About Mata Brewery
Family-owned and operated craft brewery since 2005!Back in Kawerau in 2005
In an old dairy, menswear store and butchers shop, Tammy Viitakangas rolled up her sleeves and dived into her love for craft beer, giving life to something special – Mata Brewery. She managed to convince her Mum Gloria, who became the sales person, and her Dad Jouni, and Uncle Esko to join her on the brewing team. They launched with 2 different beers, when craft beer was barely a thing and managed to pick up their first medal within 3 months of opening.
12 Years, and Several New Beers Later
In December 2017, the family brewery packed up its tanks and moved their Brewery to Whakatane where they also opened up their much loved local tap room. Making most of the awesome locally grown BOP fruit, in 2018 they added Mata Cider to their range which is going down a treat. Their Golden Kiwi took out a trophy in 2021, and their Feijoa cider a trophy in 2022 at the NZ Cider awards.
These Days...
You can still find Tammy either in the brewery, or maybe even pouring your beer. Gloria will be in her Mama G’s Kitchen, and Jouni can sometimes be found amongst the tanks, or strumming on the guitar at one of our Open Mic Events. They, and the rest of the team would love to see you and have a chat over a beer or two at the brewery.
