Come and join me for a back-to-work beer tasting to end the summer break in style. We will be having a blind tasting of range of craft beers from New Zealand and overseas on Wednesday 26 January. D4 on Featherston is providing the beer and food, and there will be prizes and giveaways too. Come […]
Filed under: Beer Bars, Gushing forth | No Comments »
There – it’s in writing and on the internet, so it must be true. This year, 2011, I Martin Craig will endeavour to drink more beer. I admit I may have let the occasional NYResolution wither and die in the past, so I will have to make an extra effort to stick with this one. […]
Filed under: Gushing forth | 106 Comments »
Cheers 2010, you’ve been a good year for New Zealand beer fans. The highlight for me was the exponential spread of good graft beer. Several mainstream (tied) pubs here in Wellington renegotiated their supply contracts this year and now stock craft breweries like Epic and Emerson’s alongside mainstream taps. Bottled craft beer is turning up […]
Filed under: Gushing forth | 4 Comments »
Binge drinking used to be compulsory here in New Zealand, and was reinforced by an emergency law that lasted for half a century. For the benefit of international readers, let me start at the beginning. Back in 1917, New Zealand was at war. We were attempting to drive the Hun out of Flanders, and the […]
Filed under: Gushing forth | 2 Comments »
It’s legal to drive drunk in New Zealand. I know this because I was a drink-test dummy for Consumer a few years ago. We were testing cheapo breath testers, and comparing them against an official police breath tester and an ESR tester used to calibrate the police kits. My eighth handle of 4% beer was […]
Filed under: Beer Makers, Gushing forth | 16 Comments »
Down here in the South Pacific, we have just changed our clocks for daylight saving. Longer, sunnier evenings are on the way, perhaps with a barbecue, and every change of season is a good excuse to explore new beers. This winter has seen many high-hopped, high alcohol monsters set loose from New Zealand’s craft brewers, […]
Filed under: Beer Makers, Gushing forth, Reviews | 11 Comments »
The Society of Beer Advocates has held a national home-brew competition every year since 2007, and I’ve been a judge for the past three years. This year the competition is in Hamilton, the first time it has been held outside Wellington, and a new crew will be judging. It’s time to think about entering. The […]
Filed under: Gushing forth, Reviews | 6 Comments »