Private company

DB Breweries

Logo: The logo is from the following website: http://www.dbbreweries.co.nz/, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

Brewing company in Auckland, New Zealand

DB Breweries is a New Zealand–based brewing company, owned by Heineken Asia Pacific. Founded in 1930 by Sir Henry Kelliher and W Joseph Coutts, the partners purchased Levers and Co. and the Waitemata Brewery Co. in Ōtāhuhu. Asia Pacific Breweries acquired DB Breweries in 2004, which in turn was bought-out by Heineken International in 2012.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1930Founded1

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DB Breweries is a New Zealand–based brewing company, owned by Heineken Asia Pacific. Founded in 1930 by Sir Henry Kelliher and W Joseph Coutts, the partners purchased Levers and Co. and the Waitemata Brewery Co. in Ōtāhuhu. Asia Pacific Breweries acquired DB Breweries in 2004, which in turn was bought-out by Heineken International in 2012. The company mainly produces pale lager, whilst its Tui brand is one of the better-known beers in New Zealand, partly due to strong advertising.2

The story

The company was founded in 1930 by Sir Henry Kelliher with the purchase of Levers and Co. and the Waitemata Brewery Co. in Ōtāhuhu, owned by W.J. Coutts, who became a director.

Coutts' son, Morton Coutts, took over as director in 1946, and later developed a new production process called "continuous fermentation", which enabled beer to be made continuously, without the need to stop and clean between batches. The system proved popular enough to be sold to other brewing companies.

From Wikipedia’s article on DB Breweries, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

Other brands

Orchard Thieves

Defunct brands

DB Lager

DB Natural

Joseph Kuhtze

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Kiwi Lager

Mako, a low alcoholic beer (2.5% alcohol/volume)

Most of the brand products (Export 33, Export Dry, Export Gold and Monteith's Single Source) have won a Gold Quality Award at the 2011 annual World Quality Selections, organised by Monde Selection.

From Wikipedia’s article on DB Breweries, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1930Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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