Making a splash
A popular craft brewery and eatery has just expanded
into Ōmokoroa. Karl Puschmann checks it out.
Photos Jahl Marshall
There’s a new bar and eatery that’s been making quite a splash in the seaside village and holiday hotspot of Ōmokoroa. It may have only opened its doors in December but local craft beer enthusiasts and dumpling connoisseurs have been quick to jump into The Rising Tide.
It’s fair to say its reputation preceded it. Ōmokoroa’s Rising Tide is the first expansion for the incredibly popular Mount Maunganui institution of the same name that’s been brewing and serving award-winning craft beers since 2016.
But it’s not just the flavourful and distinctive range of its beer brand Mount Brewing Co., the juicy burgers or famous dumplings, the sun-drenched deck that overlooks the Soper Reserve or the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere that’s made it a favourite in the Bay.
Rather, it’s the combination of all of those things along with a much more intangible quality; character. This is especially important to craft beer bars because craft beer lives or dies on its character. That's its whole thing.
“It's been a lot of time planning it all out. We wanted to replicate the Mount and have the same atmosphere,” Ellie Kirk, the general manager of both branches of the Rising Tide, tells me.
We’re sitting out on the bar’s spacious deck in Ōmokoroa, enjoying a couple of their signature Golden Hour hazy’s in the warmth of the midday sun.
“You can sit more than 150 people here, easy,” she smiles, looking around at the breezy space, before detailing plans for a large, fixed, all-weather marquee that will offer shelter from the elements and allow the Rising Tide’s popular live music programme to kick off in this new location.
“We wanted to duplicate what we have at the Mount and bring it to Ōmokoroa because it works so well there,” she says. “There's nothing like this around here.”
Getting here has paradoxically been an extremely long journey and also something of a rush. The idea for a new Rising Tide began formulating around three or four years ago, with Pāpāmoa being the chosen location. But then Covid struck, slamming the brakes on those plans. A couple of years later, when the worst of it was over, the Pāpāmoa site that’d been earmarked was no longer available. Undeterred, scouting for a new location began.
“It was so funny. Last May the owners just turned around to me one day and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to open up in Ōmokoroa. I was like, ‘What? This year?’” Ellie laughs, thinking back. “I said, ‘Okay, let’s go for it’.”
She came out to see the new location for the first time, a mere seven months before the planned opening.
“It was so different to how it is now,” she says. “I couldn't envision it. In my head, I was like, This isn't The Rising Tide’.”
The fixtures were all wrong, there was no room for a brewery (something that’d been part of their Pāpāmoa plans) and the vibe just wasn’t there. But the biggest offence was a giant, floor-to-ceiling mirror right behind the bar. Ellie says, that was the first thing that had to go.
“We wanted the same wall as the Mount. Visually, the taps are a big thing, because we are a craft beer bar,” she says. “It’s huge.”
Once the Rising Tide’s signature white tiles and the long row of beer taps went in, Ellie says the bar began to feel more like home. There are a whopping 30 taps to select from, including taps for Mount Brewing Co.’s special, limited-edition beers and ciders.
“Every limited release we’ll have here. I told them, ‘Don’t leave Ōmokoroa out!’,” she laughs. “Rising Tide in the Mount gets allocated three kegs and we get one keg. So once it’s gone, it's gone. We’re actually tapping on two new beers today.”
Great beer? Check. Cool vibe? Check. But there’s one other thing Rising Tide is known for, its food. Particularly the dumplings from their in-house kitchen, Johney’s Dumpling House. You can go ahead and put a big ol’ check next to that as well.
“There’s a lot of foodie people here,” Ellie says. “The quality of food, the service standards, the presentation are all exactly the same. That's a big thing for us here.”
Then she smiles and says something that will come as a huge relief during the current cost of living crises.
“And the deals are the same! We have the cheap beer, burger and fries deal on a Wednesday, you can come and get dumplings really cheap with a beer every Thursday.”
It’s been a lot of work, and a long time coming, but all the things people love about the original Rising Tide have successfully washed up in Ōmokoroa.
We’ve been sitting out enjoying the deck for about an hour while people have trickled in, eager to take advantage of the hot sun and a cool lunchtime meal and drink deal, and I can’t help but feel tempted to get another pint myself.