Foothills

Foothills
Brewing Co

Small-batch beer brewed under the Rotorua ranges. Six rotating taps, a weekly release, and a taproom that closes when the kegs run dry.

Build your tasting flight →
Build Your Flight

Pick up to four beers for a tasting flight ($16). Each pour is 150ml. Tap the beer to add it; tap again to remove. Or let us suggest a balanced set.

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Pick your first beer below

Flight: $0 (0 of 4)

This Week's Taps

Six taps, rotated weekly. This week's lineup as of . The weekly release is marked — it usually lasts two days.

Ranges Pale AleNZ Pale Ale

Nelson Sauvin and Motueka hops. Passionfruit nose, clean bitter finish. Our house pour.

5.2%35 IBU$10 / $14
Sulphur City StoutOatmeal Stout

Rolled oats and Raglan roastery coffee. Creamy head, dark chocolate mid, dry finish. Named for the smell you get used to.

6.0%28 IBU$11 / $15
Redwoods RedIrish Red Ale

Crystal and Munich malts. Toffee and biscuit, very low bitterness. Good with the pork belly sliders from the food truck.

4.8%18 IBU$10 / $14
Lake LagerNZ Pilsner

Riwaka single hop. Crisp, dry, drinks like water on a hot day. Brewed for the lake crowd who want cold and easy.

4.5%22 IBU$9 / $13
Geothermal IPAThis weekWest Coast IPA

Centennial and Simcoe. Pine resin, grapefruit pith, a proper west-coast wallop. This is the weekly release — kegged Monday, probably gone by Thursday.

6.8%62 IBU$12 / $16
Puarenga WheatHefeweizen

Bavarian yeast, unfiltered. Banana and clove, pillowy body. Served with a lemon wedge if you ask, without if you do not.

4.6%12 IBU$10 / $14

Half-pint / pint. Jugs ($24) available for the Pale, Lager and Wheat. Tasting flight $16 for four 150ml pours.

Events at the Taproom
19Sep
Geothermal IPA Release

This week's release hits the taps at 4pm Friday. First pint free for the first 20 people through the door. Tim from the brewery talks through the hop bill.

20Sep
Saturday Jazz Session

The Nick Granville Trio from 5pm. No cover charge. The food truck is Kai Rotorua with their hāngi pies and rewena bread.

26Sep
Homebrew Club Meet

Rotorua Homebrewers bring their latest batch for peer tasting. Open to anyone — bring a bottle, get feedback. Starts 6pm in the back room.

3Oct
Octoberfest Night

One-off Märzen on tap, pretzels from the Tauranga German bakery, stein-holding competition at 7pm. $5 entry, winner gets a case of Puarenga Wheat.

10Oct
Brewery Tour

Behind the scenes with head brewer Tim. One hour, four samples, a bag of spent grain for your garden. $25pp, book ahead — max 12 people.

Our Story

Foothills started in a garage in Ngongotahā with a 50-litre pot and a thermometer that did not work. Nine years later, we brew 1,200 litres a week out of a proper brewery on Old Taupo Road, and we still cannot keep the IPA on tap past Thursday.

  1. First brew: a pale ale made with whatever hops the homebrew shop had left. It was cloudy, over-carbonated and gone in two days.

  2. Won Best NZ Pale at the Tauranga Craft Beer Awards. Quit the day job the following Monday.

  3. Signed the lease on Old Taupo Road. A 500-litre Blichmann system, a cold room and no customers for three months.

  4. Opened the taproom. Six taps, ten seats, a blackboard menu. Full every Friday by 5:30.

  5. Upgraded to a 1,200-litre brewhouse. Added the weekly release programme — one new beer every Friday.

  6. Tap 54 of the weekly release series. Geothermal IPA — a west-coast hop bomb that Tim has been itching to brew since he toured Oregon.

Hours & Location

Taproom hours

DayHours
MonClosed
TueClosed
Wed3pm – 9pm
Thu3pm – 9pm
Fri2pm – late
Sat12pm – late
Sun12pm – 7pm

"Late" means when the last keg blows or the neighbours complain, whichever comes first.

Find us

Unit 3, 28 Old Taupo Road
Rotorua 3015
07 349 0000
taproom@foothillsbrewing.co.nz

Between the tyre shop and the old dairy. Look for the roller door and the smell of hops. Parking in the yard out front or on the street. No kitchen — food trucks on Friday and Saturday.