PODCAST · society
The Third Pint Theory
by Michael Donaldson & Martin Bridges
People, places and pints in the New Zealand Beer scene. Michael Donaldson is the editor of Pursuit of Hoppiness, New Zealand's only dedicated craft beer magazine, author of Beer Nation — The Art & Heart of Kiwi Beer, The Hopfather and The Big Book of Home Brew. Martin Bridges is a beer judge and consultant with his business Beer Bigwig. We bring you stories about Kiwi beer, the people who make it and the places you drink it.
Episodes
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The Beervana Sessions 5 — Hip to hops with Kelly Ryan
“Super exotic citrus — you get yuzu and kumquat, lots of mandarin,” Kelly Ryan talks about why Riwaka is his favourite hop. We’re back at Beervana 2026 for this episode, where Michael & Martin sit down with Kiwi beer legend Kelly Ryan. Kelly takes us through his brewing journey, from learning his...
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The Beervana Sessions 4 — In Praise of Stout with Shining Peak & Mount Brewing
“The great thing with this beer is, just before it goes into the barrels it’s almost undrinkable!” Jesse Sigurdsson of Shining Peak on the inauspicious beginnings of their Vintage Barrel-aged Imperial Stout. Hello from a raucous Friday evening at Beervana 2026, where Michael & Martin sit down…
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The Beervana Sessions 3 — Pink Boots, Walking The Walk
“If you’re marketing your beer at men or at women, you’re cutting your market by 50% — it’s not a smart business decision!” Denise Garland of the NZ chapter of the Pink Boots Society on one of the many reasons why “girl’s beer” is a bad idea. Join us again at Beervana 2026, with Michael & Martin...
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The Beervana Sessions 2 — The Wonder Of One Drop
“Creamy, custard, pineapple, cake batter…" Clay Grant of One Drop Brewing lists some of the ingredients of their ‘Aunties Pudding’ ice cream smoothie sour. We’re back at Beervana 2026 for a chat with super-hyped Aussie brewery One Drop! Michael and Martin chat to co-founder Clay Grant and his…
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The Beervana Sessions 1 — Bonnie Day & Neck Of The Woods
“There’s ‘Kinky MILF’ on the walls of the Malthouse for ever, which is amazing!” Scott Taylor of Neck of the Woods Brewing on their competition-winning West Coast IPA. Join us for the first of our episodes recorded live at Beervana 2026, as we talk to Scott Taylor from Neck of the Woods Brewing...
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Ferment & Foment — Kieran Haslett-Moore on the state of modern beer
"If you look at the story of humans and food, we've constantly been flowing towards sweeter, less bitter flavours." Kieran Haslett-Moore on the evolution of beer and human taste. In this episode of The Third Pint Theory, hosts Michael Donaldson and Martin Bridges catch up shortly after attending...
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Pioneer of Pints — Yeastie Boys founder Stu McKinlay
"It's one of those things: sort of it's like the first Sex Pistols gig, you know, everyone says they were there but really there were only,I don't know, probably a dozen of us actually there!" Stu McKinlay talks about the legendary meeting at the Malthouse in Wellington that led to the foundation...
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Home Town Heroics — Emerson's Dominate NZ Beer Awards
Michael and Martin sit down to run the rule over the results from this year's Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards. They start by covering off the big winners on the night, including Karamu Barrelworks taking out the overall Champion Brewery title. There is some discussion of the scoring process...
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Wonder Woman — How one person's drive created Auckland Beer Week
Welcome back to another episode of The Third Pint Theory! In this session, host Martin sits down with Maree Shaw, founder and organiser of Auckland Beer Week. Maree shares her origin story in the beer world, humorously admitting that before meeting her partner in 2004, she thought all beer tasted...
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Zero Hero — How Bach Brewing led the non-alcoholic beer revolution
"I had this outside looking in view of New Zealand on many different levels but one of them was this nostalgia and beautiful memories of the coastal lifestyle... I missed that, you know, being able to go to the seaside and that really resonated with me and in how I wanted to build a brand and so…
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The Grainfather — How Gladfield Malt Revolutionised Beer in NZ
"I'm always out on the farm as much as I can. Yeah. And in the malt plant as well. So yeah, it's my passion really. I'm a bit of a home boy I suppose." Doug Michael of Gladfield Malt on the importance of his rural roots. Welcome back to The Third Pint Theory! In this episode, hosts Michael...
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Beer from the Future — Greig McGill from Brewaucracy
"I don't think it's going away and nor should it... what I don't like is when there's five taps and three of them are the same thing... it's just not giving people what they want, it's giving people what they think they want." Greig McGill on the over-saturation of hazy beers. In this fantastic...
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"A creative studio that works in beer" — a new take on the Garage Project story
“The way we look at it is that Garage Project isn't just a brewery, it's a creative studio that happens to work in beer. It's always coming up with new beers, new names, the way you put on an event. It’s much easier to think of it as a creative studio that just happens to use beer as its medium.”...
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Is it dank? The best of fresh hop beers — so far
"I think it's a little bugbear of mine that a lot of people demand or seem to want 'dank'. I think dank is not necessarily a fresh hop characteristic and to expect lots of it in a fresh hop beer is, I think, sometimes misguided." Michael Donaldson on one of the common misconceptions of fresh hop...
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From menswear to beer — how McLeod's Brewing was born
"In essence we’re a country pub where people come together, brought together mostly by food and sociability” founder Geoff Gwynne on the magic of the McLeod's Pizza Barn. In this episode Martin makes a pilgrimage to his “spiritual home”, the McLeods Pizza Barn in Waipu, Northland, to sit down…
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Oh Brother — Dylan Adams from Brothers Beer
Welcome to another episode of the podcast! This time, Martin sits down for a morning pint with Dylan from Brothers Beer at their impressive Mount Eden taproom, built right around a full-size 2,000-litre production brewery. The conversation kicks off with a look back at Dylan's brewing journey,...
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Winter Wonderland — Inside the Winter Ales Festival
Michael & Martin are joined by Denise Garland and Dave Wood, who own Wellington's Winter Ales Festival. They talk to us about what's involved in running a boutique beer festival and what fans can expect from this year's event. Plus Dave and Denise are veterans of the Wellington beer and…
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Sweet 16 — Inside Auckland's 16Tun freehouse
The annual Rare Beer Challenge, designed to raise money for Rare Disorders NZ, is on this year at Auckland's 16Tun, which takes over from the defunct Fortune Favours as the show host. Martin visits 16Tun owner Ewen Thorpe to find out how a one-time member of the Team NZ yachting crew ended up...
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Bay Watch Part 2 — Mount Brewing's Pawel Lewandowski
Mount Brewing are celebrating 30 years in business — quite an achievement for the small Bay of Plenty operation. Michael and Martin look back at Mount Brewing's history and Martin chats with head brewer Pawel Lewandowski about how a young Polish tuniversity graduate ended up brewing beer in New...
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Bay Watch Part 1 — Neck Of The Woods opens in Tauranga
Martin visits the just-opened Neck Of The Woods brew pub in Tauriko, just outside Tauranga, and talks to owner Scott Taylor about his journey home to the Bay of Plenty and his years at the ill-fated Deep Creek. This is the first of two pods from the Bay of Plenty, with Mount Brewing next up....
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Smooth Operator — Three Sisters go from strength to strength
New Plymouth brewery Three Sisters are expanding in to Wellington and raising new capital to further grow their production. It's on the back of strong growth both within New Zealand and overseas in 2025, driven by their unique smoothie sour offerings. Martin and Michael usher in 2026 by looking…
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Brighter Days — The Year in Beer Reviewed
Michael & Martin look back on the year in beer, looking at the highlights (of which there were plenty) and the lowlights (fortunately, they were few). We name our beers of the year and discuss which breweries impressed us the most in 2025.
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The Beervana Sessions No 5 — Haze Here To Stay
Hazy IPA has been part of the New Zealand beer market for just on a decade. Michael and Martin discuss the impact of the haze craze before crossing over to our last Q&A from this year's Beervana festival which features James Cooper and Laura Park from Lakeman and Andrew Childs from Behemoth…
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The Beervana Sessions No 4 — The State of the NZ Beer Nation
Michael and Martin discuss the big news stories of the past week — the saving of Hop Federation after Blenheim's DNA stepped in to buy the brand — and the sale of Christchurch icon Three Boys, which is now owned by the head brewer Damian Treacher and his business partner Jason Bass. That links…
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Cutting Edge — The Sawmill Story
Sawmill Brewing in Matakana, north of Auckland, are renowned for their sustainability programme. As New Zealand's only B Corp certified craft brewery they are leading the way for breweries that aim to not only make good beer, but do good things for the environment, and the people who work for…
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The Beervana Sessions 3 — That's Not Beer!
George Duncan of Duncan's Brewing in Paraparaumu and Joe Emans of Three Sisters in New Plymouth are two of the best when it comes to the innovative dessert-style beers. Whether it's smoothie sours, ice cream sours, pastry stouts or milkshake IPAs, these two are industry leaders. They join Michael…
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Hop heroes — Epic & Hallertau
Epic and Hallertau are two of the most influential breweries in New Zealand when it comes to hop-driven, American-style IPAs. Both breweries turn 20 this year and their respective founders, Luke Nicholas from Epic and Steve Plowman from Hallertau, talk about the early years of the hop revolution...
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The Beervana Sessions No 2 — Lager Clouts
Live from Beervana we bring you a session on the wide and wonderful world of lager. Martin & Michael are joined by special guests — Emma Elmslie of Shining Peak, Dani Wild from Brew Moon and Vlad Petrovic from St Leonards. We sample an eclectic range of different lagers — from a Japanese Rice...
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The Beervana Sessions — Brave & Garage Project
Michael & Martin bring you the first of the live Beervana Sessions, a live Q&A recording at the Beervana Festival in Wellington on August 22-23. In this episode Pete Gillespie and Dave Bell from Garage Project talk about their Chance Luck & Magic series, including the 2021 vintage which was…
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Knocking on (Ben) Heaven's Door
Michael and Martin are joined by Ben Heaven who was catapulted into national prominence when his Judas Sheep Dark Lager won a place in the New World Beer & Cider Awards Top 25. Ben runs a tiny farm-based brewery — Heaven's Brewery — in the Marua Valley, north of Whangarei. His sudden fame is…
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Celebrating Isthmus 3D — Definitely Delicious Drop!
Martin and Michael are joined this week by Hamish Ward and Caroline Muller-Ward, the husband-and-wife team behind Isthmus Brewing. They're here to talk about the roller-coaster ride they've been on over the past couple of years since Hamish lost his brewing job at Deep Creek. After some ''dark...
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Weird & Winderful — Beervana Wrap, New World Beer & Cider Awards
Michael and Martin give you a run-down of Beervana, including their picks of the annual festival, held in Wellington last weekend ... which may, or may not, include an ice cream made from beer! Plus they take a look at the just announced New World Beer & Cider Awards, running through the list of...
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Burn Brothers — Jason Bathgate & Andrew Childs
Ten years brewers Jason Bathgate and Andrew Childs were severely burned in a workplace accident when boiling wort exploded from a brew kettle as they were adding hops. They suffered burns to 30% and 40% of their bodies respectively. Martin chats with Jason, formerly of McLeod's and now running…
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NZ Beer Awards Analysis and Wrap
Michael and Martin delve deep into the New Zealand Beer Awards announced last weekend in Christchurch. We run through all the trophy categories, picking out trends, analysing results and looking at some surprise results. Congratulations to Brave Brewing who took out Champion Brewery, and to…
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Craftwork — A Slice of Belgium in Oamaru
In this episode Martin catches up with Lee-Ann Scotti and Michael O'Brien, the couple behind Oamaru's cult Belgian-inspired brewery, Craftwork. Michael and Lee-Ann talk about why they love Belgian beer, how they created their wonderful bar in Oamaru's delightful Victorian precinct, and they…
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Beer Wonderland — An Inside Look at Beervana
In this episode Michael and Martin talk to Ryan McArthur, festival director for Beervana, New Zealand's biggest beer festival, which is on in Wellington on August 22 & 23. Keeping a huge beer festival relevant and sustainable is no easy task but Beervana just keeps getting better and better.…
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Eye of the Tiger — Brave Brewing
We head off to Hastings to visit Brave Brewing and a chat with owners Matt and Gemma Smith. We learn why they are still exclusively in bottles and discuss the power of Tigermilk, their flagship IPA. Plus, Michael and Martin share a couple of beers heavy on Riwaka hops.
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Money For Jam — Urbanaut's Bruce Turner
Urbanaut founder Bruce Turner came back to New Zealand from England where he worked at an establishment brewery, Fuller's, and a new-wave craft brewery, Meantime. On his return to Aotearoa he wanted to brew the classic style beers he fell in love with in England, including real cask ale. Instead...
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Three Boys — Keeping It Local
In Episode 2 of the Third Pint Theory we talk to Three Boys founder Ralph Bungard about their status as New Zealand's reigning champion brewery from last year's NZ Beer Awards and what that meant to them. Plus we look at why they've pulled back to focus on their local area of Christchurch at the...
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Third Pint Theory Introduction
The Third Pint Theory is a podcast dedicated New Zealand craft beer — focusing on the people who brew it and the places you drink it. Hosted by Michael Donaldson and Martin Bridges. Michael is the editor of Pursuit of Hoppiness, New Zealand's only dedicated craft beer magazine, author of Beer...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
People, places and pints in the New Zealand Beer scene. Michael Donaldson is the editor of Pursuit of Hoppiness, New Zealand's only dedicated craft beer magazine, author of Beer Nation — The Art & Heart of Kiwi Beer, The Hopfather and The Big Book of Home Brew. Martin Bridges is a beer judge and consultant with his business Beer Bigwig. We bring you stories about Kiwi beer, the people who make it and the places you drink it.
HOSTED BY
Michael Donaldson & Martin Bridges
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Third Pint Theory have?
The Third Pint Theory currently has 40 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Third Pint Theory about?
People, places and pints in the New Zealand Beer scene. Michael Donaldson is the editor of Pursuit of Hoppiness, New Zealand's only dedicated craft beer magazine, author of Beer Nation — The Art & Heart of Kiwi Beer, The Hopfather and The Big Book of Home Brew. Martin Bridges is a beer judge and...
How often does The Third Pint Theory release new episodes?
The Third Pint Theory has 40 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Third Pint Theory?
You can listen to The Third Pint Theory on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Third Pint Theory?
The Third Pint Theory is created and hosted by Michael Donaldson & Martin Bridges.
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