PACKING UP: Liberty Brewing owners Joseph and Christina Wood are leaving New Plymouth to ramp up production by starting a joint venture with Auckland’s Hallertau brewery.

New Plymouth's award-winning craft-beer brewery Liberty Brewing is leaving Taranaki to start a joint venture and build a new brew house with West Auckland brewery Hallertau.

The two craft-beer breweries were joining forces and investing significant capital to build a new brewery capable of producing 5000 litres of beer a day.

Liberty Brewing owner Joseph Wood would not specify how much was being invested other than saying it required "mega-bucks".

"We're putting our whole livelihood on the line," Mr Wood said.

Hallertau managing director Stephen Plowman, known in the craft-beer industry as the "Captain of Beer", said the brewery capacity would be similar to that of Tuatara Breweries, Epic Brewing and Lion-owned Emerson's.

The new brewery was expected to be completed by November, Mr Plowman said.

Hallertau, which opened eight years ago and employs about 40 people, is a brewery, bar and restaurant. It currently has a capacity to brew 1000 litres of beer per batch or about 150,000 litres a year.

Mr Plowman said work had already begun on building the new brew house, which would increase production to about 1 million litres a year.

"We're getting together to put a new brew house in place to grow both brands," Mr Plowman said.

The joint venture would register an entirely new business but both beer brands would remain, Mr Wood said.

"Our goal is to get a decent size production going from out there," he said.

Mr Wood and Mr Plowman had been friends for about five years and had brewed a few beers together.

"I think there's potential for us to do really well so it's a seriously considered joint venture," Mr Wood said.

Mr Wood and his wife Christina began operating Liberty Brewing out of a garage on Ngamotu Rd in New Plymouth three years ago.

The Woods said leaving Taranaki was a hard decision and many customers would be disappointed. But they stressed that Liberty Brewing would always be Taranaki at heart and the brand and logo featuring Mt Taranaki would remain.

"If it wasn't for New Plymouth and Taranaki there would be no Liberty Brewing," Mrs Wood said.

"We're sticking to the same philosophies, we're just going to be able to make more beer which is better for everybody," Mr Wood said.

The equipment from Liberty Brewing's small 300-litre capacity micro-brewery would be relocated to Hallertau where it would be used for trial brews, Mr Wood said.

Mr Wood said there were a number of reasons behind the decision to move.

Firstly the 300-litre brewing set up at Ngamotu Rd was not big enough to meet the growing demand for Liberty's beers.

This was despite Liberty contracting Tuatara Breweries to produce 4000-litre batches at least once a month, he said.

The Woods also wanted to be closer to family in Auckland.

But most importantly, Mrs Wood and her son Jackson both had cystic fibrosis, which could be eased by moving to a warmer climate.

Mr Wood had already handed in his notice at his Port Taranaki job and with their Ngamotu house sold they would be leaving New Plymouth by April 5.