Black Sands Brewing Company started out when three mates, Ian Hebblethwaite, David Holden and Peter Osborne who shared an interest and passion for craft beer, wanted to produce a good beer that they could enjoy.

Ian, who is still running the business today, started out brewing when he was much younger and at boarding school. His fellow classmates were more than happy to drink his special pineapple brew until an angry headmaster brought the fledgling enterprise to a crashing halt.

Much later, Ian met David and Peter and they discovered a shared love of craft beer.  They began brewing together and soon purchased a Farra Nano brewery from Farra Engineering in Dunedin. This system allowed Ian, David and Peter, aka The Brew Pistols, to produce their own all grain brews to satisfy their thirst for good beer. They inevitably decided to upscale their production and this lead to the purchase of Scotts Brewery in July 2013. On the 1st of October 2013, they produced their first brew as Black Sands Brewing Company and it has been non-stop since.

Their head brewer is Mark Jackman who is a dedicated craft beer fanatic and a fine brewer. Ian and Mark work hard all day long to make sure their brew is always perfect.