The crew of New Zealand’s newest and biggest Navy ship will soon be cracking open a cold one – and it will have been created for them in Taranaki.

Three Sisters Brewery owner Joe Emans, who has been operating out of his Oakura garage for three years, was asked by HMNZS Aotearoa crew members to create a pale ale to celebrate the commissioning of the $500 million supply vessel.

“It’s the coolest thing that’s happened in my brewery,” Emans said.

HMNZS Aotearoa is the biggest ship in the Navy’s fleet. It was built in South Korea and arrived in New Zealand in June.

The 173-metre long ship will be used to support the Navy's combat and humanitarian relief functions, along with operational and training support.

HMNZS Aotearoa will have 64 core crew members and New Plymouth will be the Home Port when it is commissioned into service at the end of the month.

“The crew wanted a local beer to celebrate the commissioning,” Emans said.

They got in touch with him after following the brewery's social media pages.

The pale ale, called Aotearoa, contains only New Zealand ingredients, which is a first for Three Sisters Brewery but felt fitting for the occasion, Emans said.

“It’s tropical citrus hops with a light malt with a touch of caramel.”

Crew member Chanel Ruri helped design the label by drawing the ship, while Emans added Mt Taranaki to the background and came up with the pink colour scheme.

Emans is full-time engineering manager for Fitzroy Engineering, and spends another 20 to 30 hours a week brewing.

And although the crew had bought all 500 bottles of the first batch, Emans was looking at including the beer in their core offerings.

“We’ll brew another batch real soon.”