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Lovers of craft beer will still be able to enjoy their favourite tipple at Warkworth’s Tahi Bar, but, sadly, had to farewell founder Ian Marriott this month.
Ian finalised the sale of his business and headed off to Germany to rejoin his wife Silke and daughter Lilly, 10.
Ian says Silke has supported his dream at the Tahi Bar for the last 11 years. Now it’s his turn to support Silke’s dream of bringing up their daughter near where she grew up in Nettetal, close to the Dutch border.
He says that when he set up the Tahi Bar in 2007, he wanted to provide an opportunity for small New Zealand breweries to get their beers onto the market.
“A lot of places back then did not have an outlet for their product,” he says.
“We also wanted to change people’s drinking habits. We wanted people to drink to enjoy the flavour and taste, as well as a means of social lubrication.
Not that the social side was ever neglected.
“The bar was never about serving beer in volume. It was always about encouraging conversation, introducing people to other people and developing a community,” Ian says.
Over time, the bar increasingly specialised in local brews and encouraged the establishment of Mahurangi brewers such as 8 Wired, McLeod’s and Bohemian Cider.
Bohemian’s Original Cyn cider was first made just for the Tahi Bar.
Ian says he considers one of the bar’s great achievements has been opening people’s minds to new styles of beer.
“There’s nothing more joyous to me as a professional bartender than seeing people who are stuck on one style have a go at another one and realising they quite like it,” he says.
Originally the bar served a full menu of food as well as beer, but Ian gave that up when a leak in the kitchen took weeks to fix.
The bar began allowing patrons to bring in food from local takeaway businesses – bolstering their takings alongside the Tahi Bar’s
“It appealed to that bit of socialist in me. Over winter when it’s really tough, we all got a slice of the pie and helped each other out,” he says.
The bar’s new owners are Warkworth couple Gareth Hedges and Rachel Cooney.
They met while working at the bar – Rachel serving drinks and Gareth performing as a musician.
Ian says it’s not for him to tell the new owners how to run the place, but he’s pleased they plan to keep its name and continue the emphasis on local craft beers.
“I’m stoked they are going to keep it as the “Tahi Bar” because that’s a little bit of my legacy staying on. The ego in me likes it.”
Despite the joys of running the bar, Ian plans to leave the hospitality industry after 35 years to be able to devote more time to seeing his daughter grow up.
He plans to spend the next 12 months focussing on learning German and developing a photography business.
