The origins of Beer Without Borders date back to 2009, when Hashigo Zake, Cult Beer Bar, opened at 25 Taranaki St in Wellington. While there were a handful of great beer bars in Wellington at the time doing justice to our local craft beer scene, there was little sign of the amazing new breweries appearing in other parts of the world. So Hashigo Zake set out to serve both the best local beer and some of best of the rest of the world too. To do this Hashigo Zake itself became a part time importer.

 

Knowing people like Bryan Baird of Japan's Baird Brewery and Kjetil Jikiun of Norway's Nøgne Ø was a start. We quickly got put onto the likes of Rogue and Mikkeller. Then a strategic alliance with a certain North American powerhouse of the craft beer trade has allowed us to buy direct from several more great American breweries.

 

During this time the founders of some of New Zealand's best new breweries, like Liberty and ParrotDog, approached us to see if we could put their brands alongside our imports on one dream ticket of great breweries. The result was an amazing portfolio of beer and faster growth than we thought was possible.

 

By late 2013 Hashigo Zake's side business was outgrowing its parent, so the time had come to launch Beer Without Borders - the distributor formerly known as Hashigo Zake.

 

Hashigo Zake meanwhile continues its original mission of being the best outlet of great beer that a local or visiting beer lover could wish for. Learn more here.