There's a public tap on Rattray Street in Dunedin where anyone can fill a container with free spring water drawn from beneath a working brewery. It's untreated, non-chlorinated and non-fluoridated — exactly the kind of water brewers dream about. The tap runs through Speight's Brewery, a 150-year-old institution that has been making beer on the same site since 1876, and it says a lot about how deeply brewing is woven into this Scottish-founded university city of roughly 130,000 people on New Zealand's south island.

Speight's began as a bold bet: three employees of a rival brewery set up in a disused malt house on Rattray Street, brewing their first batch before they even had a lease or a licence. The gamble worked. By the 1890s they were the country's largest brewery, running their own merchant ship to send beer north. Today the facility turns out 164,000 litres per brew, around the clock on overlapping three-shift rotations, and Speight's claims about 75% of the national market. Its Gold Medal Ale has been one of New Zealand's most-drunk beers for decades, and the brand's ties to rugby — from club sponsorship in 1977 to partnerships with the Otago Rugby Football Union and the Highlanders — plus the famous "Southern Man" ad campaign have made it a cultural touchstone as much as a drink. Notably, it isn't exported at all, partly to avoid competing with sister breweries in Australia.

A few streets away sits the counterweight: Emerson's, founded in 1992 by Richard Emerson, who started brewing on a kitchen stove after falling for European styles he couldn't find at home. Now producing around 2.7 million litres a year — its Pilsner alone makes up roughly half — the brewery runs a busy taproom near the city centre that swells on game days, thanks to its position between the university and Forsyth Barr Stadium. Its beers read like a map of local life: the Bookbinder, named after a friend; the Bird Dog, borrowed from a song by Dunedin band The Verlaines; the Orange Roughy, first brewed for the 2017 Port Chalmers Seafood Festival.

Here's the twist: both breweries sit under the same owner, Lion, the Australasian arm of Japan's Kirin. So the "rivalry" is friendly — the two share supply chains and even collaborate on occasional brews while keeping distinct identities. Speight's is the mainstream staple; Emerson's is the craft-leaning one, heavy on New Zealand hops that bring citrus notes and American varieties that add tropical character.

For travellers, Dunedin is a rare city where beer history, brewery tours and taproom culture are all walkable from the centre. Both breweries run tours and tastings, and a visit pairs neatly with the city's Victorian stone architecture and its nickname, the "Edinburgh of the South." Just note that Speight's you drink here stays here — the only place you'll get it fresh is New Zealand itself.

Story via The Hindu Travel.