Heineken 0.0 opens the Heineken Hut, New Zealand's most remote taproom, in a backcountry hut 1,130 metres up

Key Takeaways

• Heineken 0.0 has opened the Heineken Hut, billed as New Zealand's most remote taproom, with DB Breweries and Special PR New Zealand.

• The taproom sits in Slate Hut, a backcountry hut 1,130 metres above sea level on the Welcome Rock Trail in Southland's Slate Range.

• Guests aged 18 and over who book an overnight stay at Slate Hut receive free Heineken 0.0 poured on tap.

• The activation runs from 7 November until January 2027 and promotes the rollout of Heineken 0.0 on tap to more than 100 venues across New Zealand.

Heineken 0.0 has opened the Heineken Hut, which it bills as New Zealand's most remote taproom, by installing a beer tap inside a backcountry hut 1,130 metres up in the Slate Range in Southland. Anyone hoping for a cold pint at the end of the climb can have one, although it will be alcohol-free, which is probably a sensible idea when you're hiking a mountain.

The activation, created by Special PR New Zealand for DB Breweries, uses the remoteness of the hut to make a point about how widely Heineken 0.0 on tap is now available across the country. If a draught alcohol-free beer can be poured at the top of a hiking trail, the reasoning goes, it should be easy enough to find one in a bar closer to home.

The Heineken Hut serves free Heineken 0.0 on tap at Slate Hut on the Welcome Rock Trail from 7 November

The taproom is in Slate Hut on the Welcome Rock Trail, a 27 kilometre single-track loop for hikers and mountain bikers on a family-run high country station in Northern Southland, about 45 minutes from Queenstown, and the hut is 2 kilometres from the trailhead. Guests aged 18 and over who book an overnight stay at Slate Hut are given free Heineken 0.0 on tap, and the campaign says this is the first time the hut has had a beer tap in more than a century of welcoming visitors.

Stays are booked through Welcome Rock while the activation runs from 7th November until January 2027, and visitors reach the hut on foot or by bike along a trail that was restored by hand with tools by the station's owners and volunteers. The hut itself offers shelter, an outdoor cooking area and an outdoor bath, so the alcohol-free beer joins a setting that already leans heavily on the idea of a remote escape.

Fraser Shrimpton, marketing director at DB Breweries, said that "The Heineken Hut is a fun way to demonstrate just how far we're willing to go to make 0.0 available everywhere." Natasha Benét, head of PR and influence at Special PR, said the idea was about "creating a story that connects the brand's ambition with something uniquely Kiwi", which explains why the brand chose a working hiking hut over a pop-up bar in Auckland. The campaign was delivered by a Special PR team that included Natasha Benét, head of creative Duncan Killick and head of experience Jessica McColl, while DB's marketing team was led by Shrimpton with senior marketing manager Cormac van den Hoofdakker and brand manager Jonty Holmes.

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