fermentation takes between three and four weeks," he explains.
"Yeast is a single-celled organism, which reproduces. It needs sugar to live and breathe. The by-product is CO2 and alcohol."
"Most of our beers are filtered," Jones says.
"The only beers we don't filter are our Stout, Dark Mild, Wheat Beer and Keller. Keller is a recognised style in Germany, but no-one else does it here.
"It's one of the beers we want to hang our hat on. It's a fantastic, easy-drinking beer."
Green Man beers reach up to a heady 8.5%.
"We've got a new one coming out soon called 'Enrico's Cure'. That's going to be just a little bit stronger.
"You'll need to dispense it with an eye-dropper," Jones says and smiles mischievously.
Tours of the Green Man Brewery are available by arrangement.
