Altitude to unleash bugged-out brew

Otago Daily Times

14-06-2025

The Altitude Brewing team including, from left, Rob Garrett, Eliott Menzies and Dan Jaffe, has come up with an ant-astic new beer garnish. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
A Queenstown brewer is, quite literally, upping the ant-e.
Award-winning Altitude Brewing, which recently won the Champion Small International Brewery and Best Modern Pale Ale for its draught 'Sled Dog' at the Australian International Beer Awards, is soon to unveil a new beer, garnished with freeze-dried Green Tree Ant garnish.
Altitude founder Eliott Menzies plans to unleash the Lemon Curd and Strawberry Pastry-Sour at Beervana 2025, being held at Wellington's Sky Stadium in August.
Having made the pilgrimage north for eight years in a row, Altitude's become a fan favourite at the long-running event and Menzies says it's always been the place to push boundaries.
As to where the idea for the newest brew came from, Menzies says one of his team came back from Australia last year and was "raving" about the flavour of ants he'd tried, describing them as a "citrusy-sherbert-bomb flavour".
Found in tropical Australia, Green Tree Ants are said to be the nemesis of arborists, as they don't like being disturbed and have a sharp bite — but when you bite into them, they burst with a lemon flavour.
"We knew a clever garnish would pair perfectly with this jammy delight of a beer, and the green ants' sharpness cuts through the rich custard notes the classic lemon curd delivers," Menzies says.
"We can't wait to hear what punters think."
Last year, more than 10,000 people attended the two-day Beervana celebration, being held on August 22 and 23 this year — tickets go on sale next Wednesday.