Brewers Reserve (Dunedin, Otago) Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

daywalk: "Time, gentlemen, please" - It's been fun!

Will pick up the cache when visiting for the Brewer's Reserve today [;)]

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Hidden : 6/17/2013
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:


This cache is not located at the coordinates above but, as the title hints, the final involves both beer and a patch of greenery. You may not even need to do the puzzle - a 30 m geochecker with explicit hide clue is provided to help the cognoscenti. Just make sure you don't end up in the drink...

The start icon of this easy puzzle gives you a good view of the restored 1871 malting kiln of McGavin’s Brewery. The kiln itself is on private property and is now used as a restaurant, but the entire grassy area north of the kiln is public reserve. The final is placed with permission.

New Zealand’s first beer was brewed by James Cook while moored at Pickersgill Harbour, Dusky Sound on 1 April 1773. He used ‘spruce’ (rimu) and ‘tea’ (manuka) to brew a beer to prevent scurvy in his men. The site is commemorated in Far As A Man May Go - Farthest West. The country’s first brewery was established in the same place in November 1791 by another naval expedition led by Vancouver, who had previously served under Cook.

For many years Dunedin was regarded as the brewing capital of New Zealand. Dunedin’s advantages were good-quality water and cooler temperatures. The wort (produced by boiling malt, water and hops together) could be cooled faster, minimising the risk of bacterial contamination spoiling the brew.

Dunedin’s first brewery in 1856 was McKinnon & Wickens’ Dunedin Brewery on the corner of Pitt St, Heriot Row and Royal Terrace (where the dairy is now). Their first GOOD WHOLESOME ALE was offered for sale in the Otago Witness 10 January 1857 p2 at 3/6d a gallon, FOR CASH ONLY.
The Otago Witness 10 January 1857 p3 was glad that this long talked of Brewery was fairly started. The Editor regarded the supply of beer at a cheap rate to the labouring population as being beneficial, both on sanitary and economical grounds, because it would reduce the consumption of spirits.

Strachan’s Sawyer’s Bay Brewery and Burke’s Otago Brewery at Burkes followed in 1857 (McKinnon & Wickens went into partnership in the Otago Brewery and therefore the first Dunedin Brewery closed in 1858). The gold rush led to the first brewing boom. Major breweries opened at this time included: Strachan’s Victoria Brewery (1862) on the corner of Pitt and Elder St; Wilson’s Well Park Brewery (1862) at Willowbank (later becoming Wilson’s Distillery); Marshall and Copeland’s Water of Leith Brewery (1862) on Duke St, just downstream of the Great King St bridge; and Joel’s Red Lion Brewery (1864) on George St, now the site of George St Normal junior school.

In the ODT 11 Feb 1870 tenders were invited for the erection of a malting house to be built for Messrs Marshall and Copeland, at the Water of Leith. This was completed by January 1871. It had 18 inch thick walls built of bluestone from the nearby Leith quarries. The malthouse included a kiln with three coke-fired furnaces. The 30 ft by 20 ft drying floor above the furnaces was formed of 12 inch square perforated tiles.

With an increase in population and greater prosperity in the 1870’s brewing in Dunedin reached its zenith; in 1880 Dunedin was producing over a quarter of the country’s beer.

The Albion Brewing Company (1875) was situated behind the present Allied press building, between Castle and Cumberland Streets. (This brewery took over the site of New Zealand’s first distillery, C R Howden & Co's NZ Distillery, established 1869. The success of local distilling and resulting loss of excise revenue led to the government shutting down all distilleries in 1875.) Speight’s City Brewery opened in 1876, and is still on its original site. Thomas Bracken appreciated Mr Speight's products; a song he wrote for a housewarming in Wellington is in a log note below.

McGavin’s Union Brewery was the last major Dunedin brewery, established in 1882 on the site of McNichol’s Duke St Brewery. ODT 21 September 1882. Due to the skill of partner William Smith, previously brewer for the Red Lion Brewery, the Union brewery was successful from the start and became particularly well-known for their stout. The 1905 Otago Cyclopaedia reports that the brewery had gained more than 30 prize medals at exhibitions! In 1890 the company acquired the adjacent Water of Leith brewery site, including the 1871 stone malt house.

McGavin’s was taken over by R Powley and Co in 1949. Brewing ceased in 1958, although bottling continued until 1871. All the buildings apart from the 1871 malting kiln were demolished in October 1976 to allow alterations to the one-way system.

Information from "Otago Breweries Past and Present" by Frank Leckie (1997).

For those who haven't already guessed and geochecked the location of the final (how many guesses did you make?), the "puzzle" is below.
People have written and sung about beer throughout recorded history.
Trampers are never afraid of mice; hover your computer mouse over the beer glass pictures to read some historic beer quotes.

Beer is Best

Beer is best, brave boys,
Beer is best,
It makes you fit, it makes you strong,
It puts more muscle on the old tom-tom, (beat chest with fists)
                                  Beer builds bonny babies,
Beer has stood the test,
What did Adam say to Eve but “Beer is best”!

‘Twas when the good ship Victory
Lay in Trafalgar Bay,
For miles and miles and miles around
The gallant Frenchmen lay.
When Nelson saw his sailors
Drinking tots and tots of rum,
Along the line the signal ran,
To every true-born Englishman…

Beer is best, brave boys,
Beer is best,
It makes you fit, it makes you strong,
It puts more muscle on the old tom-tom, (beat chest with fists)
Beer builds bonny babies,
Beer has stood the test,
What did Adam say to Eve but “Beer is best”!

The shades of night were falling,
Were falling thick and fast,
                                 When through an Alpine valley,
Two merry trampers passed.
“Excelsior!” they shouted,
“Excelsior!” they cried,
Way up there in the ice and snow
Is a banner that we all do know…

Beer is best, brave boys,
Beer is best,
It makes you fit, it makes you strong,
It puts more muscle on the old tom-tom, (beat chest with fists)
Beer builds bonny babies,
Beer has stood the test,
What did Adam say to Eve but “Beer is best”!


Is your glass full or empty? Check your coordinates by clicking on these glasses:



This traditional New Zealand tramping song was inherited from returned WWII soldiers. A mudcat.org thread 51921 indicates it was sung in the Indian army in the early 20th century, so it is at least a century old.
Right through to the mid-1950's beer, especially stout, was recommended to "build up" invalids and nursing mothers. Aunt Daywalk who nursed at the Wellington Fever Hospital in the 1950's served each man there a pint of stout each day as part of the prescribed medical regime. A pint a day was provided for each of the nurses, too; she did get quite "stout" during her posting.

For slightly more up-to-date information on drinking beer see:
ALAC NZ: Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Advice
Australian National Health and Medical Research Council - Alcohol guidelines: reducing the health risks


Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[Puzzle] Xrrc ba zbhfvat... nqivpr ba ybj evfx qevaxvat znl uryc. Lbh'yy svaq Qnljnyx'f snibhevgr orre dhbgr gurer gbb.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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