title_body: Why would we presume a New Zealand beer contains dairy?
upvoted_answer: I asked a rabbi at the KAA and he said that the ruling was because in NZ ethanol is produced from whey and there was concern about that ethanol being used to fortify beers.  However, they have now determined that no major NZ breweries fortify their beer in that way, so they now consider NZ beer to be pareve (neutral, neither dairy nor meat).  See more here.
  
  The KAA page notes that major import brands (but not boutique breweries) that contain no additives are kosher/pareve even without certification (other than NZ, as previously discussed).  This must mean that NZ is unique in either using whey to produce ethanol or using ethanol to fortify beer, but I don't know which and didn't pursue that question with KAA.